Visiting the UK was an old dream of Tyler’s. He wanted to see where did his ancestors come from. Visiting the UK is not just about going to London and making a quick stop in Edinburgh. The UK is also about Scottish highlands, meadows of Wales, controversial Belfast, and so much more. In this article, you will find our 9 days itinerary in the UK with main sightseeings and recommendations.
Day 1
We started our trip – surprise surprise – by visiting London. After arriving in one of the 6 major London airports, we took a shuttle bus to the city center. We checked-in in the Amba Hotel Grosvenor. This hotel is in a strategically perfect location. The hotel has direct access to one of the main train stations (Victoria Station), and also is just a little bit over a mile from Big Ben. Therefore, while staying in London, we didn’t have any logistic problems.
Then we got hungry. What is appropriate food to eat once arrived in the UK? Fish & chips, of course. We had our lunch at Seafresh fish & chips restaurant, apparently ranked #1 in London at that time. The food was great (as much as fried fish can be). I loved their mushy peas, even more than the lightly battered fish. I felt super lucky by ordering a medium portion, otherwise, I would have left half of my dish untouched.
Afterward, we decided to help our stomachs digest and took a nice walk along the Thames river. We stopped for a while in Trafalgar’s square and ended our route in Soho. After visiting this quarter, I can honestly tell you that this was a discovery of the day! So many people, so many bars, wonderful atmosphere… Everyone looked so relaxed, just hanging around right there on the streets. Soho seemed like the heart of London.
Day 2
This was our first full day in London, and it was time to get into real exploration. We took an introductory free walking tour with Sandemans. Wherever we go, we try to find this particular free walking tour company first since we’ve never been disappointed with them. The free walking tour covered all main objects in London: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (unfortunately it was covered due to reconstruction), Trafalgar square. We also heard a lot about the royal family, Winston Churchill, and even saw the impressive Horse Guards Parade. This tour took 3 hours with one short break.
Our next stop was the Tower of London. For those who might not know, it’s not just a tower but the whole castle named after one tower inside it. Even though tickets were quite pricey (£25.00 pp), and this place was packed with people, the Tower of London left an indelible impression. Admission ticket gives entry to the Crown Jewels, Battlements, Bloody Tower, Medieval palace, some floors of White Tower, Torture and Tower exhibition. Most importantly, Yeoman Warders (ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London) took all group of visitors along a one-way route meanwhile telling interesting stories and historical facts about this place. Our Yeoman/guide was one of the funniest and passionate storyteller I’ve ever seen.
We ended our day in the BREWDOG bar tasting English IPAs and vanilla milkshakes.
Day 3
We booked a day trip to some of the most famous places in the UK: Stonehenge, Oxford, and Windsor castle.
We left London in the early morning, around 6 AM. Our first stop was Stonehenge – a mysterious prehistoric monument that Tyler was so passionate about. My hubby was so into these stones that he booked the tour inside the Stonehenge. This sightseeing opens at 9 am for regular visitors but for those who want to pay more money, it can be opened earlier. More about our Stonehenge experience you can find here.
Then we went to Oxford – Mecca of nerds in the UK. There’s a misconception that Oxford is famous just for its Oxford University – the oldest university in the English-speaking world dated back in 1096. Without any doubt, it’s impressive. However, there are multiple other educational institutions under the University of Oxford umbrella: primary and secondary education schools, colleges, adult learning centers, English language schools, etc. Shortly, Oxford is a city dedicated to education. Our guide told us about admission exams in some of the colleges. For instance, there are just 9 students in All Souls College and to become one of them, you simply need to be a genius.
Our last stop was at Windsor. When Queen Elizabeth gets bored from Buckingham palace, she has another spot to hide: Windsor castle. This castle was built in the 11th century and it’s superb. There were masses of people around the castle, at the entrance, and we had no hopes to get inside it.
Day 4
It’s road trip time! With our rental car, we wanted to visit two places: Old Harry Rocks and Castle Combe village.
Old Harry Rocks (named after a devil, brr…) are located in the South West, 2 hours and 30 min away from London. These bright white chalk cliffs dropping straight into the sea were formed by erosion over million years and now work as a wonderful background for all Instagram pictures. Keep in mind, that this place is not completely accessible by car. You will need to park it a bit further away and have a nice 20 minute walk to the sea.
Almost two hours away from the Old Harry Rocks there is Castle Combe village. It was discovered by Tyler in the jungles of the internet. This village was mentioned as one of the cutest villages in the UK. At the time, from all the pictures available on the internet, it looked like a fairy-tale-like place. And it is. The problem is that this village is so so small that you should consider very well if it’s worth spending time going there. Google this place: you will see the same main street and a bridge in almost every picture. And that’s about it.
Day 5
And here we are, in the capital of Wales – the city of Cardiff. As always, we showed up at a free walking tour to learn more about the history of this place. It’s much more convenient than reading everything on our own. Unfortunately, it turned out that our guide was extremely boring, and we just took off. Yes, maybe it was not polite but that was our first and the last time when we did this. So just imagine, how bad it was. We explored Cardiff ourselves.
We heard cannon shots and headed that way. Probably, that was not what people used to do less than a hundred years ago. Apparently, there was some kind of celebration with all the fancy dressed Royal Welsh Army soldiers and a lot of spectators. Afterward, we strolled along Cardiff bay, peaked inside the Wales Millenium Centre. We also visited Llandaff Cathedral built in the 1300s, St. Fagans National Museum of History, and Cardiff Story Museum.
Day 6
Since the distance from Cardiff to Edinburgh is more than 7 hours, we decided to save our time and take a flight to the capital of Scotland. To be honest, after visiting Edinburgh, Cardiff compared looked a bit plain. Edinburgh sometimes is aptly referred as a city of Harry Potter.
Again, here we took a free walking tour from which we did not run away this time. Itinerary this tour covered: Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Mile, St Gilles’ cathedral, Greyfriars Bobby, Grassmarket, the birthplace of Harry Poter, Covenanter’s prison, National Museum of Scotland, and Martyr’s Memorial. A lot of sightseeing was stuffed into a two-hour tour.
After the free walking tour, we decided to visit the interior of the Edinburgh castle on our own. For almost £17.50 we could wander from hall to hall that hosted various exhibitions and from one courtyard to another. From the castle opens a splendid view to the Royal Mile and the whole old town.
Scotland is famous for its whiskey, and even though I’m not a fan of spirits, we stopped at The Scotch Whisky Experience right on the Royal Mile. There we learned about its making process, we were educated about different kinds of this drink, and at the end of the tour tasted 5 different types of scotch.
Day 7
A long and pleasant road trip was waiting ahead of us. Since we had our flight to Belfast from Inverness, we decided to jump in a rental and drive through the Scottish Highlands or, in other words, the place where sheep outnumber people. What spectacular sceneries of all these green hills, blue waters, and complete emptiness!
Our first stop was at the Eilean Donan castle. It’s a small tidal castle located near the village of Dornie. The first castle in this place was built in the 13th century during the reign of Alexander II. During the reconstruction of this castle in the 20th century that drastically changed its previous appearance, the bridge was built to connect this island with the mainland.
Our next stop was Urquhart Castle, or rather the ruins of it dated from the 13th century. This castle was built right on the shore of the famous Loch Ness. If you decide to look for Nessie, there is no better place to do this than here. Most probably you won’t see her but at least you can admire the deep blue waters of the lake. And some castle ruins, of course.
In the evening we arrived in Inverness – a small town with a population of almost 50k people. We arrived there way too late for an extended exploration. The main highlight of it was the red sandstone castle overlooking the river Ness.
Day 8
We took our flight to Belfast – the capital of Northern Ireland. Our first half a day there we dedicated to Titanic. There is a modern museum of the Titanic built right in the same place from where this legendary ship started its tragic journey. The museum displays all the history of building this ship, as well as personal stories of some of the passengers, last messages sent so seek for help, and much more.
Day 9
Belfast is known not for its magnificent architecture and narrow lovely streets but its sad and, unfortunately, bloody history. There the historical city’s footprints of controversy are still alive. To know more about Belfast, we joined a free walking tour again.
Nationality, or more precisely, identity in the Northern Ireland region, distinguishes into two groups: Irish nationalists (seeking to annex Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland) and British loyalists (hoping that Northern Ireland will remain part of Britain). Traditionally, these two groups are divided not only by political aspirations but also by religion. Irish nationalists are Catholics, and British loyalists are Protestants. The armed conflict between the two groups ran openly from 1968 to 1998. And even today the high wall in the city of Belfast divides catholic and protestant neighborhoods.
Leaving sad history aside, it’s worth mentioning the Belfast city hall located right in the city center. This building was built in 1906 and is one of the main tourist attractions. You can visit this civic building for free with the guided tours. The impressive interior of the City Hall was created with marble, stained glass windows, and plush carpets. But most importantly, you will have the possibility to sit in one of the city council seats and imagine yourself like a VIP.
Day 10
That was our last road trip in the UK before entering the second phase of our extensive trip – visiting Ireland. That day Mother Nature wasn’t kind to us. It was raining cats and dogs. Anyway, we braved the elements and visited two famous tourist attractions – Giant’s Causeway and Dark Hedges.
Giant’s Causeway is approximately 1 hour away from Belfast. It’s a surreal-looking place created by a volcanic eruption. An extensive area facing the sea is covered by thousands of basalt columns stuck together. It was raining, the wind threatened to blow us into the sea, and these stones became very slippery. One wrong step could have resulted in a skull fracture. Anyway, this place is definitely worth visiting. From the visitors center to the Giant’s Causeway there is a distance of approximately 1 km. You can walk there or use the paid shuttle bus both ways.
Our last stop is familiar to the Game of Thrones fan. Since I’m not one of them, I saw this place a bit differently. Yes, very beautiful trees on both sides of the road leading to nowhere.
Trip in the UK in a nutshell
10 days in the UK is not a very long time to see everything but sufficient to visit the main highlights. London and Edinburgh are the musts. Cardiff with Castle Combe village are optional. It’s worth spending more time in Scottish Highlands but just if the weather is beautiful.
