My daughter and I will be spending 2 full days in London and for a 3rd day I wanted advice of whether to take trip by train to Stratford, Bath, or Canterbury. If we did Canterbury could we travel on from there to Bruges or would we have to backtrack back to London. My thought was 3 nights in London (with day trip on second day) vs 2 nights London and 1night Canterbury if we don’t have to go back to London for train.
Also, wanting to go to a musical or play while in London and open to any advice on that.
Posted by
Chicago
1943 posts
Biggest question-have you been to London before-if not, I'd spend all my days in London-two days is not a lot to see what is there.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
I have been. She has not. She doesn’t want to spend our time in super Large touristy crowds and wanted to experience the countryside. She’s an English lit fan and has been envisioning it her whole life🤓
Posted by
Lake District, England
5819 posts
Unfortunately if you wanted to go from Canterbury to Bruges you have to backtrack to London. None of the cross channel ferries now take foot pax and Eurostar are not stopping at Ebbsfleet or Ashford International for the foreseeable future.
So you would have to catch a South Eastern high speed service back to St Pancras, change within St Pancras for Eurostar to Brussels then local service to Bruges.
It is all a bit silly, and was meant to be so much simpler but Brexit (mainly) has complicated things.
Posted by
Irving
2962 posts
You can take a direct train from London’s Paddington station to the Bath Spa station (1h 30m): https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.
Posted by
Land of La
8680 posts
I’ll let others suggest transport options.
Here’s 2 ways to view what theatre productions would be on stage during your travel dates.
Posted by
stevens point, wi, usa
1189 posts
Hello from Wisconsin,
Do you realize that Canterbury is one of the oldest tourist destinations in England. It didn't dawn on me until we walked around in Canterbury for a while. Actually, there is a book written about 600+ years ago about a group of people on their way to the city. Come to think of it, all three places you mention are really, really old tourist destinations. Romans traveled to Bath for many reasons beyond the obvious. People have been going there since to visit the baths. And since some guy in Stratford did some writing that many of us were forced to read in high school, people have been going there for, about 400 years.
You don't say how old your daughter is. Is she is young maybe a ride on the ferris wheel near the Parliament Buildings would be entertaining. Or if a bit older, maybe a theatre performance.
I do understand wanting to see the green rolling hillsides that are much of the English countryside. You would have to go for a long hike or get out of London a ways and rent a car and drive around. Here is a weird suggestion, High Gate Cemetery. Green, fairly quiet, and you don't have to spend hours on a train or in a car. You have to buy tickets to go there these days, so be warned.
wayne iNWI
Posted by
2422 posts
Bath is an easy day trip by train from London (Paddington). See You Tube Video.
Posted by
Carmel, CA, USA
2455 posts
Will there be a Shakespearian performance at the Globe Theater during your time in London? Certainly a memorable experience, and you can’t much more English Lit than that.
Posted by
Nashville, TN, USA
3768 posts
Before answering, I wanted to read your other thread you have going, just to see where you may be able to "steal" some time (in your schedule) for more of England. It's pretty tightly packed.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/help-with-2-week-itinerary-70081ff4-4278-449f-aacd-342d34690015
Your time in London will be tightly packed, too, if you are wanting to see all of London in 2 days, then take a day trip on the third day.
You wrote:
"I wanted advice of whether to take trip by train to Stratford, Bath, or Canterbury."
Which of the three appeals to you most?
The three places are very different, so only you can know which one appeals to you.
In your second post, you wrote:
"I have been [to London]. She has not. She doesn’t want to spend our time in super Large touristy crowds and wanted to experience the countryside. She’s an English lit fan and has been envisioning it her whole life."
If that is true, then you might be interested in going directly to one of the places you named from the airport. Will you be arriving at Heathrow? You can take a bus from there to Bath without going to London.
Spend a night in Bath, then take the train to London for the rest of your trip.
If she wants to "experience the countryside", nothing says you must stay in London at all.
Wherever else you stayed, you'd just have to get to London in time to catch Eurostar on your planned day of departure.