Important - Advice on London and Bath

[pointofnoreturn]

I must be silly asking this but I wanted to get a second opinion before arranging details...

My friend and I are flying to London from Athens and get in around 2:30 PM. Our day probably will consist of us checking into our accomodation and just walk around the city before heading to bed.

We plan to spend one night in London and leave early next morning to go to Salisbury/Amesbury to meet up with my aunt. That day will probably be consisted of going to the Avebury Stone Circle, Salisbury Cathedral, etc before heading to the Special Access to Stonehenge after hours in the evening. The three of us are planning to stay in a Salisbury B&B.

The next morning, we're going to take the train/bus (eh, either one) to Bath and spend most part of our day there before my friend and I return to London in the evening/early nighttime (prob. between 6-9 PM) and my aunt will go back home.

That means, we're basically having 2 days outside of London and 3 full days in London (not including the day we flew in).

I've already been to London for 10 days and I've been to most of the sights but my friend hasn't. Is 3 days suffice enough for her? I don't think we will be hitting the MAJOR must-do areas like London Eye (been on it - what a BORE!) but rather hang out with my best friend who lives in London as well as go to the free museums and try to fit in the parks/Tower of London as well as Madame Tussauds. I honestly don't want to go to Tussauds but compromises, compromises....

Advice much appreciated on the time allocated. For easier understanding, here's my itinerary for this part of the trip:

May 29 - Arrive in London 2:40 PM
May 30 - Leave early AM to go to Salisbury, spend night in Salisbury
May 31 - Leave AM to go to Bath, leave Bath late afternoon to return to London
June 1 - London
June 2 - London
June 3 - London
June 4 - Flight back to Canada 12:30 PM

Is there a way to fit in Bath/Salisbury all in one day. I'd rather take the Special Access tour of Stonehenge than simply going there and not being able to get past the roped off area.

[WillTravel]

It's so hard to say whether three days is enough - I've been to London several times and am so far from seeing everything. You wouldn't have to go in with them to Madame Tussaud's. Unless you have a 2 for 1 deal, it's so expensive that I would not do it unless I were really into it. How does your friend feel about it? Is she really into London, or is it just another city to her?

[herrbert]

I think 3 days is really short, esp. when you want to have some time to talk to your friend who lives there, and doing some things together. By making a good plan, you could visit the must-sees in three days, but I would doubt it, if you can actualy visit places like the British Museum, Tate, Madame T. as these places consume so much of your time.

[pointofnoreturn]

(scrapping my entire reply for a new one....)

Hmm... I've been doing some research concerning the transportation modes to get from Gatwick to either Bath or Salisbury and I've come to the conclusion that going fro Gatwick to one of these two places immediately after landing is kind of cutting it too close.

I will have to speak to my friend and ask her if she's comfortable with spending 3 days in London and going to only the places we want to go or push the limit and go for 4 days.

Second thoughts are leading me to say that I should perhaps omit Salisbury and go to Bath instead to save time on transportation and costs. There's always another visit to see Stonehenge.

Revising my itinerary, how does this sound:

May 29 - Arrive London 2:40 PM, pick up bags, take National Express bus to get to Bath. Arrive between 8 and 10 PM and check into hostel/B&B (likely a B&B)

May 30 - Day tour of Bath. Leave Bath around 6:30 PM and return to London Victoria station (funfare)

May 31 - London

June 1 - London

June 2 - London

June 3 - London

June 4 - Fly back home around noon.


Suggestions/comments? I really, really wanted to see Stonhenge but trips are always about being reasonable and sensible so I'll just put it on my To-do list for my next trip

[madamtrashheap]

You're so close to Stonehenge PONR, you really should try to fit it in. Discounting any guided day trips from London, perhaps you could revert to your previous itinerary and do something like this: arrive Gatwick, make way to Bath and stay that night plus part of next day before making way to Salisbury to meet up with your aunt and visiting the sights as planned, staying that night in Salisbury and then going to London the next morning.

It doesn't give you mountains of time in Bath, but wandering the city when it's a little quieter is kind of nice, and you can still visit the Roman Baths in the morning before going on to Salisbury. I lived in London for years and still haven't seen everything! Make the list of must-sees in London for you and your friend, then go from there. It's sacrificing Bath a little more, but this way you still get to see everything you want.

[pointofnoreturn]

Thanks MTH - I think I will save Stonehenge for another visit. I plan to visit England again in the summer anyways or possibly 2008 because another one of my friends is moving to Bristol from Canada and I'll be helping her with the move.

I'll definitely keep your suggestions (have already written it down) in mind when it comes to arranging transportation and accomodation for this portion of the trip.

I've never actually been to Bath before. Could someone tell me if it warrants a whole day or half a day?

[madamtrashheap]

Time in Bath depends on what you have maked to see and how much of the city you want to explore.

If you only have half a day then you can easily visit the Roman Baths, Bath Abbey and wander down to Pulteney Bridge whilst snacking on a Cornish pasty before catching a train/bus.

If you have more time, there are things like the Royal Crescent, Landsdown Crescent, Sally Lunn's (great buns!), The Circus (a road, not a tent), Theatre Royal, and there's an excellent fudge shop just down a little alley opposite the entrance to the Roman Baths - to add to the above sights. Plus there's an open top bus tour that goes around the city that would be worth taking too.

[sil]

I have a question about those special access tours to Stonhenge that pointofnoreturn post. I will be going on September and I would love to go pass those ropes. Is it expensive to do it?

[pointofnoreturn]

sil said:

I have a question about those special access tours to Stonhenge that pointofnoreturn post. I will be going on September and I would love to go pass those ropes. Is it expensive to do it?

I believe it's about 10 pounds per person. I could be wrong. Student admission is between 4-5 pounds (not sure of exact price) so special access is about double that.

Check with National Heritage UK's website. They might list some prices but other boards, I've heard 10 pounds being brought up.

[madamtrashheap]

From memory, it's about GBP12 for the Stone Circle Access tkts (regular tkts cost GBP6.00). It's not available every day and there are limits on group sizes, but check the English Heritage website for dates and info www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.878 or go directly to the Stonehenge website for futher info www.stonehenge.co.uk. You have to apply to purchase the Stone Access tickets rather than just rock up on the day, so check what the process is on their site.

[sil]

Thank you!!!

[pointofnoreturn]

Astral Travels is saying that the cost for the special access thing is 15 pounds.... like I said, I have no idea if that's true or not. They run a Special Access tour via coach from London.

Best bet is to book directly with National Heritage. You can take advantage of the funfares from National Express or really cheap train prices (1-6 pounds each way) with megatrain.

[pointofnoreturn]

Checked with the English Heritage's Stonehenge site. MTH is right - 12 pounds for an adult for special access. Not sure why Astral listed it at 15 but looks like your best bet is booking directly with EH.

[madamtrashheap]

pointofnoreturn said:

Not sure why Astral listed it at 15

Astral Travles are a touring company (guided tours) and the extra GBP3 will be their own charge to passengers for making the booking on their behalf.

If you're getting their by yourself, then book directly with English Heritage, and check the booking time they give your for access.

[madamtrashheap]

As a point of coincidence, have a look at this posting: pretravel.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=newsarticles&action=display&n=1&thread=6906.
Not sure if you can visit, but is interesting nonetheless.