Travelpat

Does anyone know of a tour group operating in London for a day trip to Hampton Court and maybe Windsor Castle. Would love to be picked up at hotel. This will be for Nov 24-28.

bettyk

I'm sure that Evan Evans and others do day tours but you could do both by yourself without much trouble and much cheaper too. We took the train from Waterloo Station and it's about a 35 minute ride. I think there are two trains each hour. The cost was less than 5 GBP. To do it justice, you should plan to spend 2-3 hours. There's a nice little cafe at the palace where you can get a decent lunch.

You can also take the train to Windsor Castle but am not sure of the station. A quick search on Fodor's for Windsor should turn up more info.

If you still want to take a tour, you can find lots of info on www.google.com with a search for London Hampton Court Tours.

bettyk

Sorry, in my first paragraph, I meant to say that you take the train to Hampton Court Palace from Waterloo Station,.

mclaurie

Evan Evans, Astral and London Walks (they have what they call Explorer days I think) are the 3 tour cos. mentioned most often here for daytrips out of London. You should check their websites. You could also check britainexpress.co.uk

I found this one on the web (NO personal experience) that provides transport for a private tour of both.

http://www.londoncountrytours.co.uk/prices.htm

mclaurie

Found 2 older threads you might like. The first discusses doing the 2 together in one day (lots of people think Hampton Court and/or both are worth a full day on their own. Each is quite easy to get to from London but not from one to the other

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34502950

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34489545

curmudgeon

The big tour companies definitely do day trips combining HC and Windsor. We did one several years ago when we had two 80-yr old relatives along, and it served the purpose well of covering the two sites in one trip. Be aware that while the tours have pickups from various hotels scattered around the city, a given tour will only *return* to the Victoria Coach station, leaving you to find your own way back to your hotel by tube or taxi (this was a surprise to many on the tour).

In retrospect, even with the older members of our group, I think we would have done better to make two half-day trips by train (the train stations are as close as the bus drop points at Windsor and HC).

Shar

why waste the $ on a tour whenit is very easy to just take the train and do it yourself. It is a wonderful palace and the town is very cute. You can buy an all inclusive train ticket which will include your entrance fee to the hotel. Palace is only a few blocks from the train station. Sve the money - you need it in London!

Shar

oops I meant all inclusive price includes entrance to the palace! My husband and I were there over Christmas week a couple of years ago and loved it.

Daisy54

I agree with the others than for both Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, it is much easier, more flexible and possibly cheaper to go independently since both places are within a few blocks of their respective train stations. Windsor has two train stations - Windsor Central is closer to the castle than Windsor & Eaton, but both are still easily walkable. For Windsor Central leave from Paddington Station & change trains at Slough, for Windor & Eaton leave from Waterloo station, no changes.

However if for what ever reason you still prefer an organized tour, in addition to the tour companies mentioned above there's also Golden Tours which picks people up at hotels. www.goldentours.co.uk

LAwoman

Also you can just take the various (economical) tours that the Palace itself offers, costumed docents take you through the various sections (it's a huge place) & time periods, tours offered throughout the day, sign up was soon as you get there.