Bath or the Peak District?

Bath is closer, faster public transportation to get there, and a boatload of more things to see.

Peak District needs time to absorb it. its not for a day trip. Do something like Bath, Salisbury, Canterbury which have a lot of things which can be seen in a short period of time, and are also a relatively short distance from London. Full disclosure: I am not thrilled by Bath-, but its good for a 1 day visit. I much prefer York or Cornwall ome other areas- but they are too far from London to appreciate in a flying visit

I suggest going to Bath as it is closer and there is a lot to do. Bath can easily be down in a day trip from London. Going to the Lake District (Peak District) is an amazing experience. However, I recommend that you go for more than one day. I'm afraid you'll not find enough time to really enjoy all the Lake District has to offer in just one day. I've been going there every summer for the last two years and will be going again for two weeks this summer. I'm still finding nooks and crannies to explore.

I know you are trying to decide between the two places you specifically mentioned, but, consider going to Oxford. It's not as far from London as Bath, and it's a neat university town, has lots of interesting buildings, pubs, and the River Thames provides some beautiful scenery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford#Rail Oxford University also has the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology there, which is quite interesting. http://www.ashmolean.org/ Hope this helps as another option.

Thank you all so much! This really helped!

I meant to put this in my last post. Here is the "pub crawl" for Oxford; list of pubs, with map, from the oxford city guide. http://www.oxfordcityguide.com/TouristInfo/PubCrawl.html

The Peak District is not the same as the Lake District, although from London they are both in the same direction. It's great countryside for walking but if you could do in a day trip from London, and of course you could, it would be such a long way, I don't think you would get what you wanted out of it. Bath is a great city, and there is some lovely countryside around there if you did want to hire a car and maybe visit Lacock and the Cheddar Gorge.

There are also walks around Bath you can reach by train or bus - the T.I. has details. You could do a triangle by train - London - Salisbury - Bath - London - Bath has the Roman baths, of course, but Salisbury cathedral puts Bath abbey in the shade. Other easy day trips are Cambridge, Canterbury and Brighton.

The costume museum in Bath is quite wonderful. Also, there are free walking tours of the city which give you a nice history lesson. Definitely a perfect day trip.

Bath is indeed lovely, especially combined with a stop in Avebury. However, I cannot agree with the comment about the Costume Museum. Neither of my two teenage children, nor my wife, nor I found it to be engaging. The displays were limited and not particularly attractive. The tour of the Roman Baths on the other hand was fascinating.