London & Beyond for Art+

Lee, I think the number of nights you have is good. I'm glad you're allotting enough time to London as it is huge and there is so much to see and do there. And definitely two nights in Oxford as it is wonderful. And I'm so glad that you have the Ashmolean Museum on your list because that is just an incredible museum.

It's definitely easy to get to Stonehenge from Bath. It's only an hour away by public transportation or you could do one of the Mad Max tours or another tour to visit there. I'm not sure about Salisbury so I'll let someone else answer that. It's been decades since I've been to Salisbury and back then I had a car.

In terms of the order of destinations, one thing you might consider is saving Oxford for the end, as you can get a direct bus from Oxford to Heathrow Airport, which means that you don't have to go back to London proper, change trains and go through all of that extra time-consuming shuffle. It's called the Airline Bus, and it leaves from the Gloucester Green bus station, which is near the city center, and takes about 90 minutes to get to Heathrow. There are a number of them that depart throughout the day so you never have any problem finding one. The cost for one way is £25. They store your luggage below the bus, and you can pay on board using tap and pay. Then just sit back and have a nice relaxing drive to LHR. 😊

So when you book your flight, if you decide to do this, think about the fact that you will be coming from Oxford and try to get a flight leaving in the early-to-mid-afternoon if possible. If you can't, there are a number of airport hotels at Heathrow, some of which are very reasonably priced. You could still have the bus take you to LHR, spend the night and then get on your flight in the early morning.

ETA: One other thing; you could just reverse that as well if that works out better. For example, head to Oxford using the Airline Bus from Heathrow. Stay there at first and then head to Bath and use that as the base to get to Stonehenge and possibly Salisbury. Then take the train to London and spend your last days in London. It depends on whether you want your city excitement at the beginning or the end of your trip. 😊

We're in London right now and I'm finding some areas crowded, so avoidance could be challenging. I'm not an art guy but I really enjoyed the National Portrait Museum. I could have spent more time but my wife has ants in her pants so I only really saw the Tudor exhibit. The National Gallery is right next door.

I'll trust Mardee that you can easily do Stonehenge from Bath, but I really liked Salisbury. I'd recommend you look into the sunrise tour that allows you to walk within the stones at Stonehenge. We spent 3 nights in Salisbury and will likely return.

It's definitely easy to get to Stonehenge from Bath. It's only an hour away by public transportation

I beg to differ. Most of the time to go to Stonehenge from Bath you go via Salisbury anyway (train then either the hourly 'tour bus' (or sometimes public bus #X2). It is possible to do Bath to Stonehenge direct twice a day, changing at Devizes. but even then it takes 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours each way.
Via Devizes is massively cheaper than via Salisbury at £6 each way, compared to potentially as much as £44.30 return via Salisbury- cheaper if you commit to specific trains (£24.30 Train + £20 Tour Bus). Via Salisbury is also around 2 hours each way.

So if you plan to be in Salisbury anyway Stonehenge is possibly better done from there by transit.

Avebury by transit from Bath is also change at Devizes, hourly- overall journey time about 2 hours. But I'd be tempted to take a train to Swindon every half hour, then the bus every half hour. Overall it should take just over an hour.

Long story short I would say to leave as is- Bath and Salisbury.

From Salisbury to Heathrow you can either go Salisbury to Woking for the Rail/Air or public bus to Heathrow, or Salisbury to Basingstoke for the Rail/Air bus to Heathrow.

I have to confess that I love cities, but I wonder if you are allocating enough time for London. Here's what works for me. I make a list of what I would love to see in each place and how much time I think it would take to see it, based on reading about how large the site is and how interested I am. Then I start cutting out things to fit the total amount of time I have, instead of trying to shoehorn sights into a pre-allocated number of nights. My experience is that when I actually start writing down a list of what I think I could see in each half day, the priorities become clearer.

I'll leave Bath and Salisbury to others, but with 13 nights so far in London, I have seen and enjoyed thoroughly these museums: British Museum (huge museum not art, except when it is and when there are special exhibitions), V&A (plenty of art- and architecture-adjacent materials in this big museum). For art itself, the National Gallery takes time and is far more important than the merely interesting National Portrait Gallery that I polished off in an hour. Then you have the Tate, the Tate Modern that was outstanding to me, the great Wallace Collection, the King's Gallery, and Courtauld Gallery. If I had known then what I know now, I'd have done the Moco Museum too. And there are others that you can research. For architecture, there's a big variety in London too. See this 2016 but still valid list of interesting buildings: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/london-architectural-landmarks

In Bath, do work in the Holburne Museum. Check to see if they are having a special exhibition. I caught a Canaletto exhibition there a number of years ago (pre-covid) that was really, really excellent.

In Salisbury, the Salisbury Museum in the Cathedral Close is quite good too. Lots of Stonehenge artifacts there. Once, years ago as well, I managed to see a Constable in Salisbury exhibit that was excellent as well, so it's worth checking their website to see what's going on.

I've taken the public shuttle from the city center of Salisbury out to the stones and back and it's very easy. It also stops at Old Sarum on the return journey. It does not go to Avebury. IF you want to do both there is a good tour company out of Bath called Mad Max that usually has a trip to both Stonehenge and Avebury. IF you did that I'd do 3 nights in Bath and 2 in Salisbury so you'd have 2 full days in Bath - one for Bath and one to do a day trip.

I hate to throw anything else out there BUT if you are a Constable fan, there is a special exhibition in Ipswich celebrating the 250th anniversary of his birth from March 2026-March 2027.

https://ipswich.cimuseums.org.uk/constable250/

Depending on what your final air itinerary looks like, I might consider going to Oxford from Heathrow (there is a National Express coach that is easy) then putting your London days at the end.

I thank you all for such thoughtful replies. You've clarified much for this trip.

Mardee: Oxford will be my first stop and I'll look into the well-recommended Mad Max. Thanks!

Allan: I'm glad you got to see at least some of the museum - there is always a return :) I was thinking of sunset at Stonehenge, but will do the morning instead. Thanks!

isn31c: I'll plan on staying in both locations. Thanks!

nancycantravel: I'll add the Moco to my list. Yes, I plan like that as well. London could be a month, but I have two weeks and know I can return. Thank you!

Pam: Oxford first, MadMax, thanks. I very much appreciate hearing about the exhibit. I would love to see all of it but can catch the first part. Might you have any experience in getting there/back? Thanks very much!

More questions to follow :)
I appreciate your help.

Lee