Post cruise touring from Southampton

We're arriving in Southampton in October on the QM2 and thought we'd do some touring in the region from Southampton before flying home from London. We've done some touring in London so thought we'd stay in this area for a few days. Hotel and tour suggestions are wanted. Thanks in advance.

Although it has its attractions, Southampton isn't a tourist city. But it's a great base for exploring the many places of interest within a comfortable day-trip.

Renting a car?

Necessary for out-of-the-way places of interest like Sherborne, Glastonbury, Wells and Cheddar, or exploring scenery like the New Forest, the Dorset Downs & villages, the Jurassic coast.

You can rent in Southampton and return to Heathrow without extortionate one-way charges - and no London driving.

Or using the trains?

A surprisingly good option for cheap and easy day-trips to places like Bath, Salisbury + Stonehenge, Portsmouth, Winchester. In most cases the return fare is no more expensive than a one-way fare.

Those places are compact and the rail stations reasonably central, no need for in-town transportation (other than ho-ho from Salisbury to Stonehenge)

Any particular interests?

Pre-history, Roman, Norman, Tudor, Victorian, 20th century?

Military - castles, land or sea or air, Napoleonic, WW2 ?

Country houses & gardens?

Long country walks?

Anything else?

Just a couple, or with kids etc?

Any mobility issues or anything else that'd affect our suggestions?

Dates in October ?

Important because the nights are drawing in at that time of year, and British Summer Time ends sunday 29th October and darkness descends an hour earlier.

And do you prefer a city centre hotel (essential if you're to rely on trains) or one further out in the sticks?

JB :)

We'll be 3 older adults and my dh says he won't drive so using trains or tour company. We arrive October 13th. We need a hotel recommendation in Southampton. I know we want to go to Salisbury and Stonehenge. I have the info on hop on bus in Salsbury. We are also thinking of Winchester and Portsmouth. Doing day trips for each. Any tour companies or are we on our own?

We are doing 5 nights pre cruise before Southampton late June '17.

Thinking of rental car, perhaps 1 or 2 nights in Oxford then onto Bath.

Please give us guidance, what is in Salisbury? should we venture to the Cotswolds?

Any advice appreciated.

We'll be 3 older adults and my dh says he won't drive so using trains or tour company. We arrive October 13th. We need a hotel recommendation in Southampton. I know we want to go to Salisbury and Stonehenge. I have the info on hop on bus in Salsbury. We are also thinking of Winchester and Portsmouth. Doing day trips for each. Any tour companies or are we on our own?

You'll want to be handy to Southampton central station.

There are 3 hotels opposite the station - Ibis Budget (usually the cheapest hotel in the city centre, basic but modern & well-maintained), Ibis, and Novotel (easily the best of the three).

About a ten-minute walk, Holiday Inn Herbert Walker Ave, Grand Harbour, and Premier Inn West Quay (all 3 popular with cruisers). Apparently P I West Quay is running promo prices at the moment so check if that includes your date,

Most city centre hotels on this web-page, with a useful little map at the bottom

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_accommodation.htm

You'll not find seat-in-bus tours for any of the places you mention - too few tourists in Southampton & those places too close and easy to DIY for locals.

But all are cheap and easy by train, and no need for a guided tour.

Buy your tickets at the station with £ or plastic, ask for day-return tickets. No need to specify a train time out or back. Sunday timetables are much more limited.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Broadly.........

Salisbury half-hourly direct service & half-hour journey time, about £11 return. Choose a train time that fits in with the ho-ho bus's October schedule from Salisbury station. Buy your Stonehenge admission tickets from the driver to avoid the need for pre-purchased timed tickets. Audio-guides available at Stonehenge. Heading back to Salisbury consider hopping off at Old Sarum if you have the time, if it's not inclement weather (it's out in the open), and if you're OK with an uphill walk. Then in Salisbury definitely visit the cathedral & give yourselves some time in the historic city centre. If there's no ho-ho due when you want to go back to the station, use a taxi or local bus or its about 15 minutes on foot.

Portsmouth. Roughly hourly direct service (more, with one simple change), 45 mins journey time, about £11 return. The main station is Portsmouth&Southsea - but stay on the train to its terminus at Portsmouth Harbour. Its right by the Historic Dockyard & Ships, the Gunwharf Quays shopping / leisure complex, Spinnaker Tower (good, but don't bother if visibility is poor), cross-harbour ferries etc. There's more than enough in the dockyard alone for a very full day. But if you want, you can take a taxi or local bus (bus station right next to rail station) to Southsea Seafront - D-Day museum & adjacent stubby little Southsea Castle (from where King Henry V111 watched his flagship Mary Rose keel over & sink), lots of minor sights & monuments, & attractive seafront promenade with views across to the Isle of Wight.

Winchester. 3 to 4 direct trains per hour, 30 minutes or less, about £7 return. 15 minute walk to the cathedral, aim to go via the Great Hall (the only surviving part of Winchester Castle) & the little West Gate museum. The cathedral is much older than Salisbury's but IMHO less-spectacular. It houses the grave of Jane Austen and a memorial to William Walker, a deep-sea diver who saved the cathedral - for six years in the early 20th century he worked under the cathedral to under-pin the foundations http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/famous-people/william-walker-the-diver-who-saved-the-cathedral/

Although Winchester is quite up-market & Salisbury is more laid-back, unless you are cathedral buffs you may find Salisbury & Winchester a little too similar.

So google "Bath", "Beaulieu England", "Weymouth" and "Arundel" & see what you think. Apart from Beaulieu they're all easy by train. If Beaulieu interests I can suggest how to get there.

Or consider a second day in Portsmouth - the Dockyard / ships ticket is good for unlimited return visits so you can mix the two days.

Or even stay in Portsmouth instead of Southampton. Equally easy & economical to visit the other places from there by train, though the only really convenient hotel is the Holiday Inn Express in Gunwharf Quays.

JB :)

Need2 - I'll try to reply later today

We are doing 5 nights pre cruise before Southampton late June '17.

 

Thinking of rental car, perhaps 1 or 2 nights in Oxford then onto Bath.

 

Please give us guidance, what is in Salisbury? should we venture to the Cotswolds?

 

Any advice appreciated.

We did a similar post-cruise driving trip from Southampton back in 2015. Details and some photos are posted at

https://travelscrivener.blogspot.com/search/label/UK

Bob

njkruzer I would consider staying in Salisbury. As JB says, it's an easy train ride fron Southampton and you could travel there after you land, get settled in and have a walk around the town in the evening. You would then be well placed for an early start to Stonehenge, a tour of the cathedral (a must see) and anything else that takes your fancy.

Need2, A lot depends on how confident you are on our roads and what interest you. If you want to stay in Oxford, I suggest you go there by coach and hire a car there to tour the Cotswolds maybe and then Stonehenge and Salisbury on sailing day. You can return the car at Southampton.

John Bull, thanks so much. You have given me a lot to think about. I thought about staying in Salisbury but am having trouble finding hotels. Any ideas? Also taxi to Salisbury from the ship--can we pre-book? I was planning on contacting smithforairport to get to Heathrow, can I have them take us to Salisbury or any other suggestion?

John Bull, thanks so much. You have given me a lot to think about. I thought about staying in Salisbury but am having trouble finding hotels. Any ideas? Also taxi to Salisbury from the ship--can we pre-book? I was planning on contacting smithforairport to get to Heathrow, can I have them take us to Salisbury or any other suggestion?

Without a car, you'll want to be in the city centre.

Old-established hotels like the White Hart or Red Lion or King's Head or Chapter House or Cathedral Hotel (despite its name, no closer to the cathedral than the others).

These - and I think all the other city centre properties - are attractive period buildings.Quaint, but you have to accept constraints like different room sizes & layouts, mebbe sloping or uneven floors, and check whether there's an elevator.

Here's a link to booking.com A very useful site with stacks of hotel info, photos & independent reviews. Accurate location map for each property too. http://www.booking.com/index

Not difficult to take a taxi from the rank at the pier to Southampton central station, train to Salisbury, taxi to hotel.

But if you want a car all the way you should definitely pre-book.

Yes, www.smithsforairports.com

Or www.westquaycars.com or www.aquacars.co.uk

Expect to be quoted about £40 to £50.

Probably just a little less to Portsmouth.

JB :)

We are doing 5 nights pre cruise before Southampton late June '17.

 

Thinking of rental car, perhaps 1 or 2 nights in Oxford then onto Bath.

 

Please give us guidance, what is in Salisbury? should we venture to the Cotswolds?

 

Any advice appreciated.

Flying in to Heathrow?

The airport & motorway system around it can be a little bit of a maze depending on the exact location of the rental agency, then to Oxford (and on to the Cotswolds) is very simple.

Or mebbe I'm saying that cos I almost always go wrong when navigating out of any big international airport. :rolleyes:

But I'll respectfully disagree with Bob about renting from Oxford. It's on the way to the Cotswolds, about 50 miles / one hour from Heathrow by car but a lot longer by bus (& £25 pp) & rather convoluted by train (£30+ pp)

Not my part of the country - am I missing something, Bob?

Flying in to Gatwick?

Pretty inconvenient, needs a rental at the airport then a long & often frustrating drive (mainly the M25 London orbital) to get to the Cotswolds - or indeed most of the country.

All the major rental agencies have Southampton depots a short taxi hop from any cruise terminal - except Avis, who are only at Southampton airport about 8 miles / 25 minutes / £20 taxi ride away.

You seem to be keen on Oxford. Not my favourite place, though others will disagree.

At most I suggest the reasonably short drive to an overnite there, next morning in Oxford and afternoon in the Cotswolds or at Blenheim Palace, which is on the way to the Cotswolds.

Salisbury is mainly for the magnificent cathedral & laid-back historic city centre, and for Stonehenge.

If combining with the Cotswolds & Bath, it would make sense to go Airport to Cotswolds to Bath to Stonehenge to Salisbury to Southampton. Bath to the ship on sailing day is perfectly reasonable, but if you include Stonehenge & Salisbury you need to do that the day before &spend the last night in Salisbury or Southampton

Stacks of places & options, but here's couple of suggestions to research.........

Day 1 Heathrow to Oxford or beyond to the Cotswolds (around 90 mins total),

Day 2 in Cotswolds (mebbe venturing only a little further to Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon or Warwick Castle),

Day 3 Cotswolds (or Stratford-upon-Avon) to Bath (2 hrs or less) & rest of the day in Bath,

Day 4 Bath to Stonehenge & Salisbury & various sights on the way then on to Southampton (total about 95 minutes) or overnite Salisbury & an hour to Southampton on sailing day.

Day 5 Salisbury or Southampton to ship.

Or for less hotel-hopping

Day 1 Heathrow to Bath (direct under 2 hours).

Day 2 in Bath.

Day 3 day-trip from your Bath base to Cotswolds, or to Glastonbury + Wells + Cheddar.

Days 4 & 5 as above.

Once you've decided on a basic framework, we can help with logistics & routes

For car rentals

- bear in mind they're usually shift-stick so if you need automatic be sure to specify.

- for economy & ease of driving on some of the minor roads & parking, choose the smallest car that will fit your luggage out of sight (these places are low-crime areas, but since you'll be touring you don't want to park-up with tempting bags in full view). We travel with soft bags that make use of every square inch of the trunk.

- driving on the wrong side of the road really isn't that daunting in a car with the steering wheel on the correct side, but there are other differences such as no turnout on red, overtaking on the driver's side only. Here's a good précis of the main points https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g186216-c9626/United-Kingdom:Driving.Tips.For.Visitors.html

JB :)

We did a similar post-cruise driving trip from Southampton back in 2015. Details and some photos are posted at

https://travelscrivener.blogspot.com/search/label/UK

 

Bob

Thanks Bob.

Flying in to Heathrow?

The airport & motorway system around it can be a little bit of a maze depending on the exact location of the rental agency, then to Oxford (and on to the Cotswolds) is very simple.

Or mebbe I'm saying that cos I almost always go wrong when navigating out of any big international airport. :rolleyes:

But I'll respectfully disagree with Bob about renting from Oxford. It's on the way to the Cotswolds, about 50 miles / one hour from Heathrow by car but a lot longer by bus (& £25 pp) & rather convoluted by train (£30+ pp)

Not my part of the country - am I missing something, Bob?

 

You seem to be keen on Oxford. Not my favourite place, though others will disagree.

At most I suggest the reasonably short drive to an overnite there, next morning in Oxford and afternoon in the Cotswolds or at Blenheim Palace, which is on the way to the Cotswolds.

Salisbury is mainly for the magnificent cathedral & laid-back historic city centre, and for Stonehenge.

If combining with the Cotswolds & Bath, it would make sense to go Airport to Cotswolds to Bath to Stonehenge to Salisbury to Southampton. Bath to the ship on sailing day is perfectly reasonable, but if you include Stonehenge & Salisbury you need to do that the day before &spend the last night in Salisbury or Southampton

 

 

JB :)

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to outline a trip for 4-5 days, much appreciated.

Once we finalize the route we will get back with you.

Yes, flying into LHR. Speaking of LHR is a 12:15pm flight reasonable as our ship disembarks Southampton 6-7:00am

We will be looking for a driving company or shuttle to LHR from port.

Ron

 

Yes, flying into LHR. Speaking of LHR is a 12:15pm flight reasonable as our ship disembarks Southampton 6-7:00am

We will be looking for a driving company or shuttle to LHR from port.

 

Ron

Should be OK, Ron, but not a lot of wiggle time and if its a monday thru Friday & I strongly advise a private transfer.

Regular disembarkation usually starts 7.30am, but probably best to haul your own cases from the cabin - that's from about 7am. Gives you that extra half-hour, no hunt for your cases, & gets you ahead of the herd.

Try Smiths, westquay or aqua, as in my last post to njkruzer.

Book a car for 7.15 (driver will probably be there earlier)

About £85 to £90

JB :)

Thanks for all the information. We have a lot to think about.