spending a month in the UK and surrounding countries

When in London public transport would be best. There are tube (subway) stations near the tourist attractions (Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Tower of London, etc) and the service is good. Home | Transport for London

Depending on the out of town places you plan on visiting I'd say a rental is a good idea as some of the places could take a while to get to by public transport.

Hotels are available in your budget. Booking.com: 321,024 hotels worldwide. 21+ million hotel reviews.

For automobile stuff there's Beaulieu Museum, Coventry Motor Museum, probably a race meeting at one of the circuits, Ferrari club meet (PM me if you want details).

Riverside and country pubs for those beers and you'll find the time fly by.

 

Whenever we have people visiting and there are more people than we have room for, we usually book here for them:

Wimbledon Hotels - Book Cheap Hotels In Wimbledon London - Premier Inn

Always good feedback. Its near a tube station which the main thing. There are other Premier Inns all over the UK and they are pretty good.

Alternatively we have had people who wanted to be very central stay here:
Travelodge | London Covent Garden hotel – Central London hotels

Travelodge is another chain all over the UK.

 

There are websites where you can rent homes/cottages off the beaten path for very reasonable amounts vs. nice hotels. You get a kitchen and a real place with some privacy to use as a base to explore an area, but in the UK that would really require car rental.

Your trip sounds more like a Eurail pass special, from city to city.

 

For travelling London center get an Oyster card which is a touchless credit card style pass which you just load up with a bit of cash eg £10 or £20 which saves queuing etc. Use the tube to get everywhere or walk! Its faster than you think.

Good stuff off the top of my head - Buckingham Palace, London Eye, HMS Belfast, HMS Victory, Cutty Sark, Greenwich Observatory, London Transport Museum, Loads of West end theatres/shows, river cruise down the thames, tower of London, bank of england, the shard (tall tower) etc etc

Dublin - visit the Guinness storehouse or Jamesons whiskey distillery. Also, there is a "irish" place called Johnnie Fox's. Stephens Green Travelodge is good for a budget hotel and very near town centre.

GUINNESS STOREHOUSE® | Dublin Tours | Things to do in Dublin, Ireland

Jameson Whiskey Tours

Home - Johnnie Fox's - traditional irish pub, trad irish music, hooley show, seafood restaurant, famed as the highest pub in Ireland.

BTW Not sure you cab get a ferry from London to Dublin - get a flight with Ryanair (cheap nd cheerful) then use the Aircoach to get into Dublin city centre (€12 return).

 

you can get an oyster card at any tube station

 

The key, of course, is what kind of things you like to see. Architecture, history, pubs, clubs, countryside, people-spotting, shopping, cafes, motorsport... We've got it all, but in different places!

I live in the north of England and we have fabulous towns and countryside, but perhaps our attractions are not as well known. We also have some excellent towns with a strong pub / nightclub scene that can rival any party town! (eg: Newcastle Upon Tyne), but some gritty post-industrial areas.


The trouble with the north is that you spend 2 days travelling up and down from London; so perhaps the "home counties" are the best bet...?

Oxford - fine historic university town. Fine buildings, lively, smart.

Castle Combe - stunningly pretty little village with a motor-racing circuit just outside! [ Car Race Meetings at Castle Combe Circuit ]. There are many small towns and villages in a similar style to Castle Combe in this region (eg. Stow-on-the-Wold), everybody has their favourite.

Bath - another great place, full of history going back 1000yrs to the Romans. Plenty of cafes and nice place to be.

Stonehenge - Arguably it is just a group of big stones, but somebody put them there around 3000yrs ago!! Like the Egyptian pyramids, we're into a different league of history. Governments and politicians might think they are important, but this is already older than... and will last longer than any country we know today!


You could do a tour around this region in a couple of days... hope this gives you a couple of ideas.


David
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Look up the YMCA in Bramham Gardens, SW5. It's as good a hostel as you'll find.

Don't do Stonehenge, it's pico-interesting.

Drop me a PM when you're in town. If I'm around, I'll give you the one hour Fcar tour of central London.

 

Spend the big bucks and watch the Aussies go down flaming again!!

 

Hello
I also have to add my thanks! My wife and I, along with friends from Oz, will be touring over there for the month of September.
Barry

 

Hows the plan progressing - need any more tips or whatever ?

 

Around South Kensington there's a Lambo showroom with 2xFerrari nearby (Old Brompton Road & Cromwell Road) plus older cars in Reece Mews & The Anglesea Arms (Onslow Gardens) for a pint or two to recover from the price tags !

Enjoy the CAMRA Beer Festival !