what are the 3 best day trips in London?
 

hi we are coming into london and wish to go on two day trips... Bath, Dover, Heaver Castle, cambridge, that sort of thing... husband, wife , 10 and 7 year olds... girl and boy... would love to hear your ideas... thank you!

Kids would probably like Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle.

How long are you in London for? Best day trips depends on what you are interested in. Check out www.walks.com and their explorer days for ideas.

I would recommend day trips from London unless you are there for 5+ days however...there are so many things to see in the city itself...

So how many days are you in London? We have gone to London at least once a year for 40 years and have taken very few day trips, though we have gone all over from Land's End to John a Groats. For less tahn 2 weeks I don;t think I'd go further than Hampton Court, Windsor or Oxdord , especially without a car

It's Hever Castle, and it's a bit of a pain to get to.

If you explain what you want to see and what you're interested in, the notion of "best" will be clearer because others can determine what could be best for you.

I am just reposting this from your Paris post:

oztravelz - what exactly is your travel itinerary? Based on a few of your posts you will be running all over Europe, spending a couple days in a world class cities, and then trying to do day trips from them. Instead of spending most of your time in transit on trains and tubes and buses etc why dont you look at what is IN these cities and enjoy those. You may find you are completely burnt out by running around with a family dragging behind you instead of having a fabulous well planned vacation...

It's not exactly a 'day trip', but have you thought of Kew Gardens? I was there with my boyfriend in early June, and it was just gorgeous. On a hot day it is magical.

I thought I recognized your screen name -- and jamikins confirmed what I was thinking. You are rushing through Greece, have 3 days in Paris and want to go to Versailles, and I suspect you only have a short time in London.

Your kids will be totally frazzled and may be put off traveling for years to come. Slowdown a bit -- don't treat Europe like a military campaign.

if anything, Hampton Court. But just enjoy the city. There are so many things for kids there.

'You are rushing through Greece, have 3 days in Paris and want to go to Versailles, and I suspect you only have a short time in London.'

I don't see the problem? I have been to Paris several times, never for more than three days, and I visited Versailles every time. Some people like a fast paced holiday!

Based on the screen name, the family is Aussie. Aussies on holiday flit around Europe like hummingbirds to see as much as they can because it takes SO DANG LONG to get anywhere from Oz.

With 2 kids the obvious ones are Windsor (easy 30 minutes or so on the train) and Hampton Court - you can take the train there and the boat back.

But - each will take the best part of a day - so unless you have at lest 6 full days in London I wouldn;t do them - or you will really be cutting London short.

As for Hever - interesting - but I saw it on my 10th or 11th trip to the UK - there were so many other places more interesting.