England in January! Help with our itinerary.

Wow, that's some itinerary! :-) I do understand your desire to see as much as possible, but I think even if you had wings and flew to each location, you would not be able to see each place.

For example, on January 2, you have 12 destinations scheduled before lunch. And some of those destinations need a good chunk of time; like the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Churchill War Rooms, the Changing of the Guards and so on. Most people allow at least 3-4 hours for each of the above.

I also would not add Windsor Castle in as a day trip. You really only have a few days to see London, so I would focus on that. You could tack Windsor on at the end of your trip, however. For example, instead by heading back to London at the end, go to Windsor and spend the night there, see the castle, and the head to Heathrow for the return home. LHR is actually a lot closer to Windsor than it is to London.

You may know this, but the Locke at Broken Wharf is an apartment and the Resident Kensington is a hotel. So one will have services and one will not. Both come highly recommended here, though, so you really can't go wrong with either.

JAN 7 Drive to Oxford - Stay night in Oxford 1 night? Is this enough time? Stop in Avebury on the way to Oxford Bodleian Library and Bleinheim Castle Head to Cotswold
JAN 8 - and JAN 9 - stay in Cotswold - 2 nights?
JAN 10 - Stratford upon Avon - Should we stay here or move on? Would like to see a play?
JAN 11 - Leave Strafford - go through Warwick to Liverpool. Stay night in Liverpool
JAN 12 - 13th - YORK - Ideas? 2 nights - lodging?
JAN 14th - back to London by car Train?

I only spent one night in Oxford and it was definitely not enough. I would highly recommend at least 2 nights there.

Please consider skipping Liverpool and even York. You really don't have the time, especially considering you already have Bath, Stratford and the Cotswolds in there. I would add another day to London, focus your remaining days on Oxford, Bath, the Cotswolds and Stratford, then tack on Windsor at the end, and skip Liverpool and York. It takes time to get to both places and you will lose almost 2 days in travel time alone.

I agree with Mardeee that you have vastly underestimated the amount of time you need to see all of the things you have listed. Especially for London, but also for the other towns and cities. You need to really look at how long you need for each attraction or site, then add in the time needed to get to the next one. Dont forget just how short the daylight hours will be. And don't forget to add in time for lunch and dinner. I think you may need to either seriously edit your list or add a lot more days.

Also remember that it is dark by 4pm in January so that really limits what you can do. Some attractions may be closed or on reduced hours because you can’t have people wandering around in the dark.

You mention driving to oxford. Does your hotel have parking? If not, parking in Oxford is a nightmare and you would do better to leave the car in a park and ride car park on the outskirts.

Hi!

You have tried to schedule in A LOT and I agree with others that you should put Windsor on at the end (don’t forget to walk into Eton while you are there!), drop at least York entirely, and trim, trim, trim! As Rick always says, “Assume you will be back.” So I’d write your list of wishes out again, go through it with an eye to keeping only what you cannot live without seeing this time, and slash about 50%. I know that sounds harsh - but more time in fewer places means you build in time for travel (and delays), and ensure you’ll have enough time at each site to really enjoy, savor, and take it all in!

And now a very respectful something that will make us both uncomfortable, but here goes (takes deep breath): please check to make sure you have all place names correct. I note you list Nottingham Hill as a destination. I know you know it is Notting Hill, but it’s best to be careful, and here is why that can make a difference: we had friends come to visit last summer. They booked a nice hotel near Tower Bridge, but when asking for directions on the tube said “Tower of London Bridge” and wound up in the wrong place. Not a huge problem (Tower Bridge and London Bridge are adjacent) but they were confused and sweaty and stressed out trying to figure out what they had done wrong and correct it. :-)

Also, please don’t take the HOHO bus. You will most likely get caught in traffic! Check other threads here for other opinions of the HOHO, but I advise against it in favor of a MUCH less expensive TFL bus that goes by the major sites. Sit upstairs to enjoy fabulous, cheap sightseeing! https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/experience-london/bus-leisure-routes

Errata/Reactions:
* Shard is kinda not worth it. If you are at the Shard you are practically at Borough Market, which is amazing.
* The Globe DEFINITELY is worth it if you like theatre and can book a tour. Otherwise, it’s lovely from the outside and is a place to stroll past and observe. (Their gift shop is good.)
* If you were thinking of The Gherkin, I’d advise walking by it and over to Spitalfields Market for excellent boutique stalls and gorgeous crafts and an amazing selection of all kinds of food. Think pizza, Indian, Thai, pub, oysters, noodles, pastries, vegan, sausage rolls, and more.
* Tower of London is a half day. It is right next to Tower Bridge, so “do them” together.
* St. Paul’s is at least 2 hours if you intend to climb the dome.
* If you are “not much into museums” you might think of skipping the Tate Modern. The space is fabulous, but unless you are “into” modern art, it might not float your boat.
* I see you have some things listed in a day that are on opposite sides of the river. Maybe you have already started clumping things together by quadrant, but if not, that’s a good strategy to employ for clustering what to see and do in a day: you have less travel time, can often walk between sites, and can be more efficient with your time. Sites in west London, north of the river: a cluster. Sites in west London, south of the river: a cluster. Same for east London. The only caveat to this is if you make a bridge crossing part of your plan for a day. So… Tower of London in the morning (east London, north of the Thames), walk over Tower Bridge (east and south of river) walk past the Shard to Borough Market. And like that!

Your enthusiasm really shines through! You are going to have a blast!!!

I've been to every place on your itinerary. All good places, but frankly, Liverpool was a bit of a letdown. I suggest Chester and/or Conwy Castle.
Not sure about the Cotswolds in the Winter time? We stayed in the Volunteer Inn at Chipping Campden, which I recommend.

Stratford Upon Avon was great.

York was one of our favorite places in Britain.

I don't think the train goes to Stonehenge, so you may need to make other arrangements.

Oxford is great, but parking will be a huge problem.

Broken Whatf and Page 8 look to be in the best locations for what you want to do in London. Both are convenient for walking and/or taking the Tube.

If you have not driven in theUK before I would be leery of doing so in the middle of winter….the daylight hours are short and weather conditions can work against you with everything from torrential rain to fog to heavy wet snow or,if you are lucky mild and sunny days.

Look at getting advance tickets for places like Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, Churchill War Rooms. Will save you from queueing. Allow at least a morning or afternoon for each of these, lots to see and absorb.

On 4 January Parliament then Westminster Abbey on the same day are a good idea. Parliament is only booking currently until 29 December, but when it opens for 2025 book the earliest possible tour (looks like 9.30am) then the Abbey after that. Possibly staying for Evensong at the Abbey, and then to Surrey after dark.

You don't say where in Surrey but hopefully somewhere close to a station on the Waterloo to Salisbury line, so you can be driven there next day. Then whichever of the every 30 minutes trains gets you to Salisbury for the first bus to Stonehenge (probably 10am at that time of year). Then train to Bath. Be prepared to lose Stonehenge if the weather is too severe (English Heritage may close the site if the weather is too bad) and go to Salisbury Cathedral instead.

On 6 January Stonehenge is the opposite direction to Glastonbury and Wells, so as you have under 8 hours of daylight I would just do Glastonbury and Wells.

You could do Stonehenge on 7 January on your way to Oxford- 1 hour from Bath to Stonehenge, 30 minutes or so to Avebury then 75 minutes or so Avebury to Oxford. Probably easier anyway with the car. That will probably get you to Oxford at around dusk.

So 8 January becomes an Oxford Day and 9 January Blenheim Palace (not Castle, sorry to be pedantic) and Oxford, or vice versa.

Then 10 January Stratford on Avon

The choice is then to head north for Liverpool/York or south for the Cotswolds. At that time of year I would favour north where there are indoor attractions. Off rent the car at Liverpool or York and train to London. Probably choose Liverpool OR York, rather than both.

At Oxford you may well be leaving the car at a Park and Ride Site overnight each night.

EDIT- Liverpool to York takes you over the M62. If we get real winter weather that can be a very hostile road. Although much less common than it used to be due to global warming snow can and does close the road, and the weather can turn up there on a dime. It still happens from time to time that traffic gets stranded in snowdrifts up on the top when it gets nasty, cars have to be abandoned and people rescued.
I really don't want to be alarmist, but think you need to know what can happen (but hopefully won't). That is another reason to choose either/or Liverpool or York. Stratford on Avon to York takes you south of the potential big trouble area.

Buckingham Palace is only open for visits in the summer but you will be able to see the outside. Also it’s worth carefully checking opening times for any castles and palaces and stately homes you plan to visit en route. Some might not open till March.

As others have said, the HoHo bus isn’t ideal as transport as it takes much longer than the tube or normal buses.

It’s really important you understand the daylight situation in the UK in January - so have a look at sunrise and sunset times. That’s not to say you can’t have a great time in January, but it’ll be dark by 4pm.

Now: I know every visitor seems to want to go to the Cotswolds (note - plural: it’s a big area rather than one place). Can I suggest that January is much more suited to cities and towns than the country. It’ll be cold, possibly wet, very muddy, maybe foggy. For me, the beauty of the Cotswolds is walking through the countryside, and I wouldn’t choose to do that in January.

It would be helpful to know what you want from the Cotswolds, because I’d say this is pretty much the worst time of the year to be there. I’d be spending more time in Oxford and Bath, which both have loads to offer. If you have a car, you could detour via some Cotswolds villages en route maybe?

Where in Surrey do your friends live? It’s a large county rather than a town, so the name of the location would help in sense-checking your plans.

OMG You guys are so helpful! Thank you! Iook forward to more replies and will start making adjustments. <3 So what if we just stayed on London and did day trips? should we rent a car or take trains?

So what if we just stayed on London and did day trips? should we rent a car or take trains?

That is a very good idea, then you can tailor the days out to whatever the winter decides to deliver this year. Train would be the obvious, using a BritRail London and the South East plus ticket. You do not want a car in central London.

Most all of the places you have listed are potential day trip terrain. This forum appears to have an arbitrary limit of 2 hours or less each way on day trips. Even York and (almost) Liverpool come into that definition by train- they are outside the area of the above pass. And both have first trains out soon after 6am, and last trains arriving back into London at around 1am.

Personally I have a much greater definition of day trip terrain, at least by train. I have done everything on this list as day trips, not from central London, but my former home base at Southend, in Essex- an hour or so beyond. And with most of them even fitting in a split shift at work in London Docklands (in the office at 6am and 9pm for night shift handbacks/handovers/debriefs). Glastonbury is stretching a day trip out to it's max but the half hourly bus (taking 90 minutes) runs from outside Bristol Temple Meads station, so it is not totally out of the question with an early 7am or so start from Paddington. The last train back from Bristol arrives at Paddington around midnight.

You mention doing day trips which seems a good idea to me. I don't think anyone on the forum would suggest driving a hire car from central London out each day. Parking is very expensive in London and in the centre there is a congestion charge. In my view trains would be a better bet - you don't say how many people are in your party, but if its 4 you should check costs as trains in the UK are not cheap. When looking at timings remember to allow 30 - 40 mins to get from your hotel to the correct station for wherever you want to go and for a bit of leeway in case the tube/bus is delayed.

One advantage of day trips is that you can keep an eye on the weather. It rarely snows in London (the city makes it too warm) but we can get short sharp snowfalls in parts of the south of England during January when the country seems to grind to a halt because we are not kitted up to deal with it. Similarly, you can get heavy rain. A good weather App (i use Accuweather but there's lots around) will help you pick out the better days for the outdoor places.

As others have said - it gets dark at 4pm and quite a few attractions don't open or have restricted opening (eg short hours and/or not open every day).

I agree that the day trip idea is preferable because then you can flex depending on weather conditions. This does mean not booking train tickets far in advance but I think in January you’ll be grateful to have paid a bit more not to be trying to enjoy Stonehenge in lashing rain.

Just to add that Buckingham Palace offers small group guided tours ($$$) on select days in January, presumably because the royal family is at Balmoral. These are different from the self-guided tours offered during the summer opening. I enjoyed it tremendously.

If interested in these winter tours, the schedule is not available yet but you can sign up for email notifications from the royal collection trust here (all the way at the bottom of the page): https://www.rct.uk/about-royal-collection-trust/enewsletter

I think day trips are an excellent idea! You could take the train, or if you prefer, you could also take some day tours. Rabbies is a reputable tour company that many folks here have used, and they have a number of day trips out of London to places like the Cotswolds, Bath, Oxford and Cambridge. https://www.rabbies.com/en/england-tours/from-london/day-tours

There are other companies as well, and of course, you can go the DIY route, which is always fun.

Everyone has been so helpful. I am going to revisit my plans and spend more time in a few places. Thank you everyone.

When prebooking train tickets - is there a particular pass that would be recommended?

You get an A for enthusiasm! I'm not sure where you are at yet in your paring down as I read through the other suggestions, but I will say for some mysterious reason Stonehenge was fascinating to me. So if you end up in Bath, to me it might be worth the time.

You get an A for enthusiasm! I'm not sure where you are at yet in your paring down as I read through the other suggestions, but I will say for some mysterious reason Stonehenge was fascinating to me. So if you end up in Bath, to me it might be worth the time.

I also love Windsor, which I would factor as taking most of a day.

And if there is a special January Buckingham Palace tour, I'd take it. I enjoyed it; but mine was the palace summer tour including the garden.

On January 2nd you have way too many things planned. You need to cut down by 3/4.

Hey there, have really enjoyed watching the process of excellent advice & you adjusting and learning from this incredible bunch of posters! About cutting back to perhaps only a few destinations & taking mostly day trips - I just want to say we loved Oxford, have been many times to conferences & stayed over extra days, so that would be a place I could see ending the trip before Windsor Castle and stay 2 nights, it has a lot to offer. And hopefully book afternoon tea at the Old Parsonage, its a treat! https://www.oldparsonagehotel.co.uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=hotel-oldparsonage. Sounds like an amazing trip.