First time travel to England

1.) Where are you coming from?

2.) Are you comfortable in using public transit?

3.) Are you traveling solo?

4.) Have any mobility issues?

5.) What’s your budget?

From your post it appears you’d like to see the Cotswolds, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace. Is that correct?

Only asking questions for clarity in order to help you.

I’ve been traveling and enjoying London and other areas of the UK since 1972.

I'm wondering if folks think it would be better to postpone due to world events.

No. I seriously doubt the situation in the Ukraine and Israel will have any impact in the U.K. Of cource, one should always maintaine a high degree of awareness about the environment one is in. But then that applies to cities in the U.S. as well. Probably to an even greater degree.

The Cotswolds, Hampton Court Palace, and Windsor Castle are all good side trips. You might want to research Bath (which can be done as a day trip) and see if it holds any interest for you.

Enjoy the trip.

Jan, I took the Hampstead and Heath London Walk and it was amazing. I vote for Windsor Castle or Hampton Court Palace. They are on my list for this summer. I also enjoyed Canterbury and Salisbury.
Happy Travels!!

You could spend every minute of your time in London and only scratch the surface, so don't worry about having too much time there.

I haven't taken one of the London Walks out-of-town trips. I love the company's London walking tours, and I'm sure they do a good job on the Cotswold trip, but it's definitely not the only way to see the Cotswolds without a car of your own. From my perspective it would often not be the best, because you don't have a lot of time at the destination. There are companies operating small-group, one-day tours of the Cotswolds from Bath (Mad Max) and from Moreton-in-Marsh (GoCotswolds). Moreton-in-Marsh is a short train ride from Oxford, a very interesting university town. I spent several nights in Oxford and used one day for the GoCotswolds tour. I suspect you could make that work with just one night in Oxford if you didn't really care about seeing that city, but I haven't investigated the Moreton-Oxford and Oxford-London rail schedules.

The Secret Cottage tour also originates in Oxford but lasts only 6 hours. It's timed to allow people to take the train from London for the day (rather like the London Walks tour). You'd have to dig into the details of those two tours to see whether you prefer one of them. I know a few posters here took the Secret Cottage Tour before the pandemic and really enjoyed it. However, I believe at that time it was a longer (full-day) tour; I don't know how the itinerary has changed since then.

The tours do not all go to the same towns, but there are many picturesque towns in the Cotswolds, so I wouldn't consider the specific towns to be visited very critical.

The countryside isn't at its best in November - leaves will be off the trees and after all the rain recently, everywhere is likely to still be very wert and soggy. Also don't forget you have limited hours of daylight. Sunset will be around 4pm and on dull overcast days it will seem even earlier.

Hampton Court and Windsor Palace are good ideas. Rather than spending time in the Cotswolds, you may do better to concentrate on cities. Cambridge or Oxford are easy day tripos from London and have lots of things to do and see. Another possibility would be to catch the train to York - if possible stay overnight. They can seem much more attractive when it starts to get dark. I remewmber coming out of York Minster Evensong into the dark streets of York lit by street lights and it felt quite Dickensian.

I'm in London now. It's perfectly safe. You may run across a small demonstration here and there but if you don't get involved you'll be fine.

My suggestion is get yourself a good guidebook and find out what is available and what might interest you.

The countryside/Cotswolds at that that time of the year is highly likely to be gloomy, grey and damp and if the weather is against you possibly down right grim. On such a short trip at that time of the year, I would confine your self to London and leave the Cotswolds for another time when the weather, countryside vistas and daylight hours are more favourable.

"First, I'm wondering if folks think it would be better to postpone due to world events."

I totally agree with other posters that there's no need to postpone - London is a safe city, and you don't need to feel concerned. We're back there at the end of November and are looking forward to it.

Hampton Court Palace is a great day trip, ditto Oxford.

Hello,
I stayed in Windsor 2 days few years ago and loved it!! Cute little “village” with shops, restaurants, monuments, and of course Windsor Castle. There are boat rides, parks, and a restaurant where Jimi Hendrix played.
If you want to travel to the Cotswolds and Windsor imo you should rent a car and drive .. stay overnite in both places. But there are group bus tours where you are basically paying for transportation - and there is also public transport you can do yourself. Stratford Upon Avon is nice as well, and Wells Cathedral is beautiful.

Thanks to all who posted replies to my inquiry! Sounds like I'm fine sticking with London as home base. I will look into the suggestions of travel to other cities and will leave Cotswalds for another time. It's nice to have people responding with experience and suggestions, it's more straight forward and less confusing then trying to navigate a tourist book :).

I am middle age, solo traveler. It looks like my next job is to learn about the train system and also figure out best location/hotel to stay. It's coming up fast! Excited and nervous.

Thanks again,

Jan

Have PM’d you. Have been visiting UK for decades. Happy to share intel.

A day trip by train to Bath would be a good idea. See >https://www.seat61.com/london-to-bath-by-train.htm