scrb11

Probably would make for a hectic day but is it a completely crazy idea?

Looks like a bunch of flights leaving in the morning, returning in the afternoon. Depending on how long the transit time is to and from AMS to the city, it looks like at least 4-5 hours in the city (without taking the earliest flight out and returning after 7 PM).

Mostly LCC but some BA and KLM flights, all from $100-170. I'd be open to staying overnight but I'm already paying for a hotel in London (6 nights in late April).

I'd also be doing some of the more popular day trips out of London, probably tackle Bath and one other.

So has anyone done this?

janisj

Semi-doable - understanding it you'll spend as much time in transit as in Amsterdam.

But w/ your other day trips and only 5+ days/6 nights you have very little time IN London.

scrb11

Can Bath and Stonehenge be done together in one day? Or Bath and Oxford? They're all west of London but not aligned. Of course, maybe these destinations deserve more time than to be split with another.

janisj

Can they be done together - sure. Several tour companies combine them. Good idea? Not IMO. The tours are expensive and one spends as much time on the bus as visiting things.

Now, Stonehenge + Bath would make a perfectly sensible coach tour. Stonehenge doesn't require much time. Unfortunately, every London-based coach tour I've seen combines Windsor/Stonehenge/Bath, or Stonehenge/Bath/Oxford, or Bath/Oxford/Stratford-upon-Avon, and not enough time anywhere

hetismij2

As long as it isn't April 30th it is doable, but daft. You don't have time to do much, or appreciate the city. With such a short time in London stay there,save your money, and enjoy that city.
Amsterdam will still be here for another trip, when you can give it more time.

spaarne

<i>Day trip to Amsterdam from London?
Posted by: scrb11 on Feb 23, 13 at 3:19pm Posted in: Europe
Probably would make for a hectic day but is it a completely crazy idea?</i>
That is nuts.

PatrickLondon

If you could (a) get to London City airport within about half an hour (b) get a good fare from there, then it wouldn't be impossible - you could be in central Amsterdam in maybe 3 hours. But would it really be worth it?

dfourh

For years I have been flying through Schiphol, and try to plan layovers between 4 to 24 hours. With even as little as 3.5 hours I've gone into town and walked around for an hour before getting back to the airport (being on the cautious side) for security and allowances for mishaps, which never happen. 4.5 hours is good for some strolling and a meal. Six hours or more allows for some serious exploration.

nytraveler

IMHO too much time in transit for the hours in Amsterdam.

And unless yuo have been to London before and seen many of hte main sights - you will really be running out of time to do muset see there.

scrb11

Been to London, not Amsterdam.

Flight itself is listed as just over an hour each way but of course, there's time to and from the airports, going thru security, etc.

I know people have taken overnight trips to Paris through the Chunnel? But it sounds like its not common for Amsterdam? Heard that its 5.5 hours city center to city center, London to Amsterdam. Figured it was comparable transit times to Paris or Brussels.

How far to LGW, LCY or SEN? Further away than LHR?

scrb11

All the day trip destinations around London seem reachable by rail? So I wasn't thinking of coach tours, unless the train stations are more than walking distance from places like Bath?

Bath and Stonehenge are to the west but not on the same train lines?

jamikins

Stonehenge and Salisbury are a great day our using the railways...

Cathinjoetown

Eurostar, London city centre to Paris city centre, is two hours, 15 mins, so much shorter than getting to Amsterdam.

I wouldn't bother with Amsterdam given the travel time.

janisj

The only reason I mentioned tours is you asked about Bath/Oxford, which isn't a doable day trip unless one does a coach tour (I wasn't recommending taking one)

Stonehenge isn't on a train - but Salisbury is. So you'd take the train to Salisbury and a local bus tour or taxi to the stones and back. Salisbury itself is worth a few hours so there'd be little time for Bath. A train from Salisbury to Bath takes just about 1 hour. So if you put on blinders in Salisbury, and avoided the gorgeous Cathedral you could manage Stonehenge and 5 or 6 hours in Bath.

Bath by itself is a terrific day trip from London. So is Oxford - which is even easier because it is a quick trip by either train or express coach. But Bath AND Oxford is not a one-day trip.

flanneruk

It's probably less than 3 hrs via London City: check in at LCY is 15 mins, and it's rarely much more than 30 mins from plane at Amsterdam to somewhere in the centre.

6 hrs travel time is what most of us consider unexceptional for a day trip to attend a meeting in a nearish city, or spend a day reviewing field operations: I imagine lots of us have spent longer in travel to attend a family funeral or First Communion, go to a trade show or address a conference.

Lots of us have happily spend longer, say, getting to Agra and back from Delhi to see the Taj Mahal, or getting from Karachi and back to see Moenjodaro. I imagine many Californians think nothing of spending that long going to and from Las Vegas, and many people living in a major city near a ski resort will spend far longer on a midseason Sunday en voyage

You'll easily get 8 hours on the ground on a day trip to Amsterdam. Strikes me as a no brainer if you want to see the town.

Odin

It's an easy day trip from London, plenty of flights leaving in the morning and returning same evening. 1000s of people do it every day for business meetings, there is no reason why you shouldn't do it. I have done it myself and to plenty of other cities further afield than Amsterdam. The ones who are saying it shouldn't be done are likely those who don't travel that much. You can visit many cities from London for the day, Brussels, Paris and others.

janisj

>>The ones who are saying it shouldn't be done are likely those who don't travel that much.<<

Sorta presumptuous don't you think?

PatrickLondon

>>It's an easy day trip from London,<<

But the cheapest headline fares are for flights out of Gatwick, Stansted or Luton, which means trekking out of central London at silly a.m. to meet their check-in times, which can add a good few hours on to the whole experience. Or you pay through the nose.

Tulips

I've often done a day in London, from Antwerp, flying to City. Arriving at City at 7 am - return to Antwerp 8.30 pm. Lots of people do this (you see the same people on both flights).

If you get a reasonable rate flying from London City to Amsterdam, then go for it. You don't have luggage, check in online, be at the airport 30 minutes before your flight - and in Amsterdam, it's a quick train ride to the center of town.

Cityjet gives a roundtrip fare of 120 pounds.

scrb11

Thanks, there's some divergence of opinions here.

I was thinking maybe of a 8 or 9 AM departure, then 6 or 7 PM return from AMS. Seems like that would leave me about 6 hours in Amsterdam before having to return to AMS. Do they require a full 2-hour check-in? It is an international flight, though it's short.


As for day trips around London, Cambridge and Oxford sound similar. Bath sounds the most interesting to me. So I guess I could swap out one of these shorter excursions for Amsterdam, if feeling really ambitious.

Fares are $100-150 now. Would be nice to book that week, so that I could go if the weather is good.