Agree it’s a great walking destination, with lots of nice pubs and B&Bs. But I’ve just been looking at our itinerary for the Coast to Coast hike next spring and realized the first two days in the Lake District are each 15 miles and 3000ft of climbing. Need to get fit before then…
We did a big driving tour of Scotland in 2016. Loved driving in the highlands and on the smaller roads. Did not drive to Scotland (took the train from London to Edinburgh) and did not drive in Edinburgh or Glasgow. We went from Edinburgh to Inverness to John O’ Groats to Gills Bay to Orkney (Kirkwall) back to Torridon and the Bealach Na Bà at Applecross and over the bridge to Skye then back to Mallaig on the ferry then to Fort William then to Glasgow where we dropped the car.
We were there in June and loved the long days. May would be great if you can swing it, but if you think you’ll be going back in June then you might like to space it out more. I would try to avoid bank holidays and school holidays. Really like June for that reason. All the Scottish and British kids are still in school then.
I don’t know if you’ve done much rail travel in the UK before, so forgive me if this is stuff you already know.
For trains you can look at the National Rail website and it will give you all the different rail providers info. https://www.nationalrail.co.uk
You can get a railcard that may provide a discount. There are Two Together Railcards that might work for the journeys that you do together and if y’all are 60 or over you could do a Senior Railcard.
Also buy the type of ticket that is called “Advance” for the best rate. This is not the same as buying a ticket in advance. For example if I buy a ticket from London KGX on LNER to Edinburgh for Nov 1 it is £101.70. If I buy one for Dec 19th I can find one for £55. Sometimes, at least in the past, they would have tickets farther out that would be more expensive again. The Man In Seat 61 is a good website all about rail travel in the UK and Europe and more.
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We enjoyed Glasgow much more than we thought we would. The area in the west side of town is lovely: Kelvingrove Park, Kelvingrove Museum, and the University of Glasgow–don’t miss the cloisters if you’re a Harry Potter fan!
Here to echo the reccomendaton for The Man in Seat 61 - we traveled from Edinburgh up north, down again, through Wales, England, and flew out of London. They’re comfortable, on time, fast, and convenient.
Also, if you’re ever in Wales, the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway is absolutely gorgeous and the most picturesque landscapes go by your windows as you’re traveling to and from these wonderful villages. We were there in June a few years ago and it was magical, uncrowded, and off the tourist track.
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I loved Stirling, which I have not seen mentioned yet. See the Castle, but also wander the city, and not as crowded as Edinburgh.
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Oh and if you’re a foodie try to hit Lucknam Park. The restaurant requires fairly far advanced booking, but the brasserie is an easier get.
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I spent a month in Wales a long time ago and loved every minute of it. On the return to visit list, but not this trip - added your reco to my travel file. Thank you 
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Spent a week in Scotland in August of 2015 - to coincide with the Fringe in Edinburgh since S was in a show. We attended the show, saw the Royal Tattoo in Edinburgh at the castle - just amazing. We had visited the castle and toured inside on a previous visit.
We went to Cairngorms National Park and then to the highlands. Beautiful drive! Lovely waterfalls/hiking. Went up to Inverness, Dunmore, Aviemore before heading back down to Edinburgh. Just beautiful and relaxing. We couldn’t visit the Isle of Skye - that’s on the bucket list for another trip to Scotland.
We’d been to Glasgow on our previous trip, visited the castles near there too. Kids love remembering the wedding photo shoot that was happening in the castle while we were there - almost as much as they remember rolling down the hills there! Lovely memories…
The Oxford parking hack is the Pear Tree Park & Ride.
I just came back from some of these places. In the beginning of my trip, I stayed in Paddington and took the train one day to Oxford, and that was my favorite day of the trip. I visited the Ashmolean Museum, had a nice lunch, took a University walking tour that was very charming. Later in the week a friend joined me and we took the train from Paddington to Bath, very easy. I loved Bath, it was so nice after the busy-ness of London, just lovely. We did not have a car, but it is really walkable. We did the hop on, hop off bus tour and that was really fun and helped us get oriented. We visited the Roman baths, did the big hike on the outskirts of town, went to the theater, had some nice meals. A very fun weekend place. One note - Bath was hopping on the Saturday night but Sunday very quiet and many of the restaurants were closed completely or closed by 7. On the Sunday we took a tour in a van (Mad Max - Max is a dog, it was very chill) to Stonehenge & the Cotswold and that was surprisingly wonderful. It was nice, after a week of finding my way around, to not have to worry about directions. Also, the whole trip I was so happy not to be driving. And then we took the bus back from Bath to Heathrowe and it was very comfortable, no issues at all. Lastly - cobblestones everywhere so don’t bother to pack any shoes that are not super comfy.
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If you do the Ashmolean in Oxford, definitely worth a trip to the other end of Beaumont Street to see the gardens at Worcester College. I know that I’m biased since my son went there, but their gardens are fabulous. The Worcester College Gardener instagram account will give you a sample of what you have in store. Plus the Worcester quad was voted the best lawn in England, which according to them makes, it the best lawn in the world.
I’d agree with the weather comments above. We were there in early June and it was quite cool and sometimes rainy.
Not mentioned yet was Balmoral, near Ballater, Scotland. The public is able to tour the grounds which are very beautiful along the River Dee and one large room in the castle.
One rainy morning we visited the museum at Culloden which turned out to be very interesting with good interpreters explaining the significance of the Jacobite movement and the consequences.
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That reminds me of this story about Balmoral:
Years ago my parents drove us from London to Edinburgh. We went via Salisbury/Stonehenge, Bath, Wales, and Lake Windemere. Spending a a couple of days at most of those stops.
More recently, but still a while a go now my husband had periodic conferences in Glasgow and we would then take another week or so driving around. I refused to drive, but my husband didn’t mind. I mostly remember the one lane roads where you had to pull over, or back up to the nearest pull out. Fun! One trip involved Mull and Iona up to Fort William and up Loch Ness and back to Glasgow. The second trip we drove to Loch Lomand, Skye, then way up to John O’Groats (puffins!) and took the ferry to Orkney which we loved (stone circles, Viking graffiti and beautiful landscape. I love Glasgow, good museums and an incredible collection of building by Charles Rennie Macintosh, though sadly the Art School was destroyed by fire.
We managed to hit heat waves for both our trips which were in August. We just came back from a trip to northern England and had read that October is one of the rainiest months in Scotland and northern England, but we had almost no rain at all. Still Skye is all outdoor walking so I’d heed the weather warnings.
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We had to pull over for sheep in the Highlands . Can still picture the very old shepherd and the sheep decades later. Loved Orkney.
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