London Itinerary

Two things: day one looks impossibly busy for your arrival day. I can’t imagine this working.

Forget Hop on Hop Off. It is merely an opportunity to view London traffic in all its glory.

• The Tube is easy to use and will get you to places quicker than the HOHO bus.
• What time do you land? As the poster above mentioned, this is an ambitious schedule. You'll need to book the War Rooms ahead. I don't know if prebooking is required at Westminster Abbey now, as we went pre-covid, but we spent about 3 hours there.
• Day 2. We spent almost 6 hours at the Tower of London. We spent considerably less time at the British Museum, but depending on your interests, you could easily spend a day or more.
• Where are you picking up your car? You might be better off getting it at Windsor. Definitely want to pick it up outside of London or you could be stuck in traffic forever.
• I know there are tours that do Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath all in one day. I guess it depends on your touring style, you maybe rushing around to meet your schedule and not actually enjoy what you're seeing.
• We've stayed at the Hampton Inn at Gatwick. It's right inside the terminal.

That’s a heck of a lot for a week!

You’re not going to have time to see much in any of the places. For example, you won’t arrive in Bath until the late evening after seeing Windsor and Stonehenge, and then you leave in the morning for the Cotswolds. Yes, you’ll have been to Bath but you will hardly see anything. It’ll be dark when you arrive and everything will be shut except bars and restaurants.

I think you need to cut something unfortunately.

Thank you all the responses. My thought was the same the tours places do it all in a day, if anything we will do Roman baths the next day and leave to cotswold. I saw the drive from Cotswold to WA is about 2.30 hours ; So we have to leave by 11:30am.

I will balance things in London as we have Sat some what open.

You should consider cutting at least half of that itinerary, that’s an insane schedule, sorry. Yes, even if you’re the most ambitious, up and at ‘em traveler, YOLO (You Only Live Once) type.

You don’t mention how you’re arriving in London, but I assume an overnight flight from the USA. Even on the odd chance that you arrive completely refreshed, sleep well on the plane and don’t suffer jet lag, it will take time to land, get through immigration and get to London. Are you flying into Gatwick? I’m sure someone will be along to help with how to get to your hotel from Gatwick, but you’re going to want to allow at a minimum 2 and probably more like 3 hours from landing to get to your hotel.

Day one is impossible as are all your days. A good rule of thumb is two big sites and one minor one for any given day of travel and landing day can’t really count as a regular day. I’d pick one of your sites to try to schedule for that day. The Eye should be very weather dependent, waste of money in grey cloudy weather.

Day 2/3 skip the HOHO and pick 2 of your site and you can maybe shift some of this to day 3 as you don’t seem to have a definite plan to visit ‘some’ cricket stadiums. What day of the week will you be at Borough Market, some days are better than others.

I’ll skip the rest of your itinerary as I’m not as familiar with it recently and I won’t drive in the U.K. I have been to Harry Potter, it’s well worth it and definitely don’t shortchange it but that will cut into your time for the rest of the trip. I assume you’ve booked the tickets already.

It does sound like you’re trying to cram everything into a 5 day trip (arrival and departure days don’t really count). I would suggest dropping the car the night before departure to give yourself one less possible thing to go wrong.

In fact, that’s one advantage to having an itinerary that isn’t completely jam packed. Things can and will go wrong or take longer than expected.

It seems that everyone discourages trying to see the Changing of the Guard. You have to arrive extremely early to stake out a spot from which you can see anything at all, and then you wait and wait. You don't have time for that.

A lot of us are absolute zombies on arrival day due to sleep deprivation and jetlag. I'd never pre-pay for anything on that day, because I would have no interest in doing it in my addled state

The best way to get over jetlag is to stay outdoors during daylight hours on your arrival day. I haven't been to Westminster Abbey, but it is large. I spent over half a day at the Churchill War Rooms. Both those sights are indoors.

Just reading this itinerary leaves me feeling breathless.
This isn't a vacation in my eyes, it's a marathon.
Presumably it's spell check- but is dinner on Day 1 at Covent Garden, rather than Convent Gardens?
On Day 2 you appear to be at the Tower of London and Changing of the Guard at the same time. Otherwise I can't see how this all fits together. If you want to do a Thames Cruise on Day 2 it would be best to squeeze it in as a Dinner Cruise. You say those are the major items on Day 2. What are the minor items?
You're going round the M25 in the evening peak.

I'd personally do Harry Potter from London and stay an extra day in London and have 1 less hotel room stay. That's a lot of moving around for a short trip. First and 2nd day aren't possible imo, too much in too little time, especially day 2 where none of that stuff is near each other. Palace guard change is several hours with all the waiting and being at 11am cuts right into the middle of the day, Tower of London is about 4 hours, British Museum 4 hours.

You could also stay in London the whole time and do a daytrip to Bath/Stonehenge too as you have very little time in those locations the way it is so you wouldn't see much less than the current itinerary.

So you are flying into Gatwick? If so you could stay in places other than Victoria. Thameslink trains go via London Bridge and Farringdon for example.

Btw it’s The Cotswolds and Covent Garden.

The Roman Baths open at 9am so I guess you could leave Bath by lunchtime. I don’t think it’s worth driving all the way to Bath just to see the Roman Baths and then leave. You won’t have time to see much else.

You could skip Bath and see the Roman Villa at Chedworth instead. That’s in the Cotswolds and would give you 2 nights and a full day there. With your plan you won’t arrive in the Cotswolds until mid afternoon and it will be dark by 5.30/6. That doesn’t give you time to do anything really.

My thought was the same the tours places do it all in a day,

Not a good idea. A tour can always cover more ground than you can in the same amount of time. A tour has a professional driver who knows the way. They drop you off in front of where you are going so you don't have to worry about parking. Tours have prearranged tickets so you don't have to wait to buy tickets.

Good luck but as others have said its too much. Especially thinking that driving times are precise.

What is WA?

OK! Back to the drawing board.

The tours are getting ridiculously expensive as such London itself is super expensive, so I was leaning on the car and travel route. I will pick what is most important to us as family. Also for the museums I have listed out the places we want to see as the kids will easily get bored.

For Harry Potter I got tix for the day before we are going to leave. I will drop a few thing from this plan. Thanks for fixing the spelling typos!

What is WA?

I was confused by that too.

And coming from FL - Liechtenstein? Maybe WA is Western Australia?

no, wrong. WA is not Western Australia, because I reread and see WA is 2 and a half hours from somewhere in the Cotswolds.

Stumped.

by the way, if talking to a taxi or somebody local don't say Bourton. There are two significant Bourtons within a few miles of each other but completely different and on different sides of Stow on the Wold and Moreton in Marsh - Bourton on the Hill and Bourton on the Water. You will need to get it right.

I agree with the others, just about every day won’t work as planned. There is just far too much.
There is one day that would work, day 3. There are two major cricket grounds in London - Lords and The Oval. Both offer tours which are extensive and must be booked in advance. Between them they will take up your do although you probably can squeeze in a trip to Borough Market.
The last day just bewilders me - starting in the Cotswolds, driving to Warner Brothers, spending several hours there and then planning drive half way round the M25 at rush hour?

Day 3: Borough market and go to some cricket stadiums

I don't want to be pedantic but Cricket isn't played in stadiums. It is played in a Ground on a Pitch.

Which grounds did you have in mind?

The two which occur to me are Lords and the Oval.

There are 4 tours a day (every day of the week in March) at Lords, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30 or 1:30pm.

There is only one tour each day at the Oval, at 11:00. Only 4 days a week, that's Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. No tours on M, T, W.

The best time to visit Borough Market is Wednesday to Saturday (into Sunday).

I don't know which day of the week your day 3 is expected to be. How will you square the circle?

Nigel.. thanks for pointing that , I am very familiar with cricket. Yes I did mean Lord's and Oval.

Thanks everyone for the positive comments and insights.. I will work with the family and drop out few things.

I think the best plan would be to spend the entire time in London. You can easily go to Windsor from London. If you must see sights not in London, I would forget the car and take an all-day Mad Max tour of Stonehenge and Cotswolds(includes some HP sights) from Bath. You would need to stay in Bath the night before. Skip London Eye, changing of guard, Thames cruise and HOHO bus. We went to the changing of the guard while on a tour and I don't remember anything about it except we were there. There are plenty of better things to do in London. I do not think you will have the energy to do more than one thing on the day you arrive.

Yeah that last day is basically one whole day of travelling with a few hours at HP. I think that would work better as a day trip from London.

...I meant WB( warner brothers studio)

Ok.. is it difficult to drive in England? I did drive in Scotland before so .. I am comfortable driving on the other side of the road. I don't like the tours apart from being expensive don't have any flexibility.

another upthread said "You're going round the M25 in the evening peak."

I think they mean - and I do - your day 6. Your plan is to drive from somewhere in the Cotswolds to the Harry Potter studio tour which is off the M25 at junction 19 if heading northbound (you would be if coming from the M40 and the Cotswolds, or at least I would). Bear in mind that the whole length of the M25 from the M4 to the M40 to Maple Cross to Watford is often a mess and allow plenty of extra time. Pay attention to the dynamic speed limit gantries - there are speed cameras hiding behind many of them and it is easy to do 50 or 60 in a 40 zone if the traffic momentarily breaks loose.

After your 2:30 tour you will be coming out into the worst time of the day for peak traffic, especially on the M25, all the way down to at least junction 10 for the A3, and probably as far as junction 9, for Leatherhead. You will run into more slow traffic for the M23 towards Gatwick. Be prepared.

I hadn’t looked at the actual times of the cricket ground tours. Assuming the days work I can’t see you being able to do both in a day. I expect the 11am Oval tour won’t finish in time to get you to Lords for the last tour at 1.30. And Borough Market won’t really fit in. But, if you just do one tour, you would have time for something else you otherwise won’t make from your list.

One way to simplify this trip is to just base yourself in London for the entire trip and forget about the car. Are the Cotswolds worth the time in March on such a short trip? I can’t imagine it’s an ideal time of year.

You can definitely do Harry Potter and Windsor Castle from London.

But, yes, a complete reboot is needed and narrow down the attraction list.

Is this your first trip to Europe? It’s amazing how exhausting transcontinental travel can be, it’s a lot more than just the crossing of time zones. The newness of it all is exciting, but can get tiring as well. Slow down is always good advice. Add in some time to linger and just enjoy being there.

Ok.. is it difficult to drive in England? I did drive in Scotland
before so .. I am comfortable driving on the other side of the road.

No more difficult than Scotland. Definitely will be heavier traffic around London.

There are some suggestions to just have one base in London and do day trips and I whole heartedly agree. Cut the list in 1/2 and do a few select (no more than 3) day trips to places or utilize a tour service for a big full efficient day.

I don’t think it’s difficult to drive in England. Drivers generally observe the rules of the road and are relatively courteous compared to some other places. The challenges are that the roads are very congested. You don’t get much chance to sit back and relax as the miles pass by because you’re constantly having to adapt to conditions. In peak hours you’ll find the traffic very bad.

> I’m sure someone will be along to help with how to get to your hotel from Gatwick, but you’re going to want to allow at a minimum 2 and probably more like 3 hours from landing to get to your hotel.

From one of the earlier responses- we can't do that currently as we don't know when the OP is arriving at Gatwick, or where he is staying at in London.

From his original enquiry into anything else to do on Day 6 near Gatwick- no there isn't. You are going to be arriving at Gatwick (on this plan) almost certainly after or close to nightfall after a long day, and need to be up and in the airport by 0930 latest next morning, after dropping the car.
So it has to be just straight to the hotel.

Hopefully after a revisit to the plans there won't be a car to drop off. If Harry Potter is done from London (rather than the Costwolds) there is a shuttle bus from Watford Junction station so a car isn't needed to visit HP.

It is certainly reasonable to want to view the places that are important to you and to do it independently. You have made a good choice to come and get some advice, so good on you!
I would definitely do this as a trip to London and stay there for the week. Everything, except the Cotswolds, is quite easily done as a day trip from London on public transport. Unless you have a special reason to make the drive to the Cotswolds on this trip (and you may have such a reason) I would drop this off of the itinerary and focus on some other priorities.

Arrival Day:
You say that your flight arrives early in the AM. I think that you can count on making it to your hotel and dropping your bags by noon. Realistically, that gives the afternoon and early evening. Two of your must sees can easily be combined. Go to the Tower of London for the afternoon. Afterwards, simply walk out of the tower and get on a Thames river cruise at the Tower Pier. You will still be "active" and working on getting into the new time change, but you will also be relaxing and sitting on the boat which will give you some break. Return to a stop near your lodging and get some rest.

Day 2: Westminster Abbey and Churchill War Rooms. You can try to squeeze in changing of horse guards, but it will cut into your time at the Abbey and the War Rooms. All of these are in easy walking distance of each other. The London Eye is just across the river and you can have a pretty good idea if the weather makes going up in at the end of the afternoon worth your while or not.

Day Three: Cricket grounds and /orMarkets, Squares, Museums. You prioritize what is important for you.

Day 4: Windsor day trip. Take the train to Windsor and tour the Castle. Return to London in late afternoon.

Day 5:British Museum or Hampton Court Palace, or ???

Day 6: Anything you feel that you missed and really want to see in the morning, and take the train to Harry Potter Studio Tour at noon for your visit. A shuttle bus goes from the train station to the studio. This couldn't be easier. No need to go all the way to Gatwick that day, just stay at the same hotel in London.

Day 7: Check out of your hotel and head to the airport. You can use the train to get to Gatwick from Central London quite easily. Plan on being at the airport 3 hours before your flight, so leaving London about 8:30 am.

If you're coming to London on a transatlantic flight, I would strongly advise against doing anything that is important and you want to remember later. You will be very tired. By afternoon it will be hard to stay awake, but it's a good idea to do so if you can. But don't do anything that takes much concentration. I would put Westminster Abbey and the Churchill War Rooms off for another day when you are well rested and can truly enjoy and appreciate them. A ride on the London Eye is not a bad idea though. Stay outside and walk. Sunlight helps reset your body clock. I think a lot of people underestimate the how tired they will be and how jet lag effects them.

I did a really nice tour from London that took us to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. It was run by Evan Evans Tours and left out of Victoria Train Station, which would be close for you. You have the option of entry to the Baths included or can just wander the city on your own. The tour guide was great. I had taken one several years before that, that did Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury Cathedral from a group called I believe Premier Tours - didn't care for that one at all, made us stop at some touristy place for an overpriced lunch, were supposed to have an afternoon in Bath and then we went to Bath first for some unknown reason, just overall not recommended. I felt that the Evan Evans tour had a decent time spent at each place, didn't really feel rushed at all.

Also, I'm sure you've looked this up but just in case you haven't, Windsor Castle is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't know when you're getting to town but just in case your day 4 lined up with either of those days.