How to take day trips from London
 

Hi. I am getting ready to travel to Europe for the first time. I will be staying in London for about two weeks but would like to do day trips to Edinburgh and Paris as well as other places in England such as Bath and Leeds. Rather than doing an organized tour with transportation leaving from England, I am interested in just doing it myself. Does anyone have any suggestions for affordable travel from London to these destinations? I'm a little overwhelmed from what I've seen on the internet--it seems like there are so many options, I just don't know what to do. Thanks!

The easiest thing to do for Paris is to take the Eurostar. It's a longish journey, though, and would be a very long day for a day trip - would you be able to stay overnight in Paris? If not, there are several threads here about doing a day trip. Just be prepared for a long, busy day. The Eurostar drops you at Gare du Nord in the Paris city center.

For Edinburgh, for me that is way too long for a day trip only. You could take a sleeper train if you really wanted to, but if you can only spare one day, for me it would not be worth it. It's a 4-5 hour journey one way.

Bath and Leeds (and many other places) are easy. Check nationalrail.co.uk for train schedules; it will also send you direct to the site of whatever company you need to buy tickets from. (In summary, the UK rail system is run by several different companies, and you buy tickets from the specific companies. You can save money on some routes - London/Edinburgh, for example - the further ahead you buy. Some shorter routes, though, it doesn't really matter.)

If doing it on your own still makes you nervous, check out London Walks' Explorer Days (walks.com). They have several to various places. I took their Oxford/Cotswold explorer day a couple of years ago and thought it was a great way to explore a new-to-me area of England.

Leeds or Leeds Castle - the two are 250 miles apart

If you have two weeks, can you afford more than a day trip to Paris? I probably wouldn't bother with the time and expense just for one day, but with one (or more) nights it would be worth it. The train goes from city center to city center so is reasonably fast and efficient. I think Edinburgh would be even less realistic as it takes longer. Again, with two whole weeks can you afford to go for at least a night or two.

For actual day trips I've done Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, Brighton, Warwick, Stratford, Bath - all easily done by public transportation. And for things like small Cotswold villages that don't have good train connections, there are organized tours. I usually hate tours but for some things they are the only practical way and can be fine for one day.

Thanks for the replies--I will definitely take your thoughts into consideration when making my plans.