<p>We enjoyed a similar trip to scmom12’s. Loved Edinburgh and York.</p>
<p>I don’t think you have enough time to visit Paris. You may want to save it for another time. There’s so much to see/do in and around London. Also recommend Bath and Stratford-Upon-Avon.</p>
<p>Well of course you could spend months just in London. I would vote for Paris, an overnight, over Edinburgh. The little markets and big sights (Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, etc) are well worth it. Having coffee or lunch in a little cafe and watching the world go by - priceless!</p>
<p>We found hamburgers and salads on every menu, in England and Paris. I have two picky eaters too but it didn’t turn out to be a problem at all.</p>
<p>We had our best two meals in Edinburgh, one a beautiful restaurant called The Dome, and the other an Italian restaurant, both recommended by our bed and breakfast hostess.</p>
<p>I’ve ridden on the ‘Chunnel’ before although I only rode it from London to Calais (and back) where I was seemingly about the only tourist getting off there. From there I rented a car and drove up to Brugge Belgium for the night. Make sure you check out the costs of the Chunnel (Eurostar) train so you have a good idea of what this Paris day, or hopefully overnight, trip will cost you. It’s expensive.</p>
<p>Since you want to see another country and might not get another chance, go do the trip to Paris. Especially if you stay the night, you can actually see quite a few of the tourist sights in that time frame so it’s worth it IMO even for the short duration. The same is true with London - you can see most of the major tourist sights in a couple of days. If you’re into sitting at sidewalk cafes sipping coffee for hours (I’m not) or lots of shopping (I’m not) then of course that would add a lot of time.</p>
<p>The UK is quite veggie friendly - vegetarians are very common, everywhere has at least one vegetarian thing on the menu, and food in supermarkets is always labelled as ‘suitable for vegetarians’ if it is. Veganism can be a bit more tricky though. The food that you can find here is more likely to be foreign than traditionally British, invariably brought here by migrants. Hence, curry is the (unofficial) national dish rather than roast beef, and pasta is a national staple. </p>
<p>However, I do think that traditional British food has an unfair reputation abroad, probably stemming from the Second World War when US soldiers were stationed here, and probably didn’t appreciate the effect that food rationing had on the ability to cook well! I’m rather partial to this company’s pies, and they have several shops across London [Pieminister™[/url</a>] </p>
<p>Your Ds may enjoy a trip to a pub. The traditional meeting place in Britain, much like a coffee shop is in the US. The particular bonus of this is that they are both (just) able to drink here, which I’m sure will have novelty value! The 18yo can order as she pleases, and the younger one can have a glass of beer / wine / cider with a meal, if ordered by an adult, though it should be noted that not all pubs are entirely au fait with the law and will only serve those aged 18+. Please, however, avoid the restaurant tourist traps. Look for places away from the main tourist areas, where locals are eating, and read reviews online before you set foot anywhere. Some places are god-awful tourist traps. </p>
<p>I’d definitely suggest getting out of London - it’s not the ‘real England’ that you might like to see. If you like rural things, then consider visiting a National Park. Bath is a good suggestion - not too far away, very picturesque, and enough to keep you occupied for a day. Have a look at the Roman Baths (yes, they really are Roman), Bath Abbey, Royal Crescent, Jane Austen Museum and Pulteney Bridge. However, it’s full of tourists in the summer! </p>
<p>Don’t even think about using a car in London. The congestion (and the congestion charge) means that it’s just not worth it. Use the Underground (commonly called the Tube, and what people from the US call a subway) instead. </p>
<p>If you’re planning on using the train a lot, then it may be worth getting a 16-25 railcard for your daughters. They are £28 each and give a third off rail travel, so clearly there is a break even point. Make sure you book in advance through [url=<a href=“http://www.nationalrail.co.uk%5DNational”>http://www.nationalrail.co.uk]National</a> Rail Enquiries - Official source for UK train times and timetables](<a href=“http://www.pieminister.co.uk/eat-at/shops/]Pieminister™[/url”>Merch & Gifting | Products | Pieminister) </p>
<p>Common things for people to want to see in London include
<p>If you wanted to go a bit off the beaten track, then you could consider going somewhere like Brick Lane. Lots of curry houses, a market, Banksy graffiti and a lot of art / fashion stuff mean that it was worth a wander when I last visited several years ago.</p>
<p>OP: We did both Edinburgh & Paris last summer. It was about 6 hrs (one way) by train from London to Edinburgh. Eurostar train was 2.5 hours travel time, plus allowing 45 min prior to departure on each end of trip for security & customs. If you try to visit both cities in the same trip, you will spend a lot of time on a train.</p>
<p>my kids and I visited older s living in London, we also had 8 days, and decided to do the day trip to Paris, got to see the Eiffel tower, the Louvre and the Bateaux Mouches Seine river boat ride. We enjoyed the day there very much. You leave early in the morning so you end up having a full day in Paris.</p>
<p>Restaurants in London are as eclectic as any major U.S. city, every ethnic food available as well as all the American favs. Not like it used to be. Enjoy!</p>
<p>This bring s back memories of visiting Scottish family for the first time age 16. My favorite London memories were The Tower, the Crown jewels, walking through Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court and Windsor Castle. Being from the American West, Hampstead Heath thrilled me no end. I loved drinking shandy in a pub, purchased by my grandmother, no less! </p>
<p>On later visits as a vegetarian, I always went for the wonderful Indian food, and it was everywhere. Know that British vegetarian, at least a few decades ago, was different from American, more nut loafs, items that mimicked meat. Some pub food will be appealing, if the names unfamiliar.</p>
<p>Examples of decent chain restaurants with lots of veggie options that you will find in ANY UK city:</p>
<ul>
<li>Pizza Express</li>
<li>Ask Italian</li>
<li>Strada (Italian)</li>
<li>Gourmet Burger Kitchen</li>
<li>Prezzo (Italian)</li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve done Paris in a day from London, and honestly I’d not recommend it, for the simple reason that although my train back to London wasn’t until 7pm, by 4pm I was absolutely done walking around and ended up just sitting in Gare du Nord waiting for my train. I was exhausted! Take an overnight, even if it’s just so you don’t have to leave London at the crack of dawn.</p>
<p>Edinburgh, also, needs an overnight. It simply isn’t possible to get there and back in a day if you actually want to see anything. You could consider making stops along the way, for instance travelling to York/the Peak District/the Lake District on the first day, then staying overnight there then travelling on to Edinburgh the next morning. It would give you a chance to see some other things, and would ease up on the heavy travelling.</p>
<p>^ Pizza Express is my picky eater’s favorite chain restaurant. It’s actually not bad pizza. Also, when we are in the UK, we tend to pick up sandwiches for lunch - Pret a Manger or any grocery store (Tesco, Sainsbury, etc) have great selections. And anyway, my kids live on English chocolate the whole time we’re there!</p>
<p>The castle where Harry Potter was filmed I think is in Alnwick. That is nearly as far from London as Edinburgh! To get there you need to get the train from London to Alnmouth (5 hours ish). A few of the London to Edinburgh trains might stop there. Otherwise you would need to change, probably at York (the trains to Edinburgh do go through York mostly. Someone asked that question earlier. There is a longer west coast route via Glasgow that doesn’t, but you want the east coast one).</p>
<p>Once at Alnmouth (village in the wilds of Northumberland. Not much there) you would need to get a bus or taxi to Alnwick, which is not very far. I doubt you could rent a car in Alnmouth (you could get off the train in Newcastle and rent one though. This might be the only sensible option for doing this trip in one day).</p>
<p>Have you thought about visiting the Harry Potter studios instead? Only half an hour outside of London (Leavensden).</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, I used to stay in a village about 10 minutes from Alnmouth every summer - it’s absolutely fantastic up there. Alnwick castle was the setting for the first Quidditch lesson in the first HP film. Newcastle is also a really great city.</p>
<p>
It can be done in a very long day … but it involves catching part of your sleep on the train … not a great set-up but doable.</p>
<p>I’d suggest Paris, but stay the night. Definitely don’t do both. You’ll be spending all your time traveling, instead of enjoying. </p>
<p>We took a 10 day London trip (2 days of flying, 8 days of UK travel), and that filled up very quickly! We spent about 4 days in London, one day by train to/from/in York (loved it), and 3 days driving to/from/in Windsor,Stonehenge, Bath,Cotswalds (loved it).</p>
<p>We went by train to York VERY early, and returned VERY late the same day. The trip across UK countryside is nice. Coming back, it was dark, but we were so exhausted, that worked well too. Both York and Bath have tours led by local volunteers that were incredible (and totally free – wouldn’t even accept a donation for their group or favorite charity!!!). York gets very crowded with tourists during the day, but after 4pm all the busses leave, the shops close, and you can wander the virtually empty streets. </p>
<p>Bath can also be very crowded during the day. We stayed at a B&B just up the hill, technically in a different city, but totally walkable. Driving through the Cotswalds was fun. We also saw Stonehenge after 4pm which was perfect timing, as all the tour busses were gone for the day. Driving on the “wrong” side of the road? Priceless!</p>
<p>Enjoy! If you want any specifics on places we visited, ate, or slept, send a PM.</p>
<p>A native of Bath I’m biased - but I agree with everything said about exploring Bath, York, Cotswolds, Salisbury and anywhere easily reachable from London. The free local guiding service in Bath is good. There is so much that you will be doing some heavy weeding out.
The Edinburgh rail service can be very fast, and cheap if tickets are bought well in advance, check on line for this.
If you decide on Paris you may be interested in their other art galleries. The main ones cover different periods and are fascinating and there are smaller ones as well.Montmartre has always been a favourite despite being totally over run by tourists. It even has a small vineyard.
Hope you enjoy a fantastic trip.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for all of the advice. We’re going to sit down this weekend and try to iron out details using all of the input here. My 18 year old is adding things every day (Palace of Versailles and London Zoo today, Stonehenge and Oxford yesterday). There’s just so much to see and do. I guess it’s like someone visiting the US and wanting to see New York City, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas in one week. Some things are just not feasible.</p>
<p>Thanks again!!!</p>
<p>I’d do Paris over Edinburgh, and I love Scotland. Save it for another trip! But I can’t imagine trying to squeeze Paris in such a short trip - there’s so much worthwhile stuff within a day of London. My personal favorites:</p>
<p>Stonehenge
Salisbury Cathedral
Bath
Hadrian’s Wall (actually hiking this is on my wish list)
Hampton Court (including the maze)
Brighton
Oxford - and especially Blenheim Castle (home of the first Churchills and a gorgeous garden in the natural style)</p>
<p>My absolute favorite place to go in London that most people don’t know about is Sir John Soane’s house: <a href=“https://www.soane.org/[/url]”>Home | Sir John Soane's Museum;
<p>Hadrian’s wall is not really a day trip from London. The route to get there would be similar to Alnwick castle above. Hire car from Newcastle, drive to wall, and then go straight back again due to lack of time. There is plenty of Hadrian’s wall stuff in the British Museum in London though.</p>
<p>It is about 2hours travel time each way from London to Stonehenge. Seeing the stones only takes about half an hour max. Many people are underwhelmed by this. You can’tget that close to the stones either. It’s only worth it if you are really into prehistoric sights. The easiest way to get to Stonehenge is on a bus tour.</p>
<p>Bath is much closer to Stonehenge than London, so you could do the trip from there. Or go to Avebury, which is very close to Stonehenge and has massive stones but very few tourists. Just you and the sheep (and the occassional Druid). There is also a pub in the middle of the circle!</p>
<p>I am actually not sure what is going on round Stonehenge at the moment because I drive past there all the time and there is some kind of re-wilding project going on. Eventually the the road is getting diverted, the visitors centre is going underground and it is supposed to look like it did originally, just the stones on the plain. Need to tell the army to move the tanks though. There is still a firing range right by it.</p>
<p>Lots of great ideas! Second the Hampton court maze</p>
<p>It all depends how busy one wants to be in 8 days. I think Edinburgh is beautiful and would recommend an overnight. I might be in the minority but I prefer edinburgh, bath, Windsor, Salisbury, over Paris. </p>
<p>Maybe choose a theme. One time we went and our theme was mazes. There are quite a few there. Another time it was museums</p>
<p>It is hard for me to visit London and not immerse myself in all the plays and great Indian food!</p>
<p>When we visited London in the winter we did multiple museums, as you probably know they are all free, and excellent. We also went to three plays, and did a Beatles “walk” which was a lot of fun. we had planned on doing the Harry Potter walk as well but the weather didn’t cooperate that day…</p>