London and Edinburgh
8 DAYS
London 3 • Edinburgh 3
Basic Inclusions
Accommodations
Accommodations in centrally-located three-star or four-star hotels. Rooming on a triple basis. Double rooms: $50 per night, per person.
Meals
All breakfasts. All dinners.
Transportation
Round-trip transportation on scheduled airline. All public transportation tickets included where applicable.
Guide
Services of a specially-trained passports Tour Director throughout. All tips are included in the Program Cost. Whisper headsets included.
Travel Protection
Passports provides and pays for a Post Departure Travel Protection Plan that includes coverage for Trip Interruption, Trip Delay, Medical Expense and Evacuation and more.
Tour Summary
Itinerary Includes
Unlimited public transportation
Days 1-2: Arrival London
Arrival transfer
Day 3: London
London City Sightseeing: Local guide
Day 4: London
Optional Excursion to Windsor Castle (by train): Round-trip train London-Windsor Central
Day 5: London - Edinburgh
Departure transfer, Fast train London-Edinburgh, Arrival transfer
Ghost Walking Tour
Day 6: Edinburgh
Half-day city sightseeing: Local Guide, Visit to Edinburgh Castle
Visit to the Palace of Holyroodhouse
Day 7: Edinburgh
Optional Excursion to Roslin: Visit to Rosslyn Chapel
Day 8: Departure
Departure transfer
UNPARALLELED STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
Detailed Itinerary
Days 1-2: Arrival
You head east, into a short night, and suddenly it's morning, and you're in England. Londontown: the hub and focus for theatergoers worldwide!
Settle into your hotel, then venture into your surroundings. Red, double-decker buses groan along the "wrong" side of the road, escorted by innumerable black taxicabs with engines that sound like sewing machines.
Overnight: London
Day 3: London City Sightseeing
Enjoy a tour of the sights and sounds of the British capital. See such sights as St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Kensington, and Trafalgar Square.
A certified local guide will accompany your group today.
The afternoon is unscheduled.
Consider a visit to the Tower of London to view Traitors' Gate, the Bloody Tower, the Block (where two of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives lost their heads), the White Tower and the Crown Jewels. If you choose to follow one of the Beefeaters, you'll also be able to visit the Royal Chapel.
Overnight: London
Day 4: London, Optional Excursion to Windsor
Enjoy some free time in London today.
Make plans with your tour director.
A forty-minute ride aboard a commuter train will take you from London to the town of Windsor, which has been the location of royal residences for almost a thousand years, ever since William the Conqueror settled there in 1070.
A visit to Windsor Castle includes the State Apartments, Queen Mary's Dolls' House (a palace-within-a-palace with functioning lights, running water and Lilliputian-size books written by famous authors of the 1920s) and St. George's Chapel, one of the country's finest churches in the typically English style known as Perpendicular Gothic.
Overnight: London
Day 5: Train to Edinburgh, Ghost Walking Tour
Today, use the fast rail connection from London's King's Cross Station to Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city.
Welcome to Scotland. There'll be time to start exploring Edinburgh, birthplace of Sir Walter Scott, Alexander Graham Bell, David Hume, James Boswell, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Scottish national poet Robert Burns, who called it home for several years.
Tonight, a guided ghost tour through Auld Reekie's atmospheric streets and wynds will send shivers down your spine.
Overnight: Edinburgh
Day 6: Edinburgh City Sightseeing, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh
Enjoy a coach tour along the ancient Royal Mile, through the narrow alleys of the city's medieval Old Town and into the 18th-century New Town. See the extinct volcano, Arthur's Seat, which looms over the city.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Edinburgh, will accompany your group.
Visit the fortress which defines Edinburgh's skyline from its high-perched location on the granite core of an extinct volcano. This castle shelters the Scottish Crown and Regalia, and the Stone of Destiny, returned to Scotland in 1996 after a 700-year stay at Westminster Abbey. Within its walls stand several buildings, including the Palace where Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to King James I of England in 1566 and St. Margaret's Chapel, built in 1130 to honor the pious wife of King Malcolm III.
You will visit the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the monarch's official residence in Scotland.
As you tour the Royal Apartments, rebuilt in the 17th century, you will hear about Mary Queen of Scots, who resided in the palace in the 16th century, as did Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745.
If visiting the Palace between April and October, you may join a free guided tour of Holyrood Abbey, an Augustinian Abbey now in ruins which was founded in 1128 and named after a relic of the True Cross (Holy Cross) also called Holy Rood, or Black Rood.
Holyrood Palace and Abbey are located near Holyrood Park, the largest park in Edinburgh, which includes meadows, a lake and rocky crags, notably the ancient volcano known as Arthur's Seat.
The afternoon is unscheduled.
Museums include the Royal Museum of Scotland and the National Gallery of Scotland.
Overnight: Edinburgh
Day 7: Edinburgh, Optional Excursion to Roslin
Enjoy some free time in Edinburgh today and check out some of the wonderful museums and tourist attractions.
Lovers of nature and beauty may want to make their way to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, which is a free-of-charge feast for the eyes with its seventy acres of landscaped gardens. Its glasshouses, filled with exotic plants, can be visited for a fee.
Set out for the small town of Roslin, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, which has two claims to fame: its unique Chapel and the National Institute of Bioscience where the first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep, was born in 1996.
Enter the enigmatic sanctuary that figures prominently in Dan Brown's 2003 best-seller, The Da Vinci Code, and the 2006 blockbuster film inspired by the novel. Officially called the Collegiate Church of St. Matthew, the chapel dates back to 1446 and is regarded as an outstanding example of stone carving. Mysteries and legends represented in its stones attract a large number of visitors since the site has been linked to the Holy Grail, the Holyrood relic, buried treasures, ley lines, earth energy, medieval Knights Templar, Freemasonry, and more!
Overnight: Edinburgh
Day 8: Departure
Most good things must come to an end. Your suitcase full of memorabilia and of photos ready to be processed, you'll arrive home later today, eager to share your discoveries with family and friends.
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London City Sightseeing
London, England
Optional Excursion to Windsor Castle
Edinburgh City Sightseeing
Edinburgh Castle
Palace of Holyroodhouse
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