7 day itinerary review/suggestions London May 2023

Just wondering why you are changing hotels from Bayswater to Camden instead of just staying in one place. Although the issue may be moot at this point, since changing your reservations at this late date may not be possible.

Cab or walk to Oxford university

Oxford University does not have a single site. It’s made up of many colleges scattered all over the city. I suggest aiming for Broad Street in the first instance. There are several big colleges there (including Balliol and Trinity) plus the Sheldonian Theatre, and you’re near Radcliffe Camera and Bodleian Library. It’s also the location where you’re most likely to find a guided walking tour..

Bath Spa is the name of the train station but not the city, so you’re simply driving to Bath.

Thermae Spa will need prebooking. The rooftop pool is very small and mostly for gentle floating and swimming a few strokes after spending time using the extensive steam room and spa.

Rather than rent a car, why not take a train from Heathrow to Bath, do the Stonehenge/Avebury tour with a tour company, then train back to London (spending however many nights in Bath you would like)? You could then do Oxford as a day trip by train from London.
I am also curious about why you would want to change hotels twice in London.

thank you I will consolidate hotels.

One hotel is next to Hyde Park the other is next to British Museum. If I cancel one is one location better than other? IF i cancel before May 1st they are 100% refundable.

For the Car- its only slightly more than all the trains. Plus I get to leave 4 carry ons in boot of car at Stonehenge where if I had trains I would be lugging them around. THe bath hotel has parking down the street ( Manvers Street( car park free between 8pm and 8am. £12.50 for the remaining 12 hours. I also eliminate 3 trains and 4 taxis. If driving that hard. I drove in on Authoban 10 times and 3 times on Autostrada. Never drove on wrong side yet in England.

I took a good walking tour in Oxford. I think it was offered by the Tourist Office, but it might have been through the university. There are walking tours in Bath as well, but I haven't taken one.

In London the British Museum is free/donation requested, so there's no ticket to buy there. I don't know how early you'd need to go to the British Museum to have a very short wait in the security line. I waited about 30 minutes on several visits last September. I was showing up a bit after opening time. The line might well be shorter in the afternoon. One of the gatekeepers told me the museum is busiest on weekends, Fridays and rainy days. The back entrance is sometimes faster, but if there is any sort of equipment issue (as there was on my last day), they'll turn you away and you'll have to walk all the way around to the front of th building. This is a monstrously large museum. Check the website to figure out your priorities; it would take days to see the whole thing.

The Churchill War Rooms are a place for which you'll want to get tickets in advance. The ticket line is very long, and tickets may well sell out before you can buy one. I don't know how early you need to buy tickets these days. I don't like buying nonrefundable sightseeing tickets way in advance, so I'd monitor the website to see how tickets are selling. Note: The CWR are very near Westminster Abbey, so that's a logistically convenient combination for a single day.

LondonWalks has a huge slate of walking tours. The tours are close to 2 hours long and cost £15 for adults,£10 for those with student IDs. You can find the calendar of walks near the upper right on this website: https://www.walks.com/. The guides are licensed, so you'll get accurate information. Many are out-of-work actors, so the delivery is usually very engaging. These tours are one of Europe's greatest bargains.

I'm more conservative than most when heading to the airport for a flight back home. Is your Gatwick flight back to the US or Canada? The airline's guidance will probably be to arrive 3 hours ahead of time, which would be 11 AM. Taking a 10 AM train that is due to arrive around 10:30 AM doesn't allow time for much to go wrong, and you really won't have time to do anything that morning except eat breakfast anyway.

I agree with Mary Ellen and would prefer to use trains rather than renting a car (in particular, the idea of driving into London to return it near Paddington is not at all appealing). But if you're comfortable driving and like the idea of storing your luggage in the car, I understand.

As for the hotels, I would agree with others that there's no reason to switch during your stay in London. Both locations would have good transportation options and you'll be able to get to most sites in central London relatively easily. I might opt for the Guilford St. one just because that's an area I enjoy (Bloomsbury).

One suggestion, however, might be to take the train to Gatwick the day before your flight and spend the night near the airport instead of making the journey on the day you fly out. I say that because on a recent trip, I had a flight from Gatwick on a Sunday and due to engineering works, there were no Gatwick Express trains running and in a panic we ended up in a very expensive taxi in order to get to the airport on time. Not that that would ever happen to you, but now I'm paranoid about things like that!

It is quite straightforward to drive to Paddington as it is just off the Westway but you will have to be careful about the congestion charge. The station itself is just outside the zone but not sure where the car rental place is, or if you make a mistake you might enter it.

You could look into returning the car at Heathrow or another town en route to London, eg Slough or Reading, and taking the train in from there. Those trains will all go to Paddington.