Tours from London. Help!

Tower of London and Tower Bridge are in central London and you won't need a tour. You can see Tower Bridge for free, but if you pay to go inside you can see the machine rooms and cross the high-level footbridges, which have a nice view across central London.

Windsor is easy to reach from London by train - take a train from London Paddington to Slough and then change to the shuttle train to Windsor and Eton Central. No need to book in advance, just buy your ticket at Paddington.

Bath is reached again from Paddington but it's a longer trip so you will probably get a cheaper fare if you book in advance - at least 8 weeks.

Sorry, I've never been to Stonehenge and don't know the best route.

Awesome. Thanks for that. Is Windsor castle easy to get to? We want to see as much as possible so being well organized as to the best ways so as to not waste time is great!

Hi!

Philip is 100% correct about Tower of London and Tower Bridge. :-)

As for Windsor: there is also a bus from London to Windsor that is under 3 pounds per person. It is almost as fast as the train, doesn’t require a connection, and there are convenient stops to pick it up from in Kensington. It’s a GREAT service. When we were living in Windsor we relied on it: https://www.reading-buses.co.uk/greenline

Windsor Castle is CONVENIENT to public transport. If you do take the train, it lets out a five minute walk from the castle. The bus referenced above will get you even closer.

Awesome! Wow I'm so glad I joined this forum this morning! Thanks so much !

Are all 5 weeks dedicated to London and area? It wouldn't be hard to spend 2 nights in Bath. From there you could rent a car and spend 2 or 3 days in Salisbury as well and see Stonehenge from there. I bring that up because I highly recommend the early morning tour at sunrise that includes access within the stones. We loved that as you're not limited to a view well back from the stones.

Our last trip to England we had a car and spent 2 weeks south of London without actually seeing London.

Hi. First 2 weeks in europe, then 3 weeks uk. Starting in Edinburgh. Then half week in Paris then home!

Do you have Amazon in NZ? Asking because you certainly have time to order the RS England, Paris and London books.

Huge amount of intel in them. Helpful in defining an itinerary to meets to your travel style: places to stay, sites to see, places to eat, how to use public transport, et al.

Frequent London traveler here. Been going since Nixon was President. Always changing. Always the same.

Older than you and on each visit there average about 6 miles of exploring on foot. I stay in different neighborhoods each trip. Over the years have stayed in Richmond, Bayswater, Paddington, Ealing, Camden, Islington, Marylebone, Hammersmith, SoHo to name a few.

Few things to know:

Pretty much cashless these days. Mostly tap and go credit or debit cards.

I still carry cash for donations and to throw into a buskers baskets or hats.

London Underground is well done but best to avoid at commuter times.

Use the Timeout London website to check opening times of places you are hoping to see.

When are you visiting? What month?

Do you like theatre? Check Whats on Stage to see which productions are occurring. I recommend Hamilton and if still playing, Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution which is performed in an actual County Hall courtroom.

Most of the sites: the Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abbey and St Pauls are within walking distance of each other. From the Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s on foot is about 30 minutes. Others much closer.

I’d sign up for the Vergers Tour of Westminster Abbey and keep watch on the Abbey website as it is often booked and closed for private or royal functions.

Tower Bridge does have a tour which you can buy tickets for. You can walk across Tower Bridge on your own anytime. Just be prepared for buskers and pickpockets.

It’s not an inexpensive city but you can save £’s by investigating 2 for 1 deals. I used it with a friend on one visit. We qualified by taking a train from London to the Chatham Dockyard for a tour. Used the National Rail ticket to qualify for the 2 for 1 deal. Used it for St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey admissions.

As you walk about you can still find handwritten signage boards outside restaurants, cafes and pubs with meal deals.

Or check out Tesco and Sainburys grocery stores for meal deals. Usually a pre made sandwich, crisps, and a drink. There are also chains such Nandos, Franco Manca, Dishoom and Wagamama chains that you can visit.

Get the book(s). Really helpful.

Thanks so much for that. We do have the lonely planet guide books. But you still can't beat first hand on the likes of this forum. It's helped me heaps and I only signed up on it today! We are traveling April 2025. Yes we will be walking miles that's for sure! Only way to soak it all up!! Not really into theatre, but do want to see the landmarks. Just need to know best ways of doing it ie. Day tours or on our own backs. Tours can sometimes be long and rambling I find but can also get you places you can't get yourself. I'm so looking forward to it all!

RE the bus to Windsor suggested by @Volva I used that last week on one of it's few late night extended journeys to Reading (to catch the sleeper train to Devon). Until the end of the year it is £2 per person each way. It is a double deck bus so you get great views as you go through West London and past various of the tourist sites. As soon as West London begins to thin out and the A4/M4 begins it is straight onto the motorway all the way to Slough (unusual for a citybus to do a long motorway journey), then the short journey on local roads from Slough to Windsor then back on the motorway all the way to Reading, terminating straight outside Reading railway station.
The bus was quite busy with locals using it as real transport between London and Slough, very much thinned out at Slough and I was the only passenger between Windsor and Reading.
It was really nice and rather interesting to take a different route to Windsor, and has to be worth £2 of anyone's money.
I know I could have picked up my train at Paddington, but I did that route specifically for the different experience and route.
Equally there are at least 4 local buses an hour from Heathrow to Windsor.

Thanks for that. That's certainly a good price! I'll keep that in mind.

You can do Stonehenge as a day trip from London quite easily by yourself if you wanted to.

You get a train to Salisbury from London Waterloo station. The journey is about 90 minutes. When you arrive in Salisbury, you pick up a Stonehenge Tour bus right outside the station: https://www.salisburyreds.co.uk/stonehenge-tour

You can either pay for just the bus or buy a ticket that includes entry to the Stonehenge site. It also stops at Old Sarum (old Iron Age hill fort) if you’re interested in that. Then you take the bus back to the city.

I strongly suggest visiting Salisbury Cathedral after Stonehenge. It’s one of the finest gothic cathedrals in the UK with the tallest spire, and has one of four of the original copies of the Magna Carta on show.

Then catch the train back to London.

Your title is Tours From London but bear in mind that London hotel prices tend to be higher than other places in the UK. So, consider London for trips out to nearby places such as Windsor but maybe accommodation in the provinces for places further out. You won’t want or need a car in London!

https://www.seat61.com is an excellent site for info about train travel.

Get tickets to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower.
Go to hrp.org.uk website for info about tickets.
You can also purchase other tickets there for London sites.

Bath and Stonehenge will take a full day each. Windsor perhaps half a day.

The Tower and Tower bridge will also take most of a day. I think you would best think what else you’d like to do and see I’d suggest a day in and around Westminster. Then do your go for museums or a day in Greenwich or ??

What time of year are you coming? Hot days in Summer (yes we do get a few each year) can be very tiring for bac to back full days of sightseeing.

We are coming over in April so hopefully not too hot. Yes we are looking at day excursions to Bath and Stonehenge, an we would like to do tower of London tower bridge, Windsor castle and general sight seeing. I'd like to go to Harrods too!

OP be sure to look at the London Walks website.

Take one each trip. Last time it was Inns of the Court.

Very knowledgeable guides, inexpensive cost, groups aren’t huge and a great way to see things.

www.walks.com

For London itself, please download and listen to Rick's Audio Tours. He give time estimates for his audio walks and self-tours. You can check-off the list of sights you want to visit. Do this now for planning purposes.

Some tours, like the Tower of London are free or included in priace of admission. IMO the choise between self-organizing and using is comercial tour is the combination of cost, ease of self-tour, and time / convenience. For example, my wife was in London earlier this year and the bus to Windsor was a short walk from her hotel. Took her into Windsor and very close to the castle. And, as you can imagine, was much less expansive than booking a tour with a comercial tour company.

Thanks for that. I'll definitely look into it

"I'd like to go to Harrods too!"

In that case I'd also recommend Fortnum & Mason and Liberty. You will love them.

Awesome! Much thanks.

London schools (and probably most of the rest of England) are on Easter holiday until Friday 11 April next year. Tourist attractions will be much quieter on weekdays after that.

Ok thanks. We are in Europe till the 13th then on to Edinburgh and working our way down. London from20th to 26th April.

If you decide to take the train to Salisbury and then the bus to Stonehenge, buy your tickets for Stonehenge on the bus. The queue for tickets at Stonehenge itself can be quite long. Anything you can do to have tickets in your hand before arriving at Stonehenge will probably save lots of time.

Or, if you can buy them online, that will work as well.

For Bath, the City of Bath offers free two hour walking tours:

https://www.bathguides.org.uk/when-where/

Thankyou sounds good

I took some American friends to England this past September. It was their first time and I wanted to hit the highlights. As soon as they landed at Heathrow we took a private car to Morten In Marsh (Airbnb) and stayed for 4 nights. (you can easily do this by train). Morten in Marsh was actually a great location. A 2 minute walk to the rail station and easy to access a grocery store and pubs (for evening meals). We were not sure of the jet lag so we had left the follow day open, but we decided to go into Oxford and walk around. (just a 20 min train ride). We booked Christ Church College that morning but was not able to get tickets for the Bodleian library. (buy further in advance).

The following two days we took a small (7 people) tour of the North and South Cotswolds. It was a great tour and we were with a couple from Canada and a couple from Australia. https://cotswoldsguidedtours.co.uk/. I believe this small group tour company are now in the RS book as a recommendation. It was one of the best small group tours I have been on and I highly recommend. So much easier than trying to do all this yourself. I just mention my itinerary to you because renting a car can be overwhelming and you most definitely do not need a car for the cities. I'm an ex-pat and I no longer want to drive in the UK.

Next we took the train into Bath for three nights, taking a one-day tour to Stonehenge. Then we took the direct train back into London to see all the main sights. I felts this was a good balance, not too rushed, but hit all the main attractions. London can be expensive and takes a lot of energy, especially if you are trying to do too many day trips from the city.

Once in London, depending on where you are staying, The Tower of London is easily done by yourself with advanced tickets booked through the official site. You can always catch a tour once inside with a Beefeater although they do get a little crowded. The crown jewels often has a line, but for the most part if goes down pretty quick. A walk across Tower Bridge is fine, you can go inside if you really want to. Convent Garden - great for shopping, listening to musicians and some nice restaurants. Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben are all at the other end of the city from the Tower. Either take the underground from the Tower or take the Uber boat up the Thames. All you need to do is tap with a credit card for the train or boat.

There are lots of other day trips you can do from London. When you have more ideas, come back and I'm sure the forum will be glad to help.

Thanks for that. Some great ideas