Dorset, York & Bath day trips from London

We've done York and Bath as day trips via train from London. Both are excellent choices and each takes from 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get to by train. Haven't done Dorset.

York is great- catch the early (8- 9 am) train and you get there in time for lunch. That gives you time to walk around the Shambles, visit the market, and either tour the Minster or visit the Jorvick museum (we enjoyed the museum). You might have time to walk part of the city wall, too. The main part of town is a very short walk from the train station across the bridge. there is some good/great shopping in York. You can either eat supper in York and take a late train back, or leave around 5 and get a late supper in London.

Bath is also a great day trip. The walk from the station to the center of town is a bit longer, but not bad. We did the Baths on a bus tour our first time to London, so have never done that on our 'own' time, but I'm sure you'd have plenty of time. We enjoy the market, the gardens, and taking a cruise on the river. Bath has lovely Georgian architecture. We usually took a 9:30 or 10:00 ish train there and a 5:00pm back.

Mike ,York and Bath are cities and can be done as a day trip , although making either of them work would mean a very early start . York , would work better with two days . Dorset is a whole area , and really requires a car and more time to explore . with eight days , one day for Bath would work , York is pushing it a bit , and Dorset , really needs a car and more time .

Dorset is not a city but a large and mainly rural county in roughly the centre of the south coast of England. The biggest towns are the seaside resorts of Bournemouth, Poole, and Weymouth and the county town of Dorchester. My personal opinion is that there are more interesting places that can be reached more easily from London - the railway services to the area are quite slow.

This information is good to know. I may replace Dorset then with something else.

Is there a day trip I could go on toward the end of my "week" that would give me the feeling of being away from the busy city and feel more relaxed, but something that would be within easy reach by train?

I love day tripping done by rail. Suggest you take a look at the London Walks website. They often day trip small groups by train for guided walks into spots like Bath or Salisbury, which are easy trips from main london stations. London Walks broadsheet showed up on the brochure rack of my first London trip B&B in the late 90"s. It is wonderful to see famous and infamous areas with lots of foot time on ground, with skilled guides giving up-close site visits at modest cost. Over several years and several London visits these day trips, along with many 2-3 hour local walks, took me to, among others, Stonehenge in spring, to Rochester (for the Dickens Christmas festival) in early December. Rochester would be a good day trip anytime on your own for all the Dickens history. The Walk's people print brochures, so walks are scheduled well in advance for planning. It's been a few years since my last London visit, but RS walked and filmed with the owner of this company a while back as part of his endorsement of using local guiding sources. You will enjoy every minute!

Agree with Larry above, look at the London Walks website for their day trips. www.walks.com.
As its now winter they usually only do day trips on Saturdays, but from about end April onwards there are day trips pretty much every day to different places within a train ride of London - eg Bath, Winchester, Stonehenge, Cambridge, Oxford, the Cotswolds, Colchester, etc.

York and Bath, as others have said, are very doable as day trips. For both, I would recommend starting early if you intend to get back to London for any other reason than just to go to the hotel and sleep. There is enough in York itself for a couple of days. If you are a rail fan, the National Railway Museum in York is really good. Bath (Bath Spa, if you are booking train tickets) is 1.5 hrs, and York is generally 2 hrs direct, ~2.5 hrs if you change.

One of the great things about London is that its a great base for LOTS of day trips. It all depends on what you want to do or see. Everything from Warwick Castle to Canterbury are within easy reach of London.

Mike,

I agree with the others that York and Bath are both easy day trips, but I'd suggest leaving early and coming back in the evening so that you can see as much as possible. While in York, you could see the wonderful York Minster, take a walking tour with a local guide (check at the T.I.) and visit the awesome Railway Museum (free as I recall). In Bath you might be able to squeeze in a short tour to Stonehenge (check Mad Max Tours website).

Was there something in particular you wanted to see in Dorset? One other destination that should be possible on a day trip from London is Winchester. It's a very scenic smaller town and Winchester Cathedral is worth a visit (IMO). There are also a number of good military museums there at Peninsula Barracks.

Off-Peak train discounts apply after 9:30 a.m. weekdays. Roundtrip and Advance discounts are also significant, so booking ahead can also get you good prices on departures any time of day. See info and links at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/britain-rail-passes#ticket-tips.

To elaborate on the answer by Laura, 9:30 is often the time that off peak discounts come into force but it all depends on the route and the operator, and the direction of travel.

Some discounts, depending on where and where the train is going, may be as early as 8am. Some routes also have peak discounts in the evening rush, too.

Not all routes offer Advance tickets and there are often two or more levels of off-peak with different validity periods. Super Off Peak tickets tend to be the most restricted publically available walk up fare.

Advance tickets are generally non-exchangeable, non-changeable, and restrict the holder to one specific train, often one specific seat, on one specific carrier at a non changeable time and date. They can be very cannily priced though.

Mike, we are going to London in two weeks (I can't believe it's so close!) and I can share with you what we have planned. Based on the advice you've been given, I think we've made a good choice! We will be in London for ten nights are are doing day trips to York and Bath. We are taking the train direct to York. We leave at 8:02am and arrive at 9:54am. We leave that evening at 6:02pm and the train is direct, arriving back to London at 8:25pm. I saw after I'd booked the tickets that there's only one free walking tour that day and it's at 10:15am, so I'm going to see if we can hail a cab and quickly get close to the meeting point. Rick gives the walking tour a very high rating! I'm going to bookmark this page to make sure we hit the highlights that Toni pointed out!
As far as Bath, we booked a tour through Premium Tours. And we will be seeing Stonehenge, too. We actually got a voucher on the UK Groupon for only £34.50 as opposed to the £69 normal rate. I know that some criticize the tours for not giving you enough time in Bath, but we're trying to fit a lot into our trip, so we'll hopefully be able to get a taste for the city (and we'll definitely have time to tour the Roman Bath)!

Brighton? Seashore. Have you considered Hampton Court? St Albans?

Ken's thoughts regarding Dorset fitted my memories of a few days spent at a B&B in quiet, historic Blandford Forum. Dorset has military history museums in out-of-the way places. The guide owner of the B&B, who I'd met during the south England RS tour (no longer offered, sadly) and wife operated the guest house. I was wanting particularly to see the Tank museum in Bovington just a short drive from where I stayed. Military museums were, and are, often a key reason for my choice in visiting an area off the beaten tourist path. It did not disappoint. If you relish seeing the first ever remains of the original WWI tank, this museum has several types, often staged in event-like settings of what it was used to do. Many modern tanks and support equipment of various eras make this place unique and they even do weekends when various tanks are run and operated in special formations. No, most folks won't cross a street for such sights, but with as many air, army, naval, and simply unit history museums scattered around, lots of somebody's are so interested. Blandford Forum was a travel bonus with its classic Georgian market town character, stoic St Peter and Paul parish church, corn exchange building and restored alsmhouses row, along with busy farmer's market days. Bus was my way into this region which was regular and reasonable.
The town is 20 miles or less from Salisbury, Dorchester or Poole.