carj

We have just started planning our trip to London and Paris for late May/early June. I'm still working out many of the details so I can make the best arrangements for our group. I am looking at hotel options and trying to make some tentative plans before we book lodging.
Our group will include my husband and I, a 13 year old, a 16 year old and my 77 year old mother.

How much trouble will it be to drive ourselves from London to Bath and Stonehenge? Would it be easier to take public transportation? I know there are tours that offer this route but I really want to stay longer in Bath than most of the tours offer. We would only be renting a car for this day.

We don't mind driving ourselves. I'm mostly interested in which option would be the most convenient.

janisj

>>but I really want to stay longer in Bath than most of the tours offer. <<

You would not have much time in Bath in any case. IF you rent your car from central London you'd likely have to pick it up the night before because central city locations have shorter hours (and therefore pay a king's ransom to park it overnight). If you rent the car from LHR (the easiest place) then you have to factor in the time it takes getting out to the airport.

Best case: LHR > Stonehenge > Bath > LHR is about 220 miles and takes about 5 hours 'car time'. You need to pre-book parking at Stonehenge and driving/parking in Bath is a bear.

So w/ let's say a 7 AM departure from your hotel and an 8:30 departure from the car rental agency you would get to Stonehenge Visitors Center around 10:30 and to Bath probably around 1:30PM. Then you have about a 3 hour drive to LHR -- so if you left Bath by 5PM you'd get back to your hotel by 9:30 or 10PM

a looooooong day by any measure.

You can take the train to Salisbury, local bus to Stonehenge, train on to Bath, and train back to London faster than driving. I would either do that, OR take a tour (at least it would be less hassle); OR if you still want to drive - stay over night in Bath

carj

Thank you. Neither day trip option sounds very appealing!

I wonder if we could start our trip with spending the first night in Bath. I'm not sure this will really make it much better though. We could fly into London, rent a car and drive to Bath. We could spend the night, drive to Stonehenge and then back to London. (That sounds rotten too, doesn't it?) We would still need to drop the car off upon our return to London.

Maybe a tour would be simpler. I'm definitely going to have to think this through.

I really appreciate the feedback!

janisj

>>I wonder if we could start our trip with spending the first night in Bath. I'm not sure this will really make it much better though. <<

yes, Much better

>>We could fly into London, rent a car and drive to Bath.<<

but NO! -- Bad idea. What you'd want to is get off your plane, walk to the central bus station, take the Express coach to Bath. Much better/easier/safer after an overnight flight and no longer when you factor in shlepping to the rental agency and arranging the car. Spend the night in Bath, the next afternoon collect a car, drive to Stonehenge, then on to LHR, drop the car and travel into London on the tube or by pre-booked car service.

carj

Thanks again! I just checked into renting a car in Bath and returning it in London. This looks like a more feasible plan!

I'm excited to plan and I do have a tendency to think we can do more than we actually can. I appreciate your help and the reality check!

bilboburgler

carj, you have had great advice from jansij, the detailed timings and the difficulty of having a car in London make the sort of tour you want a little tricky.

Don't ignore the train/bus option, have a play with rome2rio to get a flavour or http://www.traveline.info/ to get some ideas both offer public transport options but traveline is a fully integrated UK system, while rome2rio has a bunch of errors but prettier graphics.

janisj

I would normally suggest taking the coach from LHR/ a train from Bath to Salisbury/local bus to Stonehenge/train from Salisbury in to London. But unfortunately the station in Salisbury does not have luggage storage.

So getting a car when you leave Bath and dropping it at LHR will take care of two birds w/ one stone -- transportation + luggage storage while you are at Stonehenge. Leaving a lot of luggage in a car at many sites can be a problem -- but the car park at Stonehenge is well patrolled and you need to pre-book the parking so about as secure as it can be.

PalenQ

Book train tickets early as possible to Bath - nifty discounts over walk-up fares. www.nationalrail.co.uk - book your own online. cheaper tickets often do not allow departures before 9 or 9:30 often I believe= why not just take the train to Bath the day before see Bath and then drive to Stonehenge and Salisbury like janis says.

janisj

>>Book train tickets early as possible to Bath <<

They wouldn't be taking a train to Bath -- the Express coach from LHR to Bath.

basingstoke2

As usual, janisj is spot on. My son and I did the bus tour from London to Bath via Stonehenge. It was a good as an introduction to those places, but not much else. There was not enough time at either place, but having visited I knew I wanted to return and did on later trips. An advantage of staying in Bath at night is that you will have time to take the free Mayor's walking tour and still have enough time to get to Stonehenge by about 3 PM including a stop for lunch. Even better, stay 2 nights in Bath. It is a wonderful , walkable city with lots to see and do.

PalenQ

why not just take the train to Bath the day before see Bath and then drive to Stonehenge and Salisbury like janis says.>

Well if in Bath you could take the train easily to Salisbury and bus or taxi from station to Stonehenge -come back to Salisbury, a nice regional town -see the superb cathedral and close and then hop trains back to London -no hassling with cars if you spread it out over two days -one day would be most viable and enjoyable if you took the high-speed route from Paddington to Bath and collected your rental car there - drive via Stonehenge to Heathrow,etc.

If going all by train and doing any other rail travel out of London in southern England investigate the Days Out of London (or is it called London Plus Pass?) that gives you 2 days of unlimited rail travel throughout much of southeastern England (but Bath and Bristol are included) as well as a return ticket on airport express trains. Again good deal maybe if doing say day trips to Cambridge, Stratford-on-Avon, Canterbury, etc.

For lots on English trains and passes check www.seat61.com (also great advice on discounted tickets like to Bath); www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. Again www.nationalrail.co.uk sells tickets on all Britain's independent rail franchises and it is easy to spot all the various fares, conditions of use and to book your own ticket. Just show up for the train.

janisj

>>Well if in Bath you could take the train easily to Salisbury and bus or taxi from station to Stonehenge -come back to Salisbury, a nice regional town -see the superb cathedral and close and then hop trains back to London<<

As mentioned above -- there is no luggage storage at Salisbury station so that would complicate things.

There are reasons I suggested what I did . . . I do tend to put thought into it.

PalenQ

Jan- from the official Stonehenge website:

LEFT LUGGAGE AT STONEHENGE

No left luggage service is available at Stonehenge or Salisbury Railway Station. You can leave luggage at the Cat Tavern for £4 per item per day. Open 8 am - 11 pm.Turn left out of the station and the Cat Tavern is about 100 metres down on the right hand side. If you use a taxi you can leave your luggage in it when you tour Stonehenge.>

Rick Steves and other sites also mention baggage storage at the Cat Tavern.

janisj

Great- They can lug their bags a football field+ to the pub, then back to the station to catch the bus to Stonehenge. Then bus back to Salisbury station - then football field+ to the pub, retrieve their bags, back to the station and train into London -- OR they could merely drive straight to Stonehenge, then when they are done, jump in the car and drive to either LHR or into London (depending on the day of the week)

janisj

Often Rick Steves advice for the UK is pants BTW . . .

PalenQ

I am only presenting options if as they say in their OP they are considering public transportation. That's all - not saying the car option you offer is not perhaps the best.

Since when is a 100-metre walk a marathon? If going on a day trip to two day trip from London I assume they would have little luggage.

Cheers!

carj

Thank you all so much for your help. I'm beginning to wonder if the trip to Bath would be more frustrating than fulfilling. While it's a place I would love to see, I'm getting the idea that I could probably stay in Bath for several days.

It looks Iike Salisbury would be a nice place to
visit in conjunction with Stonehenge. We are considering seeing Stonehenge in the morning, and the afternoon in Salisbury. This would mean that we would skip Bath altogether. I almost think I would prefer to skip it, rather than feel like we dashed through.

This forum is such a great resource for me! When reading the guidebooks etc, it's easy to think you can cram more into a day. Thank you! I'm sure I'm going to have many more questions!

PalenQ

Good decision and no need to rent a car for sure. Salisbury is a nice regional town with yes stupendous cathedral - be sure to walk a few kms south of town to get the unforgettable view of the cathedral's soaring towers looming high above sheep- and cow-dotted meadows- scenes that artists have for long conveyed to canvass:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sali...HUOdBC4QsAQIGw.