London -> Southampton -> London

[lchen818]

We (a family of four) will be going on the June 26th Princess Cruise for the British Isle. We are arriving in London and staying over night in Mayfair on the 25th.

 

Our ship leaves Southampton at 17:00 on the 26th and returns on July 8th at 05:00. Our flight out of Heathrow is at around 14:00 on July 8th.

 

I was wondering what quick stops we can make on the way from London to Southampton or from Southampton back to London. The fact that we will have luggage with us will be a consideration. We can take advantage of either bus tours or private cars.

 

I've Googled read many threads on the forum and saw a number of places; but, I am not sure how they would fit our limited available time. Stonehenge is the first that comes to mind; but, it will probably be just a photo opportunity for us.

 

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

[LHT28]

Does the ship offer any excursion type transfers??

 

You will likely not be off the ship until 7 or 8am then a 1.5 to 2 hr trip to LHR

check in at least 2.5 hrs prior to flight

 

londontoolkit.com offers some tours onroute to LHR

 

Hire a private car service & do a tour of some places on the way

maybe Winchester or Salisbury

 

JB will be along later with lots of advice ;)

[John Bull]

Both dates are weekdays.

 

You will certainly have time to visit Stonehenge (and Salisbury if you wish) on the day you transfer to Southampton.

 

You'll only get a fleeting glimpse of Stonehenge from the tour bus as it goes past to the visitor centre. It waits there about 90 minutes. You will need a timed admission ticket for the visitor centre and the shuttle to the stones & for the stones, you can buy this with the cruise tour ticket - if you don't, you'll mebbe see the stones as the bus passes, then you'll be just sat on the bus in the bus park for 90 minutes. So if you take the tour bus, buy the ticket as well.

Full info at

http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/southampton-cruise-bus-from-150-central-london-hotels-via-stonehenge.html

but for whatever reason its £4pp cheaper if you book through

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_from_london_shared_bus.html

 

With a private transfer, to visit the visitor centre & stones you'll also need a Stonehenge timed ticket. But if all you want is a quick photo-op (ie no great enthusiasm but feel you ought to tick it off your bucket list ;)) then you can get your driver to drive past a time or three on the A303 main road for a distant view

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=51.176868,-1.825533&spn=0.008475,0.038667&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=51.176857,-1.825548&panoid=wy3DuGpwE0dTEnTePOqotQ&cbp=11,0,,0,0

Be aware - the little side road that runs much closer to the stones is no longer open, the googlemaps streetview from that road is no longer available.

Stonehenge isn't on the direct route London to Southampton (check a map) and it is unworthy of the cost & time to get just a distant view, but the historic city & its magnificent cathedral of Salisbury is between Stonehenge & Southampton so you can make the extra distance worthwhile by getting your driver to drop into Salisbury for an hour or two.

 

After your cruise, no Stonehenge tourbus option with your flight time, and even with early unassisted disembarkation (about 7am) and a private transfer IMHO any more than about an hour at Stonehenge or Salisbury would cut too deeply into your wiggle-room for a traffic delay.

 

Windsor & its castle is the other obvious choice. It's at the London end, near Heathrow airport & only mebbe 6 to 8 miles off-route.

No tour bus option in either direction because of your time constraints, but with a private transfer and an early start you could have 3 or four hours there on your way to Southampton or, with unassisted disembarkation, about 90 minutes on your way to Heathrow.

 

Or with a private transfer drop into historic Winchester (& its cathedral) in either direction - it's on the route so you'd have plenty of time pre-cruise or at least a couple of hours post-cruise

 

JB :)

[lchen818]

Thank you both for the prompt responses and recommendations. I'll look into the stops at Stonehenge and Salisbury. We've already been to Windsor and Blenheim.

 

Cheers.

[sddsddean]

Agree with JB about stopping at Stonehenge etc on the way down. However, I don't think I would bother stopping on the way back to LHR. If you could leave at 8am, even with a car service it would take a good 1 1/2hrs (0930) and your flight is 1400, which would give you perhaps 2hrs 'somewhere' and allows for no wiggle room if there is an accident on the M3 or something. Personally, I think you would be better to get the National Express coach from Southampton to LHR at a lot lower cost than a car service. http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx Just my thoughts.

 

Simon