Hello,

This is my first post on this message bored, so bear with me please. I will be visiting London for my first time this upcoming August. I will be traveling with a friend. We will have 4 full days in London and are kind of torn of what to do. He has been there before, and went to Windsor, Leeds, and the Tower of London.

He wants to see Leeds again, but after doing some research here, I thought that making the trip to Hampton Court Palace would be better. My QUESTION is; do we buy train tickets and admission tickets in advance? Where would I do this? Or is it better just to get the train and admissions the day of the event? I am kind of confused on all of this. I would like the best price, since we are really poor college students.


Also, we were considering doing a trip to Stonehenge. Is a tour the best option for this? Or is Stonehenge even worth the trip? I have seen a few day tours for Stonehenge / Bath for about 100usd. Is this a good price? Perhaps seeing Leeds castle would be a day better spent?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as you can tell, I am very new to travel.

Trains run every half hour from London Waterloo to Hampton Court. There is no reason to buy tickets in advance. Hampton Court is in zone 6 so the journey is covered by a travelcard for zones 1-6. If you have a travelcard for zones 1-2, show it when you buy the train ticket to Hampton Court because you only need to pay from the boundary of zone 2 to Hampton Court.
You can get there by bus which would be cheaper, but the journey would involve at least three buses and would take a lot longer.

I'm going to be a bit contraversial here and say that I didn't really enjoy Hampton Court. Admittedly it's a while since I went, but my impression was that not many of the rooms were actually open to the public and those that were were quite spartan and uninteresting.

My suggestion would be to go to Brighton (50 mins by train) and see the Brighton Pavillion which is a much more interesting building, with really beautiful decoration - hand painted wallpapers, fully equipped Regency kitchen. You then also have the old Lanes to explore with their quaint old shops, plus a good choice of restaurants and bars - or how about afternoon tea at The Grand Hotel overlooking the sea (nowhere near as pricy as the London West End Hotel afternoon teas).

When we went to Hampton Palace, we started at Waterloo Station and were directed to the Travel Office, where a very nice gent put a package together for us (at a significant discount). We took the train down and the river boat back, stopping at Kew Gardens on the way, then getting back on a boat.

I rank Hampton Court Palace as a tremendously overlooked place for London visitors - i loved it the three times i've went. the English Versailles and reeks of history. HenryVIII and his wives lived there and one of them is said to still haunt the palace from the day she was carted away to the Tower and block. And it's on a nice stretch of the Thames.

Hampton Court has great gardens, a deer park, a maze and the most complete Tudor kitchens in europe. Plus in many rooms are folks dressed in period costume demonstrating things or playing instruments. Included with the admission fee you can take several daily themed guided walks thru the various parts.

I presume you mean Leeds <u>Castle</u> and not Leeds the city - they are a couple hundred miles apart.

Leeds castle has lovely grounds/gardens but the castle itself it really nothing to write home about. There are many. MANY better castles - Leeds is really just a conference center and wedding venue.

Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle, or Kensington Palace would all be better. And, the Tower of London is a castle too.

Now about all these plans - you only have 4 days in London - you really don't have time for <b>any</b> day trips - but if you must - choose ONE. Either Stonehenge, or Hampton Court Palace, or Windsor. But honestly - 4 days will only let you see a few of the major sites IN London let alone anyplace else.

to clarify - I meant &quot;Leeds Castle is really just a conference center and wedding venue.&quot; (Didn't want you to think I was referring to the city of Leeds)

I thought Hampton Court was terrific...I could just picture Henry VIII frolickng there with one wife or another.

Thanks everyone for all of the help! I think Hampton Palace will be a perfect day trip, and I am very excited to see it.

For Stonehenge... I know it is a day trip and I only have 4.5 days in London, but it is something I have always wanted to see. And the added bonus of going to Bath, even if for a little while, seems like a fun time.

Hard choices!

We took a river boat to Hampton &amp; trained back. We loved it. Approaching the castle from the river (and seeing Richmond, Kew etc) was great. I kept thinking of &quot;A Man for All Seasons&quot; . . .

Ian

Note: If you want to take a boat, it makes more sense to take the train TO the Palace, and the boat back FROM the Palace to London.

Taking the boat to HCP doesn't get you there until the afternoon (it is approx a 3 hour journey give or take depending on the tide). So take a morning train getting to the Palace at opening time. Then after you've see all you want - you can then decide if you want to take the boat back in to town.

Stonehedge on the train is not so easy, since you also need to go by bus from the train station for quite a distance. I suggest...London Walks. They are great, go there every week, excellent, intelligent, educated guides and a bus from the train plus some interesting extras. Google to the website.

Actually Salisbury train station to Stonehenge could not be easier. The bus leaves once an hour and takes 20-25 mins.

How to get to Stonehenge &amp; Avebury (much better) by bus from Salisbury

www.wdbus.co.uk/htm/ta/index.asp

Hi everyone, does a boat from HC Palace take as long as a boat to HC? Does going with the current cut the time significantly? I believe the current goes from HC to the sea (towards London). thereyet

You can't judge the time just because one is going up or down stream. The Thames is also tidal, so sometimes it is quicker to travel up stream and sometimes quicker to go downstream. But on average it will take a bit over 3 hours.

And DON'T ask which days/trips will be on the incoming and which will be on the outflowing tides when you are there . . . .

So are we talking 3 hours give or take say 15-20 min. and leave it at that? thereyet

no it could take as much as 4+ hours against a heavy tide

Hampton Court is a wonderful place. I found the kitchen model very interesting and the kitchen area itself was very educational. There were people dressed in costumes who played music using bones, explanation about the roasting process, the pit roast was roaring (when I went) and the pie area smelled wonderful
The gardens were also very nice... manicured, just like Versailles but smaller. There were many swans roaming around.
Have some photos here if you're keen to see the place.

I bought ticket + admission from the counter.. it was cheaper. You can also take a boat but I think it take longer to get there.

WOW! I am guessing that only happens once a month. Heavy tides that is. thereyet