sovamo

Hello everyone, going to London for the 1st time. Would like to spend 2-3 days in London itself and see some surroundings as well. Not renting a car. What's realistic from this list? (don't mind spending a few hours traveling on a train). Dover, Stratford-upon-Avon, Salisbury + Stone henge, maybe Windsor.

TIA!

PalenQ

Many here will say you should spend the whole week in London but I disagree - see some of let's say a more typical England outside of London:

Salisbury and Stonehenge - train to Salisbury (about 90 minutes)- take the shuttle bus or taxi to Stonehenge - several miles outside of Salisbury.

Spend the rest of the day in Salisbury - cathedral and just nice city to ramble around in. Old Sarum is on the edge of Salisbury - does not get ink Stonehenge does but an neat ancient relic of great importance. (See the popular book of the same name).

Stratford- few hours by train from London - get a self-directed tour from the tourist office and walk around yourself - most sights in a compact area - some however a few miles out of town.

Dover about 90 minutes by train - come for the castle and setting but little else.

Oxford or Cambridge are my favorite day trip from London - so so unique places.

Windsor is just about a 40-minute train ride from London - it's also a nice nice city - check out Eton across the Thames Bridge.

For train info check www.nationalrail.co.uk- if doing two or more longer day trips the London Plus Railpass may be a great deal - lets you hop any train anytime - no restrictions and also gives you a return ticket on airport express trains to Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted.

For loads of great info on trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com. the London Plus Passis not sold in England I believe. covers all the day trips you envision plus Bath- 90 minutes to one of the finest cities in England.

check on 2 for 1 entry at many sights with a paper train ticket to those places.

KTtravel

I would get a good guidebook and first list the sights in London you really want to see. That should give you an idea of how much time you'll want to spend in London and how many days you have free for day trips or for doing a few days away.

You likely won't be able to see all the sights outside of London "Dover, Stratford-upon-Avon, Salisbury + Stone henge, maybe Windsor." Which ones of these are your priorities? Getting out of London and into the surroundings can be wonderful but you'll want to plan well to get the most use out of your time.

Where are you flying in from? I live on the US West Coast and find the first day I land is a blur as I am so fatigued from jet lag. What time of day are you arriving? How many days/nights do you actually have to spend?

janisj

You simply need to make some decisions -- you can go wherever you want but w/ a week you will need to be VERY selective.

Need clarification though. Do you have a full week 'on the ground' in the UK (a 9 or 10 day trip all together), or is your whole trip 7 days. Makes a BIG difference. A 7 day <i>trip</i> will only leave you 4.5 days free to see/do things.


>>Dover, Stratford-upon-Avon, Salisbury + Stone henge, maybe Windsor<<

Is about 4 days worth (they are mostly not near each other) right there so if you whole trip is a week -- that is about it.

After we know how long you actually have - then do what KTravel says - make a list of what you want to see in London. Some sites -- Windsor, Hampton Court Palace, Greenwich etc are in or quite near London so can be half day trips from the city center.

Major London sites like the British Museum, the Tower, St Pauls, Westminster Abbey, V&A, National Gallery and so on -- you can really only squeeze in two a day when factoring in travel time, meals, and just 'gawking time' . . . so work out your 'must' list first. THEN decide how much time you have left over.

halfapair

If you have a week I would recommend basing yourself in London and taking 2-3 day trips out by train. I have done this twice. The first time was with my 15 yr old daughter. We stayed in London for 9 days and took day trips to Dover & Windsor/Eton. (she chose the day trips)

The second time was with my husband. He selected Portsmouth and Cambridge for our day trips.

Both times we got BritRail passes that are designed for tourists to take trips by rail out of the city. They have a couple of different options, so you need to consult a map and figure out which one you need based on where you want to go.

http://www.britrail.com/britrail-pas...-england-pass/

PalenQ

I and others enjoy Hampton Court Palace -once home to Tudors like Henry the VIII and some of his wives (one of whom is said to still haunt the palace!) Easy train trip like janis says-not worth to use a day on any pass to get there or Windsor but other places yes.

historytraveler

Be careful of the BritRail Pass. You can often get point to point tickets for considerably less especially if bought in advance. How much real time will you have in London? Figure that out and then prioritize your sightseeing and day trips. Crikey, I think I've said the same thing as KT and janis. And, yes, two major sights a day are about all one can manage.

PalenQ

You do not want a BritRail Pass or BritEngland Railpass - the only one that could be viable is the London Plus Pass, covering day trip areas around London (as I referred to above) - especially if you want to just hop any train anytime otherwise discounted tickets would be cheaper for say Stratford and Salisbury perhaps but they have restrictions - so check that out - but definitely no to any BritRailpass (though London Plus is a BritRail product).

Dukey1

What's "realistic" depends a great deal on how much time you feel you need to actually spend on anything. Someone said two major sites are about it for one day and that could very well be true. Windsor, just as one example can take up a good part of one day as could Hampton Court, the Tower, and other sites.

You need to also be thinking about how to get around within the city and as far as Hampton Court which can be done using an Oyster Card.

PalenQ

You need to also be thinking about how to get around within the city and as far as Hampton Court which can be done using an Oyster Card>

but get a printed Travel Card or rail ticket to Hampton Court station so you can get 2 for 1 entry at the palace - only paper tickets apparently work.

sovamo

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for your replies. What we have decided to do is this: Saturday AM, arrive in London. Tuesday AM, take a train to Oxford. Tuesday PM, take a train to Stratford-Upon-Avon to catch a play there. Stay the night after theater. Wednesday AM, take some sort of transportation to somewhere in Cotswolds (still trying to figure out what and where). Would love to explore Cotswolds by foot and / or bike and stay the night. Thursday AM, take a train back to London. Friday, London. Saturday afternoon, heading back to the airport to NYC. Would love your imput on this!!!

Thank you!

janisj

see my post on your other thread

You are leaving yourselves very little time IN London.

PalenQ

In their OP "they said they wanted to spend 2-3 days in London and see some surroundings as well"

For that prerequisite it sounds great- you will come back to London some day - there is NO need to spend all the time in London if you really want to see some of England too.

Too many folks only see London in England and say they saw England. For what you want perfect and yes you could spend days in London and not be bored or tired of life.

It's your call - to me cities like London are fatiguing - always some other 'must' thing to see - often a very crowded place but to experience the rural Cotswolds is rather relaxing and an adventure.

Too bad you could not wrangle another day or two in London but as you have it now that is exactly what you wanted and seems great to me.

There is no rule that you MUST spend all your time in London or it ain't worth it - get a taste of it and return for more.

Pay attention to the fickle English weather - biking in rain is no fun - I know I led bike trips thru SE England for years and biking in rain or wind or both is no fun. Walking either.

Cheers!

nytraveler

In a week do London and 1 or at most 2 days trips. London is a huge city with dozens of wonderful sights and if you only plan on spending 2 days there I think you will be very disappointed.

My first choices for ay rips would be Hampton Court Palace and Oxford, but then we are history freaks and esp interested in the Tudors.

PalenQ

Windsor is another easy day trip - castle of course but also a sweet regional town with a vibrant pedestrian shopping zone and Eton and its posh school just across the river.

Personally I liked Hampton Court a bit more for several reasons but Windsor is far more famous - both are great.

PalenQ

A neat thing about Hampton Court besides the Tudor palace - is that you can take a boat on the Thames all the way from London or from Kingston-on-Thames to put a different facet into your day out - does take much longer however.

Or if into walking I once walked from Kingston/Thames to the palace on the famous Thames walking paths- go along the north side of the river for the best river hugging paths - you approach or can approach the palace via a large deer park.