London Day trips

I'll chime in for York. You can definitely fill a day w/o a tour guide. There is York minster-the tour of the crypt where you could see the Roman ruins that were under the Norman ruins that are under the current cathedral was interesting. Walk around the city and the shambles. Have a picnic lunch at St Mary's Abbey. I thought the Yorkshire museum would be great for someone with kids but wasn't too impressed for myself. On one of my trips I took an Evan Evans tour of Warwick, Oxford, and Stratford on Avon, with a drive thru the Cotswolds. That was one of my favorite things I've done. Warwick castle was amazing. I spent to long looking at the wax figures though.

Jared. We did some wonderful side trips from London by train. Brighton, Cambridge and the aforementioned Paris for the day on the Eurostar. We bought a Brit Rail pass before leaving Australia. It paid for itself 10 times over. We travelled from the Isle of Skye and several places in between, to Penzance and back to London by rail.

Oxford, Dover and Canterburry come to mind.

We are also planning a side trip to London on our European vacation next year - and while London seems to be interesting - it is just another big City. We were looking to take some of the commercial side trips to the Country side - as advertised my many of the tour companies. As an example- Windsor,Stonehenge and Bath or Avon, Covington and Oxford. Has anyone taken any of these Commercial Tours and are they worth it. Incidentally we don't want to drive and public transit is preferred.

Are you quite sure about the destinations of your day trips?
Avon is a river, it's also an administrative area, but not a place- perhaps you meant Stratford upon Avon?

Covington threw me as well, I have never heard of it. I Googled it, and it is a very small village in Huntingtonshire, are you sure that is where you are going? I can't see any reason to visit it?

Sorry but I am very confused!

I will always say that a good daytrip is York- yes I am biased, it is my home city, but you can get here from London in 2 hours, and there is SO much to see.

We're friendly as well!

I'm sorry - yes you are correct Its Stratford on Avon and the other area is Cockwald I believe, not covington. Sorry for the confusion. I thought about York but wasn't sure - if we go to York - which I understand is very nice would a "go on your own visit be advised" - what I mean is without a tour guide? Just train trip and then tour of York without a guide? Are there suggested places to visit? Probably would do this in a one day trip - returning to London same day.

I took one of the conducted bus tours a few years back when I was in London for a day. We went to Warwick Castle and Oxford, both of which were very nice. We were also supposed to visit Stratford-Upon-Avon, but shortly after leaving London the driver told us that we would not be going there. I was disappointed as I had been looking forward to going there. I used one of the tour companies located across from Victoria Station. It was an okay trip, nothing terribly memorable. But I got to see a little bit of the countryside outside London.

^And for York, I highly recommend the free two hour walking tour. I did it a few weeks ago upon the recommendation of others on here, and it was absolutely brilliant. I really enjoyed York. It's fairly cheap to buy the train tickets in advance.

Here is a link to an article I wrote for AAA Carolina's "Go!" magazine last year, about basing yourself in London and doing day trips by train. we have been to the UK more than 40 times, so feel free to private message me. (if the link asks for a zipcode, use 28208)

http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Magazine/2008/Jan-Feb/britain.htm

Windsor is easy by train from London.

Four years ago I took a boat cruise upstream from Westminster to Hampton Court. There I toured the palace and gardens, I took the train back. That made for a nice and relaxing day. But along the way you can get also get off at Kew Gardens.

How about the cotswolds??

Loved our day trip to Windsor, and returned in plenty of time for night at the theatre!