How to visit Leeds, Dover, Bodiam, and Hever Castles from London

Yes, my advice is to not cram too much into your 3 days!

Go to the Bodiam Castle website click on the “how to get here” section. Not an easy sojourn from London. Doable but takes planning.

Use trains because there is absolutely NO reason to have a car in London.

As far as intel simply type in how to get to Dover Castle from London on Google and you’ll see your options....same with the others.

Dover is a full day trip from London as it will take you at probably 45 minutes to get to St Pancras rail station from wherever you are staying in London and you need to be there 15 minutes before departure to find the correct platform and get on the train. The fastest service is c 75 minutes then it will take you 30 minutes to walk to the castle or 15 minutes in a taxi. The castle will take say 3 hours to visit. The National Trust property the White Cliffs of Dover is also worth a visit.

Leeds Castle is the closest to Dover, but they can’t be done on the same day. Dover to Bearsted rail station (the closest to Leeds village) takes another 70+ minutes, but you would then need to take a taxi (another 15 minutes). You need 3+ hours here.

Bodiam Castle is interesting but small and difficult to get to by public transport, as the closest rail station is at Robertsbridge, where from memory, there isn’t a taxi rank, so you would have to prebook a taxi. Although it’s interesting, it’s not worth the hassle of getting there without a car.

Hever Castle has the same issue as Bodiam - it’s several miles from Edenbridge rail station and you would need a taxi booked.

I'm not clear if you intend to visit these as day trips from London or after leaving London.

I did Dover Castle as a day trip from London via train. It was a great day. I did walk from the train station to and from the castle and it did take about half an hour each way. I'm sure some people would opt for a taxi but walking is doable. I think I spent about 3 hours there, there is a lot to see.

I did Hever Castle as a day trip from London via train (different trip). It was also about a half hour walk from the train station. We walked to the castle via the car road (not busy, but no sidewalk either) and back via a 'path' through some sheep farms. That was more pleasant. That castle and grounds are much smaller. Still worth visiting but didn't take as long.

I did Leeds Castle on a still different trip, this time I was staying in the area and had a car. So I don't know how, or if, you could do it by public transportation.

Bodiam Castle I have not visited. I have looked at all the various ways you can do it by public transportation and it looks really complicated and time consuming. So even though I'm planning another trip to London in the spring, I think I'll wait till I am on a car trip to visit Bodiam.

4 major attractions in 3 days is going to be tight in any case.

If you don't intend to do anything in London but go away somewhere else each day why stay in London?

If all the tings you want to see are in Kent, perhaps consider staying in Kent?

Haven’t been to Hever castle, but we had a rental car to see the others. As we were touring that part of England we were also stopping at other locations and visited the other 3 castles on separate days.

We rented a car at LHR and drove southeast to see these castles. We stayed at Sissinghurst and liked our stay there. Chartwell is definitely worth a visit. It is fully furnished exactly like it looked in Churchill's day. I think we allowed five days in this area.

It reads to me like they will stay in London for 3 days then move on to the places listed.

Hello Chris
If you go to Dover, you may like to stop and see Rochester castle. It's more than a shell, but remains impressive. King John attacked this castle. You just hop in and out the train. Consider 25 min walking to it and one hour and a half there. Then walk on the street with little shops, in your way back to the train station and grab something to eat.

Have in mind, another small castle, but very nice, in Tonbridge, also reachable by train. This tiny castle was restored and has a few dolls, resembling dwellers. Charming!

Look for both in YouTube. By the way, Dover Castle is enormous. I wouldn't give myself less than 4 hours there. But also there's an old Roman House, and a gondola which takes you to a restaurant in the top of a hill. There are some cliffs there and a tiny sanctuary, which travellers used to go to in the middle ages, before crossing to France. It's open at a certain times though.

Aren't you going to see London? I guess not. Let me tell you about the Imperial War Museum, free entrance, about the WW I & WWII. Amazing to visit! So much to see, even for children! Not boring. Good luck and Happy Travells!

THANK YOU to everyone for your input. I think I have figured it out. Again, thank you!

You can get to Bodiam Castle by bus from Hastings, although it's a bit of a circuitous trip.