Hi everyone - as usual I will search through prior ideas and rec.
The idea is to have 10 days to play with
Initial Idea - Fly into London
Take the Train to York …then Edinburgh + Glasgow for a total of 4 days?
From Glasgow - early morning train to London - and the rest of the time in London and a couple of day trips
(Bath/Cantebury directions?)
Thoughts? Ideas? Restaurants?
thank you all in advance - as this is always my favorite board to ask on!
In the York region there are too fantastic restaurants…
The Black Swan in Oldstead
The Star Inn at Harome
They are probably a bit far out for a day visit from York, but you could take a trip to Helmsley which is a lovely little market town on the edge of the North York Moors with some castle ruins and close to Rievaulx Abbey, one of the great Northen Abbeys. In Helmsley there is a really nice spa hotel that could be used as an overnight base to then reach one of the restaurants and explore the area
Feversham arms.
If you didn’t want to go outside York, both the restaurants above have opened second restaurants in York
Roots - this is outpost of the Black Swan
Star Inn the City
I’ve eaten in restaurants above apart from Roots - the Black Swan and the Head Chef Tommy Banks is phenomenal though, so I imagine Roots is superb.
Always worth visiting Betty’s in York for an afternoon tea
Alternatively from York, you could pick up the North York Moors Railway and head to Whitby - Whitby is a historic fishing port and seaside town and has a Abbey ruins up on the cliffs overlooking the town, there is a walk up from the town to the Abbey. The abbey setting is quite bleak set up high on the cliffs, exposed to the weather and made the perfect place for Dracula to land in Bram Stoker’s novel.
Edinburgh dining scene is great, with loads of interesting small restaurants doing all sorts of different cuisine - we were there a couple of years ago and we stopped in a few for breakfasts and dinners and all were great, unfortunately I don’t quite remember which but its easy to find plenty of options. There is also a Hawksmoor in Edinburgh, which from my perspective is the best steak restaurant in the UK and with decent wine lists.
From London, Windsor is a good day trip if you haven’t done that - nearby Windsor is Bray which is a picturesque village on the Thames and home to two 3 star Michelin restaurants, the Fat Duck and Waterside Inn (The Roux family restaurant). and there is also Heston Blumenthal’s 1 star pub The Hinds Head which offers a more relaxed pub style.
Of course my real recommendation would be forget all that rubbish about London, head straight to York and spend all 10 days in Yorkshire - gods country
If it’s possible, fly into Scotland and out of London (or vice-versa). That saves wasted backtracking.
York is cool. Plenty of historic buildings and streets, museums, plus the decent amount of intact city walls. Shops good to browse if looking for something different (unlike too many UK cities, there’s a lot of independent shops here).
London - > York → Edinburgh well served by the east coast mainline trains. What used to be the best service, went down the pan somewhat with failed franchising, but it’s still fast and if you book for a specific day/time in advance, you can get significantly discounted tickets.
Edinburgh. Lots to see and do, but Raeburn wines ought to get an hour or two set aside to graze its shelves. Owner Zubair has a great nose for sniffing good / interesting wines out.
Glasgow → London will be via the west coast service, which crept ahead of the East coast in terms of speed and quality.
Other possible day trips - Local: Kew Gardens, Maritime museum, Windsor and Eton. Plus, as with any major city, if you have any specific interests, you’ll likely find them satisfied here, including unusual hobbies etc.
Other possible day trips - Longer: Brighton is a fast hop down from London Bridge or London Victoria; Cambridge also not far (I think from London Liverpool St and Kings Cross)
Yes… but I also have limited time to travel as I teach most of the year so … have to do things this way We are also up early and go to bed late so we don’t mind getting a good amount done in a day - we average 30,000 steps a day on vacation.
Worth browsing Wine Pages forum, as eating threads come up from time to time, and there’s a big London focus there, so there will be discussion of these and other different cuisines. Also worth looking at site owner Tom Cannavan’s posts on Scottish dining, as he’s based there and does like eating out.
For Indian, i’d recommend either the Tamil Prince or its sister restaurant, the Tamil Crown.
St. John’s is great but I always eat in the bar area. Menu up on the wall and order at the bar. Great wines by the glass selection. You just need to be patient to get a table (first come, first serve).
Glasgow - for high-end dining I really can’t recommend The Gannet highly enough. Inventive/thoughtful and wonderful hospitality. One of the few wine pairings I’ve ever enjoyed.
Edinburgh - Fhior. Really inventive, more expansive tasting menu format. Friendly folks, a bit more casual than The Gannet.