first timer to London-Please help
 

Hello everyone,
I will be staying in London for 3 days. I am looking at local tour which has 2 different packages: Stonehedge-Winsor Castle-Bath or Stonehedge-Winsor Castle-Oxford. I need inputs which one I should take. Both trips take about 11 hours, so it's a whole day kinda thing.
Also they will be departing from Victoria Coach Station. I am staying at a hotel close by St Paul. How far is St Paul church from Victoria station?
Thank you very much

Both of these tours are cramming an awful lot into just one day. My vote is for none of the above because you will be terribly rushed and you will not have much time to see anything. My personal choice would be to take the train to Windsor and skip any tours. You can make a day of seeing Windsor castle and the town of Windsor.

Using the Journey Planner at www.tfl.gov.uk, I found that you can take a short walk from St. Paul's Cathedral to Ludgate Circus/Ludgate Hill and take Route bus 11 directly from there to Victoria Coach Station. The whole trip should take less than 30 minutes. Or you can walk to the Mansion House Underground station and take the tube (either the District line or the Circle line) from there to Victoria Underground Station and walk from there to Victoria Coach Station in about the same amount of time.

I would tend to agree with P_M. Both, Bath and Stonehenge are pretty well removed from London and Bath in and of itself is worth more than 11 hours imho.

First time in London with just three days, I would take advantage of all London has to offer. But maybe you have already researched it and decided you aren't interested in spending any time at, for example, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, any of the museums or art galleries, the parks, etc.

So, if you have decided two days is enough for all that, then maybe you would like either of the tours you mention. I wouldn't. I like P_M's advice of a part day out to Windsor or Hampton Court, which you can easily do by rail which will be cheaper and you will be in complete control of your time.

A few years ago I took a Grayline tour (out of Victoria Station as I recall) to Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath. It was a full day but very doable. However, since your tour is going to Windsor Castle (rather than Salisbury Cathedral) I would say your tour is too ambitious, IMO.
Doing Bath and Windsor on the same day is just way too much- because both attractions would take some time equally- so to do it in one day it would be rather hasty. I have never been to Windsor but it looks like at least a half day visit. I also remember that on the way back from our tour there was an accident on the main road into London and we sat in traffic for over an hour and a half and finally took a detour which went by Ascot area. So that added even more time to the day. Good luck in your decision- Have fun!

I wouldn;t do either one. You really won;t see much of anythng trying to cram all that into one day. Oxford needs a whole day as does Bath. Windsor needs a half day - and can be reached by train from London in about 30 minutes. You probably need a tour to see Stonehenge - but I would do it with only one other place.

Sorry - as a separate issues 3 days isn;t nearly enough for a first visit to London. IMHO 6 days is the minimum to see major sights. Using one of your 3 to go out of the city will leave you missing a lot of must dos.

We had 2 1/2 full days in London in 2007 and it really wasn't enough. We got to see the things we really, really wanted to see, but we had to leave a lot off our list.

For a first visit to London, I wouldn't take a day trip outside the city.

Lee Ann

Am I surmising correctly (based on your other threads) that you're flying to London from LA? If so, is your "day one" the day of your arrival? Because that day will be spent getting to your hotel and recovering from jet lag, along with some minimal sightseeing. So if one of your three days is your arrival day, really you only have two days in London.

But either way, everyone else is right: Both those tours cram a LOT into eleven hours. And with only two or three days, a day trip just means you're missing that much more of London itself, and there is plenty to do there!

I definitely agree with spending your 3 days IN London. The Tower itself will take you at least 1/2 a day, not to mention jetlag and all the other wonderful sights here!

If you do plan to do a day trip I highly recommend www.walks.com explorer days. Not sure when you are here in London, but you can look through their schedule and see whats offered here: http://www.walks.com/Popups/Explorer...pupwindow.aspx