dottimann

We will be in London Sept. 22-24 and would like to take a tour to Bath and other areas in London and within 2 hours from London. Are there any tour companies that can be contacted online to arrange for tours ahead of time?

ballbuster

EvansEvans and Golden Tours run motorcoach day trips to Stonehenge and Bath. You can google for their websites and book online there but you get 10%off if you book through londontown.com.

There's also Astral tours which run smaller minivan tours at good prices.

victoria_reynolds

We had a good experience with Astral to the Cotswolds (only about 3 other people besides our family on the tour) which are harder to get to by public transport. Bath we did by train ---direct and you can spend as long as you like. It was a bit crowded at first returning to London, but still preferred over the bus tour which would subject us to someone else's schedule.

dottimann

Victoria, did you schedule your tour through Astral before you went to Great Britain or after you arrived?

victoria_reynolds

We scheduled it before we went because we weren't sure if a small van tour like that would get booked up. (Obviously ours did not, but it was high season so...) They sent an email confirmation with where to meet the driver and other info --we were staying in a flat so we had to walk down to the High Street in Kensington.

SusieQQ

I took a tour with Astral in July to Stonehendge, Salisbury, etc. I had booked it on line prior to my trip, but I think that isn't necessary. The tube station where I was to have met them was closed due to the failed bombings so I had to walk to the British museum for pick up. They pick up people at various points and then go to a central location and you get onto the bus for your particular tour. On return only those on the side of London near their base are dropped off where they were picked up. Others are taken to a near-by tube station. I thought the tour was a good tour for the price. The groups are small and it got me to where I wanted to go. My particular guide was just so-so. He was very interested in telling us house prices. I would go with them again.

nytraveler

Just so you know - Bath is not IN London. It's more than two hours away. And a trip to Bath and Stonghenge would take the full day - a long full day.

Also- if you are in London for only 3 days I woldn;t reco any day trips unless it is something you absolutely MUST see. In 3 days you can barely begin to touch on some of the major sights in London - IMHO anyone staying less the 5/6 days doesn;t have time for day trips.

If you want to go outside London - you can easily do Windsor by train in 1/2 day with lunch if you start early - and won;t lose so much time in driving around in a bus listening to the usual inane chatter.

If you want to do much longer tours there are several reliable tour companies - your hotel will be able to arrange tours on the spot - so you can pick the days with better weather if you decide to go that way. (There's nothing worse than riding around all day in the pouring rain seeing nothing when you could be enjoying a nice dry museum or theater.)

dottimann

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments. I truly appreciate them. We will be on a tour and have 2 days in London at the beginning of the tour and we have added 2 1/2 days in London at the end of the tour. I realize that Bath is 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from London. I just reread my posting and it does sound as if I thought Bath was in London. Sorry about that. I would correct the posting if I knew how to do it.