Bath, Windsor Castle and Stonhenge

kathryn, just an FYI, Bath is not a site. It's a city. So obviously there are sites and places there that would be more economical, and some that would be less economical.

Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what you're asking here. If you're looking for the most economical place to visit, I would add up all the members of your party, check the admission prices for Windsor Castle and Stonehenge, and any sites in Bath that you want to see, and just do the math. It's pretty easy, and that way you'll know what it will cost.

Or if you're looking for a tour, then again, you can do the same thing. Check the cost of the tour and see what you can afford to pay. If you want to find out if they are any good, you could certainly post a thread here asking questions about specific tour companies, and people here would be happy to help you out.

But if you're just looking for some tour ideas, it would be helpful to have more information. For example, when are you going there? How long of a tour do you want? Day tour, multiple day tour? How many members are in your party? We're not sure exactly what you're looking for.

Just something to keep in mind: sometimes it's more economical to buy a membership. For example, when I was in Scotland a few years ago, I purchased a Historic Scotland membership, and that got me into a number of sites for free, including some very expensive ones like Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle. I did the same thing in London when I bought a membership to Historic Royal Palaces. I had two of my grandchildren with me and bought a family membership, and it wound up saving me almost £40 as opposed to the single admission fees. You might check into that as well.

Windsor Castle is a very easy day trip via train from London. The ticket to the castle comes with an audiotour which we thought was excellent. You wouldn't need to pay for a tour. The 3 year old would be free and the five year old is at a reduced rate.

I have not been to Bath or Stonehenge. But just as a general comment, I think many are led to think they need to hire a tour guide to take them somewhere and guide them through an attraction. I would first check the official websites. Often the ticket will include an audioguide or even an official tour by a person. Many places are easily accessible via public transportation. Forum people can help with transportation, too. Further, train personnel are typically quite helpful, and in England, they speak English!

I am assuming you have a stroller or some kind of carrier for the infant/toddler.

Those 12 hour marathon sprint tours (to mix my running metaphors) that try to combine those three destinations are really pushing the limits for adults, let alone small children. And definitely check the fine print to make sure they accept children that young on the tour. I really like Rabbie’s for day tours in the UK, and I see they do Bath and Stonehenge day tours out of London, but they don’t try to cram them both into one tour, let alone adding Windsor too. And their FAQs say their minimum age for any tour is five.

If what you’re planning is doing all these three in one day then I can’t emphasise how much this would be a bad idea. There are tours you can buy that go to all three in a day but the main takeaway you will get from that is an appreciation of the UK motorway system, as you will be mostly sat on a coach.

It would be a bad plan for adults but with small children as well it’s a terrible idea.

I’m with Johnew52. Trying to see, enjoy, savor, and make sense of all three of these locations in one day is… ummmmm….

Well, I won’t add a judgmental adjective, but suffice that I don’t think it’s a great idea.

If you want to spend the day in Windsor, for example, that seems like it could be an entire eight hours. Especially with kids. There is the Castle to tour, there is the Long Mile to walk, there is the lovely little village to wander, there are restaurants and pubs, you can walk down to Eton and cross the Thames and see the swans and Eton College and have a lovely time there… in short, that’s a nice day. (Also might want to think about Legoland, since you have kids.)

Bath is also a nice day, although with perhaps a tad less obvious stuff to entertain kiddos. The Baths and the Abbey and the Pump Room don’t scream “toddlers will love me!” IMHO.

Stonehenge is crazy amazing, and you can “accomplish” seeing it in half a day, but if you were to choose Stonehenge then I’d suggest Salisbury Cathedral in the same day, or Old Sarum, and then you aren’t adding Bath or Windsor.

Maybe do a tad more research on each of these places to see what, exactly, appeals to you particularly - especially in light of the fact that you have very young kids.

You are not wrong in selecting these places as wonderful and worthy of visits. But I don’t think you have enough time to do even two of them in one day, particularly with little tads to bring along.