Hi! I need help with an itinerary for my family’s 14-day trip to England, includes flights. The travelers will consist of myself, my husband, my 15-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
We are considering staying in London for the first 6 days. Depart home (Day 1). Arrival day (Day 2) we will just drop off bags at our hotel and taking a hop-on hop-off tour of the city. Then on (Day 3) we will visit Parliament, Westminster, Churchill War Room and finish the day at Harrods. (Day 4) we will visit the Tower of London first thing in the morning and then have lunch at the Borough Food Market and then check out the London Bridge in the afternoon. If possible, see a show at the Globe theater. (Day 5) We will visit Kensington Palace in the morning, check out the Peter Pan Statue and head over to the Natural History Museum. (Day 6) We will spend much of the day at the British Museum where we will have tea and possibly a West End Show to round out the day with a short stop at Hamleys Toy Store. (Day 7) off to the Warner Brothers Tour Making of Harry Potter for the day.
We will then take a midmorning train to Bath on (Day 8). Once there we plan to visit the Roman Baths, the Bath Abbey and Putney Bridge and possibly a visit the Jane Austen center. We will stay the night in Bath. Take a bus ?? out from Bath mid morning of (Day 9) to the Cotswolds. Then on (day 10) we will head by train to Oxford where we hope to find the Eagle and Child Pub (big CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien fans) and then find all the Harry Potter sites we can find. Take a late evening train back to London for the evening.
(Day 11) take the Eurostar to Paris for a day and take a one-day guided tour then head to the Eiffel Tower to see the lights of Paris. Stay and wander around Paris for the (day 12) take a train back to London on (Day 13). Sleep one more night in London and head out the next morning (Day 14) for the airport and home. Is this doable? Any suggestions? We would like to stay in an Airbnb while in London has anyone ever tried this? Train and bus suggestions? Lodging suggestions around $250 USD a night outside of the Airbnb?
rip for
Posted by
Camano Island, WA, usa
1451 posts
Your tour seems well planned. There are many other accommodation services available for London. Most are for apartment or flats; or traditional B & Bs. Some University accommodations may be available in June 2018. Just check on line. Hosted B & Bs usually are in better locations since they have been well established before Airbnb. If you rent by the week you may get a better price. Business class hotels can be a good value. If you were driving to Oxford and Bath you might actually save money over train transport...check fares for children. I might be wrong if there are good family deals. Others on this site might be up to date on this. Also if you were driving you could stay in charming villages just outside of the expensive towns. Ask any of affinity groups you may be a member of to get possible discounts. Join the National Trust UK to get a Family Pass; they may have an Overseas Visitor Pass available; check their web site.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5277 posts
I believe you mean Pulteney Bridge, Putney Bridge is in London and you'd receive some strange looks asking for directions to it when in Bath.
Your itinerary looks good though, far better than many I see here.
Posted by
205 posts
London Bridge
Do you mean Tower Bridge? (Most Tourists do).
Posted by
Hampshire, England.
1069 posts
Posted by
3122 posts
I was with you until I got to the Paris run. If you're determined to see a bit of Paris along with what is basically a London & southwest England tour, why not fly open jaw (arrive London, depart Paris)? Or if you must do a 2-day Eurostar run, do it at the beginning of your trip, not the end. Why? Because if there's some transport disruption you could get stuck in France and miss your homeward flight from London.
One day for the Cotswolds is also not enough, but that's minor compared to the risks involved with your Paris plan.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I appreciate everyone's comments and advice. We are considering more traditional B&Bs and looking at the National Trust ideas. Thanks for letting me know the difference between the London and the Tower bridges. I'd rather find that out here instead of there. I think leaving from Paris instead of London is a great idea that I hadn't even considered. As for the Cotswolds, I haven't decided. I truly appreciate all of your help. Thanks
Posted by
1172 posts
We just got back from a 2 week vacation with our kids aged 12 and 9. We did 7 days in London and 6 in Paris. In both places, we rented apartments through VRBO and could not recommend them more It was great to have more space for everyone to lounge in the am and after a long day os sight seeing. It also allowed us to have some of our breakfasts at the apartment.
Look closely a the days that you will be there based on what you want to do e.g. parliament tours are only available on Saturdays unless it is during the recess period which goes from late July to late August ( I believe) We pre-purchased tickets to the Churchill war room and it was so worth it as even on opening, the line up was 1 hour wait. We all really enjoyed the war rooms
Book your Harry Potter tickets VERY early. We booked ours in March for an early July visit and the morning time slots were already sold out.
Also pre-book your Eiffel tickets .. the online purchase window open about 90 days prior to the day you want to visit
We had such a great vacation!