when to visit UK About This Page:

[christiejay]

My sister-in-law has been talking about visiting the United Kingdom for years, and finally she is ready to start planning a trip. She has already cashed in her vacation days to have some money specifically set aside for the trip, and she has started researching various tours to see what is available. She's hoping to go in 2007. She's looking at a 21-day trip that covers England, Ireland and Scotland, I think through Globus.

Her question is, what is the best time of year to visit? As you know if you read my trip report, she doesn't like to travel during the hottest time of year. She's looking for temps in the 70's or 80's, but also a time that doesn't get too much rain either.

Any ideas on when to go, and is Globus a good company to go with, or are there other options she should look into?

Thanks for your help, I'll pass along any ideas you may have.

[jimmymac]

I prefer early September

[2princessmom]

I have been in the summer and the temps weren't too bad. London was the hottest. I have been in May and that was a great time.

I never did a tour but I would recommend Rick Steves. He has books that you can buy to tour on your own. He also runs tours as well. If I hadn't done a teacher exchange I would have done one of his tours.

The nice thing though is that the UK is a wonderful place to visit on your own. That way you can see what you want and stay as long as you want in each place. If I could find a way to live over there I would!

[chezp]

It's rare that we go much over the 80's, although the exception to that was 2003, when we had temperatures over 100! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] August is likely to be the hottest month and usually, as I say, we get temperatures in the 80's, but if she doesn't want hotter than that, then it might be worth avoiding that.

I think the weather in June and September is very nice - still warm and not usually too much rain, although you never can tell from one year to the next with our country. We've had exceptionally dry weather for the last 15 months and are likely to have a drought this summer. Whether it'll make up for it with lots more rain than average in 2007, who knows? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[christiejay]

Thanks, everyone! I'll pass that along to Melanie. Her (and Jay's) mother was her traveling buddy, and would have gladly gone with her anywhere in Europe, but she passed away a couple of years ago. So she'll be on her on for the trip, which is why she's trying to book a tour. That way she can see of the area without having to make all the arrangements herself and be by herself the whole time.

So it looks like May/June or September would be her best bet. Once she settles on what dates work best for her, then she can move on to picking a tour and getting a passport. She's going to be so excited I don't know if I'll be able to stand it!