Day trip from London

Hi! We just returned from London last week and enjoyed a day trip to Windsor - easy 45 minute train ride, spent the day enjoying the town, touring Windsor Castle, went to Evensong at 5:30 at St George's Castle, dinner at a pub and did a boat ride on the Thames ... we left London at 10:30am and returned around 9pm.

A lot of the organised bus tours from London tend to visit several sites in a day, playing to the desire of many visitors to see as much as possible. What you tend to get are trips to the likes os Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath and what that gives you is a great tour of England's road networks and precious little time at the attractions. All those three are best done as a single site visit, whether by coach or train.

Have you been to Greenwich? It's for me the best "day out" from London, although it's pretty much still in central London. It's got the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Naval College with the outstanding Painted Hall and the Cut Sark, as well as a good market. It's all accessible from London by boat, train or DLR.

I know you said a bus tour BUT....do you have any interest in WWII? I finally got to Bletchley Park last spring and it was excellent. SO very easy to get to on the train, then a very short walk from the station to the complex. I signed up for a free guided walk when I got there and it, too, was excellent.

https://bletchleypark.org.uk/plan-a-visit/

You take the train from Euston Station. I bought my round trip ticket via the Northwestern train app sitting in the station. There are some journeys that are shorter than others so take a look. I think I left about 930A. I caught the train back around 330, I think. Plenty of time to wander around, have a light lunch at the cafe there. Very interesting!

Otherwise, I also agree with Windsor Castle which is easy to get to on your own but pretty crowded.

Pam just suggested what I wanted to suggest. Bletchley Park. Very easy to get to, very interesting, and has a nice cafe on site for lunch. I agree the free tour was excellent.

Taking advice, I am leaning away from doing a bus tour to three sites. Is Stonehenge worth a day trip on its own? 30 years ago I thought it was worth about a half day but maybe there's more to see now?

Absolutely Stonehenge is worth a day trip on it's own....to me. Others might not think so. This is doable by public transport but easier if you spend a night or two in Salisbury.

Take the train to Salisbury from Waterloo Station on South Western Railway. (You'd want to buy tickets ahead on this route I think) From the station there is a shuttle bus run by the local bus company called The Stonehenge Tour. It's not actually a "tour" as we would consider it but is a shuttle that runs out to Stonehenge and back via Old Sarum which is also interesting.

https://www.thestonehengetour.info/

If you don't want to spend all day at Stonehenge and Old Sarum you can always return to Salisbury and take a look at the Cathedral or the Salisbury/Wiltshire Museum or walk around town.

A combination of Stonehenge and Salisbury would be good. Stonehenge now has a much more informative visitor centre. And Salisbury cathedral is splendid.

Only you can evaluate your stamina.

A few years younger and will get out very early. Knowing most “ sites “ open at 9 or 10am, I go then. Afterwards lunch and maybe a nap.

Love theater so pace myself so I don’t doze during a night performance.

Agree with the Bletchley Park recommendation. Was pleasantly surprised and impressed. Took the train from Euston station. Spent 3 hours exploring. Stellar lunch.

I don't think I'm the only one who spent closer to a full day at Bletchley Park, so it can be a full-day excursion if you want it to be.

Is Stonehenge worth a day trip on its own?

I'm sort of in your position in that I was in London back in 1996 and then again 1999 (for much less time), and will be going back next year. I'm trying to decide what to see and what to skip. I can tell you that I would skip Stonehenge since I've seen it before. That said, I would love to revisit Salisbury Cathedral. That has so much of interest there, along with the beauty of the architecture, that it would be worth seeing it again. I don't know if I will be able to, but if you do decide to head to Stonehenge, I would strongly recommend adding on Salisbury.

In fact, London Walks (which you may remember from your trips before - they've been around forever) does a guided tour of Stonehenge and Salisbury that you might be interested in. https://www.walks.com/our-walks/salisbury-stonehenge-tour-from-london/

Edit to add: I just saw that you are leaving very soon. It looks like the LW tour is temporarily suspended for now. But there are other tours that head out there if you are interested. Here is another one that looks very interesting.

And for what it's worth, I plan on taking a day trip to Bletchley and am looking forward to it very much.

Rick has a whole chapter on this, you should compare and contrast as they say.

I think the easiest daytrip is Bath, which I did last year. If you want to see more than what is downtown like the Royal Crescent, you will have to be able to climb uphill however.

Naturally the Man explains how to do it, it really is that simple

https://www.seat61.com/london-to-bath-by-train.htm

No one seems to have suggested Canterbury- which is super easy on the HS1 Javelin train from St Pancras.

Also St Albans seems to get very little mention on this forum- https://www.enjoystalbans.com/things-to-do/

Yet it is quite important for it's Roman remains/history and it's cathedral- with it's medieval wall paintings and the shrine of St Alban (Britain's first saint) as well as having the longest nave in the UK. It is also a free to enter Cathedral. A quick train ride from London.

I was just thinking of Canterbury, too. It's a relatively short train ride from London.
You could see Canterbury Cathedral, walk some of the streets near it, then head out for Dover.
Tour Dover Castle, which overlooks the English Channel, then head back to London on the train.

A trip to either Oxford or Cambridge would be interesting.
The London Walks company has trips going to both places.
https://www.walks.com/

Concerned you are right, a tour is often the best option but most of those on this forum are DIY types.

"Is it better to visit 1, 2 or three sites in one day? "

What you'll get in the tours Concerned has posted will be 3, 4, 5 sights in one day.
If you don't have the stamina for that, don't choose the big bus tour.
The group will get off the bus and walk around at each place....could be good or bad for you, depending upon what you want.
As someone else said, mostly what you'll see will be roadways to and from the sights.

I am not convinced that people who want to see other sights besides London will be satisfied doing day trips.
For example, if you choose to go back to Stonehenge, I would think about taking the train from London to Salisbury, staying two nights.
See Stonehenge again, see Salisbury Cathedral, do a walk around near the cathedral.
Salisbury is a lovely medieval town, quite a change from London, thank goodness.
The hustle bustle, crowds and traffic can be a bit much for me after about 5 days.

Bath is another place that is more enjoyable with a two night stay in place of a day trip. It's easy to get to Bath by train from London.
See the Roman Baths, the Royal Crescent, Bath Abbey, lovely architecture.
Great hotels and restaurants to enjoy.

I do love London, but for me, splitting my time between London and one other destination might be ideal.

Day trips by train that I have enjoyed include:
Bletchley Park
Hampton Court
Brighton
Canterbury
Bath

I also did a bus tour that included Windsor Castle--wonderful, will return--Oxford (not nearly enough time there, will return on my own) and Stonehenge--while I was happy to see Stonehenge, I need never see it again.

Another bus tour was to Highclere Castle--big Downton Abbey fan, and it also included stops at 2 other locations used in filming, a farm and the village of Bampton. DA fan or not, seeing inside an enormous country manor like that was fascinating, lovely grounds to explore, excellent lunch on site, and seeing the countryside and 2 other locations made for a wonderfully interesting day with enough bus time through the country to relax a bit.