We are planning to visit England for the first time August 26-September 7. We are open to suggestions about our plan so far. We arrive at 5:55am in London and considering following RS advice and travel directly to Bath for two nights to recover from jet lag in a more peaceful setting than London.
Day 1- Travel to Bath, hopefully have the energy to see the Roman Baths and find a walking tour of the city.
Day 2- Full Day Mad Max Tour to see Stonehedge, Avebury, and area
Days 3-8 Returning to London and seeing as many sights as possible
Days 9-10-Travel to Rye to visit friends and enjoy the area
Days 11-13 - Back to London with a day trip to Windsor included.
Day-Flying to Shannon
I have to say we are only seeing a small portion of England so will have to come back to explore again. My question is would it be better use of our time to skip the trip to Bath and visit Bath on tour of Stonehedge etc. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.
Posted by
eugene/springfield, oregon, usa
102 posts
Bath is a fine and deserving travel stop worth good time. Do Bath as you've set, and expect to return. London time is right too, as have visited a dozen times, and only begun! Love Rye and that part of England...good choice! You appear well researched. Your two week start is smart. Happy travel!
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5466 posts
Rick Steves advocates going to Bath first from London as a part of a circular trip either of GB or England. I don't particularly agree with this myself, but can see that there is some internal logic in it. You on the other hand are not venturing in a great circle, and taking a 2-3 hour journey after arriving on a plane seems to add stress rather than reduce it, especially as you then want to try see it all in one day.
Since you do not seem particularly enamoured with spending any real time in Bath why not skip it this time. If you don't want to start in London, go to Salisbury for Stonehenge instead. Mad Max will apparently pick you up at Stonehenge and take you on to Bath if you want to stick with them.
Posted by
Charlotte, NC, USA
3428 posts
Personally, I'd go straight to London. Do Bath as a day trip if you like (you can get a Mad Maxx bus in Bath to go out to Stonehenge if you want). Here's a link to an article I wrote for Trip Advisor about my favorite London places and day trips by train-
[http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186338-c176673/London:United-Kingdom:London.And.Day.Trips.html][1]
Posted by
Chicago
792 posts
For my first trip to the UK, I did your exact itinerary (including the Mad Max Tour) except I went on to Edinburgh after the London. I am happy I went to Bath first. Of course, I would have loved to spend more time there but I made do with my available vacation time. It is a beautiful city and very walkable. I thought it was a nice way to ease into the time change.
Go to the Roman baths in the evening. Double check the times but I think they are open until 9 or 10 in August. During the day, I walked around the city and to the park and Royal Crescent. There were a lot of outdoor street performers and great people watching.
Have a great trip!