10 Days In London/England/UK

I suggest using your favorite booking site to help you decide. Set the map wide (for the Cotswolds or the Kentish Coast, based on your stated interests), filter for your needs and budget, and see what you find.
If you don't want to try that hard, I can recommend a traditional B&B in Deal, which is not far from Dover and has direct train service to/from London. It's a nice, walkable town on the sea with a castle, and you can easily do a day trip to Dover by bus (or train) or to Canterbury by bus.

With just 10 days overall, and considering the intensity of London, you might want to balance out the trip by spending time west of London. There’s the Cotswolds, as G3rryCee suggests, with Blenheim Palace nearby.
Further west toward the Severn River is Bath, along with Berkeley Castle, Thornbury Castle—which is a hotel today—and just across the Severn in Wales, Chepstow Castle.

The possibilities in the UK are infinite.

Look at www.nationaltrust.org.uk for great ideas for Metropolitan London. If you've got a good weekly rate for London use it as a base for Day trips. We have spent a week in London a couple of times and we never got to see all we wanted. Use a Transit Pass and go almost everywhere. Some Museums are free. Highgate Cemetery is great fun to visit. You can take a boat one way to Hampton Court and the train back or vice versa. There are several Street Markets on different days. Check to see which ones are open in October. Of course there are Pubs, etc. Check walking tours online; don't really need a guide. I don't know if the trips to farther away Bucket List places are really worth it in October when the days are shorter and probably wetter. Look into Day Return Train Rides. Bon Voyage!

First decide what part of the UK you REALLY, really want to see. If it is reasonably close to London (less than half a day travel from London), then go there for a few days. Make sure that any nearby sites are easily reachable. Spend the rest of your time in London.

Or, if there's no particular area of interest worth several days stay, (given the time of year) then spend the whole time based in London. We have visited London at least half a dozen times for a week or so each time. It is only the past couple of times that we started doing day trips. But we limit these to trips taking less than 2 hrs each way by train. Hampton Court, as mentioned, Greenwich for the Royal Observatory and Cutty Sark. Bletchley Park. Windsor. Oxford. Bath. The list is long. As is the list of places within London that you still haven't experienced.

Ten days could easily be spent just in London, and in fact, for folks who get London Passes, getting the 10-day London Pass is about the only way to easily get more than your money’s worth. That’s what we did in 2024, and we had an extended time in London. Still, unless you were committed to strictly London, I’d suggest that a half-and-half approach might give you a more enriching experience.

Five-ish nights in London, then maybe north to York? Or west/southwest to places you and others have mentioned. I’ve never made it to Dover (yet), but if it’s on your list, this would be a great opportunity.

Just wondering, are you an Eagles or Jaguars fan, or is this just the right time to go to London, and that’s who’s playing? For Jacksonville, I imagine the Brits are all calling them the Jag-you-ahhs.

One place that I believe should be better publicized in the tourism press is Greenwich, especially the Royal Observatory. One of the most significant places in England IMO. What one learns there about the history of navigation and timekeeping is incredible. And Hampton Court could also get more props.

For me at least, 10 days is a long time in one place, even London. Why not spend 6 days or so in the capital, then take a train to a smaller place such as Chester, York. Or you could spend a few days in Scotland's capital, Edinburgh.
Travel back to London to be near the airport for the final night.
Bear in mind that October is an Autumn month where the weather might not favour outdoor activities, although you could get a beautiful late summer spell.
Every area will have opportunities for hiking. In the Chester area, you could catch a train for a short trip to Delamere forest or even up to Liverpool/Freshfield for a walk along the beach, dunes and forest.

It seems a shame to be in England and not see something easl apart from London!

There is some super countryside around London - the Cotswolds is the place all Americans think about visiting, but there are other equally as nice (and less busy) places. Kent and Sussex have many small attractive villages as well as a wealth of castles (ruined and still lived in) , cathedrals and small village churches, gardens and lots of walking. There is also the Weald and Downland Museum which is one of the best open air museums with over 50 old buildings which have been rescued and rebuilt here. There is a market place, industrial area with traditional crafts and then the scattered rural buildings, many with thatched roofs and gardens. It really is like a walk back through history.

Alternatively there is Dorset or east Anglia (Suffolk and Norfolk) , which hardly features on the tourist itinerary but well repay visiting.

Cardiff is an easy train ride from London and from Cardiff you can do a day tour by bus to St. Fagan's(outdoor) Museum Welsh Life and on a different day take a train to Caerphilly Castle.

One thing you might want to do while in London is take a tour of Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium. When I took my grandkids (both avid soccer players) to London in late March of 2025, they really wanted to tour a football stadium, so we went to Tottenham, which had just been remodeled.

The stadium was amazing, and they loved the tour. For that matter, I really enjoyed it a lot as well. In addition to everything else, we saw the locker rooms the NFL players use and talked to one of the guys who helps with that. He was telling us some really fascinating stories about players and games. And the staff there were so nice and so helpful. It was really a lot of fun https://www.tottenhamhotspurstadium.com/attractions/stadium-tour

To answer the one question, we are Eagles fans and are going for the game on 10/11.

We prefer to rent AirBNB's so we have a kitchen since we are vegan / whole food, plant-based, and it's easier to stay in one AirBNB the whole time and day trip to and from places so I think we'll likely do that on this trip and pick approx 4 spots outside of London that are convenient for day trips, either by train or on a guided tour.

Be careful booking places on AirBnB. Whilst there are lots of legitimate places there are a number who are more than a bit economical with the truth on location. More concerning is that some letting are illegal, being in social housing on in properties otherwise excluded from short term sub rental. It’s best to check with local experts before committing to a rental.

For a little bit of Philadelphia in London, there are five Passyunk Avenue bar/restaurants, replete with Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers banners and jerseys, cheesesteaks, and a game showing on the big-screen. The location on Cleveland Street in Fitzrovia, in the shadow of the BT Tower, would be a welcoming spot before or after the game, or any time during your stay.

The afore-mentioned London Pass includes the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium Tour, including the changing rooms and The Dare Skywalk rooftop walk. That Pass is the best value if you’re going to otherwise expensive sights, which also include the Tower of London and going to the top of The Shard.

Cyn, thank you so much for the insight on the Philly sports bar scene - we definitely want to be in London to watch the Eagles game on 10/4 vs the Rams at a bar, and possibly have access to the same bars for Phillies playoff games, if they make it that far.

We have booked our flights in and out of LHR for a 10/3 morning arrival at LHR and an afternoon departure on Tuesday, 10/13. We have not booked anything else yet, but we know we want to be in London on 10/4 and 10/11 for the football games. Other than that, we have our itinerary open.

I'd love to get thoughts on the following - we are both vegan and like to have a place with a kitchen and two bedrooms as we are both light sleepers, especially when on long travel. This rules most hotels out, especially in London, but I know there were some concerns raised about the authenticity of an AirBNB, etc. We would gladly trade 15 minutes of convenience to be just a bit outside of the downtown city area if it meant we could get a good apt rental with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen at a fair price. We really want to spend some time in the countryside and other towns. Now that I've researched, we'd like to see Stonehenge, Dover, Bath, and Cambridge for sure, as well as Greenwich closer to London. We have plenty of things to do in London to fill in gaps on days we want to stay in town, but we don't like doing museums every day, maybe 1-2 per week.

Because of wanting to cook and have a kitchen, switching places and travelling with our luggage around southern England seems like the wrong move. We are thinking maybe one apartment for the entire duration that gets us into London fairly easily by train and we can day trip out to these other destinations. Does that sound like a good plan? If so, what are some locations we should be looking at for lodging and what sites are best to use for a reliable outcome? Also, if we are needing to travel back to our apartment from a London philly sports bar well after midnight, is that doable and if not, is Uber reliable and affordable in that scenario?

Thanks all.

I don't know what your budget is, but the Locke properties might be a good option for you. This is an apart-hotel chain that I have used with great success in Dublin. Not every room has a kitchen, so read the description carefully.
https://www.lockeliving.com/en
Another part-hotel chain I've seen mentioned on the Forum is Citadines. I haven't stayed in one myself.
https://www.discoverasr.com/en/citadines?utm_source=amadeus&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=citadinesbrandcampaign&utm_content=&cid=&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=24120294459&gbraid=0AAAAA-bFQ2NymsiNH3-hQohR8qOluNLWC&gclid=CjwKCAjw2aPVBhBkEiwA0Cptt-6sywCa4poyE42DHLPv8uJrc2z7bdFBIcCrGi7IFE9KG08yXVvXqhoCVsEQAvD_BwE
I'll leave the location issue to the experts.

You have 10 days and are planning 5 day trips and two days for football games? (Don’t even think of trying to combine Stonehenge and Bath into one day). That clearly won’t work unless you want to leave little or no time to see central London as well.

Although an apartment will work well you don’t need to be in one just because you’re vegan. There are vegan restaurants all over the city, it’s widely available.

We have found that we love the British countryside (away from large cities) more than London.

We did four weeks in 2017 renting a car for England and S. Wales.
Also, we have have separately done Scotland and Ireland including the countryside.
Our last trip we did a few day in London and a five day Rabbies tour of Devon and Cornwall, that was fantastic.

Recommend you split your time half and half.
Bath and Stonehenge are great, as is Salisbury, Oxford, Cambridge and especially York.

Rochester makes for a nice day trip from London. It has a decent castle. Canterbury is also nice as easy to reach from London.

I wouldn’t worry too much about travel after midnight- most pubs close around 11pm or so (London is surprisingly not a very late night city). On weekends certain parts of the tube run all night and parts of the bus network run all night (every day) but you can always get a taxi.

Two very good veg/vegan restaurants are The Gate and Mildred’s (which has multiple locations). Tho it’s not hard to find vegan food at most restaurants these days.

Updated plan – thanks, everyone! Would love a sanity check before we book

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies. We took a lot of your advice to heart: we're staying in one flat the whole time, we're NOT combining Bath and Stonehenge, and we've saved Dover (along with Bletchley Park) for a future WWII-focused trip that will include Normandy. Here's where we've landed. We'd really appreciate any feedback before we start buying time-sensitive tickets this week.

Basics

• Arrive at LHR Saturday 10/3 at 10:35am; depart LHR Tuesday 10/13 at 1:35pm
• Staying in a flat in Stroud Green, near Finsbury Park, for the whole trip
• Two fixed Eagles commitments: watching the Rams game at Passyunk Avenue Waterloo on Sunday 10/4 (6pm kickoff, arriving by 5), and attending the Jaguars game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday 10/11
• We're both vegan/whole-food plant-based. Dinners are still TBD, so recommendations are welcome!

Day by day

Sat 10/3: Land, drop bags at the flat, then (if we're not too wiped out) an afternoon in Cambridge: colleges, the Backs, punting, and Evensong at King's College Chapel if the choir is singing. Back by around 9pm.

Sun 10/4: The British Museum's out-of-hours intro tour, then the "Around the World in 90 Minutes" tour, then the Bayeux Tapestry. Then a walk along the South Bank to Passyunk Waterloo for the Eagles game. (We're also watching for cancellations on the Buckingham Palace Exclusive Guided Tour on 10/3 or 10/4.)

Mon 10/5: Small-group Cotswolds tour (Burford, Bibury, Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold).

Tue 10/6: Bath day trip on the 7:30am train from Paddington: Roman Baths, the Abbey tower tour, Royal Crescent and Circus, a Mayor's Guides walk, and Thermae Spa in the late afternoon. Dinner in Bath, then the 22:13 train back.

Wed 10/7: Changing of the Guard at 11, the King's Gallery (Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style), then the Houses of Parliament guided tour in the afternoon (recess weekday).

Thu 10/8: Windsor Castle in the morning, a taxi to Hampton Court for the afternoon, then the train back to Waterloo.

Fri 10/9: Split day. My wife: Kew Gardens, with lunch at The Original Maids of Honour. Me: the Churchill War Rooms (mainly to finish the Churchill Museum, which we rushed on a previous visit), then the IWM, then the British Library.

Sat 10/10: Train from Waterloo to Salisbury, the Stonehenge tour bus, then Salisbury Cathedral (Magna Carta) and the old town.

Sun 10/11: Morning at Highgate Cemetery and Alexandra Palace Farmers' Market, then the Eagles vs. Jaguars game.

Mon 10/12: St Paul's Cathedral when it opens (including the dome climb), then queue at Cromwell Green around 1pm for the Commons sitting at 2:30 (our only sitting day, since Parliament is in recess otherwise).

Tue 10/13: Piccadilly line to Heathrow.

Status

• Firm: flights, flat, Eagles game tickets
• Booking this week: Parliament tour (10/7), Churchill War Rooms (10/9), Stonehenge timed entry (10/10), Cotswolds tour (10/5), British Museum tours and Tapestry (10/4), King's Gallery (10/7)
• Tentative: Buckingham cancellations, Cambridge (depends on post-flight energy), the Commons gallery on 10/12

Specific questions

1. Is Windsor plus Hampton Court in one day realistic, with a taxi between them? Any better way to make that connection?
2. For the Commons sitting on Monday 10/12, is arriving around 1pm for a 2:30 start about right?
3. Anything about the Sunday 10/4 British Museum plan we should know? Crowds, the best entrance, and so on?
4. For Salisbury/Stonehenge, is the tour bus from Salisbury station still the best car-free option?
5. Do any days look overpacked, or is there anything obvious you'd swap?

Thanks so much. This forum has already made our trip much better!

Travelling to Cambridge on the day you arrive, after dropping your bags in central London is definitely ambitious! I’m being polite here…… Don’t underestimate how long it can take to travel across the city, in train stations etc. Give yourself time to breathe.

Windsor and Hampton Court Palace are both massive with lots to see. Trying to cram them into one day will mean you will miss a lot. If you only have one day, pick one.

On 3 October the College Chapel Calendar shows Evensong at 1730.

A 1035 flight arrival will mean arriving at the flat at around 1230 (say 1 hour to get out of the airport then 1 hour on the tube). Then say the 1337 from Finsbury Park to Cambridge gets you there at 1439. Not that much time for things before Evensong.
The 1341 from Finsbury Park gets you there at 1505, and the 1407 at 1509 further eating into the afternoon.

Arrival day. It will likely be between 12 and 1 before you reach your apartment. Have you already made arrangements to drop your bags? Usually apartments aren't available until later in the afternoon. Don't forget to eat lunch. It would likely be around 3pm before you get to Cambridge. Sunset should be around 18:30hrs.

British Museum - dont hold your breath on getting tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry if you dont already have them. They sold out within 24 hrs. Next batch of tickets will be for April of next year.

Both Windsor Castle and Hampton Court on the same day? Exhausting and means you skimp out on both. Pick one. If you still go for both, pre book a hire car or ride share rather than using a taxi. Which would cost quite a bit more (especially if traffic is heavy).

Everyone travels differently, but to be honest I'm exhausted just reading this itinerary. I dont see much room for spontaneity or relaxation.

On 10 October Salisbury station is closed to all trains in all directions. It is train to Basingstoke, change for train to Andover, change for rail replacement bus to Salisbury.
Waterloo depart at 0750 and hourly, Basingstoke 0835 Platform 1, depart 0841 Platform 4 (I would rather be on the 35 past Weymouth train), Andover 0902.
Take the 0910 fast bus, not the 0909 all statons, Salisbury arrive 0945.
First Stonehenge bus at 1005.

On the way back the RRB departs Salisbury at 5 past the hour, Andover 55/02
Basingstoke 25/36 Waterloo 19.
So the 1905 from Salisbury gets you in at 2119.
The last back is at 2205, Waterloo arrive 0103.

The Kings Gallery is showing as sold out.

Some thoughts from me:

-I wouldn't try visiting Cambridge on the day you arrive- you will be tired and not get much time there
-If you haven't booked tickets for the Bayeux tapestry yet, just be aware all available slots are currently sold out (they sold out as soon as they went on sale)
-For me, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace in the same day would be too much- I would choose one
-For me, Kew Gardens/Churchill War Rooms, IWM, and British Library all in one day would be too much- I would choose two
-For the British Museum, it is more crowded on the weekend than weekdays so just be aware of that
-For Stonehenge, yes it's very easy to get the bus directly outside Salisbury station

Good luck with the rest of your planning.

I’m going to echo the opinion that you are possibly pushing too hard and in doing so, may find you aren’t enjoying yourselves as much because of the pace. Everyone has different levels of stamina, though, so you may be able to handle it. Just a few thoughts:

You have a lot of trips out of London. Don’t underestimate the time and energy it takes to get to the stations and travel.

I, too, would not consider going to Cambridge the day of arrival. Maybe substitute one of your other day trips out, either the Cotswolds one or Bath, and go to Cambridge if you want to see it. I would reconsider having the two long day trips on two consecutive days (Mon. And Tues). When I was planning our ten day trip to London, I tried to buffer a day trip with staying in the city. Day trips are great, but can be exhausting.

In terms of the British Museum on Sunday. We were just there Sunday, Sept. 20. We arrived at 9:00 ish to the area and got in line at the north side of the building at Montague place entrance about 9:25. We were really glad we arrived early as the line was all the way down the block to the street by opening time at 10. The coach tour buses pulled up at about 9:45. I had read that entrance is a little better in terms of shorter lines. It was crowded inside, but not overwhelmingly so.

Have you booked the Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style exhibit yet? Tickets were very hard to get and I thought they were sold out until next year. The Houses of Parliament tour is well worth it, though, and would be a great day coupling it with the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Also, I highly recommend taking some time to relax in St. James’s Park and The Green Park. They are right there and are both lovely.

Hope the feedback helps you to tweak your plans with your expectations and knowledge of your travel comfort level. Enjoy your time there!

British Museum - dont hold your breath on getting tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry if you dont already have them. They sold out within 24 hrs. Next batch of tickets will be for April of next year.

For many sold-out attractions like this, secondary sellers like GetYourGuide will have a supply at an outlandish markup. Maybe worth looking into if the tapestry is a must-see for you.

Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace in the same day

that's a lot of money and time for a drive-by, if that's what you want to do.

If you want them to be more than superficial, each connection will be around an hour, so that's at least 3 hours off the bat. At least 3 or 4 hours at Windsor Castle, at least 4 or 5 hours to see the surface of Hampton Court Palace. Most of the gardens have gone over by mid October so you may spend a little less time there, and more in the huge Palace itself.

I make that 10 to 12 hours - that's a lot.

Windsor Castle in October, 10-4. Saturday, 17 and Sunday, 18 October 2026 - St George's Hall and the Semi State Rooms are closed. Monday, 19 October 2026 - Castle closed

Hampton Court Palace closed Mondays and Tuesdays in October except for October Half Term at the end of the month. In October, 10- 5:30.

Kew Gardens/Churchill War Rooms, IWM, and British Library

Oh dear... all in one day?

An hour to and from Kew Gardens. 3 or 4 hours to walk around some of the Gardens and glasshouses.

Churchill War Rooms, 2 or 3 hours depending on how much you want to see and understand for your very expensive ticket.

Imperial War Museum is south of the river. Depending on your starting point figure 45 minutes to an hour each way. A couple of hours to fly through just a few highlights - really deserves 3 or 4 hours.

British Library. Entirely depends on what you want to find and see. 30 minutes to all day. I'm usually there for a couple of hours.

I can't see visiting all these in one day unless it is just selfies outside.

Nigel - they are splitting the start of the day with one going to Kew and the other the Churchill War Rooms. So one of the others is probably doable as well although not both. Kew is going to take longer than the war rooms simply because of the travel there and back, assuming both are starting from central London.

We visited Cambridge some years ago for a day trip and loved the scenic campus.
I was inspired by the movie Chariots of Fire (a favorite movie of mine).

We were able to peer into the courtyard where the runners raced.

Am I dreaming, or did I read that some venues are worth check backs to see if any tickets have opened up? I can't remember if it was the QEII exhibit, Tapestry or another. I'm guessing that would be if a tour cancels or more tickets are made available.