day trip out of london--out of ideas, please help!

Very easy to do Bath or Stonehenge on your own from London. The trip to either is about 1.5 hours each way. Understanding travel times from London, to Bath, to Stonehenge makes it clear why a lot of time is spent on the bus and little at the actual sites.

Trains from London depart as early as 7:10 am for Salisbury where you will get the bus for Stonehenge.

Here is the link for the Stonehenge bus service once you arrive in Salisbury:

http://www.londontoolkit.com/whattodo/stonehenge_getting_there.htm

There are ample trains coming back in the afternoon. There is a 4:21 pm that gets you back into London around 6 pm.

Trains leave as early as 7 am (and earlier) from London to Bath. Again, there is a train returning to London at 4:13 that will get you back into London by 6 pm.

Train times are just examples. Check out the British Rail website for more times that will actually work for you.

Salisbury is a neat little town. Wonderful cathedral there with a copy of the Magna Carta. So it's a litte bonus in addition to Stonhenge. We really liked Bath also.

London Walks has a tour to Bath every Thursday.

You can easily get to Oxford on your own by either train or bus.

Greenwich is a very easy day trip. You could take the Tube and the Docklands Light Railway one way and a boat on the Thames the other way. Go on either a Saturday or a Sunday so you can visit the outdoor market. Visit the Cutty Sark clipper ship and the National Maritime Museum.

Bath is an easy day trip on your own. Catch the train at Paddington (order tickets about 3 months ahead for really good discount rates). In Bath you can get a Mad Max or other trip to Stonehenge then take a late train back to London. While in Bath, I encourage you to take a river curise- we really enjoyed that. Lots of places can be done as day or half-day trips by train from London- Windsor (catch train at Paddingtion- no need to get tickets ahead, no discounts) only about 25 min. to Windsor- with one possible train change at Slough depending on time you leave London. York can be done as a day trip- catch train at Kings Cross. Cardiff Wales- catch at Paddington. Canterburry (several options of where to get train, including Victoria) and/or Dover. Stratford-upon-Avon, Brighton, Winchester, etc., etc., etc. Oxford and Cambridge also possible on your own.

OP here...thank you SO VERY MUCH. right now i feel we have two VERY good options--either the london walks day in Bath, which works with our schedule, or a combo on our own train to bath with a mad max afternoon at stonehenge (i'm leaning towards that one, but need to give the husband some choices!) and, as an added bonus, both options are insanely less expensive than the bus tour. (the second option more than 50% less!!!) again--thank you all SO MUCH that was all extremely helpful!

Another vote for Greenwich. Take the boat all the way to the barrier first and that cute little dome shaped building you'll see near the Gypsy Moth is the stairs to the path under the Thames.

Bath is very very worth the visit. I would imagine a full day with a tour of the Roman Baths, afternoon tea in the Victoria Room and a city tour of magnificent Georgian architecture.

Castle Leeds in Kent is not that far to go and vry pretty setting. Windsor Castle and Blenheim Palace can be done in a day but a very busy one and you will probably go into info overload.

Personally, I would take the train to Oxford, rent a car and do bath in one day, windsor another. Stonehenge can be done in the same day as Bath but I recommend staying in bath in one of the Victorian style B&Bs. Alternatively one could definitely fill four days of site seeing in London.

Bath is the easiest daytrip ever to do on your own. I did it on my own,, my first time in London. Even I did not mess it up.

Besides the Baths themselves ,, check out the Costume Musuem , I enjoyed it,, of course I didn't have my hubby along to whine about it,, lOL

Hop on the train to Brighton for the day. Loved the pier and coming from Australia were fascinated by the rocky/pebbly beach.

Choice of a day trip destination depends, on course, on your own tastes. Having said that, don't rule out just spending one more day in London.

Any day trip out of London I'd do by rail. You might also use a bus, but they are typically slower due to traffic. Rail traffic into the commuting zone south and south east of London can also be very busy during during the rush hours.

Where ever you go, I recommend planning on staying there through dinner, and avoiding planning on taking the last train back to London You never know what can happen, so note the time of the next-to-last train back.

Bath is full of Georgian architecture and has, of course, the Roman baths. Oxford, about an hour by train northeast of London from Paddington Station, is a great place if you are even minimally interested in its academic history. The station is about a 10-minute walk from the city center. It's a good place to spend an hour or so on a tour getting getting your bearings and then going off on foot. Also has some really good bookstores, among which Blackstone's is, I think, well worth a visit.

If you are into cathedrals, Winchester, Salisbury or Canterbury are easy day trips. Perhaps not enough there, though, to soak up an entire long day.

York is do-able as a day trip by leaving early and returning late from King's Cross. The York station is only a few blocks from the city center. I think York is both a very comfortable place and a very fascinating place. Friendly people, a medieval feel in the oldest parts of the town center, some good restaurants, the Roman walls, and the Minster. York Minster is a stunning place, even if you aren't into cathedrals.

This has to be said about Stonehenge: it is impressive, but it has been known to be an anticlimax for many people. I've never known anyone who wanted to make a return visit. If you go, combine it with a visit to nearby Salisbury.

Yes as another poster mentioned Brighton is the easy option as it's only 1 hour on the train from London. Brighton is known as "London by the sea" as it is full of stuff happening all the time but on a more manageable scale and also we have the sea!

Things to see include Brighton Pavilion which is beautiful inside and was built by the Prince Regent (George IV) the stables of which were converted into a concert hall which is where ABBA won the Eurovision song contest back in 1974. The Lanes which are the oldest part of the town and have old shops such as jewelers, antique shops, vintage armour etc and lots of restaurants & pubs.

Steve.

I would say Brighton, too. It would give you a complete change of pace from London, and a breath of fresh seaside air. Plus, you could buy sticks of Brighton rock (candy) as an inexpensive and unique gifts for folks back home.

Portsmouth. Nautical history going way back, water, museums, pubs, ferry to the Isle of Wight, port tours, etc. Portsmouth is 60-90 min by train from London.

Any day-trip you take out of London on weekends, beware of engineering projects that can cause delays, detours, and frustration. Check first or go on a weekday.

Hello,
another vote for London Walks. Bath is an easy train ride from Paddington, check trainline.com for early deals. But another day in London is certainly an option, I like londontown.com for the events calendar.

enjoy your trip

Wanted to mention earlier that London Walks primarily offers some great hosted walks around the city. Keep them in mind if you decide to stay in London.

We only had four days in London - FOUR DAYS! So as you can imagine, I read and planned, read and planned. As much as I thought I had everything planned to the hour of each day, I didn't. I highly recommend flexability and extra time. Don't try to cram too much in each day. My daughter was ill on the flight over and pretty much most of our first day. I felt crummy also due to airplane food and exhaustion from not sleeping on the red eye. Well, this was our first experience on an international flight - I'll do things differently next time.

Tracy, When do you leave? I don't know if it would be much help at this time but I have the direct phone number for the Stonehenge Admin office. Maybe they could give you some advice on bus tours that will get you there in time for private access. Well any road the number I have is:01 772 343833. There is also 01 772 343830. They're very nice and it can't hurt to talk to them. And since, if I remember correctly, this was one place your husband wanted to see, that, if it does not work out he might enjoy (I posted this already) Greenwich especially learning about the Barrier and how it works. It's a little more "manly" than Bath. Mind you I do love Bath. In London don't forget The Imperial War Museum and The Cabinet War Rooms. There I'm through.

thank you! i will look in to that, as we're now considering a very on-our-own tour. and just for the record--i have the least manly husband ever. he's way more botanical garden than he is war museum! :-)

Canterbury, Oxford and Cambridge can all occupy the better part of a day.

"the husband particularly wants an inner circle viewing at stonehenge." If I'm not mistaken, for the most part, you can only view Stonehenge from a distance.

"I have the least manly husband ever."

With that comment, a new level of candor has been achieved on this site.

Tracy, if you do the "inner circle" viewing at Stonehenge, please post how you liked it. I haven't made it there yet, but if I do...why not do it the old-fashioned way??

@Elaine= There is no "old fashioned" way to see Stonehenge anymore. The Inner Circle or pre/post normal hours tours are the only way. During regular hours, you stay outside a fenced area. You can see the stones, but can't get up close to them. On the pre/post/inner tours, you are allowed inside the fence. Unfortunately, Stonehenge, like many of our wonderfuly treasured sites, suffers from visitor overload. Tourist foot traffic was compressing the soil, people were chipping off pieces, etc. There are many stone circles in the UK (even in France). Orkney has a wonderful one, Aveburry, etc. If you want to get close, visit a different circle. If you want to see a marvelous piece of history,visit any of them, Stonehenge included.

I have been to all the choices mentioned and I think York is my favorite a Great cathedral, interesting shopping lanes ,World class Train museum, Castle Museum which is a manageable look at English life,---negatives it is about a 2 1/2 hour trip which is not cheap.

hi Tracy, you posted this a month ago so I don't know if you're still checking this thread. Since your husband is a botanical gardens type, is Kew on your itinerary already? Bath, Oxford, and Stratford-upon-Avon are each just about do-able on day trips, great for tourists, especially if you like English literature and history. I enjoyed Canterbury as well as Brighton ... but prefer Canterbury for its medieval-ness and the riverside walk. And what about Hampton Court?

Savill Gardens are beautiful worth a visit.

@Audrey--see why we had such a hard time picking?!? we decided to go with a day trip to bath with a half day mad max stonehenge tour. we've booked the train (and leave for london in two and a half weeks) and the tour, but have yet to hear back from mad max. i refuse to call, because, well, if something can't be done online, i pretty much don't do it. worst case scenario, we have 12 hours to spend in bath, as we booked a very early morning train out of london and a very late evening train back (in order to have time before and after the mad max tour that now may or may not be happening) i think i'm at the point of trip planning where i'm thinking 'whatever--we'll be in europe, and it will be fun no matter what'. i just cannot plan or research any more (as it is, my homemade guide book is over twenty pages long--with a table of contents and four appendixes!)