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Ideas for a Day Trip out of London


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We will be in London four days, post cruise, and thought a day trip out of London would be a welcome break from the "hustle and bustle" of the city. During our trip, we will be visiting Portsmouth, Winchester, Salisbury, Windsor, Stonehenge and Chester. So, I'm looking for easy day trip ideas out of London, using public transport (rail, bus, etc.) and perhaps a little off the "beaten trail".

 

One idea was to visit St. Albans. Good idea? I'm open to other suggestions, but beaches and hiking trails are out since my DH mobility problems and walks with a cane.

 

I would appreciate suggestions.

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The Canterbury area in Kent is a great place to visit, it is a world Heritage site and the Cathedral dates form 597AD. Trains are from Victoria/Waterloo east and stagecoach buses from Victoria coach station, about a 1 and 1/2 hour journey. Here is the Official tourism website address

http://www.canterbury.co.uk/things-to-see-and-do/

 

 

Hope you find plenty to do

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I would also recommend Hampton Court Palace. A short train ride from Waterloo. However, do not plan on doing this journey if you are here this August, when Waterloo Station is having major works and will have few trains running.

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I realize you mentioned using public transportation for your day trip from London. However, we did a terrific day trip with Premium Tours. This tour covered a full day and took us to Leeds Castle, Dover (lunch included), Canterbury and Greenwich.

 

Our guide was excellent, extremely knowledgeable and full of interesting facts and stories. We arrived and left promptly from each stop. The other great thing about this tour was we jumped to the head of the line to popular destinations like Leeds Castle.

 

I would absolutely take another tour with Premium and would highly recommend them.

 

Jonathan

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A second vote for Cambridge here. On our last trip to London, we did a day trip to Cambridge and loved it. Easy trip on the train, minimal travel time, great university town, lots to see, good restaurants, and punting on the Cam to see the backs of the colleges!

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I realize you mentioned using public transportation for your day trip from London. However, we did a terrific day trip with Premium Tours. This tour covered a full day and took us to Leeds Castle, Dover (lunch included), Canterbury and Greenwich.

 

Our guide was excellent, extremely knowledgeable and full of interesting facts and stories. We arrived and left promptly from each stop. The other great thing about this tour was we jumped to the head of the line to popular destinations like Leeds Castle.

 

I would absolutely take another tour with Premium and would highly recommend them.

 

Jonathan

Sorry, but I think that itinerary is far too much in one day. Each place merits a day to itself, or a maximum two of the destinations in a day.

 

There is no way that you could have had a comprehensive visit in a day.

 

Apart from all the other suggestions, Oxford is easy access from London.

 

If you go to St Albans it has a good street market which I think is twice a week.

 

Brighton is also a easy day out from London.

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St. Albans is very pretty but not much there other than the abbey ( I live very close so feel free to ask questions ). Can you let us know what your interests are that would help xx

 

 

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We were hoping for a relaxing day - a break from the big tourist areas. Heard that St Albans has a lovely, historic Abbey, some Roman ruins and artifacts and on certain days, a nice market. And wasn't too far out of London. Sounded very appealing, especially toward the end of a three-week trip.

 

We like history, art and exploring new places. My husband walks with a cane, so hiking and beaches are not practical. Towns and cities afford places to stop and rest so it works out for us. I'd like to see some place beyond the major tourist attractions.

 

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Better link to Cambridge idea is to go onto Ely ,with an impressive Cathedral, more impressive than St Albans, well off the main tourist trail, but only a short hop on from Cambridge and then come back and use the facilities that Cambridge has.

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It is actually just outside London, about half an hour on the train.

 

 

 

Believe me it's in London I go there regularly......Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, London, England, 11.7 miles (18.8 kilometres) south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames.

 

It's not central London/ City of London but it's still in London

 

 

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We were hoping for a relaxing day - a break from the big tourist areas. Heard that St Albans has a lovely, historic Abbey, some Roman ruins and artifacts and on certain days, a nice market. And wasn't too far out of London. Sounded very appealing, especially toward the end of a three-week trip.

 

We like history, art and exploring new places. My husband walks with a cane, so hiking and beaches are not practical. Towns and cities afford places to stop and rest so it works out for us. I'd like to see some place beyond the major tourist attractions.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

St Albans sounds like a good fit for you but it's very hilly and to be honest the Roman Ruins are not very exciting.....please don't think it's anything like Pompeii. If you google Verulamium Museum you will see what I mean.

 

The Abbey is beautiful and very historic with a wonderful tea rooms in the building next to it. A link here https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/. Will help you.

 

I think if your husband is able to cope with some cobbled streets and the stroll down the hill and back up to the Abbey you would enjoy it.

 

When are you thinking of visiting out of interest?

 

 

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St Albans is quite nice for an easy, quiet day out IIRC the market is on Wednesday and Saturday.

As well as the Verulanium Museum there is the Roman Theatre nearby.

http://www.gorhamburyestate.co.uk/The-Roman-Theatre

 

The seed store that was owned by Samuel Ryder who endowed the Ryder Cup is now quite a nice Café Rouge.

 

Cambridge is also very nice full of cobbled streets in places but flatter, I particularly like the Botannical Gardens there if the weather is nice. But on a rainy day which you can often get here there are plenty of Museums to shelter in.

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Also how are you planning on getting to places as if you have a car it opens up a lot more places.

Please google these for more info

British Royal History.....Hever Castle, or Warwick Castle

If you like military history Duxford RAF Museum or Bovington Tank Museum

If your into historic houses.....Blenheim Palace or Hatfield House

Abbeys......Canterbury or York

 

And last but not least Stafford upon Avon but that's a bloody long way for a day trip but very pretty ( quite a tourist trap tbh. But still worth a visit)

 

If you like St Albans it's very close to Hatfield where you can visit stunningly pretty and very historic Hatfield House http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/

 

I live between the 2 and more than happy to talk real details if you would like. However as we are off travelling Australia and the USA for 5 months from November we may not be about to join you for a cup of tea and a chat xx

 

 

 

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Believe me it's in London I go there regularly......Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, London, England, 11.7 miles (18.8 kilometres) south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames.

 

It's not central London/ City of London but it's still in London

 

 

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It is a silly argument, but if you look at the website for the palace, you will see it is in East Molesey, Surrey. However it is certainly on the borders of Greater London. But still a day trip out of London for any tourist staying in central London.

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It is a silly argument, but if you look at the website for the palace, you will see it is in East Molesey, Surrey. However it is certainly on the borders of Greater London. But still a day trip out of London for any tourist staying in central London.

 

 

 

It's in the postal town of East Molesey, which is why that appears in its postal address on the website, but it is physically located in Richmond, which is in London :)

 

 

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St Albans sounds like a good fit for you but it's very hilly and to be honest the Roman Ruins are not very exciting.....please don't think it's anything like Pompeii. If you google Verulamium Museum you will see what I mean.

 

The Abbey is beautiful and very historic with a wonderful tea rooms in the building next to it. A link here https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/. Will help you.

 

I think if your husband is able to cope with some cobbled streets and the stroll down the hill and back up to the Abbey you would enjoy it.

 

When are you thinking of visiting out of interest?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

We will be in London from August 18 - 22, the last four days of a three-week trip including a 12-day British Isles cruise. So, Saturday, August 19, seemed like a good day to get out of the city for a day trip.

 

I would love to see all the places that have been suggested. Every place is appealing, but I'm trying to be sure it's not too difficult for my husband and gives us a break from a very busy trip. St Albans still has appeal for those reasons. My husband can navigate the hills as long as we can go at our own pace - slow ! That's one reason we like to do these trips on our own.

 

Cambridge and Ely sound interesting, too. When looking at info on Cambridge, I noticed the American Cemetery is close by. I'm wondering how far it is from Cambridge and if there's transportation (bus, etc.) to it. We are visiting the Normandy beaches and American cemetery during a stop in France on our cruise, but it would be nice to see this cemetery as well; it looks beautiful and solemn. Since my husband is a Navy veteran and my son, a Marine veteran from the Iraq war, this is interesting to us.

 

You and everyone else have some great suggestions. I wish had more time but alas, I will have to chose. St Albans or Cambridge and Ely are the ones that seem to be of most interest. I just need to determine which would be most enjoyable and relaxing.

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Also how are you planning on getting to places as if you have a car it opens up a lot more places.

Please google these for more info

British Royal History.....Hever Castle, or Warwick Castle

If you like military history Duxford RAF Museum or Bovington Tank Museum

If your into historic houses.....Blenheim Palace or Hatfield House

Abbeys......Canterbury or York

 

And last but not least Stafford upon Avon but that's a bloody long way for a day trip but very pretty ( quite a tourist trap tbh. But still worth a visit)

 

If you like St Albans it's very close to Hatfield where you can visit stunningly pretty and very historic Hatfield House http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/

 

I live between the 2 and more than happy to talk real details if you would like. However as we are off travelling Australia and the USA for 5 months from November we may not be about to join you for a cup of tea and a chat xx

 

 

 

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A cup of tea and a chat sound great and another plus for St. Albans ! :D

 

As I mentioned in my other post, we are looking at August 19 (Saturday) for our day trip out of London.

 

Where in the USA are you planning to travel, if you don't mind me asking?

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