I'd like to do a daytrip out to Warwick Castle on my upcoming trip to London and was wondering if it would be easy to visit Stratford on the same trip, just to walk around, not to see a play.

I've seen the Evans and Evans tours that combine those with Oxford, to me that is too much to cram into one short day, it seems like it would be too quick of a visit to each place.

So I've found the train schedules to Warwick from London Marylebone, looks like about 1 1/2 hours by train and I think I've found the bus schedule from Warwick to Stratford, would I take the 16 or 18 bus from Warwick Market Street to Stratford Bridge Street? That looks like it takes around 1/2 hour.

Or is it easier to take the train between the two? I found a Shakespeare Country Explorer pass from London that allows you to take the train to Warwick, travel between the two and then leave from Stratford back to London for L25. Is the train station centrally located in Stratford?

In the summer (end of July specifically), is it better to go to Warwick Castle during the week or weekends or will it always be crowded? The only special event I found was jousting on the weekend.

Any other tips on visiting Warwick, feel free to pass them along Thanks!

I remember taking that tour from Evans-Evans, quite a while ago. Stratford was not a number 1 on my list, but I did want to see some of the sites & wasn't really interested in seeing a play. So the tour worked out good for me there. I had been to Warrick Castle before, on my own, but also now, wanted my wife to see it & was my main reason for going, but I still wanted to explore around the castle. I always would like to spend more time, but this particular tour did allow us quite abit of time. So the tour was good for me there. The Oxford part, for me was almost an add on. They just walked you through a bit of the town, & to one of the university squares. Not much, in my opinion, especially since it was raining. They cut the Oxford part short. But to make up for it, they did a nice detour drive through the Cotswalds at the end of the tour. Really enjoyed that. I prefer to visit places on my own also. But this tour was a could way to condense these places into a limited amount of time, & it served its purpose for me. One thing to be aware of though is that we had British Heritage passes, the tours do not discount on the cost of the tour even if you have this pass to cover some of the entrance fees to various sites.

Kristi, it looks like you have done good research. The Explorer Pass is a reasonable value. I have taken the train between Stratford (Wilmcote, actually)and Warwick; my memory is that the trains are very infrequent. The bus service between Warwick and Stratford is much more frequent, so that may be a factor in your transportation decision.

Personally, I would spend the whole day in Warwick and skip Stratford. There is much more to Warwick than the castle, particularly the Beauchamp chapel in the town church and the Lord Leycester hospital. And if I did have extra time, I would take the bus in the opposite direction to Kenilworth Castle.

ron has given good info. I don't hate Stratford like a lot of Fodorites - but to see it properly you need a lot of time to see all the Shakespeare properties including the out of town Anne Hathaway and Mary Adren houses, the church his daughters hous and the birthplace/museum.

So I'd probably stick to Warwick - St Mary's church alone is worth an hour, and the Hospital is fascinating. Plus the castle can fill most of a day by itself - especially if you eat in one of the restaurants.

And if you have time a detour up to Kenilworth would be nice.

Thanks for the input, I'm most interested in seeing Warwick Castle and am not committed to going to Stratford, so I will take a look at your other suggestions. There's also a combination train/entrance ticket for L28.40 to Warwick that saves a bit of money, the cheap day return train is L22 by itself.