Southeast Coast Itinerary?

September is a great month to travel in this area. You will be racing if you try this in 4 days. A week or more would be better. Don't forget that some of the famous earthworks are in this area such as the Cerne Giant and the White Horse, and of course the Henges.
Also, there are some Roman Excavations. Look at www.nationaltrust.org.uk for some sites you can visit in the area. Some things such as hikes are free, most sites require a pass.

Thanks so much for the reply. Are any of these days doable as-is or is each too packed?

Driving is the only way to do all of these. Taking the train or Bus would take more planning. Each of your days might work, but you still have to get from one place to another. Maybe others on this site will have some great advice, too!

Thank you, Kathleen. It will be by car.

If you just want a whistle stop tick box holiday then you can manage each of these in a day BUT you are really trying to push 10-14 days into 4 days. Don't forget to factor in comfort breaks, lunch, time to find somehere to park and then walk to where ever it is you are wanting to see.

Just picking out a few things...

You could easily spend a full day exploring the New Forest. Add another full day for Winchester and Jane Austin.

Day 3 - you are looking at about 4 hours to drive this PLUS time for stops. What are your expectations of The Trundle - are you admiring as you drive past or are you intending to park and walk up to see it? Places like Hastings, Battle, and Rye deserve at least half a day - otherwise there is no point in visiting them...

It is going to take about 90 minutes to drive from Hastings to Dover. If you are planning to visit Dover Castle, it is recommended you need to spend a minimum of 3-4 hours there as there is so much to see/do. Many people take a full day. That is m]not going to give very long for Canterbury...

I will just say, as someone who likes to pack a lot in and spends a lot of time in SE England- this isn't a realistic itinerary, even with a car. For me, each of those days is at least two days worth of sightseeing. If you have four days, I would spend them either in the Dorset/Hampshire area or the Sussex/Kent area. I hope that is somewhat helpful! I am sure you will have a nice time whichever you choose.

Ah, thanks, everyone! I'm glad I asked!

My experience is one can reasonably expect to visit no more than two sites in a day. Unless you’ve been to some of the places you really don’t know how long it will take to see them. Some places will take longer than anticipated while others will take less time.

Driving time can be a wildcard as can finding parking. In many cases there will be a walk from the parking area to the attraction. For example, the parking area at Durdle Door is at about a 10 minutes walk depending on how fast you walk.

I wouldn’t take anything off your list, but identify the must see places as well as those places you’re willing to skip when time starts running short.

Never been, but looking at covering similar areas in same time, though with many different sites. Seems only manageable with a car.

Speaks to the richness of the area …

1. DAY 1 - Rent car in Bath. Visit Stourhead, Stonehenge, and Salisbury Cathedral for Evensong. Stay one night in Salisbury.
2. DAY 2 - Drive to Kent, via Portsmouth, Arundel Castle, hopefully Seven Sisters. Stay in Tunbridge Wells x 3 nights.
3. DAY 3 - Leed’s Castle, Bodiam Castle, Chartwell. All 3 or just 2?
4. DAY 4 - Day trip to Canterbury.

Looked at - but I am not seeing the time for - Rye, Hastings and Hastings Battlefield, Dover Castle, and National Trust Bloomsbury sites in Sussex. Choices, choices. You can never do it all.

LATE NOTE - my apologies to kareninfomail. I’ve not meant to hijack your post. Only meant to identify the challenges of covering this rich area from Surrey through the Sussexes and into Kent. But TY Wasleys and Stuart (isn31c).

I would not bother with Lepe beach & Bournemouth. Day 1 is really overloaded.

Being realistic Fred, that itinerary is still pretty intense depending on how long you are planning to spend on visiting those places.

Looking at day 1 - Stourhead - probably needs a couple of hours . Stonehenge ditto ( and may be a little bit more as it's a long way to the stones from the visitor centre, although there is a shuttle bus.) Assuming it is a weekday, evensong in Salisbury cathedral starts at 5.30 so you need to plan to be at the cathedral for 5pm. I also assume you want lunch - that can easily add another hour...

Day 2 You are probablyt looking at 4 hours driving that day. I don't know what your expectations of Portsmouth are, but Arundel castle needs at least 3 hours and longer if you are wanting to see the gardens (well worth it),. The town is also interesting too.

Day 3 - just 2 and even then you are going to need to keep an eye on the time . Leeds castle and Hever are a good half day.

Day 4 - sensible chouice to allow a full day for canterbury!

At Salisbury, as most other Cathedrals, Evensong is not daily, so do check the service plan a week or two out.
Also on major Festal days it is sometimes replaced with Eucharist.

Unless they have a visiting choir (like next week they have a Choir from Illinois) Evensong is replaced with a said evening office during School holidays.

I don't see the need to be at the Cathedral 30 minutes early. It is a religious service, not a football match. Everyone attending will fit in the Quire where the service is held, so everyone gets a "good seat".
You may not even be allowed to your seat that soon, as the Choir are rehearsing, between the end of visiting hours and 5.15 or so.

At Salisbury, as most other Cathedrals, Evensong is not daily,

Checking their website evensong is shown as every Monday-Friday although Wednesday is described as evening prayer. Saturdays may be evensong or evening prayer... Not sure if esrly Septmeber would count as school holidays or not

OK 30 minutes may be a bit OTT but allowing for parking and walking to the cathedral, it's best to aim to be there in plenty fof time (especially if travelling from Stonehenge) rather than having to rush at the last minute. ( I'm thinking slippage, which I'm sure isn31c knows all about and a lot more than I do!)

Day 1 Lyme Regis -> Weymouth Corfe Castle / Durdle Door /Lulworth Cove/Lepe Beach-
Stay around Bournemouth
Day 2 New Forest ->Winchester->Jane Austen House->Portsmouth
Stay around Portsmouth
Day 3 South Downs->Trundle -> Seven Sisters ->Hastings /Battle /Rye/East Dean
Stay around Hastings
Day 4 Dover / Canterbury
Stay around Canterbury

WoW

Do you intend to visit any of the sites in detail, or is it an instagram checkbox drive?

Day 1 - arriving from where? Not from an international airport after an overnight flight? Which of the 4 places do you expect to do in detail? Before going to Lyme Regis you should be aware of the tides. Are you going to The Cobb for the Jane Austen connection. My personal experience is that getting parking anywhere near is non-trivial.

Day 2 - 2 major cities and Chawton. Do you intend to visit both houses in Chawton? Check opening hours and days, they are not always open all day, and both are not always open at the same times. My experience is a minimum of an hour at the smaller property (we take 2 or 3), and at least 2 in the bigger - it is a big property and the carpark is a bit of a walk. Both are excellent and full of experiences.

What do you want to see and visit in Winchester? There are lots of things to see in the city; the water mill and Round Table get good amounts of attention to say nothing of the Cathedral.

Similar question about Portsmouth. Will you visit the ancient ships at the Navy Yard? Go up the Spinnaker? Hydrofoil (or traditional ferry) over to the Isle of Wight?

Day 3 - wow, that's a lot of driving. The south coast is not fast driving.

Day 4 - What do you want to do in Dover and Canterbury? Traffic in Dover can be AWFUL. Remember that there is a huge amount of cross channel traffic going to and from the ferries, and some of the signage is not absolutely clear. Parking can be diabolical in the town, easier inside the castle. The roads are narrow, there are double yellow lines everywhere. Much of the cross channel traffic is heavy trucks, some British, much European. European trucks will not be able to see as well because the driving position is on the wrong side. BEWARE.

Are you back to the airport on Day 5? What time is your flight? Which airport? Canterbury is not at all convenient to any London airport, and if it is Luton or Stansted you will have the very slow moving tunnels of the Dartford Crossing.

Are you familiar with Operation Brock?

Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone. You kept me from bungling it! Let me know what you think of this revised itinerary. We have a mixture of scenic, historical, and places of literary interest. We'll be driving down from either Bath, Reading, or Swindon, depending on where we pick up rental car, and this is part of a longer tour, so I can move things around as needed.

Day 1: Drive from Bath(see above) to Lyme Regis, then Durdle Door-Lulworth Cove (Is this still too much? We could drive down the night before but prefer not to drive after dark. Sunset is 7:30 in September.)
Day 2: Lepe Beach (historical)- Portsmouth - Southwick House (historical) These are both part of a WW2 D-Day site tour.
Day 3: Drive Portsmouth to South Downs with stops @ the Trundle, (Arundel, Amberley, Ditchling Beacon, optional) ending at Seven Sisters
Day 4: Chawton, Winchester Cathedral on the way to Cotswolds

I'm open to suggestions!

I spent two nights in each of Winchester and Portsmouth last month, Arrived in each town in the morning, and departed Portsmouth in the evening via ferry on the third day. So two days in Winchester and almost three in Portsmouth. Two days was great for Winchester—which I adored. While in Portsmouth I spent half a day going to the Map Room at The Southwick House. I really enjoyed the town, but wish I had had another day. So much to see there including the Old Portsmouth Dockyards, High Tea at the Spinnaker Tower, walking along the promenade and visiting the D-day Museum. But I didn't have time to do a boat trip into the harbor or go to The Isle of Wight. And I could have spent more time at the dockyards. If I had it to do over, I would definitely add a day to Portsmouth.

Make sure you reserve ahead of time for the Southwick House. When I was there, it was only open on Tuesdays and you had to apply and fill out paperwork well ahead of time due to it being on high-security police/military base.