Luxury England & Scotland Helicopter Tour & Land Jaunt

This helicopter itinerary covers all of England and a large sweep of Scotland. It's customizable on the day, with the pilot able to subtly change the route to take in any special interests. The goal is to always ensure you have the best opportunity to view each of the two countries from the air. Some great examples are places such as, River Thames, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral, The Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, Roman spa city of Bath, Welsh Borders, Brecon Beacons, Liverpool, Lake District, Moray Firth, Loch Ness, Culloden Battlefield, Cawdor Castle, Durham Castle, Durham Cathedral, Northumberland, and the Yorkshire Dales. Accompanying the helicopter journeys is also a handcrafted selection of England's finest luxury accommodations. Picture rustic cottages, stately homes, and boutique guesthouses chosen for your enjoyment.

ITINERARY

(Day 1): London – A Relaxed Welcome to the Capital
(Day 2): London to Windsor to Oxfordshire – An Aerial Tour of the Famous London Sights
(Day 3): Oxford to Bath – Cruising Above The Cotswolds and Quintessential England
(Day 4): Shropshire to Liverpool to Lake District – Immersed in the Rural Sentinels of England
(Day 5): Lake District to Edinburgh – Flying Above the Wilderness of Northern England
(Day 6): Moray Firth to Loch Ness to Inverness – Exploring the Splendor of Scotland
(Day 7): Yorkshire Dales to York to Cambridge – Undulating Hills Blurring into the Cultivated South
(Day 8): Cambridge to London – Departure

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1: London – A Relaxed Welcome to the Capital

You’ll arrive at the airport and your private driver will transfer you to a five-star hotel in the heart of the city. Within a few steps of the lobby is the River Thames, and from here, you can get a glimpse of the architecture offered by the city’s skyline. Enjoy an easy day to relax and reenergize at the hotel while you prepare for the flying that starts tomorrow.

Day 2: London to Windsor to Oxfordshire – An Aerial Tour of the Famous London Sights

Today you’ll enter the skyline, adding to London’s famous cityscape. As the propellers whirl you’ll rise above the River Thames, cruising along its curves and admiring the glorious scale of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew. More Royal parks and Palaces gleam below. Flying along the Thames, there's Westminster, then the monumental dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, before you fly alongside the Shard, Western Europe's highest building and an indication of London's future. Canary Wharf, Olympic Park, the Docklands; each moment brings another of the city's icons.

Windsor Castle appears like a fictitious giant. The world's largest inhabited castle dominates from afar. You land close to Queen Elizabeth II's home and spend a few hours exploring the castle's excess. Then admire the scale for a second time as you return to the helicopter and fly into the Oxfordshire countryside. Your manor house accommodation firmly immersed in the forever green of rural England.

Day 3: Oxford to Bath – Cruising Above The Cotswolds and Quintessential England

Cruising skyward, you whirl above the “city of dreaming spires.” Oxford was eternalized by Matthew Arnold's 19th-century poem. College chapels dapple the skyline, rising beyond the medieval city center, each revealing more than five centuries of history. It's a cityscape that sets the scene for the day, as the helicopter cruises next toward the picture-perfect watercolor-esque Cotswolds. Gazing down, there are dozens of tiny villages, born long before any settlers reached America. Cottages and manor houses stand beside private lakes and there’s barely a tree out of place.

Soar high above the Georgian city of Bath and take in its majestic scale. The 18th-century townhouses curve around lawns, dozens of well-appointed homes standing in neat terraced rows. From the air, you pick out the ancient Roman baths, as well as those restored in a sublime Georgian style. Land beside the city and the afternoon onwards is free for you to explore at leisure. Your luxury hotel is on the Royal Crescent, the city's premier location, meaning it is easy to explore this wonderful city that's fully preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Day 4: Shropshire to Liverpool to Lake District – Immersed in the Rural Sentinels of England

Today is perhaps the most serene day of flying, the helicopter swooshing along the west coast of England. Watch in amazement as cliffs tumble into the Irish Sea and mist floats across the valleys of the Welsh borders. For close to an hour, there are no cities, just the mesmerizing serenity of rural Herefordshire, Shropshire, and the Brecon Beacons. Along the coast, you fly in low past Liverpool, another World Heritage city from its time as an old maritime powerhouse. Keep flying and the hills rise higher as you enter the Lake District. Beautiful blue stretches of water fill the view, only the islands natural volcanic phenomenon could explain such a surreal landscape.

Day 5: Lake District to Edinburgh – Flying Above the Wilderness of Northern England

The further you fly north, the further the landscape cascades into wilderness speckled with white sprinkles of sheep. Fly above Hadrian's Wall, crossing into Scotland and cruising along the remote western coast. Soon Edinburgh Castle dominates, standing on a hill above the city, magnificent in its stature over the city. This is Scotland's most celebrated attraction, and you have the prime view. Touching down close to Edinburgh, you check into your hotel before enjoying a free afternoon in the Scottish capital.

Day 6: Moray Firth to Loch Ness to Inverness – Exploring the Splendor of Scotland

Scotland\'s landscape is almost out of a fairytale, you’ll find the iconic spread of mountains, glens, and lochs. Inverness and Urquhart castles unveil a majestic grandeur, then Culloden Viaduct astounds with its innovative engineering before the most famous of Scotland's lochs comes into view. Extending out beneath the helicopter window is Loch Ness, home to the myth and legend of its monster. As you debate whether he is real or not, you’ll land at Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands centered on the stoic St. Andrew's Cathedral. The rest of the day is free. If the weather is good, you can visti Nairn, a striking expanse of white sand that extends beneath rugged cliffs at one of Great Britain's finest beaches.

Day 7: Yorkshire Dales to York to Cambridge – Undulating Hills Blurring into the Cultivated South

Today you’ll fly south over the east coast of Scotland above raw untrammeled cliffs over the Yorkshire Dales and land in York. Walking into the city, you enter medieval streets, with buildings leaning over the walkways and doors opening into bespoke boutiques and traditional tea rooms. York Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, a premier highlight of your tour of the city. Return to the air and soar along, the landscape slowly flattening until you're back amongst the relaxing pastures of the South. You land for the final time, in Cambridge, a second famous university city. A walking tour engrosses you in the history of the city before then you go “punting” – floating down the river in a wooden boat, with a punnet of strawberries and a hamper of champagne. You’ll then have your final evening at leisure in Cambridge before spending the night at your luxury hotel.

Day 8: Cambridge to London – Departure

Today, you take flight in another way, on an international flight soaring high above the clouds as you head home. After breakfast, you'll be transferred to the airport for your flight.

Hotels listed below are given as suggestions only to illustrate the standard of hotels used. 

London
5 Star Deluxe – The Langham London

When the Prince of Wales opened the Langham on Regent Street in 1865, it was London’s first grand hotel. Through its doors have passed such literary greats as Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde. The hotel has preserved its distinguished reputation, aided by a renovation in 2010 that included the addition of the new Regent Suite with expansive views of Regent’s Park, and a luxury health and wellness center, the Chuan Spa. The traditional meal served in the Palm Court, on the ground floor, consists of delicate finger sandwiches, miniature pastries and thirty blends of tea. The glamorous cocktail bar, Artesian offers martinis made by a mixologist.

 

4 Star Luxury - The Montague on The Gardens

This beautiful Georgian townhouse hotel in the heart of literary Bloomsbury, is steps from The British Museum and minutes from London's theatreland. Enjoy the ambience of a fine country hotel located on a London side street. Proud of its AA Four-Star Deluxe status, the Montague Hotel London offers an unbeatable combination of superb value, excellent Central London location, and the fabled Red Carnation attention to the all-important details that transform a good hotel into a great one.

 

Oxford
5 Star Deluxe - Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Created by celebrated chef Raymond Blanc OBE, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons is one of the country's most cherished manor house hotels. Tucked away in the picturesque countryside, this 15th-century manor critics also proclaim that sets the standard for haute cuisine. The establishment received two Michelin stars in 1984, within the first year of opening, and, remarkably, have held them ever since.

 

4 Star Luxury – MacDonald Randolph Hotel

Situated in the heart of Oxford, and just a short walk from the Oxford Sation, the Macdonald Randolph Hotel provides guests with the perfect space from which to explore the attractions, shops, and entertainment in the area. The hotel offers plush rooms with free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs. The on-site restaurant features traditional meals, while the dining room serves afternoon tea. The hotel also has a spa with a sauna, hot tub, and steam room.

 

Bath
5 Star Deluxe – Royal Crescent Hotel

The world's finest crescent is one of the great set piece masterpieces of European architecture, the most breathtaking feature in one of the world's most elegant and enchanting cities. It's hard to imagine a more splendid setting for an elegant hotel that harks back to a time of extravagant luxury and exemplary refinement. The Royal Crescent Hotel occupies the two central buildings in the entire crescent. Both are Grade I listed, and were built by John Wood the Younger himself. The stunning setting and magnificent architecture have remained unchanged since the 18th century. The Hotel is far more than a remarkable collection of buildings. It gives you an opportunity to experience a style of gracious living from the age when Bath was the very centre of the civilised world.

 

4 Star Luxury – The Abbey Hotel

Named as one of Bath's best loved boutique hotels, Abbey Hotel is formed of three Georgian townhouses on the west end of John Wood's North Parade - a wide promenade in Bath's older quarters which overlooks Parade Gardens and is a stone's throw from the spectacular Pulteney Bridge.The hotel is the ideal choice for visitors and residents alike with many of Bath's top attractions right on the doorstep.

 

Lake District
5 Star Deluxe – The Gilpin

Set in 21 acres, Gilpin Hotel has 25 bedrooms, 2 restaurants, including the Michelin starred HRiSHi, a Champagne Bar, lounge, terraces, a croquet lawn – and resident llamas and alpacas! At Gilpin Hotel all 25 bedrooms have lovely Lakeland views, most leading directly onto the gardens – 6 with their own cedarwood hot tubs, and 5 fabulous new detached Spa Lodges, each with their own ensuite spa (rainmaker showers and steam rooms inside, hydrotherapy hot tubs and saunas outside) for a very special, private experience.

 

4 Star Luxury – Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa

Situated in the heart of the lively town of Bowness-on-Windermere, Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa is a relaxation haven on the shores of Lake Windermere. The lawn and terrace directly in front of the hotel look across unimpeded views of the lake, and you can dine here in summer. The hotel’s on-site leisure club and spa includes a heated indoor pool, and the services of expert therapists. For dining, the hotel offers a formal restaurant with a seasonally rotating menu. The more relaxed Terrace Lounge & Cocktail Bar serves lighter fare, as well as afternoon tea.

 

Edinburgh
5-Star Deluxe - The Balmoral A Rocco Forte Hotel

The Balmoral Hotel is ideally situated in the center of Edinburgh, close to the main shopping and commercial districts. It’s majestic clock tower has been an Edinburgh landmark for over 100 years. In refurbishing the hotel, the historic nature of the building was respected, while a blend of colors from the Scottish countryside gave the hotel a more contemporary feel. The hotel’s stylish rooms and opulent suites feature magnificent views of the city or the hotel’s internal courtyard.

 

4-Star Luxury – The Scotsman

Named for the ground-breaking national newspaper who took up residence in its beautiful Baroque buildings, The Scotsman of today is a luxury hotel which retains many original features, including luxurious floor to ceiling wood panelled rooms, grandiose marble staircase and stained glass windows. The hotel is steeped in history and known for its classically luxe feel so you can expect an extensive list of offbeat signature amenities, such as a wee nip of Whisky on arrival to perk you up, specially selected Arran Arromatics toiletries, personally chosen reading recommendations, a lazy breakfast in bed and a whole lot more.

 

5-Star Deluxe - Inverness - Rocpool reserve

Located in the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, this beautifully renovated Georgian mansion house has stunning views over the River Ness and is only a few minutes walk from Inverness Castle and City Centre. The individually designed spacious bedrooms with spa style bathrooms, rainshowers and luxurious deep baths are modern and elegant. This exclusive hotel, hideaway in the centre of the city with its bar and restaurant offers you wonderful luxury throughout.

 

4-Star Luxury – Inverness - Kingsmills hotel

Set in the beautiful Scottish Highlands, Kingsmill Hotel offer a variety of extremely luxurious rooms, impeccable dining options and good old-fashioned Scottish hospitality to all guests. With a rich and diverse heritage dating back to the 18th century, complete with spa and conference facilities, it is the perfect retreat for leisure holidays.

 

Cambridge
5-star Deluxe - Tamburlaine

Doused in luxury, the spacious Tamburlaine is every bit a hotel belonging to a city that boasts a great educational institution like Cambridge. The hotel has its own library, in addition to a bar, restaurant and fitness centre as the main communal areas for guests. Wall-to-ceiling windows bathe the elegantly furnished rooms in light during the day. Tea and coffee making facilities, a comfy seating area and desk are all lovely ancillary features added to each room.

 

4-Star Luxury -Bedford Lodge Hotel

Originally a hunting lodge built for the sixth Duke of Bedford, this prestigious boutique offers its guests award winning service. On arrival you are greeted by a grand sweeping driveway and extensive grounds of three acres. The Bedford Lodge is also home to a spa retreat, opened in 2013. Incidentally it has also been voted the best city wedding venue in the East of England - making it the perfect romantic getaway.