Southern England by Car in 5 days
 

Looking for itinerary help... Arrive London 4/14 am, two days in London, one day train trip to Oxford, then out on road by car for 5 days, Want to see Blenheim Palace, Bath, Stonehenge, Canterbury, Cliffs of Dover, Brighton, Runnymeade and lots of old castles. Looking for route ideas, other towns to see, possibly Hastings and Battle, possibly the cotswolds, back to London one last night before flying home. In which towns should we book hotels, etc? One place suggested was Salisbury after day in Bath and Stonehenge, Brighton is one...

Blenheim Palace is very near Oxford, so see it on that day, if you can, or save it for another time.

Runnymede is very near Windsor so if you want to see Windsor it would be a good combination for a day trip from London.

Those aside, you could do a south coast drive starting in Canterbury, Dover, Hastings & Battle, Brighton, then head for Salisbury & Stonehenge on the way to Bath. Going at good clip I think you can hit all those, and castles along the way.

In April no need to book stops in advance unless there's a particular place you'd like to stay. Consider where you're likely to be the day before and call ahead for bookings. Even the same day you should be fine.

Head back to London from Bath and save the Cotswolds for a trip of it's own.

Regarding Runnymede, while a nice spot, there isn't really enough there, unless combined with Windsor for instance, to make a trip there particularly worthwhile by itself. Here are my pictures from a stop in a longer walk that day and what you see is it in its entirety plus a big meadow alongside the Thames. If the Kennedy Memorial is your reason for going then do go, of course, but visit Windsor too.
http://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/gumb...nymede-england

Tickets for Windsor here:
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/v...lan-your-visit

low down and see more.
Traffic can be horrendous and if you are running late and using this sort of timetable you will end up being too stressed.
I too would ask why you would want to visit Runnymede?
Hastings is not so pretty as Rye.
Castles, which ones do you want to visit?
Hers is WIKI on castles listed per county.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...les_in_England

sorry that should read --- slow down and see more.

I too see no benefit in visiting Runnymede

I'd choose one of Bath, Wells, Salisbury and Winchester cathedrals to do a proper visit. Each has their merits, for me Salisbury wins by a fait margin.

Ancient forts, again there are some stonking pre-Roman or early Roman hill forts you might like. Dorset has the best but Wiltshire has a few still standing. Maiden Castle is inspiring.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...rts_in_England

Or do you mean castles after the Romans left?

>>Blenheim Palace, Bath, Stonehenge, Canterbury, Cliffs of Dover, Brighton, Runnymeade and lots of old castles<<

That is not a 5 day itinerary -- more like a 10 day-er.

Have you been to London before? If not, 2 days (and is that really 1.5 days? ) is nothing. You won't see much of London in that time. (if you've been several times then sure - 2 days to rest up/recover is good)

Runnymeade but not Windsor?

Oxford is just down the road from Woodstock so instead of a day trip to Oxford, why not stay 3 days in London, then pick up a car and visit Oxford, Blenheim, Bath and Salisbury/Stonehenge which would fill at least 4 days.