Booking Train Tickets in Advance - Necessary?

I booked mine in advance and had significant savings ($900 for 2 adults over 4 trips). You lose some flexibility but it can be worth it. Check the price of a ticket as though I was buying it the day of and compared it to the advanced price. This will help you decide as some have significant savings while others do not.

The tickets to Windsor are not discounted for advance purchase. Plan on getting them the day you travel. As you said, there are plenty of trains (every half-hour or so) and lots of seats open on that route. Bath and York tickets are usually deeply discounted for early purchase. You can purchase these about 12 weeks in advance. There are several trains to choose from-especially for Bath. Note- Windsor trains leave from Paddington (mostly you have to change at Slough for Windsor- but there are a few direct trains) Bath trains also leave from Paddington. York trains leave from Kings Cross. I am not familar with the train to Hampton Court Palace, so can't speak to that. However, with only 1 week, I don't think you'll really want to do that many day trips. Windsor makes a good 1/2 to full day- we often go there on days we have theatre tickets- returning to London around 4ish. Bath or York are really FULL day trips. Bath is about an hour distant, York about 2 hours. Personally, I enjoy York a bit more. Like you we liked having flexibility in our plans. We have always used BritRail passes to give us that flexibility. Unfortunately, they are not the bargain they used to be. It still might be worth it to you to look into them, though. We also used them for our journey from Gatwick to Victoria.

Advance tickets are not mandatory, but will save money. To check what you would pay on the day of travel, go to Trainline or another site and do a dummy booking for travel that day. I have been on some rush hour trains to and from London on which seats were at a premium. However, since you will be going against traffic with a morning departure and an evening return, you should be OK. York and Bath are both well worth visiting. Bath is very pretty and Georgian. York is a bit larger and has a more medieval feel, with good reason. The stations in both are a few minutes walk from the town center. I think York is more interesting and would choose it over Bath for a day trip. just plan to leave early and come back late (plan on returning no later than the next-to-last train to London so if things go wrong you are't stranded).

Chris I would try and book in advace for longer trips like York or Bath. Trains here can get very crowded and it can be a problem getting a seat. It can also be cheaper. Hampton Court is no problem. It's a suburban line and so seats aren't bookable. You should be fine as long as you avoid the rush hour, and even if you have to stand it isn't too long a journey. I don't know about Windsor. I've never done it. Alan

the last time we went to Hampton Court it was covered by our daily tube travel ticket. But that was a few years ago. Some others on this site are much more familiar with the current London multi-use cards. We rate York significantly higher than Bath, but it deserves an overnight visit- approx 2 hours travel each way doesnt leave enough time in only 1 day. However with only one weejk in London, i would consider a day trip to either Salisbury, Canterbury, Winchester over Bath

Yes, Hampton Court is in Zone 6, so you can use an Oyster or tube day ticket if you have one. Alan