egordon132

Hi. I am going to London the first week in June. I've been doing some research into day trips from London. The two that I've heard a lot about so far are the Evan Evans tour and Astral tours. I am trying to decide if the inner circle Stonehenge tour with Astral is worth the extra money - is it worth going inside?

If I don't take the Astral tour, I was going to do the one with Evan Evans that goes by the White Cliffs of Dover - is that a worthwhile stop? I've been to London several times, so I am looking forward to doing 2-3 day trips outside of London this time. I'm definitely open to other ideas as well.

Thank you!

Jenson

If you like gardens and parks, go to Kew Gardens. Beautiful!

TimS

Take the train or coach to Cambridge. Take the walking tour which will include admission to King's College Chapel. There is always a tour at 13:30. Beginning in mid-June, tours are at 10:30, 11:30, 13:30, and 14:30. Drop by the tourist office 60 minutes ahead of time or call 01223/322-640 to confirm that a tour is scheduled and is not full. Visit the Fitzwilliam Museum (best art museum outside of London) in the afternoon (closed Mondays).

flanneruk

For what it's worth, it's very hard to see the point of a tour to the White Cliffs of Dover - if that's what the tour really is.
The cliffs form a pleasant walk. But, as a sight in themselves, seen from themselves, they're underwhelming. The Seven Sisters, near Brighton, are much better: Ireland's Cliffs of Moher several orders of magnitude more impressive.
From the sea, for Brits returning from that awful place called Abroad, they have long been an emotionally-charged, and impressive, symbol of getting back to civilisation (hence the song). And Dover Castle, and the WW2 fortifications are interesting, and if a tour includes Canterbury on the way...

But in a poll on another site, the white cliffs came high as "biggest disappointment in Britain": because, I think, people went to them thinking they were visually impressive, rather than a national symbol.

johndpringle

My wife and I took two day bus tours from London. The first was via Leeds castle, Canterbury Cathedral, and ended up a Dover in the evening (and could make out the white cliffs. The second was to Stonehenge, Salisbury and then Bath. Both tours were guided, had a lunch stop, and returned to London in the late evening. I recommend them.

janis

Which is very understandable since when you are on or near the cliffs you can't see them. They would be below you - there are some distant viewpoints where you can see them but from there there isn't much to see. The real view is the one from the channel arriving from France by ferry.

I can't think of a worse use of time/money than a tour to the White Cliffs of Dover.

lc50

johndpringle:
who did you use for the bath / salisbury tour? am looking to do this mid-june. thanks,