here4now

We will be in London for nine nights in August. My daughter wants to go to Stonehenge inner circle and I would love to spend at least part of a day (4+ hours) in Bath. It seems that there might be two choices: a private tour with very limited time in Bath (1-2 hours) or on our own. However, I can't figure out if the English Heritige Site still offers early morning/evening access special inner circle tickets. The form states 2015 so I was wondering if that stopped? Also, if we were able to book, for example, an evening after hour time on our own, can we get London to Bath to Stonehenge to London on our own considering to early and late hours?

One other option would be to head to Bath directly from the station when we arrive from Paris and stay over night in Bath. But that seems like a very lengthy travel day and we do not leave Paris until late in the afternoon.

Thanks.

janisj

I'm not entirely sure if inner access is still offered -- I'd e-mail or phone them to be sure. My guess is it is and the form simply hasn't been updated.

The website says: >><i>If you wish to make an enquiry about availability please call +44 (0) 370 333 0605, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Please note that the booking office is closed at weekends and bank holidays. You can also email us at [email protected] with a booking form (see below).</i><<

If you phone - drop the leading 0.

If inner access is offered, another option you might consider is to place Bath?Stonehenge at the end of your trip. Very early AM drive to Stonehenge for the early access, then on to Bath an stay the night. Then (assuming you are leaving via LHR) either drive to LHR for your flight out or drop the car in Bath and take the Express coach from Bath to LHR.

Sassafrass

IMHO, Bath needs a day, minimum. It is a World Heritage Site.
Trying to see it in four hours would be a mad, rushed march, but I guess you could get a quick "drive by" visit. You also have to check times when things are open and times of tours.
The Roman Baths - 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours
The Royal Crescent, including one house - 1+ hours
Circus and Assembly Rooms - 1/2 hour
Abby - 20 minutes
History walk provided by local expert, free - 2 hours

The Roman baths are unique and what the original spa town was all about.
The Royal Crescent is a fine example of the Georgian architecture that makes the city uniquely beautiful and cohesive visually.
Circus and Assembly Rooms were the center of society and culture.
History walk tells and shows you the importance and influence of Bath on the culture and politics of England at the time, plus social mores and how society was organized and run. This gives real meaning to a visit to Bath.
Abby is beautiful.

here4now

Thanks. I just now (after a few weeks of looking..I don't know what I was doing wrong), found the reservation page. Unfortunately, they are sold out for August.

So that leaves either: a tour with very little time in Bath or skipping the inner circle. Even Mad Max tours from Bath has no inner circle access in August. Others from London (Evans, Premium etc) do, but again, limited time in Bath--ugh.

I had considered putting Bath at the end of our trip. For some reason my daughter has her heart set on spending her last night in London. So trying to see if any of this is feasible.

here4now

Sassafrass, I agree that at least a day should be spent in Bath. I would love to. But if our choice is to go for a part of a day or not at all, I am trying for the former.

annhig

I know that your budget may not stretch to this, but if you can find a tour with inner access and a short time in Bath, you could take advantage of that to see stonehenge and get to Bath, then leave the tour when they leave Bath, stay there the night, then use the next day to see Bath, returning to London on the train in the evening.

You would have to pay for an extra night's lodging of course which you might not want to do, but how many times are you going to be able to see both Bath and Stonehenge?

Cathinjoetown

Why not a day for Stonehenge and Salisbury which has an amazing cathedral then a separate day for Bath--it's so easy to get there via train from Paddington.

janisj

I wouldn't hang this on Inner Access . . . the new visitors center and area restoration makes a normal, regular hours visit much more enjoyable then the old set up. So instead of twisting yourselves in knots to fit in the inner access -- just go to Stonehenge either w/ Salisbury or w/ Bath. But even w/ a day-time visit you will definitely want to pre-book a time slot unless you are going w/ a tour

here4now

A knot twister! Good description of me. That being said, I think I may have figured out a hybrid way to go. Get up at an obnoxiously early hour (hey, this is a once in a lifetime deal); take Anderson's early access tour which ends in Salisbury around 12:30-1:00 ish. Abandon tour, head to Bath (by train?). Arrive there in about an hour. Return from Bath to London by way of train at whatever point exhaustion sets in during the evening. A little crazy, I know. But doable?

Or there is a Premium tour that goes does Inner Circle then to Bath and I guess we could just stay on longer in Bath if we chose and eat the cost of train ticket. I don't think it arrives in Bath until mid afternoon. That tour is more $$ but ultimately may work out better, as long as Bath is still "open" in general in the evening.

Both of us are willing to suck up the early hour and long day if otherwise (trains etc) this works.

janisj

Both of those are long but doable - if it was me I'd do the Anderson tour+ train. There are trains @ 1:06. 1:40, and 1:52 getting you to Bath between 2:10 and 2:45. If you head immediately to The Roman Baths (count on at least 90 minutes there) -- then you'll have all the rest of the afternoon/evening to explore the city. Have an early dinner and take a train to Paddington. The Bath / Paddington train only takes 1:30-1:45 so even if you leave Bath at 8:45 you'll be in London before 10:30PM

here4now

Thanks so much. One other related question. We are considering getting the paper 7 day National Rail Card to benefit from 2for1 offers. Can we use that with this trip to/from Bath at all? I find the Railway site to be a bit confusing since I really don't know what Zones to purchase. I thought just Zones 1/2 but maybe something else? ( In addition to Stonehenge/Bath we are also planning on going on day trips to Oxford, Hampton Court Palace and Warner Bros. Studios). All other days will be in London all day.)

janisj

Zone 1-2 is what you want I'd also buy Oyster cards w/ a little Pay As You Go ££ loaded on to cover for any trips outside of zones 1/2.

HCP is covered by the 2for1s

There are some Days Out offerings in other parts of the country but nothing in Oxford or Bath that are worth the effort.

here4now

Ok, I think I almost got it. The 7 Day ticket will cover most of Central Londan Sites and Hampton Ct. Do we use the Oyster cards to purchase train tickets from, for instance, Salisbury to Bath and Bath to London and London to Oxford? Or are those different train tickets all together? If it is different, should we prepurchase any of them?

janisj

>>Ok, I think I almost got it. <<

Almost

>>The 7 Day ticket will cover most of Central Londan Sites and Hampton Ct <<

The 7-day paper travel card will cover ALL of central London. Hampton Court Palace is in zone 6 so you'd either need PAYG £ on an Oyster or a separate train ticket to HCP and back.

>>Do we use the Oyster cards to purchase train tickets from, for instance, Salisbury to Bath and Bath to London and London to Oxford? <<

No -- Oyster cards are just for public transport IN London (if you didn't have paper travel cards you'd use Oysters instead.)

No real need to pre-purchase any of the train tix except for Bath to London where you can save over half the cost if you purchase far enough ahead.

here4now

Now I get it! Although I think I am going to print this page and take it w me. A month from now I will probably be all confused again!

Thanks again!

here4now

Update: We have decided that inner circle access is not critical. So, if do this on our own, is it feasible:

to leave London around 7-8 am, head to Stonehenge (I believe the only way on train is via Salisbury but feel free to correct). Leave Stonehenge around 12:00/12:30. Depart Salisbury around 1:00-2:00. Go to Bath until about 8:00-9:00. Long day still, but with later start so maybe doable? I think it should give us 5-6 hours in bath.

I have no need to go to Salisbury on this trip, btw. Is there a way to skip that?

I did find an evening Bath, Lacock, inner circle Stonehenge tour that fits our schedule. But spending only 2 hours +\- in Bath seems silly. Lacock looks kind of cool though. Daughter is huge Harry Potter fan.

janisj

>>I have no need to go to Salisbury on this trip, btw. Is there a way to skip that? <<

No -- You must take the train to Salisbury to get to Stonehenge. But Salisbury Cathedral at least is definitely worth a look see.

>>I did find an evening Bath, Lacock, inner circle Stonehenge tour that fits our schedule. But spending only 2 hours +\- in Bath seems silly.<<

Is it this one? https://www.viator.com/tours/London/...important-info or similar?

If so it doesn't leave central London until after 11AM since it flits around collecting people at their hotels - thus not getting to Bath until well after 1 PM. I'd contact the operator and see if you can join the tour IN Bath. If you can you can take an early morning train and get yourselves an extra4 or 5 hours in Bath. Then meet up w/ the tour.

This would get you a lot of time in Bath AND inner access. Plus Lacock . . .

This would cost more because you'd have to pay for the train tix -- but evening inner access would be special.

here4now

I already asked one tour operator if I could meet them in Bath and they said no. But maybe I will try the other. We both would much prefer train travel to bus but understand I have a logistical dilemma.

We will definetly stop by Cathedral if in Salisbury. I just meant it wasn't a must for us if there was another way.

here4now

One other option: day 1: early morning London to Salisbusry to Stonehenge to Salisbury to Bath mid day

Overnight in Bath

Day 2: around 11-12 noon: Bath to Oxford; return to London in evening.

Double hotel charge for one night but gives us more time in Bath and we are planning a day trip to Oxford anyway.

annhig

sorry, that just isn't possible. London - Stonehenge - Salisbury - Bath is just possible in a day, but you wouldn't get to Bath till late, not if you wanted to see anything of Salisbury. [and if you don't, there's no point in going, is there?]

Day 2 - see Bath, return to London by the late train.