UK ROAD TRIP MINI GUIDE
Caleb and I LOVED road-tripping across the entire UK! It’s so much more than just London, Edinburgh and Dublin!
Whether you’re road tripping the entire UK, or just one of the countries, this guide will help you travel your way through the UK!
We flew into London, Stansted airport and picked our car up there, then dropped it off at Glasgow
Yes, it is more expensive to do one way rentals, but the price difference for picking up in London and dropping off in Glasgow was not very much higher and it makes it SO convenienient
Below, you’ll find CLOSE to our itinerary with where we stayed in each city (they have parking)! with the hotel accommodation, that would have been our second pick for variety. We’ve picked options that balance comfort with affordability, so you can save your euros for all the delicious food you’ll eat – we promise the food in the UK is delish
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ENGLAND
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DAY 1: Land in London, pick up your car an drive down to Cornwall. You will stay inSt. Ives tonight.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 2: Drive to Marazion and explore that for the morning and afternoon. Then, head to Kynance Cove for sunset and back St. Ives for the evening
DAY 3: Drive to St Agnes and see St Agnes Head. Then over to Newquay and spend the rest of the day there.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 4: Drive to Padstow for the day and explore.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 5: Drive to Port Isaac for the morning and afternoon. Then, head to Plymouth for the early afternoon so you can visit Plymouth Gin distillery in the afternoon/evening (if you’re not into gin, you could skip Plymouth!)
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 6: Drive to Salcombe for the day and explore the cute town.
Either stay in Salcombe OR drive to Dartmouth so you have the entire next day (we did that)
DAY 7: Drive to Dartmouth for the day if you have not and explore.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 8: Drive to Burrow Hill Cider Farm OR Sheppys Cider Farm and hang out there for the afternoon. Then, either stay close by (if you enjoyed the cider!) or you could head all the way to Cheddar today.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. No second picks as we don’t know where you want to stay – we loved this location!
DAY 9: Drive to Cheddar in the morning if you have not yet and eat some cheddar or book an experience at the Cheddar Cheese Gorge Company. Make sure to explore the Cheddar Gorges too!
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. It’s very hard to find accommodations IN cheddar and this was SO unique. We LOVED it.
DAY 10: Today is going to be LONG but we drove to The Crown Inn in Churchill for their famous ploughmans lunch. Then we drove all the way to the Cotswolds, making a detour at a very famous rest stop on our map for their sausage roll.) You could skip all this and head straight to the Cotswolds
WHERE TO STAY: There are MANY villages in the Cotswolds but we always stay in Stow-On-The-Wold. It’s cute and has tons to do and eat – plus its a little less touristy than nearby Bourton-On-The-Water.
We stayed HERE and LOVED it. Amazing location! You could also stay in our favorite tearoom!
DAY 11: Explore the Cotswolds. We recommend doing the touristy spots today:
- Morning: Start in Stow-on-the-Wold
- Late Morning: Drive to Bibury for the iconic shot.
- Afternoon: Go to Burford for lunch
- Post-Lunch: Drive to Bourton on the Water for a walk + happy hour
- Evening: Return to Stow for dinner
DAY 12: Explore the Cotswolds and we recommend doing the “non touristy route” today.
- Morning: drive to Guiting Power and go to the Cotswold guys farm shop for the famous sausage roll
- Midday: drive to Lower Slaughter, park and walk to Upper Slaughter and back.
- Then, drive to Snowshill Arms – the cutest town! You could stop at the pub for lunch.
- Then, drive through Blockely for an afternoon stroll.
- Evening: Drive to Kingham (the foodie village) for dinner and then head back to Stow! If it’s Sunday, you could also do Guiting power at night and go the Halfway at Kineton – excellent Sunday roast!
DAY 13: Leave Stow early and head to Bakewell (get the famous tart!). Walk up to Ashford on the water and possibly up to Monsal Head, depending on what time you get there. The nearby Packhorse Inn is delicious! Then head back to Bakewell for the night (you could Uber!)
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 14: OPTIONAL PEAK DAY HIKE: We drove to Castleton and stayed the night there, so we parked our car there early. We then walked to Hope, got sandwiches to go and started hiking. We did Lose hill → Back Tor → Hollins Cross then we went down into Edale and had a drink at The Old Nags Head (amazing pub!) Then walked back to Ye Old Nags head (confusing, we know) in Castleton for dinner. This was a LONG and hard day…but we did really enjoy it. Just be prepared.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 15: Drive to Whitby in the morning and then spend the day there – make sure you get fish and chips!
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 16 + 17: Drive to York and explore.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
Now you can either leave, or move on to our Scotland Itinerary below
WHAT TO DO IN ENGLAND
We’ve linked some of our favorite tours along with some of the must-see spots. Don’t miss any of the spots we outlined in the itinerary either, and make sure you check the UK Google Map at the end of this itinerary for everywhere we ate!
- Do a tasting tour at Plymouth Gin (we did the Gin Connoisseurs upgrade!)
- Or, make your own Gin!
- Make sure to do a cream tea in both Cornwall and Devon – there’s a war between the two regions about the right order of cream and jam.
- Visit the Cornish Yarg cheese shop (especially on Fridays for wine pairings)
- Explore the Cheddar Gorge
- Do a Yorkshire Dales day trip
- Do a food tour in York
- See the Harry Potter locations in York
- Go Coasteering in Newquay
- Paddleboard around Newquay
- Try whisky and gin in The Cotswolds
SCOTLAND
DAY 1: Drive to Edinburgh early and explore for the day.
WHERE TO STAY: We unfortunately did not realize we were going during Fringe fest and booked too late to get anything good and we did not like the room we stayed in. We would have stayed HERE or HERE.
DAY 2: Day in Edinburgh. If it’s nice, hike up to St. Arthur’s Seat!
DAY 3: Drive to Glasgow in the morning and explore for the day
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE and LOVED it. SUPER central and walkable to everything.
DAY 4: Drive to Glencoe in the morning, and spend the afternoon hiking. We routed to the three sisters and spent the day hiking around there as there lots of paths. No food, though so bring stuff!
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE and you NEED TO STAY HERE. It was the most adorable tiny house with the best view!!!!
DAY 5: Get up and drive to the Jacobite Steam Train viewing point if you want to see the famous HP train – we got to the parking lot at 9:30 am for the 10:45 viewing and it was getting busy. PRO tip: the best view point is from the SECOND parking lot (go right from the visitors center until you reach the 2nd lot then take that path) Then head back to Fort William for the day. You could visit Ben Nevis Distillery or hike the Ben Nevis trails. We LOVED dinner at the Ben Nevis Inn!
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 6: You’ll want an early start here as you’re driving 3 hours to the Isle of Skye! We recommend hitting the Shellfish Shack for lunch (SO GOOD OMG) on your way into Skye then seeing the fairy pools, Dungiven castle, Neseist Point lighthouses and possibly Donnies tablet shed (it’s out of the way but cute) then back to Portree for dinner
NOTE: The fastest way to get to Skye from Fort William is a ferry, so book that in advance! There is a bridge, but it’ll add hours to your travel!
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE and LOVED it.
DAY 7: Get up early and go to Quiranin for sunrise (bring some breakfast!) Then hike Old Man Storr. After, head back to Peartree for lunch and then end your day with a Taliskar distillery visit and dinner at The Old Inn.
NOTE: Scotland has an almost zero tolerance for drinking and driving. Most tasting will give you driver drams. Since Taylor doesn’t love whisky, she drove. Be responsible!
ALSO: the midges in Scotland are CRAZY in the spring/summer. Buy some “smidge” from an outdoor store. You will NEED it.
DAY 8: Drive down to Inverness and stay there for the day. We also stopped at Clynelish Distillery and Glenmorangie. If you love whisky – it’s worth it, but you’ll lose time in Inverness. Instead, you could explore Inverness or see Lochness.
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 9: Drive to Speyside and do a tasting at some prominent distilleries – we did Balvenie and Macallan (both must be booked way ahead online and open 3-4 months beforehand and get booked up FAST.)
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 10: Explore the Cairngorms National Park and see the highland cows!! Aviemore, Braemar, and Grantown-on-Spey or cute towns to see or stay (we think Aviemore is the best base)
WHERE TO STAY: We stayed HERE. THIS was our second pick
DAY 11: Drive back to Glasgow to drop off your car. Optional stops at Dalwhinnie or Glengoyne distilleries
Day 12: LEAVE
WHAT TO DO IN SCOTLAND
We’ve linked some of our favorite tours along with some of the must-see spots. Don’t miss any of the spots we outlined in the itinerary either (we have all our hikes there!) and make sure you check the UK Google Map at the end of this itinerary for everywhere we ate!
- Whisky tastings, of course! we visited Balvenie, Macallan, Taliskar, Ben Nevis, Dalwhinnie, Glenmorangie, Glengoyne and Clynelish.
- Go on a St Andrews and fishing villages tour from Edinburgh.
- Go on a guided walking tour of the Edinburgh castle
- Go on a ghost tour in Edinbrugh
- Explore Edinbrughs underground vaults
- See the Harry Potter locations
- Go on a food tour in Edinbrugh (our fav!)
- Or, eat your way through Glasgow!
- See all of Glasgow’s street art
- Do a Highland Cow Safari in Aviemore
