kawh

Well-- I've just finished posting our fab trip to Italy with my hubbie, which included a few days in London , and the fates are taking me back to London in September!!

Now it's my dearest friend's 60th and i gave her a choice of places for a week-- and she chose London!

she's never been to Europe-- and i would like to take her out of London to see some distinctly English scenery or sights. Am willing to take a day tour, if one is recommended. (is there one in a smallish bus??) or can take a train or bus , as long as it's pretty simple... no complicated transfers and the train/bus ends in the place we want to go. (that is, don't have to then take taxi, etc. )

Thanks very much for any suggestions.

isabel

Oxford (the "Oxford Tube" is a bus that goes from London to the center of Oxford - not to be confused with the 'tube' which is the London underground/metro/subway). Oxford is a beautiful small city, so classic British - plus so famous she will obviously know about it.

Warwick - both the town and the castle.

Cambridge is also nice, as is Canterbury which I did do as a day trip from London once but it's a bit further.

jamikins

Check out www.walks.com for great ideas!

kawh

thanks so much. yes, she knows all of the history that i (shamefully) don't really know!

i think she would love to go to oxford.

where do we catch the 'oxford tube' ? (we will be staying by russell square.)

is it frequent, as in every hour or so.. or a couple of times a day?

about how long a ride is it-- and will it be obvious when we get to oxford?

does it drop off in a really central spot?
can you use an oyster card??
again-- thanks very very much!-- just the kind of idea i was looking for.

tuscanlifeedit

Here's a link, easily found on Google.

http://www.oxfordtube.com/

I would suggest a bus tour of Stonehenge and Salisbury. You can Google for various tours.

I don't think you can use your Oyster Card outside of London. I'm not going to say that with authority, but I'm wiling to bet on it.

Surfergirl

Stratford-upon-Avon. About 2 or so hours from London, about 5 trains a day from London Marylebone station.

I've only ever driven, but definitely a day trip. AND you can buy tickets to a matinee -- even in September. Go to the Royal Shakespeare website (I'm on their email list, so always get updates) to see what's on when and purchase tickets. Very easy to do, and they even have one of those seat maps that shows you what seats are available. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre re-opened in November 2010, so we just missed its reopening and saw a performance at the Swan, which is still a pretty amazing venue.

mogsanova

London Walks has an excellent Oxford and Cambridge tour. And I went to Bath by myself on the train and it was wonderful and easy!!! Did both as a day trip with London as my base (I went alone and it was my first time out of the US). How fun to go with a girlfriend! Enjoy!

kawh

thanks all-- there are some great ideas here.

i LOVED the londonwalks web site and see so much there-- love that they just go by regular train, then do the tour. thanks much for that!

Also definitely looking into the oxford tube (bus)... but a little unclear about where it drops off in oxford, relative to the sights... but will research.

flanneruk

Two bus companies offer services every ten minutes or so, round the clock, to Oxford. The only significant difference between the two is where they pick up and set down in London: for most locations near Russell Square, the X90 (www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=264)is more convenient than the Oxford Tube. Tickets aren't interchangeable between the two.

There's little point in visiting both Oxford and Cambridge. Cambridge is best served by train.

Bath as a daytrip (practical really only by train) is a lot pricier during the week (though trivially so at weekends) than most alternatives, because of the way railway fares are structured.

Personally, I can't see the point of visiting Stratford unless you go and see a play. Evening performances are usually timed to let you catch the last train back to London Paddington (dep 2200, arr 0120 after two changes. Millions of us change trains every week, and it really isn't a process anyone with half a brain fusses over as "complicated"), on which return tickets from Marylebone aren't valid. You need to check the play running time with the RSC (Shakespeare didn't adapt his plays to future railway passengers' convenience) and buy separate tickets each way. Watching a matinee performance makes for easier train journeys, and limits the time available for seeing Stratford's underwhelming other charms.

Brighton gets more daytrippers from London than anywhere else. It's our fun capital, but has remarkable Georgian architecture. Consider Winchester as well. Fast trains on the high speed line from London St Pancras to Canterbury are substantially pricier than the slower ones on conventional tracks from Victoria or Charing Cross.

Train fares and schedules at www.nationalrail.co.uk. Trains are the better option for all these places except Oxford (though even for Oxford, many of us prefer the train). I can't understand your preference for a "smallish bus". Do you really both want to get a DVT? Proper sized buses are designed for passengers to sit in comfort for several hours: small ones absolutely aren't - which is why no-one operates any

kawh

flanneruk-- thanks for the info. will check out the other oxford bus as soon as i check with my friend about whether or not this is top on her list. (i realize i shouldn't go nuts researching any particular trip until is know it's for sure.)

i guess that i mentioned 'smallish bus' because i envisioned a huge tour bus -- a comfortable enough bus, but then you share a tour with 60 people. of course, if it is only transportation-- and no guided tour-- a bigger bus would be fine.

she's a history buff, so winchester might be a great choice for her too.

i love the idea of brighton-- i was there many years ago on my first trip to europe. (my very first trip out of the u.s.) and would love to return as a mature, seasoned traveller. (i was alone and overwhelmed the first time. )

just too much to choose from. really excited.