Day Trip to Castles from London
 

I'm going to be staying in London for 6-7 days. I’m planning on using London as a home base and then taking trains/buses to different castles each day. I’m thinking of going to Hastings, Dover/cliffs, and Arundel. Also a day trip to Oxford. Should I exchange one of the castles Windsor Castle or should I add it to the list?

Do you think my plan is feasible or do you think I’m over extending myself? I have already been to London and seen a lot of the main attractions. Why Castles? I have been obsessing over castles for a while, and since I will be in England, I thought why not. I’m mostly traveling south of London. Are there any good castles to the north or west?

I thought about staying a day in each city, but I couldn’t find a hostel in any of the cities I want to go to. I’m still in my thirties, I enjoy riding trains, and I can walk long distances without getting tired. I sleep in hostels, because they are cheap.

Please let me know what you think. Any suggestions are helpful.

It's a great idea. I have done day trips to many castles from London. Dover, Arundel, Rochester, Hever, Warwick, Windsor. Not all on the same trip but the last few years I've found it easier/cheaper to fly from the US to London and then a few days later fly easyjet or ryan air to whatever place in Europe I'm going. I love London but have been there many times so I find it enjoyable to base there and take day trips since so many are within a couple hours and the trains are great. I usually find the day trip takes the majority of the day but still I'm back in London by late afternoon and have time to take a walk to various areas for dinner and the evening.

There are a few castles I've wanted to visit that are not very easy to do by public transportation, and some too far from London but there are more than enough for a week even if you did every day. Especially, as you say, if you don't mind walking a mile or so from the train station to the castle. Often the small towns they are in are also enjoyable to spend a few hours in.

Only you know the balance of interests you have, but if castles are to be the main focus in a relatively short trip to London, then bear in mind you can really only do justice to one in any one day (well, I would), but those you list can all be reached by train from London as day trips.

It sounds as though you have already seen the Tower of London. I It's not clear what you're expecting from a castle, but I would certainly put Windsor higher up the list: even though much of it was extensively remodelled in the nineteenth century, there's a lot of history attached.

Dover Castle has much more of interest (as an old castle still used as a fortress into modern times) than Hastings (as an atmospheric ruin)- you could of course do the complete 1066 thing and visit Battle and its Abbey along with Hastings.

It's years since I've been to Arundel, but though it stands in a majestic position I have more of a memory of a grand family residence rather than the mediaeval fortress. But I may be wrong.

Dover is a pretty good castle, it was built to awe and threaten any possible invader (though they never seem to have come via Dover ;-) ) so was built to look formidable. A bit hacked about as castles turned into fortresses and now prettied up for the tourist (and conference business I think) it is well worth the visit.

Dover itself is a dump.

The cliffs were partially hollowed out to provide listening (big semicircular dishes) "ears" to pick up German flights, while the tops housed two massive anti-german guns whose sole purpose was to blow up ships going down/up the channel. Amazingly their one opportunity in WW2 was missed as no one in charge of the things believed anyone could be so stupid and a tiny canvas clothed torpedo bomber was all that "had a go" at Scharnhorst and Gneisenau

Well worth a visit

Look into the London Plus Railpass if doing all those day trips - lets you hop any train anytime through southeast England plus gives you round-trips on airport express trains - info on trains and passes - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

I rather liked Dover - yes the town is blah but the seaside location - the cliffs -be sure to walk up top and stunning castle give it cache.

OK -- just something to think about: London has the most expensive accommodations in the entire country (MUCH more expensive than most places). Yet you are planning to spend $$/££ to sleep in London and not spend any time actually in the city.

>>I thought about staying a day in each city, but I couldn’t find a hostel in any of the cities I want to go to<<

No need to stay in hostels since every town/city/village has inexpensive B&Bs.

I've done lots of day trips from London and enjoy just hopping on the train sans baggage, etc and love returning to a vibrant city at night.

But to visit Hastings, Arundel and Dover you could base in one town like Canterbury (hostel) and cut down travel time.

And then maybe do day trips from London to nearby Windsor Castle and or Oxford and also consider Hampton Court Palace as being awesome too and a short hop from London.

And janis is right about inexpensive B&Bs in most towns- Oxford excepted I think. Canterbury again would be a great base - and of course there is the famous cathedral too but easy train links to Hastings and Dover.

I suppose you go to Hastings to see Battle - the small village just a short train ride from Hastings where you can walk around the Battle of 1066 with William the C finally defeating the English Saxon king.

I've been to Arundel too and though it is of course awesome the town itself is not - I'd put that low on my list.

Maybe just dwell on Kent and Sussex where there are so many neat places - like Rye, Bodiam Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, Dover, etc. all within a short train ride of each other.

Oxford is expensive but there is a website called universityrooms

http://www.universityrooms.com/en/ci...JVYaAgEA8P8HAQ

I find you can get a nice room for £40 to £60 if you book ahead and, AND, you get to stay in a college overnight, ok some of the colleges are,,,,, for religious nuts but hey, not bad.

There are several YHA hostels in the region, including Oxford, with prices from about £18. www.yha.org.uk/hostel/oxford
My son has stayed in the one in Littlehampton which is a short bus journey from Arundel.

Dover also has a hostel I believe- could be a base for eastern Kent.

I certainly would not recommend the hostel in Dover - it isn't very nice. Canterbury would be a better base since its hostel is much better, and it is an easy train ride to Dover.

Canterbury would be a sweet base.

janis I did not know you stayed in hostels? Or how do you judge them? Curious.

http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldet...rs/Dover/55093

This other hostel is in a building that is Dover's oldest inn- it says.(Is this the one you dissed -I assume that was the YHA 'official' hostel?)

Anyway for OP hostelworld.com is a great resource.

As would be Let's Go Britain - unparalleled objective coverage of hostels - dozens in London itself. Not just HI (YHA in England I think) 'official' hostels but many private ones too.

Quite true that from what you've said, it doesn't make much sense to stay in London. Yes, inexpensive B&Bs or Airbnb rooms and you should save on train fares too by going one place to the next rather than commuting 2 ways by train + local transport back to your hostel. In many towns you should be able to stay walking distance from the station and eliminate that leg of the trip.

Yup pick your must places to visit - try to group them together and as MmePerdu says pick a hostel convenient to all of them and buses are also very useful in Britain.

Buses can be useful but less so off the main routes. Picking places to visit off in the countryside can be time-consuming to get to by local bus, on routes with the buses too far apart for convenience. So picking castles in towns served by trains would be, I think, the best plan.

I'm not sure how one would have them be (ugh) "must see" and also "group them together" & "pick a hostel convenient to all of them". I picture choosing several on train lines and just moving one to the next in the most efficient direction.

And, by the way, MmePerdu did not say "pick a hostel convenient to all of them" nor even "pick a hostel". She suggested "going one place to the next," not returning, staying in inexpensive B&Bs.