Bath or Swindon?

Your message is a bit confusing. When you say "en-route to King's Lynn" , where is your presumed starting point? If you are going from London (Kings Cross) to King's Lynn, then Cambridge and Ely (fab medieval cathedral) would be the obvious places to visit en-route. Bath is in completely the other direction = out west.

Swindon has excellent rail & road connections but is a bit of a dump. Take a look at it on Google Streetview.

PS. If taking the train from London to King's Lynn, beware that the train usually splits at Cambridge and that it is usually the front 4 coaches that proceed to KL via Ely.

Sorry. We will have a car rental and will have come from Winchester the night before. Stopping at Stonehenge then Bath. Thought we would stay the night in or around Bath depending on price. Next day driving up to Kings Lynn for 2 nights. Any suggestions for accomodations would be greatly appreciated .

If you are coming from Winchester, and stopping at Stonehenge en route, then you won't arrive in Bath until noon or thereabouts. If you haven't been to Bath before, there is a lot to see and enjoy, and personally I wouldn't leave Bath for somewhere like Swindon for the night, as Bath has so much to offer, and good places to eat.

Bath is not a city to drive around between the sights. You can park your car and walk, but parking is expensive, and options like the Park & Ride don't really meet your needs. Some of the hotels and B & B's near the city centre may have parking, but this all depends on your tastes and your budget. Accommodation in Bath is expensive because it is a very popular destination, and there is little room to build more. As a city with two universities, Bath has good public transport, so one option is to stay further from the city centre, where the accommodation is more likely to offer parking, and take the bus in. That is what the locals do. A taxi is another option.

Personally, I would probably choose either the Travelodge Waterside or the Holiday Inn Express and then walk into the city centre for the sights and an evening meal. Both have parking, but not unlimited. The Travelodge is currently offering rooms for £67 ($100) for a weekday evening. Parking for residents at the Travelodge costs £5 for 24 hours, a lot cheaper than the public car parks.

That's some drive - from the southwest to Kings Lynn.

Have you looked at Swindon? I hope you like round-abouts. Swindon has the Daddy of all roundabouts - the Magic Roundabout - with 2 counter-rotating flows circling around each other with 6 gyratory smaller roundabouts around the periphery. It takes getting used to.

Unless you are particularly keen on the remnants of an old pioneering railway town I see no attractions for a tourist.

There are no motorways in East Anglia, and the A-roads are mostly single carriageways overflowing with articulated lorries - long tractor trailers. They are slow, there are painfully few places to pass, and I always find driving in East Anglia full of frustration. I'm on the edge and painfully familiar with the roads.

If you intend to be anywhere on the A12 or A14 or around the Black Cat Roundabout be prepared for lots of construction.

We stayed at Islington House in Wells, about 15 minute drive from Bath. We rented a cottage but the owners also run a traditional B&B. Spacious free onsite parking, steps away from the Wells Cathedral and the beautiful Bishops Place. Highly recommended.

I agree with other comments - avoid Swindon! If you only have 1 day between Winchester and King's Lynn, why not visit Avebury, which is another stone circle of similar vintage to Stonehenge, but smaller in scale, less busy and unlike at Stonehenge, you can walk up and touch the stones. There is a museum there and www.aveburylife.com is a good b and b in the village. Call in at Oxford en route to King's Lynn the following day.

Wells is very quaint, as has been recommended for Bath, but is a 45/50 (not 15) minute drive south west of Bath, so in the opposite direction to where you want to be.

Bath is great, but needs more than half a day and you will spend most of your time driving and stuck in traffic if you go here.

The Magic Roundabout in Swindon beats any pinball machine I've EVER seen ! Thanks for that one , Nigel !

Jennifer wins the award for the answer that makes the most sense. Thank you all for the great responses!! I think we will drop Swindon and leave Bath and Wells for another trip. Head to Avebury where you can actually touch the stones, then Oxford and perhaps end at Bletchley Park. Loved the Netflix series so why not! Cheers.

Avebury is worth a visit. On one of our trips, when we landed at Heathrow (late afternoon), we got our rental car and drove just as far as Swindon - not for the purpose of sightseeing but only because there was a Holiday Inn on the edge of town where we could stay for the night before we took off north for our next destination. I wanted to stay in a place where I didn't need to worry about a late arrival if our fight was delayed, and this fit the bill. (We did, however, drive into the town and saw the roundabout - amazing!).