London: Your Favorite Day Trips?
 

Lots of folks here ask what day trips should they take from London. And as there are seemingly infinite sweet possibilities they get dozens of nice possibilities.

But what I am asking myself and others who have done several day trips just to rank them subjectively to what you liked or enjoyed the most. Of course these may not include any of the consensus top day trip - but I would be curious at to which are the most popular and likable ones you took. No commentary needed, just a ranking - a subjective ranking.

Let's say a day trip includes anywhere reachable by about two hours or less by train or car or bus. Only Your Top Ten - if you have been to ten that is!

I'll start:

1-Oxford
1-Cambridge
3-Hampton Court
4-Windsor & Eton
5-Bath
6-York
7-Stratford-on-Avon
8-Salisbury & Stonehenge
9-Royal Tunbridge Wells
10-Manchester

AND YOURS?

THANKS

I'm ineligible to vote.

But if you seriously believe Manchester qualifies for the list, Liverpool self-evidently has to be top of it.

I've never seen a tourist in Oxford showing any indication of enjoying the experience, however good for their soul it might be. I've never seen a tourist in Liverpool fail to be swathed in grins.

Mine
1-Cambridge
2-Cotswold Villages
3-Stratford, Warwick Castle, Coventry Cathedral
3-Stonehenge, Salisbury, Avebury
5-York
6-Bath
7-Blenheim Palace, Oxford
8-Windsor
9-Wells, Glastonbury
10-Paris

Well I don;t consider York a day trip - or it would be at the top of the list.

Hampton Court
Stonehenge/Salisbury
Bath
Cotswolds (also not really a day trip for us)
Dover & Castle
Windsor
Oxford
Warwick Castle
Greenwich
Rye & Battle
Stratford
Numerous random castles

"I've never seen a tourist in Oxford showing any indication of enjoying the experience, however good for their soul it might be. "

That is not true, I know for a fact.

Sir Flanner: Note I said 'subjective' - what I like not that I would recommend a day trip to Manchester ever for someone who has not seen the Oxbridges, Yorks, Baths, etc.

Liverpuddle would have been on my subjective list except I thought it too far for a day trip - I know it is not far past Manchester but yes I would agree - Liverpuddle is one of the most interesting if not overall beautiful cities in England.

No one has mentioned Chartwell, Churchill's country home.
Under two hours from London and utterly fascinating.

Mine...

1 - Brighton
2 - Dover Castle
3 - Kent gardens (Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, Chartwell, etc.)
4 - Cambridge
5 - Hampton Court
6 - Windsor
7 - Canterbury
8 - Greenwich
9 - Rye
10 - ?

1. Dover
2. Windsor
3. Portsmouth
4. Greenwich
5. Cambridge
6. Stonehenge

Places like Bath, Cotswolds, Warwick, Blenheim, etc. deserve more than a day-trip, IMHO. We stayed in Stratford-upon-Avon and saw the Cotswolds from there.

We also stayed 3 nights in Bath and saw Salisbury, etc from there.

It's nice to spend real time outside of London.

Leeds Castle in Kent and some others from above lists: Cambridge, Bath, Stonehenge

I can't vote either but I don't understand why York isn't a day trip. Of course it is. It's under two hours and we do it all the time except we live near York so we do our day trips to London.

Bath
Canterbury
Stonehenge, Avebury and the West Kennet Long Barrow
Bodiam Castle
Winchester
Greenwich
Oxford
Hampton Court
Tintern Abbey
Salisbury

I think York deserves more than a day trip. We spent two nights there and enjoyed it. In one day, you can get merely just a glimpse but there is plenty of the highlights to do which each take time--York Minster, Railroad Museum, York Castle Museum, Clifford's Tower, walking the walls, the Shambles, a ghost walk just to name a few etc. Much more than a day's worth.

Oxford also is worth more than a day trip--plenty to do especially if you go into the Ashmolean Museum, the library, tour some of the colleges.

Fine day trips
Hampton Court Palace--our favorite
Bath
Stonehenge
Salisbury

Looking forward to seeing some of the rest on people's lists like Bodiam and Greenwich.

Canterbury
Oxford
Cambridge
Stratford on Avon
Hampton Court Palace
Rye/Battle
Hever Castle
Stonehenge

We weren;t that enthused with Brighton. Yes, the Pavilion is incredible - but on a cool, misty day the town, beach and promenade looked like it should have been people only by the very elderly - or the undead.

"Liverpuddle would have been on my subjective list except I thought it too far for a day trip "

London - Manchester fastest railway journey time: 128 minutes
London - Liverpool fastest railway journey time 134 minutes
London - York fastest railway journey time 90 minutes


Though these "fastest" times are available at least once an hour, the practicalities of peak-time pricing and Sunday scheduling make both cities (like York) tricky to visit from London in a day affordably, except on Saturdays. And the football industry means the cheapest weekend day returns to both cities get snapped up almost the moment they go on offer on most Saturdays between late August and early May. York's not burdened with any decent football team, never mind two with global cult status (OK: Everton's status is a tad more cult than the others: but it's outperforming Man U on the pitch these days)

What Liverpool and Manchester undoubtedly share with Oxford, Cambridge, York and (unless you're a joyless suburbanite) Brighton is that they're all proper towns with a huge cultural infrastructure as well as great architecture, easily repaying more than a day visit.

But they all DO repay a day visit. Manchester rarely repays much more.

Here are my favorite destinations that I have visited on a day trip from London, in order of enjoyment:

Oxford
Dover
Salisbury/Stonehenge
Hampton Court Palace (half day)
Greenwich (half day)

Actually my third favorite is Chatsworth, but that was NOT an easy thing to do as a day trip.

But there are several other places that I visited via tour-group-with-students or car-with-hubby that COULD have been "done" as day trips that are also worthy of inclusion on my "favorites" list:

Bath

I agree that York deserves more than a day, but it is one of my favorite cities outside of London and seems to make a good day trip, but again I didn't visit as a day-tripper.

Winchester

Canterbury

We did Portsmouth, my husband is a Navy man and loved all the history. He wants to go back now that the Mary Rose museum is open. They were working on it last trip. To stand on the spot where Lord Nelson was hit was on the Victory and to see that ship was very interesting. Lovely port city.

Dover and Dover Castle appears to be a favorite of many and in retrospect I may have put it on my Top Ten list to - not for the rather tawdry town of Dover itself but for yes one of the most magnificent castles in England, regally standing sentinel high above one of Europe's busiest ports - and the chance to clamber up stairs and footpaths to the top of the Cliffs of Dover makes this a neat day trip - you could easily include a few-hour stop at Canterbury going to or from London by train to Dover.

We haven't done ten daytrips but these are what we've done (more or less in order but we've enjoyed them all)

Hampton Court Palace
Bath
Brighton
Windsor Castle