Critique my plan! Dover Castle, Battle Abbey, Stonehenge

No, I would not recommend doing this. The drive from Dover to Portsmouth is a slog. We did a similar itinerary over several days, and it was still a slog. Lots of traffic.

Thanks Eef -- do you think it's bad even on weekdays?

I should have mentioned that it is on a Tuesday, last week of May if that helps.

I usually add a third to Google Maps timings and that’s when I know where I am going. Finding somewhere to park takes additional time, so you may need to add more.

You would be driving on some very busy roads and there’s a far chance that you will experience further delays if there are any crashes or breakdowns. I would allow 6 hours for the driving plus stops. Driving to Bath would be an hour after your Stonehenge visit.

Sounds like a hideous day behind the wheel to me and no fun for your children.

I think your kids will enjoy Dover. The castle is an English Heritage site and they always make an effort to engage children. You can look up children’s activities on the English Heritage website. It’s really two sites — an old castle and the World War II tunnels. You can picnic there. Plenty of room for the kids to run around as a break. They also might enjoy the view from the white cliffs of the harbor, watching the ferries load and unload.

Battle Abbey is also English Heritage. It doesn’t take real long to see. We trooped all over the hill and analyzed the battle. My kids were older than yours. In the end, you just see a hill. I’m not sure it would be all that interesting to younger kids.

To be honest, I don’t see how you can make a trip from Canterbury to Bath an enjoyable day. It’s just too far on busy roads. And you will be passing many enjoyable sites on the way.

If it were my trip, I would really think about reorganizing the itinerary. I would pick Winchester and Salisbury over Canterbury. All three are great cathedral towns, but if you want to go to Bath, Winchester and Salisbury are in the same side of London.

I’m not sure how long you will be there, if this is your first trip, etc, but I really think you can do better with your itinerary.

It is completely impractical, unless you are just waving to them as you pass. I don’t know where you got 4.5 hours from as google maps is estimating 5 hours 2 minutes WITHOUT TRAFFIC.

Last week of May is half term week when Schools are on holiday. There is likely to be even more traffic than usual. General advice is to add 25% to google driving times and THEN ADD ON TIME FOR STOPS, lunch etc. Just finding somewhere to park and walking to the attraction and back to the car can easily add another 30minutes+ to those times.

Don’t underestimate how long it will take you to drive between destinations in the UK. Distances may not look that far on a map but will take a lot longer to cover than you might expect.

Dover Castle is a massive site with so much history from the Romans to the Second World War. Recommendations are allowing up to 4 hours+ to visit, especially if you include the Underground passageways and wartime hospital.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/things-to-do/

Plan on Canterbury to Dover Castle and plan to arrive at Battle Abbey by 4.30-5pm at the latest. (It closes at 6pm but I can’t find any information about latest entry time.) Allow at least 90 minutes for the drive.

This is a full day, so plan on an overnight somewhere that isn’t going to be too far to drive from Battle Abbey.

Do Stonehenge the next day before heading to Bath. You may even be able to include a short stop in Salisbury on the way with its wonderful cathedral and the tallest spire in England...

Great advice, guys, I really appreciate it! I'm a life long resident of Central Florida and I can't tell you how many times I have friends run a DIsney itinerary by me and I'm floored by how much they think they're actually going to accomplish lol -- so, sounds like that's the case here for me.

I'll have to re-think some priorities. The hotels are already reserved and we will be in Canterbury, leaving on Tuesday to arrive in Bath and sleep 2 nights.

So... we don't need to go straight into Bath on Tuesday morning as long as we end up there to check in to the hotel.

I suspected Dover, Battle Abbey, AND Stonehenge might be a little presumptuous. Now to rework it and cut something out -- so hard because of course we would love to see ALL the things!

No, Dover and Battle Abbey are on the opposite side of London from Stonehenge and driving anywhere near London, especially on the M25 Orbital is torture.
Google's estimate may be true if you are driving a 3am.

When we did the southeast, upon arrival we drove to Tonbridge for the first night. From there we spent nights in Canterbury, Rye, and Portsmouth, before heading to Southampton and turning north. There’s no way I’d attempt to do it all in a day or two. I didn’t think the traffic was bad at all in that part of the UK.

Agree with everyone else that the plan is way too ambitious. Your kids will probably enjoy Dover Castle but it's a large structure that takes some time to explore. . If you have good weather, Battle could also be a fun visit. There are many hotels and b&b's in the area so that might make a good overnight stop. Portsmouth Harbor with all the old ships to explore would also be interesting for children. I'm not sure there's much in Bath to interest young children except the Roman Bath tour. Stonehenge also is a bit boring for little ones. The travel time between each of these places will use up too much of your vacation. Why not just focus on the southeast part of England?