Bath or Canterbury with White Cliffs of Dover

Canterbury and Dover are close together, so it makes sense to do them on the same tour. Bath is also nice to visit. I haven’t done either as a tour from London, but have spent a few days in each. Different place with different atmospheres, so it’s really a personal preference.

more like the grey cliffs of Dover - I would skip

Dover and Canterbury are closer to London, and doing them together as one day trip makes sense from a logistical point of view. Bath is a bit farther from London, but can be gotten to easily by train. While it (one of my favorite cities) deserves more time than just a day trip, it can be done by getting an early start and returning late. You might consider spending three days in London, and one day each for the other two trips.

Canterbury has the famous Cathedral and a nice selection of medieval buildings with shops that are predominantly on one pedestrian-only street. Dover has the famous cliffs and Dover Castle (which your tour may also visit). Bath is a moderate-sized city with several blocks that are pedestrian-only as well as the buildings forming The Circus and forming The Crescent. I'd think of Bath as more Victorian era than medieval.

You can't go wrong with either choice but if I was making it I'd go for the Cliffs and Canterbury so as to see both medieval buildings and the Cliffs.

It is very difficult to see the white cliffs of Dover well from the land. The best view is at sea. Canterbury and Dover (mostly for the castle and underground tunnels) would be my choice. Canterbury Cathedral Lidge is a fabulous accommodation choice.

Dover is the best defensive castle I've seen. Canterbury Cathedral was missable, compared to other cathedrals I've seen(Salisbury, York, not a cathedral but also Kings College Chapel in Cambridge). If you choose Bath, I found the HOHO bus useful there.

We combined Canterbury with Seven Sisters after somebody told us the White Cliffs of Dover are not so white and the Seven Sisters would fit the bill better.
I thoroughly enjoyed the South Downs area where Seven Sisters is/are located.
It's about 2 hours drive between Canterbury and Cuckmere Haven, where we had what I thought was the best view.
Eastbourne is a seaside town in between them, which I liked, as well

I found Dover to be overwhelmingly underwhelming, but loved Canterbury and the cathedral's docent tour and small museum. Enjoyed Bath as well, but of those two my pick is Canterbury. Both cities were multiple night trips and not day trips from London.

Like the poster above, I thought the Seven Sisters cliffs were far more spectacular than the cliffs at Dover.

Hello,

Dover castle and the cliffs would be better for a day trip. Bath, however, is so beautiful and has so much to see that we spent 3 days there and could have stayed longer! If you have limited time, I'd personally save Bath for when you have more time. Just my opinion. Enjoy whichever you decide!

Kelly

Please respond when you return from your trip with the 5 days in London:
Did you take a day trip to both Canterbury & Dover ?
If so, what tour company did you use, & were you pleased or do you have any recommendations?

We are planning to spend about 8 days in London in late August & early September.
Thanks

I agree the white cliffs of Dover are harder to see from land, but I think that a person who is already in Dover for the castle or the war time tunnels will enjoy a short walk down the path at the viewing area.

South Downs are an amazing view and some hiking paths are available as well.

The choir I sing with spent a week in residence at Canterbury Cathedral in 2019, substituting for their regular choir, which was on vacation.
The cathedral is definitely worth seeing, absolutely huge and just full of history. It's also a very pleasant city with a pedestrianized downtown with farmer's market stalls and good restaurants.
Try to attend a choral evensong if you're there in the afternoon. It's a daily service of the Anglican/Episcopal church that consists of sung prayers, sung psalms, Scripture readings, a Magnificat (the song of Mary after the angel tells her that she is to be the mother of Jesus) and a Nunc Dimittis (the song of Simeon) and an anthem. Practically every British composer for the last 500 years has written settings for evensong. As an attendee, you don't have to do anything; just sit and enjoy the music. It is especially impressive if the children (most cathedrals now have separate boys' and girls' choirs) are singing with the adults. They're as young as eight but capable of singing very complex music.

I did a Dover and Canterbury tour last year that I bought through Get your guide and it was terrible.
The bus was an hour late and it wasn't a guided tour as it was advertised to be. It was more of a here you are, go explore on your own.
They also had people get lost and make the bus late leaving each stop, so we spent much less time at each location than we should have.
I would have been better off doing it on my own. I would have had a better experience, and the train is much faster, not to mention cheaper.

Mark

@huggibear73

To answer your question, we ended up doing a tour through Get Your Guide. The tour was for Leeds Castle, Canterbury and the White Cliffs of Dover. We learned a lot from our tour guide who knew her subject matter very well. Her name was Deborah and she actually worked for Evan Evans tours, they apparently contract with Get Your Guide. Anyway, the tour took us to Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral which was so beautiful and then on to Dover. We got to see the cliffs from a distance and we stayed on the beach area for about 10 minutes then started back. That was the only part of the tour I didn't like. It would have been nice to get to go into Dover Castle ....maybe next time.

We enjoyed the tour and were glad we went. Next time, we'll plan a visit to Bath.

Enjoy your upcoming trip!

Suzette