I like the idea of Bath, but my husband has been (though he would not be opposed to a repeat). Cambridge is appealing, especially since we like Morse tv series.
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A lot of people like to add Windsor in. I’m not that big on the Royal Family so it’s not a huge draw for me. I think we will try to do Stonehenge this time. You can get there by train and then a bus from Salisbury. Salisbury cathedral is supposed to be very nice too.
York is supposed to be very nice too and very historic. Also easily accessible by train.
Edinburgh and Glasgow are also easily doable by train. We did that. If I recall correctly the train ride is about 4-5 hrs. Try to reserve seats with a table.
I have a friend who loves Cornwall. I have not been there yet but considering it for this trip and maybe Cardiff.
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If I were going to somewhere outside London for a few days I would choose Edinburgh. It’s another great city with lots of things to do.
On our trip to London last fall we did a day trip to Windsor Castle and a day trip to Bletchley. Both were very easy on the train.
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We did both and enjoyed them.
It turned out the King showed up at Windsor while we were there. You know when the flags change from the Union Jack to his standard.
I’m not much into the modern Royal Family either, but the older Kings are interesting. The room dedicated to the Knights of the Garter was very cool. It was started by Edward III in 1348! The actual armor that Henry VIII wore is there.
Stonehenge was sort of like Pisa, overcrowded, but still gobsmackingly cool to see in person.
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Bletchley is a whole,day excursion, IMO. There is so much to see and it’s fascinating. Plus train time to and from London.
We had a car, and we had driven over from the Cotswolds, which took hour and a half at least. We combined Bletchley with a visit to Cambridge. We had picked up our car at H’row and returned to Stansted, paying a drop off fee.
I’ve really enjoyed visiting Hatfield House, which is on the train line from London to Cambridge. A day trip to Cambridge from London is easily doable.
Don’t miss Hampton Court Palace. Fantastic history. That’s most of a day too.
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We visited Stonehenge about an hour before closing. That was not by design. It just took us much longer to drive than we anticipated. But it was also fortuitous, as the crowds were far less at that time of day, and all tour groups had departed.
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There are several “day trip” excursions which can be done without packing up and leaving London for a few days. As already mentioned- Hampton Court, Windsor. Also Greenwich (probably still nice enough to take a boat down the Thames to the observatory) and Oxford if you leave early enough-- take the train, do a self-guided tour of the town, pub lunch and tea, back to London for a late dinner.
Just north of central London- Kenwood (fantastic museum- art and antique musical instruments, one of my favorite museums in a city chock a block) and then lunch at Spaniards which is said to be one of the oldest pubs still operating in London. Easily accessible by tube. And then a walk through Hampstead Heath!
South of the Thames- you could spend a day, starting at the Tate Modern (the building itself is worth seeing, even without the art) and then join a walking tour…
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A day trip to Oxford is worth the visit!. @Colorado_mom DM me when you have a chance. We are visiting our son in London (again) over Labor Day.
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I was thinking if we are 7+ days in London, it would be nice to have a space bigger than a small hotel room. Has anybody stayed here?
I know there have been recommendations for the Covent Garden location, more expensive.
Ck rates for the Residence Inn in Kensington…near a big supermarket, has kitchenette in each suite, includes a nice breakfast with lots of options.
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We go to London every year, since our D lives there. We typically rent an AirBnB for the week, so we have access to a kitchen and don’t have to eat out for every single meal.
@blossom - my daughter volunteers at Kenwood! It is a great house. She lives nearby so we typically stay in the Hampstead/Belsize Park area.
We have not rented a car, but relied on the tube and trains for transportation. There are also day trip tours available from London, if you prefer. We did one a few years ago to the Cotswolds. I noticed there was some discussion on Rick Steves’ site about day trips to the Cotswolds:
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VOLUNTEERS AT KENWOOD.
I can’t calm down. What a great gig!!!
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Also note that if you want to visit the university when classes are just starting some sites that are normally open might not be. (As we found last year in Cambridge.) There was still plenty to see that was open, and for us that was the only day that was going to work with DIL’s schedule, just an FYI.
We were in London in May. Some days rain, some sunny and warm. We also stayed at the Queen’s Gate Hotel. It was really well located but don’t expect a bustling lobby or bar. It was very quiet. I liked that it was an easy walk to Kensington Palace and Gardens and an easy walk to the Victoria and Albert Museum. There were two tube stations nearby on the Paddington line. There’s a really nice pub on a mews near the hotel, the Queen’s Head. Excellent food.
This was a third trip so we skipped some things we’d seen before. We did a verger’s tour of Westminster Abbey which made up for the huge crowds in the Abbey. He took us to spots where those who didn’t book the verger’s tour couldn’t access, like the tomb of Edward the Confessor.
We toured Buckingham Palace, the Churchill War Rooms, the National Gallery, Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace.
Near London, we also saw Bletchley Park, Darwin’s home and Chartwell, Churchill’s home.
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Thanks to the folks who have suggested Premier Inns. They have many locations and seem significantly less expensive than other options. (Yes, the Queen’s Gate hotel my husband liked is much pricier now due to renovations). That Monument/Bank area Premier does seem appealing.)
At this point we are thinking about just doing 10 nights in London, daytrips to Oxford, Windsor etc. That may make the Victoria Station area appealing since trains and tours seem to leave from there. Other suggested home base locations?
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We went late September to London many years ago and had absolutely great time. For us 1 week in London was not even enough. Need to come back for other parts of GB. I’ve never could understand people who visit Europe in a week and hop to different countries (or big cities) every day.
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Not really for Oxford or Windsor (unless you mean coach tours, ugh just for the sitting in traffic, it can take an hour to get in or out of London from there). Oxford will be Paddington, Windsor is Paddington (with a change) or Waterloo (direct). Victoria train station is mainly for the south coast and places in that general direction (but not most of Kent or Surrey/Hampshire).
Monument/Bank is ok but is in the city which doesn’t have so much going on in the evenings. And while walking distance to a few sites (Tower of London) most tourist sites are further west.
Somewhat cheap but relatively central options include Kensington High St or south of the river in areas that are not so well connected to the tube. But personally I would look at some of the smaller hotels between Paddington and Hyde Park, which is a lovely park to walk through enroute to many places you’ll want to visit, and still quite well connected to the tube, including the Elizabeth Line which is definitely the best way to travel across town.
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H and I stayed in two different hotels in London last fall since we were there for a few days on our way to Portugal and on our way back.
The second hotel we stayed in was not far from Paddington Station in an area we had not stayed before. The hotel was old and not very nice. We did notice on our walks to Paddington Station that they were getting ready to open a new Premier Inn right by Paddington. The link is below:
Thanks! That is actually one of the places on our radar. So did you like the area?
The area is alright. We didn’t find many places that we liked for dinner and normally went to other areas to eat at night. We were always out during the day and would grab food wherever we were. H wanted to try a new area and that’s why we stayed there. We normally stay in Kensington.
It was very convenient to have Paddington Station since we were doing several day trips from there.
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