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Advice on 1 week England Itinerary

I'm in the process of planning a trip to England with one of my friends for May 2020. Neither of us has ever been to England before. Does anyone have any advice on this loose itinerary? I haven't fully decided on the route we want to take after leaving London, but I'm starting to form a trip itinerary based on other people's suggestions. We want to see some of the most iconic sites in England since it will be our first visit (which is why we will be spending several days in London) but we also love the idea of seeing more of the countryside/cute villages. We love outdoor activities, seeing all the historical architecture of cathedrals/castles, Harry Potter, etc.

Day 1- Fly overnight to London and arrive early in morning on day 2

Day 2- All day in London

Day 3- London (possible day trip to Windsor Castle)

Day 4- All day in London

Day 5- Travel to Oxford for the day. Will either spend night in London again, or go ahead and travel to Bath. Not sure which would be easier in terms of train travel?

Day 6- Bath, spend night here

Day 7- Tour to Stonehenge, Cotswolds, and Avebury (Considering a Max Max tour for this), spend night again in Bath

Day 8- Day trip somewhere else from Bath potentially? Such as Salisbury or Highclere Castle. Or we could explore Bath again today. Probably travel back to London tonight to prepare for flight tomorrow

Day 9- Fly Home from London

Recommendations welcome! If anyone has suggestions on nearby towns/sites that I'm missing, please feel free to mention. Thank you in advance.

Posted by
4761 posts

I think you are trying to cram way too many places into this trip. By the time you're done you'll likely be exhausted, and places will have become a blur.

Please consider eliminating a few of these places and saving them for another trip. And as for your last day, I'd recommend staying in London the night before departure, or at least within an hour or so of Heathrow unless you have a late day departure.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks for your suggestions! I think going back to London the night before our flight home is a good idea. In terms of hotel changes, I just edited my original post to clear that up a little bit, but we're staying in London for the first 3 or 4 nights and then in Bath for the next 2 or 3 nights. And maybe our last night back in London. I thought that would be fine. Definitely not planning on changing hotels every day!

Posted by
2773 posts

Instead if taking a day trip to Windsor, why not on day 8 instead of going back into London go to Windsor, it’s a fifteen minute taxi ride to Heathrow. If you get there late morning you would have time to visit the castle, walk down to Windsor Great Park (5 minute walk), and walk to Eton (7-8 minute walk) and have a nice meal in one of the pubs.

Posted by
5239 posts

Robin Z makes an excellent suggestion for staying in Windsor the night before your departure, far easier to get to Heathrow than from London.

Posted by
20 posts

kjc42.

This looks like our trip, but in reverse. My friends have recommended a day trip to Bristol when in Bath. We originally planned on going to Cardiff, as it's about a 60 minute train ride. That got a big thumbs down. Bristol is 15 minutes away.

We land at LHR, and will take the bus to Bath. It's much cheaper than the train. Then Bath to Oxford, followed by Oxford to London city.

3 nights Bath
2 nights Oxford
3 night London

Posted by
8572 posts

Ashley your first post will be removed by the webmaster.

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