Stephen Brewer - Frommers England and Scotland

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ISBN 978-1-62887-206-4 (paper), 978-1-62887-207-1 (e-book)

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AN IMPORTANT NOTE

The world is a dynamic place. Hotels change ownership, restaurants hike their prices, museums alter their opening hours, and busses and trains change their routings. And all of this can occur in the several months after our authors have visited, inspected, and written about these hotels, restaurants, museums and transportation services. Though we have made valiant efforts to keep all our information fresh and up-to-date, some few changes can inevitably occur in the periods before a revised edition of this guidebook is published. So please bear with us if a tiny number of the details in this book have changed. Please also note that we have no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracy or errors or omissions, or for inconvenience, loss, damage, or expenses suffered by anyone as a result of assertions in this guide.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Stephen Brewer has been writing travel articles and guides for almost three decades. He frequently writes about England, Germany, and Italy for Frommers.

Jason Cochran is a two-time winner of Guide Book of the Year by the Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. He is the author of Frommers EasyGuide to London and Frommers EasyGuide to Disney World, Universal, and Orlando. His writing appears in publications including Travel + Leisure, the New York Post, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, and Budget Travel, and he has been a regular commentator on, among others, CBS This Morning, The Early Show (CBS), BBC World, Good Morning America, and CNN. He is the former Executive Editor of AOL Travel and the current editor-in-chief of Frommers.com.

Joe Fullman has been a travel writer for more than 15 years, during which time he has written for most of the major guidebook publishers, including Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, Cadogan, AA and, of course, Frommers. He is the author of guides to London, England, Berlin, Venice, Las Vegas, Costa Rica, Belize and Seville and has contributed to guides to Paris, Italy, Turkey, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Lucy Gillmore was the deputy travel editor at The Independent newspaper but after eight years on the travel desk, left London to move to Scotland. She specializes in travel and food and writes for newspapers such as The Guardian, The Independent and The Times and magazines including Food and Travel, Olive, House & Garden and Conde Nast Traveller. After a couple of years in Edinburgh she headed even further north and now lives in the hills above Loch Ness in the Highlands.

Donald Strachan is a Scottish travel writer and journalist who has lived most of his life down south in England. He has written about the country, and wider European travel, for publications all over the world including the Guardian, CNN.com, National Geographic Traveller, and Sydney Morning Herald. Over the last decade, he has authored or co-authored several guides for Frommers, including Great Britain Day by Day and Frommers Italy.

The Elizabeth Tower of the Palace of Westminster (Big Ben), with the London Eye.

W here to begin your journey through the two major countries of the United Kingdom? In these pages, we share the best of the best: the things we love, and that we think you will, too. From the teeming streets of cosmopolitan London to a far-flung, unspoiled green and pleasant land that hasnt changed for centuries, England and Scotland are greater than the sum of their parts. A respect for the past rubs along with a vibrant and innovative outlook, evident in places like the Eden Project and Tate Modern. In Manchester, Edinburgh, and Brighton youll find tremendous diversity and a dynamic cultural life.

Start with London and its historic sights (the Tower, St Pauls), plus its British Museum (free, like most museums here), expansive parks, and even more expansive shopping. For an insider take on urban England, move on to Manchester, a cradle of industry now reborn; Liverpool, with its Beatles history; and small, esoteric cities with sublime architecture, such as Georgian Bath and studious Oxford. Each will inspire you in a different way. Scotlands cities certainly arent left behind: Edinburgh never fails to dazzle with its contrasting Old and New Towns. Glasgow claims Scotlands top art galleries, best nightlife, and unbeatable shopping.

Derwenter, the Lake District.

Beyond the city limits, England and Scotland have still more to offer, from the brooding glens and mountains of the Highlands to the pancake-flat fenlands of Norfolk and Suffolk, and the scenery of the Lake District that so inspired the Romantic poets. Amid it all are 13 National Parks, taking in the majestic bleakness of Dartmoor and the North York Moors and rolling hills of the Sussex South Downs. And the backdrop changes quickly; a days journey can take you across several different landscapes. Outdoor enthusiasts can choose mountain ranges, river valleys, or rugged moorland. Youll find top golf courses, first-class fishing, limitless hiking, and a variety of wildlife. Theres dramatic coastline, too, from Cornwall in the southwest to Whitby, whose ruined abbey inspired Bram Stokers Dracula.