One of our most preferred traveling destinations - short travel, (almost) no timezone change and no issues with the language. But after the insane decision to do the brexit, a visit is no longer as simple as in the past. On top, one has another currency and a trip to Great Britain is not a cheap one. The hotels are often expensive and the facilities are sometimes not state-of-the-art.
Southwestern districts (Devon, Cornwall, Land's End)
Northern districts (Lake District, Yorkshire)
One of the most interesting towns in Europe!
Highlights:
Downtown (Tower, Tower Bridge, House of Parliament/Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, ...)
Hyde Park
Buckhingham Palace
Docklands/Greenwich (tip: drive to Greenwich with the pilot free railway, leave at Island Gardens, use the pedestrian tunnel below the Themse; back with ship)
Highgate (interesting district, famous cemetry)
London Dungeon
Imperial War Museum (free entrance!)
Madame Tussauds is not in my focus!
...and much more!
Restaurants: Lahore Kebap House: If you want to try once a real
Pakistan food (comparable to Indian food), you should give this a chance. But be careful: If a meal is signed as "Hot!", this will be
"Hot"!
Hotels: The hotels in London are mostly not cheap. Like in many metropoletan areas, there are often special rates at weekends or in the holiday season (especially in business hotels).
Like in the whole country, Bed&Breakfast could be a reasonably priced option (but we didn't try this).
Best season: Spring and autumn.
Next highlights: Wales, Southwestern part (Devon, Cornwall, Land's End), east coast
Visited: 2004
Links: http://www.london.de/, http://www.visitlondon.com/de/
Tip: The London Pass and the Visitor Travelcard can save lots of money!
Very picturesque, leafy landscape. There's lots of virgin forest, often it looks a little bit like at the Riviera. Nice beaches, even palms can be seen! The touristic hot spots are often overcrowded - even outside the main season. The roads are often adventurous because the hedges and trees can grow almost unlimited (often, it's like driving through a narrow tunnel - sometimes with only one lane).
Important towns: Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay
Highlights: Lands End (offers various touristic attractions), St. Michaels Mount, Tintangle (birthplace of King Arthur?), Dartmoor, Exmoor (Lynmouth), ...
Restaurants: In Torquay, we can recommend the Number Seven. In general, we weren't dissatisfied in any of our selected restaurants.
Hotels: The mediterranean climate makes this area the perfect short trip destination for the British population - so it's clear that it is overcrowded in the main season.
The last years, this changed a little bit - most of the British people prefer traveling to the Canarian Islands and other destinations (what often is less expensive).
That leads to worse occupancy rates in the hotels. Many of the old-fashioned hotels are now converted to retirement homes. Most of the other hotels do have the peculiar charm of the 20th century... ;-)
We were very satisfied with the The Meadfoot Bay in Torbay.
Best season: Spring, summer and autumn. In the main season, we expect the highlights swarming with tourists!
Next highlights:: London, Wales
Visited: 2009
Links: http://www.cornwall-devon.de/, http://www.landsend-landmark.co.uk/, http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/, http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/
Parts of this area are monotonous. Impressing ancient cities like Newcastle, York, Norwich, Cambridge etc., in between: nothing!
Important towns / Highlights: Newcastle, York, Hull, Norwich, Cambridge
Restaurants, Hotels: We always selected hotels and restaurants in the suburbs of the cities or in rural areas. Those offer a much better value for money! The The Steer Inn in Wilberfoss (near York) and the Mannings Hotel in Acle (near Norwich) met our expectations, we would come again.
Best season: The whole year.
Next highlights:: London, Wales, Northern districts (Lake District, Yorkshire), Scotland
Links: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/, http://www.visityork.org/, http://www.visitnorwich.co.uk/norwich.aspx, http://www.visitcambridge.org/
Here you see lots of hills, the top of those is mostly bare. There many remaining traces of former mining activities. In the mountains, you can find roads like I prefer them - extremely narrow and steep, lots of curves, not too much traffic (for me the Hardknott pass, the steepest road in Great Britain, is the measure of all things). You can find further attractions in the surroundings (p.e. in Yorkshire).
Important towns: Barrow-in-Furness, Windermere, Kendal, Keswick, Carlisle, Settle, Lancaster
Highlights: Hardknott pass, lots of railways with steam engines, railroad Settle-Carlisle, Yorkshire Dales national park (hiker's paradise)
Restaurants: In the popular tourist destinations, our experience is not very positive. Our expectations were met in the Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in Arnside.
Hotels: You shouldn't expect too much! The Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is not in the center of the Lake District, but offers a good service for a very competitive price.
Best season: Spring, summer or autumn. In the main season, I expect myriads of tourists (not my preference)!
Next highlights: Scotland (southern part - Glasgow, Edinburgh), Wales, East coast
Links: http://www.lake-district.gov.uk/, http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/
For us, Wales is like Scotland a very interesting region - lots of nature, impressing castles, good food and less people than in England. The next time, we will spend more time in Wales!
Best season: Spring, summer and autumn. In the main season, we expect the highlights swarming with tourists!
Next highlights: London, Southwestern part (Devon, Cornwall, Land's End), northern part (Lake District, Yorkshire), east coast
Links: http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk, http://www.castlewales.com/
In the south, you'll find breathtaking beautyful landscapes (near Dale) and ancient towns (St. David's - from here, Great Britain was christianised). Cardiff is a interesting town where you can spend some hours. All over the country you can find minor attractions like historic railways and ruins of castles or monasteries.
Important towns: Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth, St. David's
Highlights: St. David's (Cathedral, coastline up to Dale), Cardiff, Swansea, Tenby, Aberystwyth
Hotels: We can recommend the Penrhadw Farm in Pontsticill (part of Merthyr Tydfil, not far away from Cardiff) and the Gower Hotel in Saundersfoot (southwestern part, close to St. David's).
In the northern part of Wales, you'll see lots of impressing castles - some of them are UNESCO World Heritage. You'll also find a great landscape with - related to British standards - giant mountains (Snowdonia).
We were positively surprised of the food!
Important towns: Chester (O.K., close to the border...), Wrexham, Caernarfon, Bangor, Conwy, Harlech
Highlights: Convy (Castle, downtown and city wall), Caernarfon (castle, downtown and city wall), Snowdonia (alpine landscape - you should hike!), Pontcsyllte aqueduct, ...
Restaurants: Our favorite is the Black Boy Inn in Caernarfon. A very good restaurant and pub in an ancient building, offers excellent food (even in the pub).
Hotels: The Celtic Royal Hotel in Caernarfon is perfectly located (close to three UNESCO World Heritages) and offers luxury comfort for a reasonable price - we will come back!
For us this is the highlight in Great Britain!
Important towns: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, Inverness, Fort William
Highlights: Northwestern districts (landscape), Isle of Skye / western districts and the area near Aberdeen (excellent food), almost everywhere: Castles and Whisky distilleries.
You should absolutely go for some hikes!
In the southwestern part of Scotland (Fort William, Oban, to a limited extent Isle of Skye), you can do a walk on the wild side (rafting and others).
Restaurants: We found lots of good restaurants - see the travel diaries. If you do prefer fish and seafood, you will be 'in paradise'!
Hotels:
In the southern and western districts, you'll find lots of small hotels and bed & breakfast offerings. If you go for tranquility and an authentic ambience, here you are right! But you must except lowered standards in case of infrastructure and accommodation...
If you would like to sleep in a castle, here you do have a real chance! But you won't always get a castle when you've a name including 'castle' (for example, Kildrummy is a very luxury hotel close to a castle and we hadn't any 'castle feeling' at Inchrie Castle)!
The last visits, we always had to visit our favorite B&B location, Rattray Castle near Perth. Unfortunately, now (2009) the castle was sold - the new owners do not offer bed & breakfast.
In the northern districts, you must expect a very restricted selection of hotels and restaurants. If you don't like to change the location too often, you should consider hiring a cottage (but be aware of the huge distances!).
We were very satisfied with the An Suidh Cottage near Kincraig.
Best season: March up to June, September (before easter and ofter October, lots of restaurants and attractions will be closed)
Next highlights:: Northern part (Lake District, Yorkshire), east coast
Links: http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/
The southern part of Scotland offers a picturesque landscape and is not as rugged as the other parts. You can find lots of castles (functional and ruins) as well as historic cities.
The street network is good, but in the commuter belt of the main cities (Glasgow and Edinburgh) this is often not enough. In the future, we will give Glasgow a wide berth! Traffic chaos combined with the British organisational skills, nothing for us... ;-)
At the eastern coastline, you will find excellent fish and seafood.
Important towns: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, ...
Highlights: The castles are almost everywhere! You will also find lots of Whisky destilleries, Dufftown is the 'capital of the single malt whisky' - we like the tour through Glenfiddich distillery, very interesting and free. Several of the ancient towns were the capital of Scotland, so they often offer pretty to watch downtowns. Hiking is mostly relaxed, no special skills are necessary.
Restaurants: We found lots of good restaurants - see the travel diaries.
The northern part of Scotland offers you mainly nature! The climate is raw, there's mostly only an elementary infrastructure and almost no inhabitants. The distances are often considerable, the roads are archaic (even the main roads are single track roads) - but often you can use them exclusively!
There are less castles than in the other parts of Scotland, some of the rare are only ruins (what isn't always a disadvantage).
Important towns: Inverness, Wick, Thurso, Ullapool, Orkney island, Shetland island
Highlights: The main attraction is the landscape - here, the journey is its own reward! The single track roads up-country and at the west coast are an acquired taste! In the season, you can see salmon in the rivers - as at the Falls of Shin.
Hiking is possible, but often there's no infrastructure - it's nothing for tourists. Some of the hikes are spectacular!
Restaurants: In several areas, it is not too easy to find a restaurant - in the rural areas, lots of restaurants are opened only in the main season.
We were very satisfied with the The Tea Cosy near the Castle of Mey (opened only for the season!) and the The Wallet Garden in Applecross House (at the west coast).
Up-country, you can find some authentic restaurants like the Altnacealgach Hotel.
The western part of Scotland is our favorite. It offers the coolest landscape, for example the highest mountain of Great Britain (Ben Nevis). The northwestern part (near Ullapool and Unapool) is unpeopled, the southwestern coast is densely populated.
Most of the roads are fully developed, often you can find very attractive alternate routes (coastal and mountain roads) - but be careful: lots of those roads are dead ends!
At the coastline and mainly on the Isle of Skye, you can find excellent food (seafood)!
Some of the castles in this region are markedly picturesque, for example located on small islands.
In the future, we will give Glasgow a wide berth! Traffic chaos combined with the British organisational skills, nothing for us... ;-)
Important towns: Oban, Fort William, Isle of Skye, Island of Mull
Highlights: In the northwestern part, the landscape and the roads are the highlights. on the Isle of Skye, you'll find excellent food and can visit one of the Whisky distilleries.
Between Fort William and Oban, partly also on the Isle of Skye, you can have some adventure (river rafting and so on).
Hiking is possible to the extent necessary, long walks as well as strenous hikes in the mountains - here's no excuse! ;-)
Restaurants: We found lots of good restaurants - see the travel diaries.
Our best experiences were of the Isle of Skye, for example in the The Old School in Dunvegan,
the Loch Bay Seafood Restaurant in Stein (Waternish) and the Harbor View Seafood Restaurant in Portree.
Near Fort William, we also have our favorite restaurant: At our first visit, the Loch Leven Seafood Cafe was only a fish monger directly at the pier...