Stonehenge and Bath daytrip from London

You can’t really see both Stonehenge and Bath in the same day from London whichever way you do it, particularly with young children. The tours have you sat on a bus longer than you have visiting places. You don’t want to be driving in Bath - parking is limited.

The Stonehenge visitor centre takes about 2.5 hours. It will take 2.5 + hours to get there door to door from your accommodation in London (tube or bus to Waterloo, train to Salisbury then the bus link). Allow an hour to get back to Salisbury, then it’s an hour on the train to Bath. The trains run hourly, so you maybe lucky or you may have to wait for 59 minutes! That’s 7 or 8 hours before you start sightseeing in Bath. It’s going to take over 2 hours to get back to your London accommodation by train.

Taking public transport to Heathrow to hire a car, then driving to Stonehenge, Bath and back to Heathrow then back to your accommodation will be a round trip of 8 hours + plus time to park. Unleaded fuel is currently around £7.65 a gallon.

Book your trains 2 months out and travel off peak for the best prices.

While I don't really feel like either location can be done on a day trip from London I know many do. IF you decide to do this on your own, I'd choose one or the other.

For Stonehenge, I've taken the local shuttle bus out to the stones several times although I'd stayed overnight in Salisbury. It is run by the local bus company, the Salisbury Reds and picks up at the train station (as well as another location in the city centre). Get the combo ticket that includes the Stonehenge entry so you don't have to stand in line. The shuttle is called the Stonehenge Tour even thought it's not actually what I would call a tour. They do have a narration they play on the way out to Stonehenge. On the way back they stop at Old Sarum which is also interesting.

https://www.salisburyreds.co.uk/the-stonehenge-tour

If you still have some time after you return to Salisbury, go see the Cathedral and Cathedral Close which is nearby the train station.

You could also take the train straight to Bath and see that city for a day.

Doing either of these at your own pace would be better to me than the day tours from London.

So are you saying you think taking the train is the best bet? I don't love the tour either because it just doesn't give us enough time in Bath especially, or includes things we're not interested in. If a tour would drop us off for hours or so in Bath, that would work ok but I don't see any that offer that, they are all tours of locations.

I have no concerns regarding my kids, they are troopers and can sit for 15 hour car rides no problem. They are actually very high energy and nothing tires them out, even 15 hour long days at Disneyland walking 19 miles!! Lol.

Thanks for the tip on the current price of gas! That will definitely be something to consider.

Thanks for the responses. I know it's not an ideal way to see everything, but we don't have unlimited time for our vacation and my husband and kids would really like to see both Stonehenge and the Roman Baths so just trying to figure out the best way to do it.

If you really want to see both in one day then a Tour is the way to go. We did a very small coach tour with Anderson Tours. It was more of a transport than a tour. We were let off at Stonehedge (entry and audio guide included) and then left on our own, we had plenty of time to wonder around. Then in Bath our ticket included entry to the Roman baths and we were left on our own to explore (Audio guide) then had about 2 hours in bath, enough time to grab lunch and wonder around a bit. I always like to break up our independent travel with a day tour, let someone else drive, figure it out and just sit back and relax. You will find other tours for a lot more, we really thought Anderson was great.

If you are in London you don't need to go all the way to Bath to see Roman ruins.

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/where-to-find-londons-secret-roman-sites

And the British Museum has a great collection

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/roman-empire

If you really want to see both in one day then a Tour is the way to go. We did a very small coach tour with Anderson Tours. It was more of a transport than a tour. We were let off at Stonehedge (entry and audio guide included) and then left on our own, we had plenty of time to wonder around. Then in Bath our ticket included entry to the Roman baths and we were left on our own to explore (Audio guide) then had about 2 hours in bath, enough time to grab lunch and wonder around a bit. I always like to break up our independent travel with a day tour, let someone else drive, figure it out and just sit back and relax. You will find other tours for a lot more, we really thought Anderson was great.

Thank you for the recommendation! That sounds like a tour we could deal with. I'll check them out!

f you are in London you don't need to go all the way to Bath to see Roman ruins.

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/where-to-find-londons-secret-roman-sites

And the British Museum has a great collection

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/roman-empire

Those are on the list as well! :)

if you do the merest google you'll find many many tour operators that do this itinerary, you should probably reconsider. do not drive!

f you do the merest google you'll find many many tour operators that do this itinerary, you should probably reconsider. do not drive

Like I said, I was looking for options other than tours.

If you must see both in one day, then a tour is the only practical way to go unless you follow the train and bus route that I detailed above.

If you must see both in one day, then a tour is the only practical way to go unless you follow the train and bus route that I detailed above.

Thanks!