Trip itinerary in London & Southern England

I really can't comment on your days but I can say a lot about London! I have been to London twice for a week and a few times for a day or two. I recently went back to London this year and loved it. Bath also is a very nice city and your mother will love the Coltswolds! For me 7 days is perfect and you have a day trip to Hampton Court Palace and if you need another day out of London you could take the train ( very easy to do) to Windsor Castle which is very nice. I have not been to surrounding town but researched it and it looks lovely. I plan to go back to London this year and have those two day trips researched. There is also a lot to see and do in London.

The Victoria and Albert museum is wonderful along with the Wallace Collection. The Courtauld Gallery is also very nice, as is the Sir John Sloane Musuem. Both smaller museums. Of course there is St Paul's Cathedral and going to the top of One Change ( free view of the dome of St Paul's). Afternoon tea would be lovey as is seeing a play. This year I saw Wicked and loved it. In the past I went to the Mousetrap and Mama Mia which were both wonderful. Since your mother is into British History, do not miss the National Portrait Gallery. I am going there this year and can't wait. If you mother does not care for cities, make sure you take the walking tour ( London Walks) of Hampstead. It is in London and it is wonderful. I took the pub crawl but they also have a regular walk and Hampstead feels like a small town or village and you are far removed from the big sites of London. It is a delight! I also plan to take the Little Venice walk and from what I read and saw photos of, it seems also far removed from the big city feel of London. There are canals there and it looks lovely. There is also Westminster Abbey which I have been to twice and it is huge and beautiful! I have been on two walking tours and both were wonderful. There is also Fortum and Mason and Harrods.

There are some other small museums, if you want to PM me and I will let you know about them.

The Fashion Museum in Bath is very nice too.

Have a great time

Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral, as you know. On a street close to the Cathedral there is a house with a blue plaque over the door, identifying it as where she lived while in Winchester. The present occupants have put a sign in the window saying sternly, “This is a private house”. I guess the Austen fans can be a bit of a nuisance. Present company excepted, of course.

Seven days is not too long for London, especially if you like to take things easy. I would consider adding a day or 1/2 day in Windsor and /or Kew Gardens. Both are at the top of our list when we visit London. Easy to get to and plenty to see and do.

Sounds good to me. Unfortunately Highclere can be a difficult place to visit without a car. A taxi from Winchester one way would cost around £50. A small car from Enterprise car rental for a day would cost around £50 and would give you greater freedom if you're happy to drive. The majority of the route from Winchester to Highclere is along the A34, a dual carriageway which is easier to drive than a single carriageway however the speed limit is 70 mph (with many driving faster). The centre of Winchester however is predominantly one way and can be confusing and parking is difficult.

From what you've described of your mother's interests I think the itinerary would please her very much. Highclere would be great from the Downton aspect however the issues in travelling there might unfortunately preclude it from your trip.

Not certain why you’d want to spend three nights in Rye since it is very small and can be seen in a couple hours. There is much more to do in Canterbury. Consider staying in Canterbury with day trips to Dover and Rye. When we were in Rye we stayed at the Rye Lodge and it was nice. In Canterbury we stayed at The Millers Arms. It was ok, and the location nice, but we didn’t like that our room was on the backside of the building since we got the smell of everything being cooked.

Not a bad itinerary. When in Bath, I recommend going to the Roman Bath Museum. It is great.

Not a bad itinerary. When in Bath, I recommend going to the Roman Bath Museum. It is great.

The Roman Baths is THE reason to visit Bath.......in my humble opinion.

Thanks for all the input! I will keep London at 7 days- you all had a lot of great suggestions. I doubt we'll have trouble filling those 7 days. I'll have to keep Windsor as an option. I'd ruled it out thinking it would be hard to get to without a car. But, sounds like it shouldn't be an issue. And Highclere is definitely out. I wondered if I was missing something on transportation options getting there. But, since it sounds like there's no easy way there, then it's not worth the extra hassle and cost. Thanks again everyone!

It is not easy to go by train from Salisbury to Winchester as you must go to Southampton & then go north to Winchester or use a bus link between Romsey & Winchester. Look at this map of the British Rail network & you will see what I mean:> http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/routemaps/nationalrailnetworkmap.pdf

I would consider staying 1 night in Salisbury - which has a wonderful medieval cathedral. (You could also take the shuttle bus to Stonehenge).

If you were to go by train from Salisbury to Rye, it would be quite slow going and take about 4 hours (many stops en-route). If doing this, I would take a break of joinery at Brighton and have a look around. DO NOT buy a through ticket from Salisbury to Rye = very expensive. Do this: > Split the ticket at Southampton and it works out much cheaper. Go on www.nationalrail.co.uk and you will see what I mean. This journey - you can pay on the day. Some longer rail journeys work out cheaper by buying an advance ticket for a specific train as pay on the day can be expensive. (Fares are loaded about 11 weeks out). Windsor is easy to reach by train. (It might be best to land at Heathrow and actually spend your first night in Windsor as your body clock adjusts. Then, you could advance book a specific train from Windsor to Bath at a really cheap price - probably have to change trains at Slough & Reading.

This site is good for finding buses:>http://www.traveline.info

I wouldn't describe the first week of your itinerary as slow travel. You are going to be spending lots of time on trains. Personally, I wouldn't want a long transatlantic flight and then a 2 + hour journey to get to Bath, particularly as it's not a direct train route.

You may lose your first day to jetlag. You may want to consider the Roman Baths in Bath.

Bath to Winchester is over 2 hours (3+ hours door to door) and involves at least one train change.

Winchester to Rye is c 3.5 hours travel time (the best part of 5 hours door to door) and involves between 2 and 5 train changes, which is a recipe for disaster if one service is delayed. It won't give you much time to look round Rye. Rye Harbour is worth seeing in addition to the town itself.

Rye to Canterbury also involves a train change and should take just under 2 hours each way door to door. Rye to Dover is another train change and will be c 20 minutes longer than the journey to Canterbury.

Your itinerary is feasible, but I wouldn't describe it as slow travel.

As others have commented, there is plenty to occupy you in London.

From what the others are saying, Rye doesn't sound like a convenient base. Another option would be to visit Rye, Canterbury and Dover as 3 day trips from London. Or you could base in Canterbury and day trip to Dover.

So the flight prices just dropped a ton for the time frame I was looking at enabling me to add a day to this itinerary. What if I spent an extra half day in Bath and added an extra night in Winchester (a total of three nights). And then skipped Rye altogether and stayed in Canterbury instead? I had originally picked Rye because my mom likes small towns, but I see this probably isn't practical with all the travel time. The revised trip would look like this:

Day 1- Arrive in London and take a train to Bath (sleep in Bath)
Day 2- Jane Austen museum, explore Bath (sleep in Bath)
Day 3- Mad Max tours to Coltswold (sleep in Bath)
Day 4- Roman Bath museum, travel to Winchester (sleep in Winchester)
Day 5- Bus to Chawton, Jane Austen's home (sleep in Winchester)
Day 6- Explore Winchester (sleep in Winchester)
Day 7- Travel to Canterbury & explore there (sleep in Canterbury)
Day 8- Explore Canterbury more or other plans to be determined...(sleep in Canterbury)
Day 9- Day trip to Dover, hike cliff trails & see castle (sleep in Canterbury)
Day 10-16 London
Day 17- Fly home

Also, the reason I thought we'd go straight to Bath after arriving in London was because it was recommended by RS on this website. We luckily have an easy transatlantic journey- a flight straight from Nashville to London. It's only 8 hours flying. But, it is overnight, so I'm sure we'll be pretty tired. I planned on the first day being a total loss with our only goal being to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime in our new time zone...Any one here actually do this? Was it too hard with jet lag/exhaustion?

Day 7 - Going from Winchester to Canterbury is really awkward as you need to cross London. The trains from Winchester arrive at London Waterloo. When you go on NationalRail.co.uk and put in for this journey, it tells you to cross London to St.Pancras - which involves several changes of underground line - then, it is the high speed train down to Canterbury. Looks like this will cost you a whopping £60.30.

However, there is a cheaper and easier (in my view) way of doing it:> Advance purchase a specific train a ticket from WIN>WATerloo = which can be as low as £10.60 but £12 or so more likely. Advance purchase a ticket (for a specific train) from WAE (Waterloo East) to Canterbury - which can be had for £7.10 Direct trains to Canterbury leave Waterloo East at x13 minutes hourly - though it is possible to use others which require a change. Now look at this map and you will see how to get from Waterloo to Waterloo East on foot:> https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Victoria+Station/@51.5031192,-0.1120551,372m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48760521aaebdc4d:0x5d364f36086cfd15!8m2!3d51.4952103!4d-0.1438979!5m1!1e1

It looks to me like an overhead walkway links Waterloo & Waterloo East. Perhaps a Londoner could confirm?

Please note, that the really low train fares I have quoted may not be on the system 11 weeks out but do seem to be present 1 month ahead. (You can also check the prices for travel today - if you do it the you wake up in Nashville - that way, you can see what savings can be made v pay on the day).

Your revised itinerary looks much better. To help with the jet lag / tiredness situation, when you get to Bath on day one take a quick shower and then spend the rest of the day outside just walking about in the sun and fresh air. Then an early dinner, off to bed, and you should be good to go at full speed the next morning.

Thanks James & Emma for the help. That is a BIG cost savings!

If you are landing at Gatwick, be sure to pre-book GTW>BTH trains about 11 weeks out for more big savings. Go via Reading NOT London as it is much easier to change trains. You will not be sure when you will land and clear immigration - so give yourself plenty of leeway. If you find that you can catch an earlier train - go to the relevant platform at Gatwick station and find the guard for your train (usually at rear). Ask if it would be OK for you to use his/her train rather than the later booked one as you have arrived early. It is highly unlikely that they will refuse.

Regarding Highclere - they are only open irregular days, rarely weekends, and indeed they are closed for much of September 2018.

https://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/public-opening-times-and-prices

Even on days they are open: There are some tickets available on the day, but others are sold in advance (and frequently sell out.)

bottom line: it may be easier and indeed essential to pick another country house to visit, there are lots.

I already ruled Highclere out. It was just too much of a headache without a car. I actually changed up my schedule quite a bit based on the recommendations and advice here and am feeling a lot better about it.

Day 1- Fly out
Day 2- Arrive and taxi to Windsor
Day 3- Windsor Palace
Day 4-6- Stay in Oxford, Blenhiem Palace & Cotswolds day tour
Day 7-9- Stay in Bath
Days 10-17- Stay in London, daytrip to Hampton Court Palace, Canterbury Kew Gardens
Day 18- Fly home

This seems much more relaxed and doable by train, which is the goal. I think I was trying to squeeze in a couple of things that were more on my list rather than my moms. And since this is a trip for her...I'll just have to go back someday to do my wish list;) Thanks for all the help!