Going on a family vacation to Britain, any advice on what to see.

[Provost Harrison]

He will be around at the time, he has no excuse

[Myrddin]

Most of the posters are missing the point about this being a RAIL based trip, which means that you are governed by

timetables - it is not not the journey length but the time waiting for connections that is the biggest pain

left luggage- you have to take it with you, unless you stay in places for more than 1 night

and places in the coutryside are hell to visit; except the best views of the British countryside are from trains

[Provost Harrison]

Well most places are relatively easy to access from London by train...you've just got to get the right train station

[Provost Harrison]

...except Aberystwyth, but that is impossible to access from anywhere

[Dauphin]

Lets see, what have we got in Kent, if you visit Canterbury Cathedral and Leeds castle and enjoy them, you might find it worth visiting Hever castle aswell.



Dover (as in the white cliffs of) castle and Deal castle are fairly interesting but I wouldn't go out of my way for them.

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by Starchild
You're traveling across the UK by train? Brave man.

There's nothing wrong with British trains, aside from the fact that they're slower, less reliable, and noisier than the rest of Europe's trains. Sure their lateness left me stranded in Birmingham one night, but I'm not bitter.

..except Aberystwyth, but that is impossible to access from anywhere

It's not that bad, is it? I came very close to there one weekend, but decided to attempt to return to Oxford (bad move when the train is very late and you get stuck in Birmingham (shudder)).

I would suggest to you:

1) Most of the places that have already been suggested, though Stonehenge is vastly overrated and there's this one roundabout near it that seems to cause traffic to jam for miles around in the middle of nowhere.

2) Wales, especially the mountains. I'd recommend stopping in Conwy (briefly) then taking that line that heads from Llandudno towards Blaenau-Ffestinog (sp?). Sleep somewhere along that line at a B&B, then the next day take a bus through the mountains, possibly doing some hiking. Then return to visiting other stuff. Do this once you are getting pretty tired of seeing castles, cathedrals, churches, etc. (Note: I recommend Conwy because of it's castle, but it's not worth a trip by itself.)

Also getting to Ireland may be cheaper by air than by sea. (Although to achieve this, I flew out of Belfast to Liverpool at 7am on a Sunday. Don't do that.)

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
Yeah but then I think York is crap, 'cause I lived there. It kinda taints your viewpoint, I suppose.

But OTOH York is really quite crap (dubious-vintage heavily restored city walls, awful brutally-architectured cathedral, artificial viking "experience", ugly medieval town centre, ugly part of the country, boring people, awful commerce. Pros: some good drinking holes.) and Newcastle is actually really nice, at least for a day trip. Best place I ever visited while in Britain I think.

The walls are not of dubious vintage; the Minster is a graceful church with a stunning rose window, and as for Jorvik being an artificial viking experience, I'm not sure quite what you expected- a real live early mediaeval viking? They seem to be somewhat thin on the ground.

The Jorvik Centre is no more nor less 'artificial' than any other attempt to reconstruct a historical past- from the pilgrim settler villages in America to the son et lumiere shows at the Pyramids, or the honey feasts in Rotorua.

I owuld also suggest some other often overlooked sites- Buxton is extermely pretty, with a stunning Georgian crescent, and Bakewell (home of the famous tarts) has some lovely churches dating from Anglo-Saxon times, as well as being surrounded by gorgeous scenery.

If you go to Dublin it does have rather more than the vast Guinness brewery to offer, but it tends to be as pricey if not pricier than London in some respects. Glasgow will repay the effort of visiting with the Rennie Mackintosh heritage alone worth the journey.

[Victor Galis]

Durham is also nice I think.

[Starchild]

Don't forget a visit to Essex, the only county where every one is actually a hairdresser named Sharon from Basildon.

[C0ckney]

somerset has some lovely countryside and good beer (and cider ). mike h is bang on, places like yorkshire and somerset are very, very different, but they're still unmistakably english.

if you make it to wales, then go to the gower (nr. swansea) some of the nicest beaches in the country, the brecon beacons are well worth a visit, even though you're with the family, there is one more thing about wales you should try. welsh girls.