mirwin

Greetings: My sweetie and I are going to London for nine days in January. I understand the day tours of Bath and Stonehenge are a bit grueling. Would it be a good idea to take the train from London to Bath and stay overnight? Any recommendations on where to stay, what else to see besides Stonehenge, and how best to get around? Should we book one of the tour operators that works out of Bath?

smueller

Stonehenge is very close to Salisbury, which has one of the greatest cathedrals in Britain, if not Europe. The cathedral has on display one of the original copies of the Magna Carta. The tours are well worth the time and the town, although it boasts nothing else that is comparable to the cathedral, is quite nice.

Have you considered traveling by car?

janis

As smueller says -- Stonehenge is near Salisbury and is almost 40 (slow) miles from Bath. All three would be easily doable by car on your own with an overnight in Bath.

But if you want to rely on public transport it would be better to do Salisbury/Bath as an easy day trip from London.

sunvalli

I am replying because it is such a coincidence that we tried to see Bath and Stonehenge in one day, two years ago in January. We drove from Ipswich to The Francis Hotel in Bath, arriving in the evening. The weather was rainy and somewhat cold.

We spent the day in Bath, spent a lot of time in the Abbey, the Roman Baths and then took a double decker tour of the city. We left the city via car in the afternoon, and just made it to Stonehenge when the sun was setting - it was already closed, so we could only see through the fence - for about 15 minutes in the rain, cold wind and mud. Don't forget the days are short in January.

Given our experience, I wouldn't try to do both in the same day. We enjoyed Bath and regretted leaving early. Stonehenge seems to be a short visit once you're there.

Have fun!

GeoffHamer

Trains London-Bath, Bath-Salisbury and Salisbury-London are hourly, so the round trip is quite possible though buying one-way tickets is more expensive than doing return trips. If you stayed overnight in Bath, a day trip to Salisbury would be quite possible. In January, daylight is limited (it's dark before five in the afternoon) and there will be few organised tours available as very few tourists come here then. The weather might not be suitable for outdoor sights.

Lisa123

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Bath called "Holly Villa" (www.hollyvilla.com) - very pretty clean rooms, nice cooked breakfast - about 10 minutes walk from the shopping area & the Baths and about 10 minutes from the train station. It was very reasonably priced too.

carrolldf

Mirwin, you have several choices if you would like to stay overnight.

I took the day trip to Stonehenge and Bath with Evan Evans tours in October. They offered the day tour at 50GBP/person or a Bath Overnight at 125GBP/person which was the exact same tour except you were left in Bath on your own and picked up by the next day's bus for the return. The brochure I have from Golden Tours lists the same options with prices of 52GBP for day trip and 120GBP for overnight.

I believe Rick Steves suggests booking a day tour and just not using the return -- book your hotel and return travel arrangements on your own. (Be sure to tell your tour guide that you don't plan to return with the group so they won't worry about where you are and waste time waiting for you.)

Of course, you also have the option to get a car and do everything on your own. I haven't priced it all out to see cost difference between using the overnight tour, day tour with hotel and return on your own, or totally on your own, but I would look at those options in making a choice.

(By the way, I would love to have had extra time in Bath and would definitely return again.)

mirwin

Thanks to all for your thoughtful suggestions and comments. I looked into renting a car, and decided the price and inconvenience were prohibitive. I checked out the cost of doing it myself, plus trip to Salisbury (train from London to Salisbury, bus to Stonehenge, train from Salisbury to Bath, overnight in Bath and train back to London -- around $300 total for two people. Evan Evans' overnight to Bath with Stonehenge tour actually comes out cheaper ($250 for two people), but then we wouldn't get to see Salisbury. So I'm leaning towards the do-it-yourself version.