What are your favorite sights to see and towns to stay in southern England?
My family of 5 will be spending some time in London and then hiring a car to see what we can see.
I'd love to hear any suggestion you have. I'm open to popular destinations as well as off-the-beaten path hidden gems.
Canterbury
Dover
Leeds castle
Hever Castle
Portsmouth (Mary Rose & HMS victory)
Arundel--for the castle
Bodiam castle
Salisbury--Don't miss the cathedral and trip out to Stonehenge
Winchester
Hampton Court Palace--easily done from London by train
Have a look at this thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/southern-england-and-london-after-landing-in-gatwick
It covers a lot of great sights and there is a good discussion here.
Take into consideration that England has a great train system and that you will be able to use the trains to get to many destinations. Do not automatically assume you will need a car. Plot your destinations first, then figure out how many you can get to by train.
For example, Salisbury and Bath (both popular destinations) are easily reached from London by train.
Brighton, on the beach of the south coast, is easily reached by train from London.
Canterbury and Dover--fast train from London will get you there.
I'd add Winchelsea, Rye and Romney Mrsh into the equation.
We stayed in Canterbury, Rye, and Portsmouth in that area. We visited Churchill’s house at Chartwell, Leeds castle, Ightham Mote, Battle of Hastings battlefield, Royal Dockyard, Dover castle, WW-II tunnels at Dover, and Bodiam Castle. There are a number of other locations we didn’t have time for.
Here's my Trip Report from 2022 if you're interested. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-the-south-of-england The hiddenest gem of gems was Bodiam Castle. Other highlights were the docent's tour at Canterbury Cathedral, Fishbourne Palace, and the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth Harbour.
If you can find it in a library or bookstore (my library gets a digital copy so I read it online), the current issue of Discover Britain magazine focuses on all of southern England, so you might want to check that out.
I really liked Bath, Salisbury, Winchester, Portsmouth (wouldn’t stay there though), Canterbury and Dover.
Add Stratford Upon Avon.
I really enjoy visiting Lewes. In the countryside is Charleston House, the Bloomsbury Group's country home. It's a museum in an old farmhouse and it's just beautiful. Nearby in Rodmell is the home of Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard. Also contains work from Bloomsbury's Vanessa Bell, who was Virginia's sister.
I really liked Bath, Salisbury, Winchester, Portsmouth (wouldn’t stay there though)
Lol....neither would I and I've been staying here for 48 years!
Portsmouth is a very interesting place to visit but there just aren't many nice places to stay (you can blame Portsmouth City Council for that).
