Day Trip from London

[Kirsty]

Hello!

So much information on these boards...I love it!

I am thinking about going on a quick visit to London some time in the fall or winter (Christmas time?) and was curious about possible day trips from London. I have spent a week in London before so this will not be my first time there and the idea of a day away seemed interesting!

I was thinking about a Stonehenge/Bath day trip. Has anyone taken one of these? Any recommendations? Are there any other day trips that would be good to take...and in the winter?

Thanks for all of the input into this board already! So very, very helpful!

Kirsty

[crystal]

HI Kirsty

Stonehedge and Bath would be a nice day trip from London. You can get the train from Paddington station to Bath which would take about 1 1/2 hrs. They are fairly regular something like every 30mins.
You could also go by bus it would be half the price but the journey would take twice as long so it's up to you.
To get from Bath to Stonehenge you will have to get a bus to Salisbury. It is worth stopping off here to see the cathedral which has the tallest spire in the UK. Stonehenge is about 25mins from here.

This is the oversea enquiry phone number about opening time for stonehenge I think it is a recorded message [phone].

You could also think about
Canterbury
Oxford
Cambridge
Brighton
Windsor

Happy travels

Shelley

[Kim]

I really enjoyed both. The tour in Bath is really cool - you get an audio thing that you can punch numbers into and go and your own pace.

Might even be worth it to spend the night in Bath if you have that kind of time. It's really cute. Your day won't be jam packed with activity but it's a nice little place to walk around etc.

[madamtrashheap]

Good call on staying in Bath - doing Stonehenge and Bath (and Salisbury) in one day is possible, but it makes for a long day and free time would be limited. Plus Bath is a groovy place to spend a night - good pubs and pretty all lit up too. Trains are easy enough between Salisbury, Bath and London, but as crystal pointed out, you can also bus it from Bath (the furtherest point from London). There are plenty of day-trips put on by different coach companies - Evans & Evans are a big one, or Astral is another OK one - but remember, on guided tours your free time is dictated by when the coach/group must leave.

Windsor is good for Windsor Castle - but it doesn't open until 9.30am and costs around GBP9 from memory. If you decide to do this instead of Bath/Stonehenge, you can do Windsor on the way to Oxford from London (train to Windsor around 40mins, then to Oxford another 30mins direct) as they are quite close and doable in a day. A few tours do Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor in one day, which is a huge amount of ground to cover with not a lot of time to soak it all in.

Brighton is great, and again I'd suggest overnighting just for the nightlife. However, Winter is a tad chilly for beach walks, unless you get a crystal clear day.

Cambridge is quaint and again has student nightlife or just good for wandering the streets and visiting the colleges for a day.

Canterbury is excellent for the Cathedral, day trip only though.

My first choice would be the rocks in the field (aka Stonehenge) trip as that whole area is a pretty part of Britain worth seeing properly.

Happy choosing! ;D