(Revised) Family Trip July 2022 to Southern England

In your first post you mentioned renting a van. Do not rent such a large vehicle as it will be a handicap driving in small villages. Rent a car.

In London you might like an apartment instead of hotel. I often recommend this apartment-hotel in a great location very near St. Paul’s:

https://www.marlin.com/locations/London-City-Queen-Street

The building is all short-stay apartments and has a staffed reception, and 2- bedroom apartments which would suit your family. The location is excellent—-the neighborhood has a very “London” feel and is right on the #15 bus route which serves the axis between Tower of London and Trafalgar Square. Your teens will enjoy riding the London double-decker buses.

You can see the Central London bus routes and their relation to the major sights on this schematic map:

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/key-bus-routes-in-central-london.pdf

From the western end of the #15 you can easily walk to Covent Garden, Leicester Square and the theatre district.

From the Queen Street apartment you can cross the Millennium pedestrian bridge to the Tate Modern and other attractions on the South Bank. Or walk to Blackfriars Pier and catch a Thames Clipper ( water bus) to your destination along the river. The boats take your Oyster cards. They do cost a bit more than the Tube or bus, but are great for sightseeing.

Consider booking the inner circle tour for Stonehenge. It makes the experience personal and intimate and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/stone-circle-access-visits/

Also, consider Kenilworth Castle after Warwick. We enjoyed Warwick but I was torn between visiting both of these two castles and we ended up at Warwick because it was closer. If you have the time, you could keep this one in your back pocket as it looks fantastic and is close to Warwick.

Not to throw a monkey wrench into your plans but did you look at Winchester? We enjoyed our time there immensely.

Great plan, we have done all of the non-London stuff you are planning.

When in Bath, don't miss the Scallop Shell restaurant that has the BEST fish and chips ever.

Loved Chipping Campden. We stayed at the Volunteer Inn, that has the best pub in town.

Not going to Stratford Upon Avon?

This sounds like a fabulous trip!

I've done much of the similar on various trip and the HP studio tour- really fun- just be sure to book FAR in advance (like you may have to do it now). Def rent a vehicle that is small town friendly- like a sedan or smaller SUV.... anything larger will be a headache.

For an airport transfer drive I suggest the "12 transfers" company they were really awesome in London --- used them multiple times for pick up and drop off, always prompt, reliable, and for what they offer (professional, friendly, clean service) it is reasonable prices for the distances--- used them to get from central london to the HP tour, from Oxford to heathrow, and from heathrow to central london. In a super unusual instance we had the same driver twice! LOL. They were always very friendly.

https://www.twelvetransfers.co.uk/

Do Blenheim Palace and Oxford in the same day. They are very close; almost right beside one another.

Don't underestimate the amount of time needed for Blenheim Palace - it is huge and so are the grounds. They are also worth exploring as well as the Palace itself. You could easily spoend nearly a full day there!

Sounds like a great trip. We have always purchased the London pass, not only because if you research the entrance fees, it is pretty easy to cover the price of the pass. In addition, they at least used to offer discounts on theater tickets and train to Bath. Best of all, you get to “skip the line” in nearly all of the attractions - saves hours. It also used to cost less if purchased on line before you leave, and came with access on-line to lots of information on the various attractions which you can peruse at home. We are heading over next May and would like to take a small bus tour, South for 3-4 days. Done several day tours, but since we took the train to Bath from Paddington Station we had to leave earlier than we would have liked as the train takes close to 2-3 hours, if I remember correctly. Oyster cards are very convenient and we still have several from previous trips that we load up when we next return. They can be purchased at Heathrow and added to in all the subway stations.

Maggie from Seattle

I'd research the London Pass carefully to see whether it still has the same skip-the-line advantages is used to have. A lot of places are now requiring timed tickets for health/safety reasons. It may be that even pass holders have to get (one hopes free) timed tickets online; that is certainly the case at some prominently-discussed sightseeing attractions in other countries.

I think a sightseeing pass in London is especially problematic since so many large, important museums are free/donation requested. The pass gives you no benefit at all at such places. The availability of so many high-class, non-covered sights would seem to make it harder to put together a logistically-coherent sightseeing itinerary that maximized pass usage.

Thanks Suki, Lola, Julie, Geova, Jaeson, Rebecca, Wasleys, Maggie, and acraven.

I'll get as small a rental car as possible, but with four of us and bags, may need a minivan or a station wagon.

I have been looking at hotels in London, but Marlin apartments looks very nice, roomy, and a good location. Appreciate that idea.

I had not heard of inner circle at Stonehenge - that looks like a definite for us. Same with Scallop Shell in Bath. Might need to go there twice for fish and chips.

Stratford-upon-Avon may work nicely the day we go to Warwick Castle.

Appreciate the tip for 12Transfer Co.

And the mention that Oxford and Blenheim Palace are adjacent.

I'll need to investigate London Pass. So many great ideas for London - I'll probably set up a potential itinerary and then figure out what will work best for us. Avoiding lines is a big plus.

Thanks again.

Brandon

if you want to avoid lines buy your tickets online before you arrive

The London Pass is usually not the best way forward for most. You need to do the maths.

There aren’t queues at most museums and galleries - many places such as the Tower of London now have timed entry slots, thereby eliminating/reducing queues.

Yes, get the smallest rental car you can fit in. But avoid sedans, compact SUVs and minivans. A small/medium estate car/station wagon is probably the best option.

And do you really need a car/transfer service? They seem very popular among Americans. Understandable if you live in a country with 3rd world public transport, but from a European point of view they just seem like a waste of money unless you are a larger group. I did take a look at 12 transfers and what they would charge for a trip from Oxford to Heathrow, and as I guessed the coach is a lot cheaper unless you are a large group. If you think that is worth the cost is up to you to decide, but there are other options available. I don't know what car from Heathrow to Bath would cost, but National Express sells tickets for £18. And from Heathrow to central London there are many other options, such as train, tube and coach.

Oxford to Heathrow has an excellent and frequent (29 times a day around the clock) inexpensive coach service which uses the M40 and M25 motorways and is very reliable.

It is the Oxford Bus Company "Airline" service https://www.theairlineoxford.co.uk/heathrow/ with air conditioning, free wifi, free tracking app, USB chargers and plenty of legroom...