Hello everyone! I plan on visiting England for a week as part of my monthish-long Eurotrip next year. I was thinking of spending about a week there, with half the time spent in London. I was wondering if anyone else had some suggestions for a second city/town to visit? I definitely would like to see a castle or two, and really take in some English scenery.
I will be a on a budget.
Maybe you could visit Dover? Not too far away from London and has fantastic scenery (white cliffs of Dover) and you could see Dover castle
The possibilities are endless , York , two hours from London by rail is lovely with the old center , stunning cathedral , and National Railway Museum . Cambridge is another possibility , the colleges are a panoply of English architecture and the pastoral beauty of the Cambridge Backs .
Oxford would be a nice second destination especially if you are going to have a car. You could easily spend a day or two seeing the town with all of it's beautiful colleges and then drive out of town every day. Blenheim Palace is just a short drive out of Oxford and the Cotswolds are also not far. On the way from London to Oxford you could swing around and visit Highclere Castle (if you can get tickets), Donnington Castle, or Windsor Castle. The word "castle" means a whole lot of things in England from a mound of earth where a castle used to be, to a perfectly preserved country house that is still in use. You may need to do some research to determine which ones meet your expectation of what you hope to see!
If you want to go farther out then I would second the vote for York. It's just about 4 hours or so away and is beautiful! The old city is extremely picturesque and there are many things you can see just outside the city such as Fountains Abbey. There are couple of ruined castles nearby or you could also go out to Castle Howard, which is still used by the family.
I would vote for a visit to Windsor Castle from London and choose Bath as a 2nd city. It is not particularly budget friendly, altho it is more so during the week than on the weekend nights. I love the combination of the Roman baths and the Georgian architecture in the area. It is easy to do a day trip with a tour company to Stonehenge, Avebury and a couple of villages on the edge of the Cotswolds.
@Hannah - Thanks for the suggestion! Will keep it in mind!
@Steven - I wish my budget was! York sounds good. Will keep Cambridge in mind as well, but I'll probably only be in England for a week, so I'm trying to keep each country down to two cities.
@Anita - I probably won't have a car since I'll be on a budget and sticking to 'backpacking'. York is starting to sound like my second city.
@Pam - Unfortunately, I really do need to keep costs low, but thank you for the ideas! Still in the initial planning stages, so I've got a lot of thinking to do.
Sorry for the late reply!
Why add a city? (Other than London lodgings being expensive) Day trip to Windsor. Day trip to Hampton Court. Both have castles, and scenery along the way. A full week in London is not excessive... at least not for me.
