Private Car: Heathrow to Stonehenge to Bath. Anyone done this?

Posted by Michellynn (PA, USA) on 07/30/17 06:17 PM

So, still very much in the early stages of planning our trip for next summer. I'm trying to make each phase of transitioning from location to location as efficient as possible. With that said, in some cases I'm NOT directly focused on the cheapest way of getting from one spot to the next. That is the case for our first phase.

On the trip will just be my husband and I. When we land in Heathrow, our first city we will stay in will be Bath. I'm trying to make the most of our time in Bath and I'm not thinking I want to use a full day or half day to take a tour from Bath that includes Stonehenge. BUT, we do want to see Stonehenge. I've found a few car services that will transport us from Heathrow to Bath....and they do mention that they also provide service from Bath for personal tours. Which got me to thinking that maybe I should try to arrange it so that our first day is land in Heathrow, get picked up by the car service....side trip to Stonehenge...and then on to Bath to check in.

Does this sound like a crazy plan? Has anyone else tried something similar?

Note....I fly to London about once every three months for work and I always take the same flight that gets into Heathrow at 6:30am. With that said, planning to take the same flight for our vacation. So we will be able to get a fairly early start that day on our drive.

Posted by TC

Atlanta

07/30/17 11:20 PM

5236 posts

If neither you nor your husband suffer from jet lag, and you both sleep well on planes, and it arrives on time, then it'll work. But if either of you experience jet lag or don't sleep well on planes you might want to rethink it -- Stonehenge is very interesting but I'm not sure how much it can be appreciated if one is in something of a daze. Consider going directly to Bath for a day to clean up, recover from the flight, and do a long walk about in Bath. There is (or was) a bus tour from Bath to Stonehenge. Not sure but it seems to me the name was Mad Max Tours. Just food for thought.

Posted by Pam

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA

07/31/17 12:23 AM

14824 posts

I like TC's suggestion for going to Bath then catching Stonehenge on the next day. There is plenty of outdoor walking you can do in Bath to do your jet lag adjustment. Of course it depends on how many days you have for your whole trip too.

It is Mad Max tours and I've done the Stonehenge one which was terrific. They are in a small sized bus - maybe 12 or 13 passengers. I did the full day one that included Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock and Castle Combe. It is a full day trip but I think they also run 1/2 day trips as well.

I've also gone out to Salisbury for 2 nights and took the local bus, the Salisbury Reds out to Stonehenge and then stopped at Old Sarum on the way back. I love the cathedral at Salisbury, the Cathedral Close and the Wiltshire Museum there.

I also love Bath and have had several multi-day visits there over the years. I think Bath is easier to get to from LHR than Salisbury is but I've stayed in London for a few days ahead each time so no direct experience from me on that.

Posted by Michellynn OP

PA, USA

07/31/17 12:47 AM

10 posts

I appreciate the advice, but my husband and I pretty used to hitting the ground running on the first day of our trips.

Fortunately we should be moderately rested by the time we land. We will be flying business class (thanks to my job, I rack up TONS of frequent flier miles every year....so we I always get to book us business class seats that fully recline for sleeping on overnight flights). So, I'm not particularly concerned about that. We both tend to sleep well in those seats. (Also thanks to my job, I have plenty of practice sleeping in business class on overnight flights)

I'm also not particularly concerned about being in a daze the first day and not remembering what we see. When we went to Greece a few years ago we hit the Parthenon on the first day. Same thing last year when we went to Rome....Coliseum the first day. I remember each of those days clear as a bell. Both times it was a great way to kick off the trip with a bang.

I'm expecting to get to UK on a Sunday. Have all day Monday in Bath. Take a day trip to the Cotswolds on Tuesday. Wednesday we head back to London (I might go for a side trip to Highclere castle on the way back to London...not sure as I'm still flushing out the details). Once in London we will be there until the following Wednesday (with a day trip to Hampton Court in there somewhere). Long story short...if we can get Stonehenge done on Sunday, then we will have all day in Bath on Monday.

Perhaps we are a bit odd in how we travel and we aren't the norm. So maybe I'll just have to reach out to some of the car services and see what some of them have to say about that itinerary.