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Independent Travel - Planning Tips - Day Trips - Trains - Bus Tours - Hotels - Victoria.St

For first-timers going it on their own, the best options for day trips out of London are to see the best places: Hampton Court Palace, Warwick Castle, Windsor Castle.

• Hampton Court Palace ...can be easily reached by a 35-minute train ride (twice in each hour) from London's Waterloo station to Hampton Court station.  The Palace is on the opposite bank of the river Thames and a short walk over the bridge.  We doubt that bus tours out of London will allow enough time for you to see it all!  First time visitors will want to allow the better part of five or six hours here.  (Also, see our Best of the Best entry.)

  By the way, do not be tempted to travel to Hampton Court by the '90-minute' boat ride on the Thames from Westminster in London.  The tides on the Thames have an unfortunate way of changing the '90-minute' ride to three or more hours!  And, that would certainly make a mess of your schedule.  If you want to include a Thames boat ride in your holiday plans, consider it for the return trip back to London after you have toured the Palace.

  So as not to miss anything, your check-list should include the six! separate tour routes available to visitors, the three courtyards and the various gardens that surround the palace:

  • Henry VIII's State Apartments
  • The Tudor Kitchens
  • The Wolsey Rooms
  • The King's Apartments
  • The Queen's State Apartments
  • The Georgian Rooms
  • Base Court
  • Clock Court
  • Fountain Court
  • West Gardens ...on the way to the tearoom when you get peckish ['hungry']
  • The Maze is definitely optional
  • East Front Fountain Gardens
  • Privy Garden
  • Pond Gardens ...there are two
  • Great Vine

• Warwick Castle  ...(pronounced 'War-ick') is now owned by the Tussauds Group.  (Perhaps you might have heard of 'Madame Tussauds' in London?)  Trains from London's Marlybone station call at ['stop at'] Warwick.  Depending on how many tourists are there at the same time - the venue is extremely popular with the tour bus companies - you may want to allow the better part of four or five hours here.  See our Best of the Best entry for Warwick Castle.  Be sure to see the three most important tours of the castle and the rest with this check-list:

  • State Rooms, Great Hall and Chapel
  • Royal Weekend Party in the Private Apartments
  • 'Kingmaker' Story in the Cellars
  • Dungeons (optional)
  • Armoury
  • Walk the Ramparts and Towers
  • Ghost Tower
  • The Mound
  • Conservatory
  • Peacock Garden

• Windsor Castle  ...can be a problem to visit.  There is no sense going if you cannot see everything.  The State Apartments are closed when HM ['Her Majesty'] The Queen is in residence.  And, for most of the year, that can be every weekend as this is her weekend retreat.  The annual Order of the Garter ceremonies held every June also limit access.  The exception - each summer - is when HM The Queen is on her own holiday ['vacation'] visiting Sandringham in Norfolk, The Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh and Balmoral Castle in the highlands of Scotland.  The bottom line is to get the timing right before setting out.

  The town of Windsor is easily reached by a train from London's Paddington station to Slough station.  Change trains at Slough for the short trip to Windsor town centre ['downtown'].  As you leave the station, you will find the Castle directly across the street.  Bear to the right for the walk to the castle entrance.  In 'high season' - the summer months when tourists abound - you may need four or more hours here what with the queues ['lines of waiting people'] for the various areas.  Our Best of the Best page has more on Windsor Castle.  Your check-list will include...

  • St George's Chapel and Horsehoe Cloister
  • The Lower, Middle and Upper Wards
  • The State Apartments
  • Queen Mary's Doll House
  • The Terrace Gardens
  • For a change of pace, Legoland !  is nearby.

Day trips for return visitors and experienced tourists are limited by the round trip travel time to get 'to and fro' and, therefore, the amount of time left for seeing the sights.  Some trips are limited by the cost of rail travel relative to the personal value the tourist places on seeing a particular venue.  For those who have been to Britain before, have 'wider' interests, a BritRail Pass (longer trips cost more), and are willing to be a bit masochistic... the possibilities are endless.  Three examples from our most recent holiday are...

• York

  Day trips to York are best for repeat visits to see only two or three places again.  York really deserves at least two days to see everything.  Our itinerary for Day 3 of our 31 Day Tour was relatively sedate: a train from London's Kings Cross station direct to York, a short walk to the National Railway Museum (repeat visit) to see the new exhibit area called 'The Works', a 'road train' to York Minster (another repeat visit), dinner and the train back to London.

   

• Blackpool

  For the young-at-heart, a day trip - Day 6 of our 31 Day Tour - to Blackpool can be a unique change of pace.  Leaving London's Euston station, we changed trains at Preston for the Coney Island of Britain.  The day included a walk along the mile-long seafront Promenade, Blackpool Pleasure Beach (an amusement park with a fascinating assortment of roller coasters), a ride back to the North Pier on the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramway ['street cars'], a stop to see the interior of the Church of the Sacred Heart with an unusual, lantern-like ceiling, a brief look inside the Winter Gardens and Empress Ballroom (no band or dancing at the time), a quick walkabout the flower gardens in Stanley Park and a taxi to the railway station and the trip back to London.

   

• Portsmouth, Southsea and the Isle of Wight

  Day trips can get a bit interesting.  We managed Portsmouth, Southsea and the Isle of Wight in one day, Day 4 of our 31 Day Tour.  Very carefully timed, the 'mad dash' included visits by taxi to Portsmouth Cathedral and the D-Day Museum, followed by a walk along the beach-front to catch the Hovercraft from Southsea to Ryde.  With the aid of a willing taxi driver who wanted to experience first-hand the two daft colonists, we stopped at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway's museum, then on to Osborne House (home of Queen Victoria featured in the movie, 'Mrs Brown'.)  The driver collected us ['picked us up'] at the pre-arranged time for the drive to Cowes for the Isle of Wight Model Railway, over to Godshill to see the Model Village, finally dropping us off at the Isle of Wight Railway station in Shanklin for the train back to Ryde.  The return trip across The Solent was by Catamaran direct to Portsmouth station and the waiting train back to Waterloo.  Exhausting just to read it?  We did it!

Other 'On your Own' London Day Trip Possibilities Include...

• Brighton - Royal Pavilion, Preston House, Preston Park, the amusement piers on the beach front and loud, hard metal music.
• Dover - Dover Castle, Hellfire Corner, Dover Museum
• Eastbourne - Eastbourne Park Miniature Railway, the How We Lived Then Museum, shopping in the town centre, a military 'brass band' concert in a beach front pavilion and an amusement pier.
• Folkestone - Channel Tunnel Exhibition Centre and the nearby Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Miniature Railway.
• Gloucester - Gloucester Cathedral, National Waterways Museum, Robert Opie Collection.

Other Guided Bus Tour London Day Trip Possibilities

We have not personally had the occasion to take any of the Evan Evans full day tours.  However, their list of itineraries is definitely worth serious consideration and we understand that the tour company has a very good reputation.  We have listed below those day tours which we believe will allow enough time at each sightseeing stop to make the trip worth while.

Note:  Many of the following links are 'seasonal'.  They are active in the summer months when the tours operate.  All active links are listed on Evan Evans Tours - Full Day Tour page.  Note that tours may be dropped from the schedule (correct British pronunciation 'shed-youl') without notice.

• Hever Castle (See our Best of the Best) and Chartwell
• Althorp, Northamptonshire
• Royal Horticultural Gardens, Wisley and West Green
• The Gardens of the Cotswolds
• Sissinghurst and the Gardens of Kent and Sussex (See our Best of the Best)
• Oxford, the Cotswolds and Blenheim Palace (See our Best of the Best)
• The Enchanting Cotswolds

Other Considerations

• Some day trips may not be the best plan.  We think that most would agree that Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon requires an entire nine hour day to see all the stops ...not the two or three hours the tour bus companies give you.  The medieval, walled city of York deserves two - or even better, three - full days to take it all in.  
• Day trip to Salisbury?  It does take a lot of time and the major point of interest is Salisbury Cathedral, which is definitely worth a visit ...but as part of a tour of the Wiltshire area.
• Day trip to Bath?  Well, if you must.  Like Salisbury, there is the travel time and train fare to consider ...versus how much you want to see the Roman Baths and take in the town's milieu.
• In general, if your objective is to say that you have 'been there, done that' rather than to have an 'in depth' experience of a place, then bus tours may well be your best option.

Copyright © 1999 - 2005  J. C. Nash. All worldwide rights reserved.
Last modified: Thursday, 27 October 2005.