My family is considering a trip either this year at Christmas or next June. We would be spending some time with friends in London over Christmas, but then we would like to travel around England and Scotland after.
We are from Michigan US, which has a cold winter climate but I’m unsure of how much we could see in this timeframe.
I’ve been a couple of times to England but only in the spring so I’m unsure which would be most ideal. It would be about 2 weeks total. If it were June it could be a bit more flexible with timeframe.
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I’m not sure it’d matter other than it’d be colder and less crowded in December. If there are specific tourist things you’d like to do you might want to check if they’re closed in December, lots of things close for a few weeks around christmas
I think spring is the best time to visit the uk but that’s not helpful so I won’t go into it.
I would lean winter for a couple of reasons: in summer the UK is hot, but not nice hot, it’s humid, muggy, (and Scotland can be very bad for this in addition to so many insects) and most houses, hotels and b&bs don’t have air conditioning. However the scenery is beautiful in summer.
In winter it’s less scenic as all the plants are dead and trees have no leaves and it never snows. But… there are always Christmas markets in all the cities, especially good ones in London and Edinburgh from my experience and it’s just a very jolly in winter. So much nicer to walk into a warm pub for a pint and food when it’s cold out than when it’s hot and humid everywhere with no respite from the heat.
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June is sometimes hot. Now 25° C might not sound like much, but we aren’t set up for it. Very few people have air con. Equally, it be cold a rainy.
December is guaranteed to be cold and miserable. It’s not so cold, but it’s damp. Just like we aren’t set up for heat, we aren’t set up for snow. We only get snow in the south once every few years, if there is heavy snow everything goes to shit. Scotland less so. Consider that over Christmas stuff shuts. From Christmas to new year much is closed and public transport is minimal.
Don’t be misled by looking at a map and thinking that something is a short distance. It’s very cramped here. Something might be a 3 hour drive, but that’s 3 hours of solid work.
Personally I think June would be better.
June.
I have my cousin and his wife over right now. They previously came out in December 2 years ago. The cousin had been here a few times but the wife had only had those two experiences, and she’s so stoked at England with good weather.
Lack of daylight hours is the worst part of the december option imo. If you’re into indoor stuff like museums and theatre etc you might not care but if you’re wanting to be out and about it’s a bit shit when you find the light fading at half 3
I’d recommend June. Especially in Scotland, December can be cold, wet, the days are short, and many sights close early, but the Christmas markets are nice. June has better weather (and usually not too hot and gross yet), longer days, things are open later, and if you go earlier in the month, the midges won’t be too bad in most of Scotland.
December is quieter and cheaper.
But it really depends what your plans are. If you’re wanting to do a lot of indoor activities E.g. museums and art galleries then December will be fine. But if you want to do outdoor activities and see the countryside then it really needs to be June.
Daylight in June is roughly 4.30am to 9.30pm. In December, it’s close to 8am till 4pm and some tourist attractions change the visiting hours throughout the year due to changes in demand so these factors should also be considered.
If you come in the winter be prepared to have an hour or so less midwinter light than you’re used to, so that’s not going to give you a lot of driving time. Generally the weather’s drivable, you don’t have to worry too much about snow until mid-late January normally unless you’re going into the highlands.
The UK is quite bleak in December with the short grey days and all the barren vegetation.
Meanwhile June is usually always good weather and all the lush vegetation the UK is known for is out in full force.
June, easily.
December has 7 hours of daylight in London, 6 or even 5 in Scotland. Eating outside, anything other than a short walk, are often unpleasant in December.
Some tourist attractions may be closed for the winter in December.
Our winters are less cold than they are grey, windy and wet. You may get a snowy or frosty snap, but it’s more likely to be 4C (40F), windy and raining. Any rural paths will be muddy.
June can be a bit hot, but it is usually both drier and cooler than July/August, and by most international standards our heat is pretty mild. It is not the school holidays so sites are generally not too busy.
London at Christmas is going to be like New York at Christmas. Beautiful, but ***incredibly*** busy and expensive.
The cold won’t bother you, being from Michigan. Coldest it gets here usually is 14f. It was almost 0f last year but that’s very rare.
The heat might, as we don’t have any air-con in houses, and last year it was 90-100f for a few weeks. It’s already hit 85f this year we’re only 3 weeks into Summer. They would have it in hotel rooms though.
Summer would be a lot cheaper though, as long as it wasn’t the last two weeks in July, or August. That’s when our children have their summer break from school, and everything is a lot more expensive during that time as we get fined for taking them on vacation during term time.
Definitely June. December isn’t easy for travelling around and seeing stuff. Lots of things closed over the winter. Hard to just walk into restaurants and eat because of office Christmas parties booking places up. Short days so you won’t actually see much and probably fairly miserable weather.
M