How many days do you need in the United Kingdom?
Seven days. That is the length of the itinerary we built for the United Kingdom, across London and Edinburgh.
Here is what each day holds. Every stop below carries its time, and every gap says how to get to the next stop, with the walk or drive time wherever both stops are mapped.
United Kingdom · 7 days London → Edinburgh
Best time: May–June and September: long daylight, gardens at their best, and manageable crowds.
London: Tower of LondonDay 1
🏛️9:00 AMTower of London
A working 950-year-old fortress holding the Crown Jewels, guarded by Yeoman Warders whose free tours are the best history lesson in Britain. Book the first entry and go straight to the Jewels before the lines form.
🚗 ~8 min · 2.3 mi
🖼️1:30 PMBritish Museum
The Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon Sculptures, and two million years of human things, free. A long renovation of the Western Range is beginning, so some galleries close in phases with star objects redisplayed elsewhere in the building; the Great Court alone is worth the walk in.
🚶 ~27 min · 🚗 ~4 min · 1.0 mi
🌆6:00 PMSouth Bank
The riverside walk from the London Eye past the National Theatre and Tate Modern to Borough, street performers, book stalls under Waterloo Bridge, and the best free skyline views in town.
London: WestminsterDay 2
🏛️9:00 AMWestminster
Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey, the coronation church since 1066, with Newton, Darwin, and Dickens in the floor. Cross Westminster Bridge at dawn for the classic view.
🚶 ~48 min · 🚗 ~6 min · 1.8 mi
🥾1:30 PMHyde Park and Kensington Gardens
The royal parks’ green mile, the Serpentine lake, Speakers’ Corner on Sundays, and Kensington Palace at the far end. Rent a deckchair and do as Londoners do: nothing.
🚶 ~43 min · 🚗 ~6 min · 1.6 mi
🎟️6:00 PMWest End show
London theater is the best in the world and cheaper than Broadway, same-day rush tickets and the Leicester Square booths make it easy. Build one evening around a show; pre-theater dinner menus are a London institution.
London: Buckingham PalaceDay 3
🏛️9:00 AMBuckingham Palace
The monarchy’s headquarters, time your visit to Changing of the Guard (check the schedule; it is not daily year-round) and walk the Mall through St James’s Park to get there like a state guest.
🚶 ~21 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 0.8 mi
🖼️1:30 PMNational Gallery
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Turner’s seas, and seven centuries of European painting on Trafalgar Square: free, and compact enough to hit ten masterpieces in ninety minutes.
🚶 ~7 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.3 mi
🌆6:00 PMSoho and Covent Garden
The West End’s beating heart: theaters, record shops, Chinatown’s lanterns, and the covered piazza where street opera singers work the crowd.
London: Borough MarketDay 4
🏛️9:00 AMBorough Market
A thousand years of food trading under Victorian ironwork by London Bridge: cheesemongers, oyster stalls, and the raclette line. Go hungry and before noon; the market is closed Mondays.
🚗 ~17 min · 4.9 mi
🥾1:30 PMHampstead Heath
Wild heathland inside the city with swimming ponds and, from Parliament Hill, the whole skyline framed at a distance, the view protected by law.
🚗 ~15 min · 4.3 mi
🎟️6:00 PMHistoric pub walk
The city’s real museums serve beer, coaching inns, gin-palace mirrors, and rooms where Dickens drank. A guided evening walk through the City or along the river strings the best of them together.
Arrive in EdinburghDay 5
🚄8:30 AMTrain to Edinburgh
London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley in about 4h20 on the East Coast Main Line, the fastest services do it in just over four hours. Sit on the right heading north: the line runs along the North Sea cliffs after Newcastle, and the Berwick coastal stretch is the finest urban approach in Britain.
🚄 ~4h20 · 332 mi
🏛️2:00 PMEdinburgh Castle
A fortress on a volcanic crag that has anchored Scottish history for nine centuries, the Scottish crown jewels, tiny 12th-century St Margaret’s Chapel, and the One O’Clock Gun that makes half the esplanade jump. Book online ahead.
🚶 ~13 min · 🚗 ~2 min · 0.5 mi
🌆6:00 PMOld Town and the Royal Mile
The medieval spine from castle to palace, ribbed with closes, narrow alleys that drop away on either side. Duck into them: the courtyards, not the tartan shops, are the real Old Town.
Edinburgh: Palace of HolyroodhouseDay 6
🏛️9:00 AMPalace of Holyroodhouse
The monarch’s official Scottish residence at the foot of the Royal Mile, Mary, Queen of Scots’ chambers, a ruined 12th-century abbey out back, and Arthur’s Seat filling the windows.
🚶 ~22 min · 🚗 ~3 min · 0.8 mi
🖼️1:30 PMNational Museum of Scotland
Scotland’s attic under a Victorian glass atrium, Dolly the cloned sheep, the Lewis chessmen, and a free rooftop terrace with a castle view most visitors never find.
🚶 ~5 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.2 mi
🎟️6:00 PMGhost and underground vaults tour
Edinburgh’s buried streets and 18th-century vaults come with plague history and theatrical dread, an after-dark walk here is the city’s signature evening out, equal parts history and goosebumps.
Edinburgh: St Giles’ CathedralDay 7
🏛️9:00 AMSt Giles’ Cathedral
The High Kirk of Scotland midway down the Mile, its crown spire the skyline’s signature, step in for the carved Thistle Chapel, a Gothic jewel box the size of a living room.
🚶 ~32 min · 🚗 ~4 min · 1.2 mi
🥾1:30 PMArthur’s Seat
An extinct volcano in the middle of the city, a steady 45-minute climb to a summit with the castle, the Forth, and the Highlands on the horizon. Pick a clear window in the weather and bring a windproof layer.
🚶 ~40 min · 🚗 ~5 min · 1.5 mi
🌆6:00 PMNew Town
Georgian order answering medieval chaos, elegant crescents, George Street shopping, and Stockbridge’s village feel with its Sunday market down the hill.
This is how Petrel lays out a trip. Upload your own confirmations and it builds this for your dates: flights and hotels included, with live flight status and the travel time between stops.
This is one of 126 free itineraries. Open it, change anything you want, and it becomes your trip.