Destinations in the United Kingdom — where to go
London and Edinburgh — where to base yourself and how long each city actually deserves.
London and Edinburgh are the UK's two essential city stops. London needs 4–5 days minimum (it's genuinely enormous); Edinburgh rewards 2–3 days and works as a compact, walkable add-on. Most first-time visitors combine both with a rail journey between them (about 4.5 hours direct, or a 1h10m flight) and add a few days of regional day trips around either end.
The UK looks small on a map and is not small in practice — London alone could eat a two-week trip if you let it. The efficient move is picking one or two cities as a base and layering in day trips, rather than trying to hit every place you've seen on a postcard. Here's every major city destination, with an honest read on how long it actually needs.
The Slow Loris Take: The UK isn't in the EU or the Schengen Area, and that trips up more travelers than you'd expect — including EU citizens who assume free movement still applies here. Since April 2, 2025, most visa-exempt visitors have needed to apply online in advance for a paid Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA); the fee has already risen twice since launch, from £10 to £16 in April 2025 and to £20 on April 8, 2026. Apply a few days before you fly, not at check-in — approval is usually quick, but 'usually' is a word worth not testing at the gate.
London
4–5 nights minimum — it's bigger than it looks on any map.
Edinburgh
2–3 days, walkable Old Town, one of the world's great festival cities.
York
A walkable, wall-encircled medieval city — 2 hours from London, worth an overnight.
Bath
Roman history, Georgian streets, and a genuine spa day — 1h15m from London.
Glasgow
Scotland's biggest city, and its liveliest — free museums, real nightlife, less polish.
Liverpool & Manchester
The Beatles, football's biggest rivalry, and real Northern music history.
Belfast & Northern Ireland
The Titanic's home port, a genuinely alien coastline, and an open land border.