You've come over to the UK for a short trip and you are looking for a chance to get out of London. Lots of companies offer day trips, by train or coach, that ostensibly make visits to top attractions outside of London easy and economical. Typically, they pack three or four attractions together.
An Example of a Day Trip from London
One widely promoted trip that you can book before you arrive in the UK, for example, visits Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. Using the British Automobile Association route planner, I've worked out that this is a round trip of approximately 256 miles and involves (using motorways wherever possible) at least six hours of driving. That leaves only five hours of the advertised 11-hour day to visit:
- One of the world's most famous castles and the world's biggest occupied house
- An iconic prehistoric World Heritage site
- Jane Austen's favorite resort, another World Heritage site and a mecca for independent shops.
Most of what you will see on a trip like this is the inside of a luxury coach and hours of bland highway scenery. If food is included, it will be of a lowest common denominator variety and you are likely to return home still believing the very outdated cliché that British food is terrible.
What You Miss on a Multi-Stop Day Trip from London
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Windsor Castle - The castle itself is worth at least a half day visit. If you want to stand in line for Queen Mary's Doll House and spend time in the Queen's Drawings Gallery, you could spend a whole day there. The day-long ticket allows you to leave for lunch in Windsor. Once you've visited the castle, you can walk along the river and cross over to the fascinating late Medieval and Tudor town of Eton. This is the location of England's oldest public (i.e. private) school. The narrow, sometimes cobbled, streets are lined with quaint, half-timbered and ancient buildings still in modern use. And the views of Windsor Castle from Eton are among the best.
And getting there: is a matter of a half hour train trip from London Paddington or London Waterloo Stations and a total round-trip fair of under £10.
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Stonehenge Stonehenge may seem to stand out on Salisbury Plain in splendid isolation but it's actually in the midst of Wiltshire a county rich in other attractions, including Longleat Safari Park, the historic city of Salisbury, the fascinating, movie-set National Trust village of Laycock. Other prehistoric sites nearby include Avebury, location of one of Europe's most important ceremonial landscapes, with a huge stone circle and a a prehistoric ceremonial highway.
There is plenty near Stonehenge for a few days of exploration and at least an overnight visit. But, should you only have time for a day trip, Stonehenge and Salisbury, including 750-year-old Salisbury Cathedral, are the most sensible combination.
And getting there: Trains from London Waterloo to Salisbury take less than an hour and a half and tickets purchased in advance start at about £30 for a round trip. Stonehenge tours leave frequently from Salisbury train station, as do ordinary public buses.
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Bath Allowing only a little more than an hour for a whip round the city of Bath in a bus and a quick visit to the Roman baths is, frankly, criminal. This World Heritage site and 18th century masterpiece of a city was made for exploring on foot. Besides Bath's unique shopping streets and the Georgian Assembly Rooms - where 18th century socialites went matchmaking, there's the new Thermae Bath Spa. There, for municipal prices you can swim, in naturally heated spa waters, in a roof top pool overlooking the Cathedral and World Heritage center of Bath. Bath is a weekend for sure with wonderful restaurants, shops, museums and attractions. But, if you only have a day -
Getting there: Trains to Bath from London Paddington leave frequently and take under an hour and a half. Buying two single tickets is cheaper than buying round trip fares and if booked in advance cost under £25.
So is a Multi-Stop Coach Tour for You?
If you have mobility problems, specialist accessible tour operators probably make more sense. Unless you are the kind of visitor who likes to tick the boxes of the places you've been without really seeing them, these kinds of whistle stop, tours are outdated and poor value for money.
