greyhavns

my wife and I will have 3 days in london. we fly in to heathrow and then tube it to our hotel. we'd like to see both, Bath and stonehenge, but have no car for transportation. We heard we can take a train from paddington station out to Bath, but a coach is required to Stonehenge.

Can anyone suggest maybe a coach that does both? we'd like to take up 1 day to see both. Any ideas?

giro

You can get to Bath by train leaving Paddington. You can arrange to take a tour of Stonehenge from Bath by using Mad Max tours. We used them for a tour of the Cotswalds and enjoyed their service. They get excellent reviews. My guess is that if you want to spend any time touring Bath you should spend the night there.
Have a good trip!

greyhavns

thanks giro. you recommend we stay a nite in bath. so train out to bath maybe on our 2nd day. spend the nite out there, then train it back in to london the following? what do you suggest in regards to staying in bath?

giro

I am afraid you will need to rely on others for hotel recommendations. The only place I recall is the B and B where we stayed which was 139 Wells Rd. (I believe). There are a number of hotels to look into as Bath is a moderate size city. We did like our B and B very much.
I thought you would need an overnight stay as it is about a 2 hour train ride to Bath and if there are half day tours to Stonehenge you probably would not have time to see much of Bath. Bath is very interesting and worth a visit if you have time to fit it in your stay in London. You can read about Mad Max tours on the Trip Advisor site.

jamikins

Are you first timers to London? With only three days in London I wouldnt take a day and night to go to Bath/Stonehenge. There are so many things to see IN London! I would also check to see if you can get to Bath on the train early enough to make the MadMax tour because I think that would be tough.

alanRow

You could do a day tour from London with someone like Anderson Tours but you won't get that much time for Bath as there's around 7 hours of driving involved

But with only 3 days why even attempt it

texasbookworm

I add my voice to the above--I have been to Bath and to Stonehenge (3 times) and love them both. BUT with only 3 days (and are those 3 WHOLE days, not counting the arrival and departure days, or 3 nights which might translate into really only 2 days with a few hours on your arrival day?) I would not suggest any day trips. I've spent a paltry about 18 days in London on 3 trips, repeated on a few things, and still have a long list of places to see! So while I certainly understand the lure of Bath and of Stonehenge, I would urge enjoying just London this trip.

greyhavns

yeh, 2.8 days. We hit the ground running. hopefully sleeping on the flight over. how much time is necessary to get a taste of bath? i saw a train to bath, arriving at 10ish. then we have bout 3 hours before hoping the half day max tour to stonehenge. then arrange to stay 1 night in bath, then train it back in to london on day 3 and see more sights, before taking the train to paris on morning of day 4. we crazy?

Dukey1

Does it HAVE to be Stonehenge? Have you considered the stones, and LOTS of them, in Avebury which is easily reached from the rail station in Swindon by bus..and you can actually TOUCH the Avebury stones but I understand if that seems like second best.

jamikins

Well its up to you but you really wont see much of London in 1.5 days. of your 2.5 days you will spend about 4 of your waking hours on a train to and from Bath, and then another 4 hours on a bus to spend an hour at stonehenge.

Your first day exect it to take about 3 hours from getting off the plan until you are at your hotel to check in. So you will have 1/2 a day potentially jet lagged. Next morning you are going to get up, spend several hours on trains and buses to see Stonehenge and Bath, then spend the night in Bath, then spend a couple hours on a train back to London, go back to drop your bags at your hotel before you can even begin seeing the sites again in London - so thats another 1/2 day gone and you havent seen anything yet. Then the next day train to Paris?

I think you are underestimating how long transport takes - so depending on what you consider 'sites' there may be a 30 min commute between the two sites. And time to actually see the sites - like the Tower, which to me is the best site in London, takes 1/2 day!

I'd reconsider this...

basingstoke2

First, I must agree with the others to stay in London with your limited time, but if you must see Stonehenge and Bath (and I can understand that) here are a few options. First, there are a number of coach tours from London that go to Stonehenge and then Bath and back the same day - they usually include a local coach tour of Bath and an hour or two to do what you like. That will give you a taste of Bath. I did that with my son and knew I had to return. If you decide to train to Bath in the morning, there is a free Mayor's walking tour using volunteer guides that leave daily at 10:30 from just outside the Pump Room, in the courtyard of the cathedral, and last a bit over 2 hours. These are excellent and give a fine orientation to the city.

greyhavns

oh, the decisions. thank you all for your suggestions. i swear, trying to plan to see it all ... as us americans like to do... is sometimes our biggest problem.
is 3 hours enough to see in bath or at least get a taste? i was thinking, call me crazy, train in at 10ish, see bath 3 hours, hop on the mad max tour for half day stonehenge. be back at 4:15 then take a train out around 6ish back to london saving time to check in hotel, drop off luggage, etc in bath. doable?

nytraveler

I can only agree that yuo are totally short-changing London. Don;t know what sights you have picked out - but IMHO 5 night is the minimum for a first trip to London to see anything. You are spending only 1 days there - which 3 sights will you see?

texasbookworm

No, you aren't crazy; you just haven't experienced it so you are way underestimating your fatigue, time in transits, time in queues, delays, etc., etc., etc. I would never make all that effort and expense to spend at most 3 hours in Bath. Again, I urge you to JUST STAY IN LONDON!

Nonconformist

Or spend the whole time in Bath, and leave London for another visit when you have more time.

greyhavns

tower of london. buckingham? maybe the natural history museum? gonna watch rick steves and see what he recommends. we know we won't get to so or take in enough. it's gonna be a sampler of london obviously. we enjoy the history, the arts and the natural sites (outdoors) so that's why we were so keen on bath and coswalds and stonehenge.

basingstoke2

You just need more days! Bath is a living museum and the 3 nights we recently spent there was not enough. For a few days in London, the usual sites such as Tower of London and Buckingham are good starts. I would check out the London Walks website to see what they are doing during the time you are there - they usually have lots of options, are cheap and informative, especially if you are interested in history. The Natural History Museum is just down the street from one of my favorites, the Victoria and Albert Museum. However, they are both a bit far from the center and if you were to see just one museum, the British Museum would be my choice hands down - it is unique in the world.

janisj

Forget Rick Steves -- he gives crap advice for England (good for Italy -- England, not so much)

"<i>...as us americans like to do...</i>"

Most of those answering you ARE Americans (w/ a few Brits thrown in for good measure). That is no excuse for planning an undoable itinerary.

You don't have time to see even a teensy smidgen of London let alone spending the best part of 2 jet lagged days doing Bath and Stonehenge. You will barely see <u>anything</u> of London before dashing off to Paris.

W/ your plan you will actually spend more time on trains and buses and other public transport than seeing anything in either Bath OR London. Where are you staying in London? W/o knowing the specifics - in general count on 4 hours from touch down at LHR to your hotel. So you have much less than a full day on day 1.

greyhavns

we are staying a stones throw from paddington station.

giro

Since I was the 1st to respond I feel that I should post an additional follow up post. I agree with most of the sentiment that has been expressed; if this is your first trip to London I would strongly consider remaining in the London area. once you consider visiting the Tower of London, the British Museum, Tate, the palaces and parks and enjoying the city itself you will find your days are full. There are short day trips available if you want to see the countryside too.
Before making any final decision, you need to seriously consider the travel time involved along with all the stress of making schedules etc.
Consider all the pros and cons and do what you think is best.