If I don't do this bus tour option and go with Warwick Castle and Stratford-Upon-Avon, I need to look up how to do the trains and get back to London.

National Rail Enquiries - Official source for UK train times and timetables has all the schedules and fares and you book cheaper tickets online and get a code to redeem. www.bahn.de/en -German Rail site has easy to reference schedules but can't buy that. General info on trains BETS-European Rail Experts and www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves. First class on long distance British trains is much more roomy and comfy than standard class.

Thanks for the links PalenQ and good points historytraveler.

www.bahn.de/en shows daily London to Warwick direct trains running about every 30 minutes throughout the day and so far into the night. Warwick station to the castle is about a 20-min walk from the tiny station.

Then every two hours there are direct trains to Stratford, whose train station is about a 15-min or less walk to the town centre. Besides the direct trains, there are more train links to Stratford. So that's all you need to know as those trains run so frequently. No reason to buy tickets in advance though you may want to reserve good seats (2 together with windows for each, etc.) Again you can always hop on those trains with your ticket so so simple.

Last time I was in Stratford, there was a Shakespeare bus that circulated to all five of the Bard's main sights - most are in town but one is a few miles away.

Surprising to me was in a main Shakespeare property where it was said there were lots of doubts about Shakespeare's life - especially that perhaps Shakespeare was not a country bumpkin people thought and that the plays were indeed written by that royal dude.

JamilaZ, Just to put a bit of pragmatism to the idea of train to Warwick and then to Stratford-upon-Avon, here is a rundown of actual times. There are frequent trains to Warwick, however most still require a change of trains. I believe the direct train leaves Marylebone at 10 ish. I can't find any earlier trains that don't require a change of station. The trip takes about 90 minutes, then there's a 15/20 minute walk to the castle. So it's almost 2 hours from the time you leave London until you actually get to the castle. The castle doesn't open until 10:00 so you gain nothing by an early departure. The most popular place at Warwick Castle is probably a visit to the Dungeon and I really enjoyed touring the late 19th early 20th century section displaying the history the Greville family who were the castle's last owners. It'll take at least a couple of hours just to visit these two places and to get an overall view of the castle. So now you have 4 hours invested in your day not to mention time for lunch and you still need to get back to the train station ( 20 minutes) for train to Stratford along with coordinating departures times with your schedule. I think the train to Stratford takes about 40 minutes. The main part of Stratford is very walkable. I would never consider taking a bus around. Not necessary unless you want to visit Anne Hathaway's cottage. If you total the time for trains and visits of 2/3 hours each place and you have about a 10 hour day. IMO better than a tour but certainly not easy. As I stated earlier we did Warwick Castle in a day trip and that was plenty. Of all three places you mentioned I still prefer Oxford. As bilboburgler mentioned there's a lot more to see and do in Oxford than just visiting the colleges.

I haven't read all of the responses (now having one person on ignore, I may have missed something stupid)

But >>I think the tour bus taking us to the other places (Warwick Castle and Stratford-Upon-Avon) and Oxford will be a good way for us to get some time at all the places. I really do not feel like figuring out trains and then walking from train station to the place in case weather is an issue too<<

No -- it will not give you much time anywhere. And if you just do a day trip to Oxford, there is nothing to 'figure out'. The buses several of us have mentioned run all day long from central London and let you off in central Oxford with no transfers but length of journey varies depending on traffic a little over 1 hour to maybe 2 hours. Trains are just as easy, they leave from either Paddington or Marylebone stations and go to Oxford with no transfers taking one hour. The station is short walk from the center of the city.

That coach trip itinerary looks awful. Just my 2¢

Use http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ to check train times. There is a direct train from London Marylebone to Warwick 08:37 - 10:02 for 7.00 GBP bought a week ahead. There is also a direct train 08:14 - 09:30 for just over twice as much. The castle is less than half a mile from the station.

There is a direct train from Warwick to Stratford 13:37 - 14:12 for 6.10 GBP., and another option half an hour later with one change that's nearly as fast.

Trains from Stratford take two to two and a half hours and there are few direct trains. There's also a National Express coach at 18:30 arriving at Victoria at 20:50.

Personally, I'd pick Oxford, which is easy to reach and has loads to see, but I'm not a teenager. Cannot believe that stupid tour actually said "furtively discover"!!! Even before Oxford was overrun with day trippers there was nothing furtive about it. Except in the fog.

Thanks for all the info on the trains. One of the many positives is that we can move our schedule around during the week if it's a windy/rainy day. Plus not in mood to wake up early to depart on 7:30 bus.