LONDON-what's the most scenic day trip (by rail)

Toni

I may be biased. since I live here, but you might like to consider Brighton.

We have the Pavilion, one of the weirdest Royal Palaces in Britain

http://www.royalpavilion.org.uk/

and an impressive pier

http://www.brightonpier.co.uk/images/pier/popup.php?pic=5

plus a lot of really nice restaurants and bars.

Only 50 minutes by train from Victoria. A lot more details here

http://www.brighton-brighton.co.uk/brighton-beach.aspx

Hampton Court is also nice, but not really outside London.

Likewise Kew is actually in London and I wouldn't recommend it unless you are really into plants. If you want a walk outside the centre I would go for Hampstead Heath - bigger and with better views.

Cheers
Alan

I'm going to answer your question in a way you may not have anticipated. I found the scenery from the train between London and Canterbury quite charming. I wanted to stop and explore nearly every village the train passed (but I didn't...). Canterbury itself is very well maintained and has a nice medieval town center. I'm not certain that it's any more interesting than many other small towns you could visit from London, but I thought I would at least offer Canterbury as a nomination.

Kew gardens are wonderful, and you could actually do both them and Windsor in one day- it would be a long day, but very nice. I also second the suggesstion of Canturbury- it is a nice little town and the cathedral is very good.

Have you considered Bath? There are at least some indoor attractions if weather is poor. I enjoyed not only the Baths themselves but the Costume Museum.

Brighton may be a tad wet and cold too enjoy walking along the boardwalk . Also, Brighton is hilly as I recall, it might be a bit of a slog if weather is unpleasant is there is a fair amount of walking to enjoy it( which was fine when I went in July)

Hampton Court is an easy day trip or even half day trip. You can take the boat one way, and the train the other.

Oxford is another easy trip. You can check to see when London Walks is offering their day tours. Very inexpensive plus you get a guide to show you the town. (You meet the guide in London and travel as a group together, by train, to Oxford.)

All these sugestions are good. I will add my favorites: Greenwich (down river) and London Bridge (in London).

Hampton Court and Bath are wonderful but my favorite day trip from London is Warwick Castle. It is beautiful and lots of fun.

Oh yes, I do agree Warwick Castle was wonderful, but , I went in the summer, so enjoying wandering around , and watching the jousting show was much more pleasant.
I was in London on March 17th one year, St Patricks day, and it was so neat to see people wearing real shamrock on their lapels and singing Irish songs in the pubs, what was not so neat was how cold and wet my whole visit was,, it even snowed( but didn't stick)!!

I vote for Greenwich on the boat and Hampton Court in the other direction..........

We took several easy day trips by train from London to Bath, Cambridge, and Hampton Court. I really didn't consider Hapmton Court a day trip but that's just how I recall it. Bath was beautiful and Cambridge fascinating. You can't go wrong in my book. Have a great time.

Cambridge was wonderful, rent a bicycle and ride around the area. Salisbury was the best, the catherdral was amazing, if you are fit, do the roof tour, it is well worth it.

Kew is a great spot Toni but could be a bit bleak in March. I remember visiting the botanical gardens in Leiden, Holland, during March one year (took me an hour of wandering to find it as the entrance was through a narrow passageway)and not a lot to see. Some of the tropicals in very large pots were still tucked away in their winter greenhouses and a lot of the flowering shrubs barely had their buds out.

Was in Kew (the archives not the gardens but same tube stop)last April and there were very few people following the directional arrows from the tube stop to the gardens.

My favorites Brighton (on Sunday there is the bonus of a large bootsale in the trainstation parkinglot)---Bath--and Stratford.