Family in London and York in 9 days

Which tower?

What time is the flight?

Eiffel tower. The paris flight leaves at noon.

you think you only need to see the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, until you get there. :)

you might also split up. the Louvre will take forever, at least all of one day. one parent and one kid to the Louvre, other parent and other kid to Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, etc.

Have you been to London before? You say after 4 days in a city you're ready to move on but London? You can spend weeks there and still not see enough.

Why do you want to visit Stonehenge? Does anyone in your group have a particular interest in Neolithic history or is it because everyone else seems to go there? I'm not suggesting that you don't visit but it gets very busy and I've seen people just whizz round the circle, visibly bored and then rush back to the gift shop to buy something to show that they've been there. I like it, I find it fascinating but then I have an interest in the history of ancient Britons.

The same question goes for York. Your itinerary is sending you across the country for no apparent logical reason. Please don't make the mistake of looking at a map of the UK and thinking "that doesn't look far" because travelling in the UK takes longer than it would to cover similar distances in the US or Canada for example.

As for the flight home, I wouldn't want to risk making my way from Cambridge to Gatwick for a 1 pm flight. I'm assuming it's a long haul flight which would mean being at Gatwick a minimum of three hours before the flight. Take into account that the journey from Cambridge can take between 2 to 3 hours and includes a stretch of the M25, even on a Sunday it's very busy. We live less than an hour from Heathrow and we have an intra European flight at 10 am on Friday and we've elected to stay overnight at Heathrow simply because the risk of traffic on the M25 is too high. I know it feels a waste of a day but that's the problem with air travel these days. I always write off a flight day unless it's an early morning short haul one.

I'd forget the Paris option, far too little time to give it any justice.

Can you get a flight from Stansted?
That is the same side of London as Cambridge, and there is an hourly train direct from Cambridge.

Cambridge to London to Paris is easy, as you don't have to cross London. Cambridge trains arrive in Kings Cross, which is across a road from St Pancras.
But, one day is no way to visit Paris.

Save Paris for another time when you can actually take the time to explore and appreciate it. As another poster said, you may only think there are 2 things to see but there are so many more.

There is plenty to see in Britain, save Paris for another trip.

I suggest you visit York prior to Oxford( in first option). You can take the train. York is wonderful, we stayed at the York Minster Hotel, walking distance from rail station and the cathedral.

Don't miss the Minster (cathedral) and National Railway Museum (located next to rail station).

We have been to Oxford and Cambridge. You can do either on a day trip from London. Parking is tough in both cities, especially Oxford. If you haven't been to Canterbury, consider going there on your way to Gatwick.

Curious, why end the trip with one day in Paris?

With 5 people, I would consider scrapping York from the itinerary, renting an apartment in London, and doing day trips from there. You could stay somewhere close to Victoria Station, which would be incredibly convenient for the Gatwick Express train. Check out a site like Airbnb for rentals. Everyone is different, but for me, the hassle of moving 5 people for just a few days seems to be a waste of time and effort. Picking up/dropping off a rental car eats up more time that you think and doesn't actually give you much flexibility, especially when the public transportation options are so good. The cost savings of renting an apartment, plus allowing everyone to have their own space would more than make up for the lost trip to York.

There is so much to see in London - my husband and I have been there for three separate 1 week trips and are returning for another week in May and we are STILL going to be doing new things. Our favorite sites are: the British Museum (a must-do every time we're in town - and you can spend HOURS here), the Tower of London, climbing the dome at St. Paul's, seeing Changing of the Guard ceremonies (which take place all over the city, not just at Buckingham), a London Walks tour, Borough Market, Trafalgar Square, and the Victoria & Albert museum. And those are just our top sites!

The following day trips are great from London and would allow you to take a break from the big city: Cambridge (or Oxford, or both), Greenwich, Canterbury, Bath, Windsor, Hampton Court. There are even more listed in the RS book.

That's just my two cents. :) Whatever you choose, you'll have a great trip!

I'd seriously dial it back, I just returned from an 8 day trip to London and Liverpool. I wish I'd skipped Liverpool, as much as I love that city, I wasted too much time checking out of the hotel, traveling to Euston, getting the train to Liverpool, walking from the train station to the hotel, checking in, and then doing the same thing in reverse.

You have only 3 days in London, since arrival day doesn't count. Don't underestimate jet lag either. Feeling tired/awake or hungry/not hungry can make the first couple of days seem a bit off.

Reducing the stress of travel with multi generations will make the trip far more pleasant, in my opinion. That would mean basing yourself in one city with one or two day trips.

Agree with the others, you're cramming too much into too few days. I would say Itinerary #1 except to add 1-2 more London days, then after London, go straight to either York or Cambridge since the punting/poetry outing is a "must" for you. Do not run around to multiple towns. For the last night, turn in your car and sleep somewhere near Gatwick that offers an airport shuttle.

I have to join the pile-on here, sorry -- you're trying to cover too much ground. Assuming that this is your first visit, of course. I'd give London more time, include a day trip to either Oxford or Cambridge but not both, take the train to and from York (or save it for another trip), and leave Paris out of this one. Use trains to get around, they might cost more but car rental plus petrol plus parking will cost plenty, plus the stress and aggravation of traffic. And if London is your hub a car will just be a nuisance.

If your flight home leaves in the morning, I'd spend the night before at or near Gatwick. If it leaves in the afternoon, I'd spend it in London or someplace with a fast direct rail connection to the airport.

The National Rail website makes it easy to look up schedules and connections, and buy advance tickets if necessary. Remember that a "day return" (round trip on the same day) ticket costs little more than two one-ways, and will work for any day trip out of London. (But I wouldn't try York as a day trip, there's too much to see there.)

As other posters say, there is so much to do in London, but I am of the mind set that says visit whatever is "must see" for your family and enjoy other parts of England too. I believe we were in London 4 days and we were able to see what was most important to us in that time. We were in York about 2 days and loved it. (first evening was time to walk around and go to Evensong service at York Minster, second day took the free walking tour (fabulous) and then more exploring on our own, next day took the train to Durham and back and that still allowed enough time to walk the entire wall). We then took the train to Cambridge for 2 nights; our main purpose there was to go to the Duxford Air Museum. Can't speak to getting to Gatwick from Cambridge. Enjoy your trip, wherever you decide to go.

You guys are awesome. To answer a few questions: We spent 3 days in Rome (did not get a chance to see everything) and LOVED it, but after 3 days we were just ready to see something else (Praiano was calling our names). We are actually planning a trip later in the year to southern france/basque and we may not go to Paris (it is just too far out of the way)so part of me thinks we should sneak a peak of Paris while we can.

And you are right- Stonehenge is something I should reconsider. We all recognize it but I'm not sure there is a true interest in visiting it.
Why York? 1. I'm a sucker for cathedrals. 2. My family is really into vikings right now and there is no way we can afford Norway :)
I like spending the night in towns vs day tripping into towns. I learned this when we spent the night in Toledo Spain vs day tripping in and when we stayed on the amalfi coast instead of day tripping in. Dinner is so much more relaxed when you can stroll home....
I also prefer hotels or B&Bs vs apartments - if there is a kitchen somebody may ask me to cook something while I'm on vacation (gasp!) haha.
What if I did itinerary 1 backwards without Oxford? Land in Gatwick and train straight to York? spend a few nights in York, spend a few night in Cambridge and end the trip in London? That first day is long but it is a direct flight so the trains station is like a layover. Anybody done this before?
Canterbury! Yes, I saw they have a train to and from Gatwick, but getting to canterbury may be hard (but there is a cathedral!).
Any recommendations on where to stay the night near Gatwick? We just have to be close enough to be at the airport by 10am. We can train or drive early in the morning since I'll have 9 hours to sleep on a plane. We once had a one night stay in Malaga to catch an early flight and ended up having a blast! I brushed the city off during my planning....anybody have the British equivalent of Malaga for Gatwick?
Also, if we do just visit London, York and Cambridge do you see reason to have a car? The drive between York and London car worthy or not? How about our time in York? Not in York itself but we my want to spend a day exploring the Yorkshires.

Whew! Tthanks again!

I think it's a great idea to use the semi-useless (to me) jetlagged Day 1 to get to your farthest destination. There's just one challenge: You either have to pay a painful last-minute walk-up fare for that fairly long train trip or have the confidence to pick a specific departure time and plunk down your much smaller payment for non-refundable tickets. The longer the Day 1 trip is, the bigger the absolute difference in fares is likely to be.

I just checked one-way fares from Gatwick to York, For tomorrow (Friday, which it already is, in England), the commonest (and highest) morning fare is £116; the commonest (and highest) fare for trains after 2 PM seems to be £135. There are some trains with lower fares, but only one train with a fare as low as £58; the others are at least £70.

By comparison, if you bought a ticket right now to travel on March 1, you'd have a lot of options at £36.50, though there are also a lot of trains with fares over £100. I'm guess tickets for March 1 have been on sale for a while. so a lot of the cheap tickets have been sold.

Deciding what to do in this sort of situation is a challenge.

Hi Danielle -

As regards York and railing up there I believe Virgin East Coast (the main London to York company) allow you to book Advance tickets up to 24 hours before travel. Advance tickets are the cheapest but commit you to a specific train time (which in this case will be the the Kings Cross to York train). You'll need to allow yourself a good amount of time after your scheduled landing time to clear immigration and get to Kings Cross which is north London (Gatwick is well south of London). I've done Gatwick to Leeds, a similar journey, in less than five hours from touchdown to arrival at destination, but I was lucky - it's probably a good hour from Gatwick to central London/Kings Cross and your journey to York will be between two and a half to three hours. You probably won't have to specify your link trains from Gatwick through to Kings Cross. However you need to be at Kings Cross about thirty minutes before your York bound train departs, to find out which one you need - check the departure boards on the main concourse on arrival - it may be York as a final destination but also in my experience could also be Edinburgh, calling at York. Then you can join in the 'Kings Cross game' where they hold off telling you which platform the train leaves from until about five - ten minutes before departure resulting in a mass of sprinting humanity racing for the train - reserve seats on the York train so you can stroll quickly to the train without doing your best 'Usain Bolt with luggage' impression, and also the train will be full, most seats having been reserved, unless of course you are going to splurge on a first class ticket which is nice if you can, but you don't see that much difference for the money in my view. Hint - the Virgin trains tend to depart form the lower numbered platforms (0 -5) but don't count on it!

Once in York it is a very walkable city - the walk round the walls shouldn't be missed and the 'bars' (city gates, probably not your first guess!) look lovely with the Christmas lights on. Services at the Minster should be Christmassy now too - I believe they post a list of services outside the main entrance so you can choose which you think is suitable for you. The Minster is a remarkable building and worth a wander round, although there is an entry fee these days. My tip is when standing under the tower and looking up be careful you don't lean too far back and fall over backwards - nearly done that myself a couple of times! Jorvik is the Viking Museum - check what other Viking themed exhibits/events are available/on with the local TIC. The railway museum is a brilliant wet weather option too, interesting if you aren't the biggest railway fan.

My other tip is to visit Betty's tea rooms, but try and get in the smaller 'Little Betty's' on Stonegate if you can (the big one is perfectly nice though if you can't).

The rest of Yorkshire is enormous - you might want to do a bit of research as to what is available/you'd like to see - the National Trust houses tend to be closed until spring now - feel free to ask if there's anything I might be able to help with, after all I live there. If the weather is good and there's a trip out there available I would suggest a trip to Fountains Abbey, but it is nearly all outdoors so is very much weather dependent.

Hope you have a great trip!

Ian

I also meant to say there's Premier Inn smack in the centre of Gatwick airport. Good for an overnight stopover before an early flight, and reasonably priced (for London!), on site bar and restaurants too. Have stayed there myself before and am doing so again prior to a trip to Central America early next year. However, because it's reasonable and because it's within the airport, it does get very busy! It does take the stress of getting to the airport out of the equation though if you can get room(s) there.

We just did the York to London in our trip. We loved York. All the recommendations above are great. The Yorkshire museum had lots of Viking stuff too. York is very walkable. Train was about 2 1/2 hrs Kings Cross to York. You can get a train directly for about 10 GBP from Gatwick to St. Pancras and walk over to Kings Cross. We bought well in advance and got tickets for about 27 GBP London to York.

It might be cheaper to buy tickets for GTW > KGX & KGX > YRK (so they are split tickets at London Kings Cross) rather than 1 through ticket. Cheapest fares are usually around 11 weeks ahead.

When (if) going from York to Cambridge, it may be cheaper to split the ticket at the place where you change trains - probably Peterborough. Check out on www.nationalrail.co.uk

However, it looks like the fare from GTW > CBG (Cambridge) remains the same whether you pay on the day or book ahead at £34.40 one way (following a fare rise in January). Now, as you can’t be sure when you will clear the airport, it would surely make sense to land at Gatwick and not have a pre-booked train but just buy a the tickets on the day and go to Cambridge first. Then, you can pre-book your Cambridge to York and York to London (KGX) legs as you know that you will be able to catch whichever train meets low price and convenience.

Thank you! I bought our tickets in and out of Gatwick (i couldn;t beat the price, the nonstop flight and the location of our home airport). We are visiting York, London and possibly Cotswold/Oxford. I'm starting a new thread for more advice

Danielle,

Funny, I read through this thread and thought "scrap London and concentrate on York!" and it appears you are sort of doing that!

York is fab. I go often. My husband taught at Ampleforth College (a 500 year old monastery) north of York. York is a great town for history, food, hillwalking.... the railway museum is very good, and free (mentioned above). There are buses around the area that allows you to get out of the town if you want to (day trip up to Ampleforth/Thirsk/Helmsley in North York Moors National Park would all be easy and you can still get back to York for dinner). You don't mention timeframe (at least I didn't catch it). Summer the sun sets VERY late (11 pm almost!) so the days are long and you can pack alot in!!

Susan
Expat living in Waterville, Ireland

If you can get your kids up early enough, you could possibly do York as a daytrip from London. Day Trip books include it as a possibility on the 2 hr high speed train. I would think you could do Yorvik Viking attraction and the Cathedral in a long day trip, especially if the trip is in summer. Despite 6 visits to London and environs, I have never been to Stonehenge and may never go.