I am looking for a couple of day or 1/2 day tours while in London for 5 days. We are going on our own by train to Warwick Castle and Shakespeare play in Stratford. We are also doing at least one London Walks Thames Pub Tour one evening. We would like to see some sights, including Dover Castle, Leeds Castle, maybe Windson Castle, and of course the Tower of London. Could anyone PLEASE recommend the bext Tour Companies for any of these sights, and/or other recommendations?

Have you ever been to London before?

If not - 5 days is a very short time there. A day trip to Warwick/Stratford would be about all I'd schedule. OR Windsor. OR Dover. But definitely not all three. Is this trip enroute to/from somewhere else? Are you flying in overnight? If so you will have a jet lagged first day so you don't even have 5 full days.

I'd forget about Leeds since it is a very ordinary bldg - does have very nice grounds though.

Meant to add - for any of those three day trips - you don't need a tour company. All are easily accessible from London by train.

I am also curious if you've been to London before. If not, then slow down and see London. When I first started traveling to Europe I found I made the mistake of too many day trips out. We left Munich after three days there and suddenly realized we never saw any of Munich, we were too busy going elsewhere every day.

There is certainly no reason if you're staying in London to hire a tour company to do Tower of London. Do that on your own. I'd also drop Leeds and Dover for a first trip, but you could possibly go out to Windsor. I'm not sure why some people find it not exciting. The thing that made it wonderful for me was that it was not only "over the top" interiors, but the fact that somebody actually lives there. Again, you can do this totally on your own. Take the train out, walk to the castle and tour it, have lunch in Windsor or on the river at Eton, and come back.

I think it is a good idea for first timers to take the hop-on hop-off bus tours (either of the two companies) the first day in town to start off slow and get the lay of the land. If you get to something that interests you hop-off and look around then catch the next bus.

As far as day-trips I think you will find that they are made or broken by the personality of the guide. There are several to choose from and lots of places to day-trip in you frun out of things to do in London, although I can't imagine that happening anytime in the first year or so.

We were just there and I planned the entire trip myself. The Underground is marvelous for getting around and everyone was so friendly to help us.Just ask and most people were pleased to help. We saw two plays,The British Museum,Did The London Eye,Westminster, Buckingham Palace changing of the gaurd,Thames River trip to Greenwich, Brass Rubbings in the Crypt, London Tower,Tower Bridge Tour and took two days to go to Windsor and Hampton Court on Trains. Also took the Eurostar to Paris one day and we were only there for six days of actual trip time(two to fly of course)
Just keep your two train trips and spend the rest of the time in London. It is a spectacular place to visit! I purchased almost all tickets on line so did not have to buy much while there. I even ordered the passes to ride the Underground. Remember "Mind The Gap" Have Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!1