melodylk

Hi. My fiancé and I will be flying into Heathrow airport in May and have 5 days we can travel around before leaving for a canary island cruise from southampton. In addition to spending time in London and Paris, I am hoping to spend 1-2 days outside of the bigger cities. I would love to see the countryside, quaint villages, castles, etc. Any suggestions? Thoughts about Bath? Best places to visit in Wales? Thank you in advance!

Rubicund

All of your 5 days are pre cruise and you want to see London, Paris, plus 1-2 days outside of those cities?

I honestly think that you are being too ambitious here. You cannot possibly see all of that in the time that you have, so you need to be realistic and stick to London or at a pinch, include a day trip to Paris on the Eurostar.

London itself is a massive place and will offer you more than enough to fill your time.

willit

I agree with Rubicund, you are planning far too much in a short period of time. Winchester would work as a final stopover before the cruise - it's only 15 miles or so from Southampton, but has plenty of history and would probably be "quaint" enough for you. You can also get to several castles fron there by public transport if you didn't have a car (Arundal and Portchester being the most obvious).

geetika

I'd say 5 days in London, the Tower of London is a centuries old castle right in the city itself. Maybe one day trip, or perhaps you could go to Salisbury the day before your cruise and then head out to Southampton for the night. Trying to fit in London, Paris, Wales, etc in 5 days is impractical IMO.

janisj

5 days pre cruise is actuality is 4 useable days - one of which will be jet lagged. Half of day 1 is spent w/ airport formalities and getting to wherever you are staying and half of day 5 you have to get to Southampton. I'd stick to London.

Or perhaps in a stretch - Windsor or Salisbury or Winchester + London. Nothing more.