Suggestions for day trips around London

Oh my, the choices!! Some include visits to Stonehenge, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, the Cotwolds, Highclere Castle (where Downton Abbey is filmed), Warwick Castle, Windsor Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon, the medieval village of Lacock, and even-hold on to your hat- Paris, France which is only a short hop away.

Check out the official London walks site for guided day trips in case anything that interests you coincides with your dates. I just did a day trip to the Cotswolds with them and it was fantastic.

http://www.walks.com/London_Walks_Home/London_Walks_by_Date/default.aspx

You can also "get away" from the city in Greenwich and Hampstead Heath, though both are in London. I took several London Walks, all in the city, and they were excellent, so I would consider one of their day trips from London.

Are you looking for countryside or a different city? I once went to Bath as a day trip - long train ride. I didn't think there was much to see in Stratford. A Cotswolds tour sounds nice (haven't done it). Oxford and Cambridge are interesting, but they are cities.

Perhaps Nigel will come along with more suggestions.

I too was looking for daytrips outside London and found this nifty website...

http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk/londondaytrips.html

We are looking for a trip for this coming Oct, so I can't tell you which is good...but lots of ideas!

We've been to London many times. I wrote an article for Trip Advisor that details our favorite places in London and our favorite day trips by train. You might want to check it out. Here's a link:

[http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186338-c176673/London:United-Kingdom:London.And.Day.Trips.html][1]

Nice website Nicole, thanks.

All this on my doorstep and I never make the effort to go... I should really.

Nicole, what a great website! Thanks for that link.

I found it thru someone posting on trip advisor...then lost it...then found it again...yay! ;) We will be back to London for the 5th time this year, and want to do a day trip.

This could be an older website, so I would def look into current trains and whatnot incase something has changed...

Do not go to Highclere as tickets have sold out for this year.

Good day trips - Brighton for great cosmopolitan life and seaside; Lewes for history; Rye for history and good walking; Norwich for its cathedral; and Canterbury. All accessible by train from London.

Heidi, introduce yourself to the Evan Evans Tours website! As loyal readers have seen me post many times to this question, I've done 3 of their daytrips on a bus (plus the daytrip to Paris). The first was the best, as all 3 stops are must-see's: Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge. The second was good (Leeds Castle, Canterbury and the beach at Dover) and the third was fine (Wawrick Castle, Stratford on Avon, and Oxford. Enjoy!

Thanks! These are all very helpful.

Chani, I was looking for more of countryside.

Closer to London, there is Hampton Court, Richmond Park, the Surrey countryside (you can get to the North Downs easily from Dorking Station), a wide ranch of National Trust properties (Hatchlands, Ham House, Clandon, Polesden Lacey) and gardens (Claremeont, Winkworth). Not much over an hour by train will get you to quite a lot of the south coast too.

The Cotswolds are a nice change from the bustling city, and it's easy to add Oxford for a few hours as well. I just did this with my family in March using kookycotswoldtours.com
Windsor Castle is so worth the short trip as well.

Kew Gardens is a great trip; not too far. Cotswolds are great, also. As someone else mentioned, look at the www.walks.com website. The London Walks Company has dozens of day trips outside of London that I think you'd enjoy.

One does not have to go far from central London to experience English small-town ambience. London has many great neighborhoods or 'villages' well within its tube and regional rail system. Like Rebecca mentioned, Kew. I've been to several. Andrew Duncan has a book , 'Walking Village London.'