London day trips - the 'usual suspects' more crowded weekdays or weekends?

Don't go on the weekend.

Bamoseketh this Travel Forum isn’t Facebook.

Please honor the posting rules and do not hitchhike.

Your post code query should be a separate post.

OP in March I’d go mid week but that’s a personal preference.

Train schedules can be disrupted on weekends for engineering works resulting in replacement busses and/or longer travel times. For this reason I usually do my London day trips on weekdays but yes, school groups are a weekday “hazard”. Usually the specific train operator will post any planned engineering works in advance on their website so check before deciding.

Go on a weekday, and maybe plan for after lunchtime to visit sights as presumably school field trips would start heading back after lunch (at least they do around here).

Not exactly what you asked for, but spending a night at a typical "day trip location" is in my opinion a very good idea. I've stayed in Oxford a couple of times and the town is very different in the evening when all the day trippers have gone back to London.

Sounds like maybe week days are better. Good point about the train disruptions on weekends. And I hadn't considered that probably off-peak fares on weekends will give me more time flexibility.

The reason I'm doing them as day trips rather than overnights is weather. I think it makes sense to spend the whole two weeks in London and on nice days do day trips and on rainy days stay in town and visit museums/churches, etc. And actually I did decide to visit York as a two day trip in the middle of the two weeks - but York is further and the train fare bought in advance will save a bundle over last minute fares plus York has so much. And I do remember it was lovely in the evening (my only time there was 3 days but over 15 years ago).

Sunday is the day most prone to engineering work on the railways - and fewer trains when things are ‘normal’. You will also find town/city centres more ‘dead’ on Sundays as some shops do not open. Saturday can be a good day for using the trains - although engineering work could affect journeys - this is much more unlikely than Sundays. (Check the time it takes to go from a to b on a weekday and then check for a weekend day on your chosen dates. If the time is the same = no engineering work). Another advantage of weekend rail travel is that fares tend to be cheaper due to fewer commuters. On weekdays, you will often find rail fares are sky high at commuting times by major cities before 9.30am and in the evening peak. Saturday travel can be prone to sports fans making their way to matches - beware!

www.nationalrail.co.uk (For longer journeys - cheapest fares for specific trains are loaded around 11 weeks ahead and as these sell, prices rise). See also www.trainsplit.co.uk

When it comes to Oxford it can be busy in the day time more or less any day of the week 364 days a year (I have exempted Christmas Day). However, it may depend on what you are intending to do.