London trip

I would say you could definitely classify Windsor and Dover as only requiring a day. Bath is questionable, but I'll say 'yes' it's still a day trip. Paris, however....How can you only give this a day? For one thing, it's kind of a long day trip. You're in Oregon, right? It would be like going to LA for a day. Why bother unless you just love being in constant motion and have ADD?

If you don't mind, please post your planned itinerary. What you've got listed...well, let's just say it sounds like you haven't read any of Rick's books.

Hi Deborah! I am in the middle of planning a London trip myself that includes day trips to both Bath and Paris. We are limited on time so we have opted to book a tour that takes us to Bath, Stonehenge, and to Stratford-Upon-Avon in one day. I believe that the same company also offers tours that go to Bath and Windsor in the same day.

We are also taking the Eurostar to Paris for a day. Friends have told me that you should book Eurostar tickets in advance to get good prices and that they often sell out during the summer. We plan on doing a hop-on hop-off tour for the day in Paris.

When are you planning on going? I can let you know how things go when I get back next month....

My son and his girlfriend did a day trip to Paris, even though Mom tried to dissuade them. They had a great time, left hotel about 5:30A and returned about 11P. They got the train tix ahead from the US on some kind of package that included a meal in Paris. They went up the Eiffel Tower but otherwise walked and took a zillion pictures. For young energetic kids it was worth it.

My itinerary is what I am currently trying to work out.

i realize you are still working on your itinerary, but i think what would be helpful is knowing how many days you are going to be there. you list four day trips and are talking about doing one day on one day off--does this mean you will be there for eight days? and are any of those days travel days? this is the kind of info that would be helpful to those trying to help you. i have had the best feedback on here in regards to the london part of our trip, so i'm sure with a few more details, you can use some of the great advice on this board to help perfect your trip.

also--i have a pretty well nailed down London itinerary (again, thanks to lots of people on here); we are also going to paris. private message me if you'd like me to share anything. and have a great trip!

Deborah,, it is very true,, to make a daytrip to Paris affordable,,, book eurostar tickets NOW. They do not come down in price, they go up as seats sell. I think Paris is ok as a daytrip,, if you are absolutely sure you can't spare a night or two there( are you sure?) The eurostar is great as its downtown to downtown, so no fluffing about back and forthing to airports. The ride is only 2.5 hrs, and you only need to be there 45 minutes-1 hour ahead.

Book an early train and a late train and have fun.

I have done Bath as a daytrip on my own and it is lovely,, I thought one day was enough,, its personal tastes really. There is a Costume Museum there you should try and see too, I thought it was very interesting.

If you have the time available, I would definitely alternate days out of London with days in London. You will then avoid the "if its x day it must be y" syndrome.

On your London days get up a little later and choose from visits to a couple of sights, some light shopping, picnic in a park, a river boat trip to Greenwich etc etc etc. In other words play it by ear and go with the flow.

Go for the Paris day trip, properly planned ie don't try to do it all and keep some time for wandering the streets, it is doable. Put down some markers for a return visit.

Windsor is so close to London it hardly merits being called a day trip. I’ve done Bath as a day trip by train out of London. It’s not a problem: Early morning train out, spend the day in Bath, have dinner, and take an evening train back. I’ve even done a York day trip from London. Left the hotel around 6am, got back to the hotel after 10pm, leaving 8-9 hours for York. (Admittedly, it deserves more time.) I make a practice of planning on taking the next-to-last train back. In case something goes awry and I miss it, at least there’s one last train.

Haven’t done Dover as a day trip, but I’ve been to Folkestone, Canterbury, Winchester, Salisbury, etc. as day trips. Pretty much everything in southeast England that’s on a train line is doable. Oxford and Cambridge are also easy trips.

Paris might seem a stretch, but I know plenty of tourist companies offer one-day EuroStar excursions, so it must work.

Your plan of attack depends, I think, on personality and your energy. I was last in London in October 2009, and took a few day trips out of the city. I tried to alternate the trips with days spent in the city, because I spend so much time walking that a couple hours sitting on a train are a nice relief. It also gave me some flexibility to cope with weather, etc. By the way, don't expect to see charming scenery out the train windows in the immediate vicinity of London. They don't build charming neighborhoods alongside the tracks.

Of course, you lose flexibility if you buy the rail tickets online here in the States, which is a very good thing to do. You will need to insert the credit card used to make the purchase in the ticket machine at the station; there is no chip and pin requirement for that. If you buy tickets on the day of travel, just bring cash. Much easier than fretting about whether not your U.S. card will work.

I appreciate all the ideas.My adult daughter and I are planning on a 2 week vacation to Europe. With travel to and from the US that gives us 12 days. I agree that my initial plan of Rome, Venice, Paris and London was too much. So I am now concentrating on London. And will add on once I get London planned. Having a lot of energy and being on the go is no problem for us. We want to see sights. I've been to New York City and one day of hop on/off touring was plenty and after looking on line at all the sights that Paris had I think one day there will be plenty too. So far I'm looking at two days of touring London itself. Using hop on/off or self touring will probably depend on if I save a whole day for it or use partial days. Looking at the outlining cities, the white cliffs of Dover, the baths in Bath (and Stonehendge), and the castle of Windsor all looked interesting. That is about as far as I've gotten with my revision of our trip tentatively planned for next summer.

You might be disspointed if you only give yourself only two days to see London, you could be there for two weeks and still not see everything.

You'll probably return and think the trip was great, but you won't know how much better it would have been had you slowed down and not tried to see so much. I really encourage you to take Rick's advice and tour as if you plan to return. Even if you are are a high-energy, Type A kind of person, sometimes you need to go against your nature.

I've been to London more than 40 times- and there's still ALOT I want to see and do that I havent' done yet. Also alot that I want to see and do everytime I go. We did the day trip to Paris on the Eurostar and it was more than enough for me. I know others LOVE Paris but it didn't "work" for me.

All the places you mention are easy day trips as are Canterburry (could possibly be combined with Dover for a long day trip), Cardiff Wales, Stratford-upon-Avon, York, Windchester, Brighton, and lots more. What time of year are you going? If in the late fall/early winter, the Christmas markets in Bath and Windsor are excellent. Here's a link to an article I wrote a couple of years ago about doing train day trips out of London

http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Magazine/2008/Jan-Feb/britain.htm?zip=28105&stateprov=nc&city=matthews

I hope you find it helpful. We always used a BritRail pass because we liked the flexibility but point-to-point tickets can be cheaper if you buy about 3 months in advance.

I bought a London-Plus Pass a couple of years ago. The pass is good for a huge area around London as far away as Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon. I used it for daytrips, just getting on trains and traveling. No reservations needed. The pass I had also included passes to/from the airport. Check it out on the RS Railpasses page. Go way to the bottom of British passes; you will see a map of the area covered. I thought it was a good deal and would buy another pass for travels around London.

Britshrinkers offers a day and overnight trip to Paris via Eurostar. Usually the price is cheape. They also offer several other day trips from London including Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge. Check out their website. It is a good company.

Is a guided tour or an unguided tour recommended?

I spent five days in London and five in Paris last June with my daughter, niece and a friend. We never slowed down in either city and still wished for more days.

The idea of splitting up days in and out of London was difficult for me as well, but the cost of the London Pass which required consecutive days was the deciding factor.

One day in Paris? I can't even imagine what you would attempt to do. The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower are high on the list, but unless you have special passes (I had one for the Louvre, but not the Tower), llloooonnnnngggg lines for both of these which would have deducted so much time that you might not be able to do anything else. And to miss the Tower lit up at night? Hmmmmm Rethink that one!