Help with UK plans

[LAC2]

Gosh, we seem to be doing the England pre-cruise different from everyone else on our roll-call and what I have read here. It seems most people stay 2 days in London and travel direct to the ship on embarkation day.

 

We are planning on flying into Heathrow on 10/31, staying just the one night at the JW Marriott Grosvenor and doing a "drive-by" bus tour of London. Our flight gets in at 10:40a.m. Then tour/transfer from London to Southampton, staying 2 night in Southampton.

 

We love history and I know London must be amazing, but we tend to enjoy the countryside more than city-scape (we are after-all from Southern CA). Thought we would try to find a tour that would take us through Salisbury, Lacock, and Bath before returning us to Southampton. If time allows we would like to journey down to Portsmouth to the Naval Museum. Are we doing this wrong? Anyone have suggestions?

 

We're newbies at this and are feeling really insecure right now.:o

[bconley351]

As far as I'm concerned there is no 'wrong' way, just what you would prefer. We've stayed in London and we've also spent time in Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a beautiful town. We've stayed at the Holiday Inn Express near the Historic Dockyard, spent time touring the ships, the submarine museum, and the harbor tour, as well as walking down to the D-Day Museum and enjoying that. Enjoy what you like, and don't worry about what other people prefer.

[handfordr]

Gosh, we seem to be doing the England pre-cruise different from everyone else on our roll-call and what I have read here. It seems most people stay 2 days in London and travel direct to the ship on embarkation day.

 

We are planning on flying into Heathrow on 10/31, staying just the one night at the JW Marriott Grosvenor and doing a "drive-by" bus tour of London. Our flight gets in at 10:40a.m. Then tour/transfer from London to Southampton, staying 2 night in Southampton.

 

We love history and I know London must be amazing, but we tend to enjoy the countryside more than city-scape (we are after-all from Southern CA). Thought we would try to find a tour that would take us through Salisbury, Lacock, and Bath before returning us to Southampton. If time allows we would like to journey down to Portsmouth to the Naval Museum. Are we doing this wrong? Anyone have suggestions?

 

We're newbies at this and are feeling really insecure right now.:o

 

Southampton is not a good place for scheduled tours unless you get a private car from someone like Discover the South.

You can easly visit Salisbury and then Bath by train from Southampton. From Salisbury there is the Stonehenge Tour Bus which I'm told will also extend to Devizes and Avebury this summer.

Given your countryside theme interest I personally would float the idea of getting an early train to Bath, then getting the Mad Max tour that takes in Stonehenge, Avebury Castle Coombe and lunch at Lacock. Spend the late afternoon/evening in Bath, places like the Roman Baths are open until late and then get a late train back to Southampton.

[Morgans]

One of our favourite places is the Historic Dockyard at Portsmouth - well worth a visit if you can. Your itinerary is going to be busy!

[John Bull]

Gosh, we seem to be doing the England pre-cruise different from everyone else on our roll-call and what I have read here. It seems most people stay 2 days in London and travel direct to the ship on embarkation day.

 

We are planning on flying into Heathrow on 10/31, staying just the one night at the JW Marriott Grosvenor and doing a "drive-by" bus tour of London. Our flight gets in at 10:40a.m. Then tour/transfer from London to Southampton, staying 2 night in Southampton.

 

We love history and I know London must be amazing, but we tend to enjoy the countryside more than city-scape (we are after-all from Southern CA). Thought we would try to find a tour that would take us through Salisbury, Lacock, and Bath before returning us to Southampton. If time allows we would like to journey down to Portsmouth to the Naval Museum. Are we doing this wrong? Anyone have suggestions?

 

We're newbies at this and are feeling really insecure right now.:o

 

Your vacation, so your schedule & the hell with the herd. :)

 

But that schedule gives you only an afternoon in London - and an evening if you don't crash-out afer your overnight flight ;)

Despite your preferences, I fear that you will be very disappointed with what you'll manage to see & what you'll miss in such a limited time in London. There are ho-ho buses very convenient to your hotel, but the main route is 2.5 to 3 hours without even getting off (nb if you want to see Buckingham Palace you will have to get off, buses are not permitted past the front).

The sights will come thick & fast - a glimpse, mebbe a photo, & they're gone.

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/london/custompage.aspx?id=london_sightseeing_tour&gclid=

or

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/tour-information/tour-routes.htm

Do give consideration to turning that half-day in London into a day-and-a-half, at the expense of one of your other two days.

 

Seat-on-bus tours to Stonehenge and/or Bath only operate from London back to London.

But you could fix up a private transfer from London via Bath / Lacock / Stonehenge (visit or drive-by) / Salisbury to Southampton. With a civilised start time, that would give you adequate time at each & an early-evening arrival at your hotel. You could seek a quote from www.westquaycars.com

You might even consider continuing 20 miles past Southampton to Portsmouth to a hotel there. The Holiday Inn Express at Gunwharf Quays, as mentioned by bconley, is more basic than your chosen London hotel but is more-than-adequate for most & is perfectly located for both sightseeing & transport. Portsmouth is worth a full day, and there's more than enough for two.

 

An option is to give yourself that extra day in London, next day that private tour/transfer via Bath etc to Portsmouth, and next day a pretty inadequate four hours or thereabouts in Portsmouth & 45 minute transfer by coach or train or private car to your ship at Southampton.

So two nights with ideal time in London & one night with less time than you really need in Portsmouth, or vice-versa.

 

Or direct London to Portsmouth (train is simple & cheap) & get the ideal day-and-a-half in each, by consigning Bath/Lacock/Stonehenge/Salisbury to the next time you visit the UK. This is likely to be the cheapest option by some margin, since a private transfer is unneccessary

 

Portsmouth/Southsea is a city, but much more laid-back & manageable than "The Smoke" (London)

 

In a nutshell, you really need an extra day to sensibly achieve your aims - is that a possibility?

With the time you've allowed, something's gotta give.

 

JB :)

[LAC2]

Thank you all for your guidance and suggestions. Unfortunately my travel agent is not being very helpful, except in the already purchase airline tickets. Hence, won't be able to extend the stay.

 

The drive-by bus tour in London, this time around, is okay with us.

 

Had not considered staying in Portsmouth, but sounds very interesting.

 

Thank you again.

 

 

TA Newbie

[SwissDave]

Thank you all for your guidance and suggestions. Unfortunately my travel agent is not being very helpful, except in the already purchase airline tickets. Hence, won't be able to extend the stay.

 

The drive-by bus tour in London, this time around, is okay with us.

 

Had not considered staying in Portsmouth, but sounds very interesting.

 

Thank you again.

 

 

TA Newbie

 

Portsmouth is very close to Southampton, i.e. literally just down the road.

 

Another decent long day trip is the Isle of Wight, lots to see and do there. Easy short ferry ride from Southampton.

[John Bull]

Thank you all for your guidance and suggestions. Unfortunately my travel agent is not being very helpful, except in the already purchase airline tickets. Hence, won't be able to extend the stay.

 

The drive-by bus tour in London, this time around, is okay with us.

 

Had not considered staying in Portsmouth, but sounds very interesting.

 

Thank you again.

 

 

TA Newbie

 

That's a shame, but at least it makes your options simpler.

So just a ho-ho of London on the day you arrive, & leave London next morning.

 

If you take the private transfer/tour on day 2, you have the choice of

-----stay in Southampton 2 nights, with a side trip by train to Portsmouth on the full day, and wander Southampton's old city sights on the last morning - very easy walking tour of one to three hours from any city centre hotel.

Nb – noting your choice of hotel in London, Southampton city centre has no large 5-star hotels. Plenty of very acceptable hotels, but top hotels are in the countryside outside the city – very pleasant but no good for a traveller with a tight schedule and no personal transport

----- or stay in Portsmouth 2 nights, with the full day and the following morning there. The historic dockyard tickets are very flexible - so you can mix your time up a bit with other sights such as the Spinnaker Tower or Southsea seafront's D-Day museum & adjacent (small but free) Henry V111 castle or even a ferry or hovercraft crossing to the Isle of Wight or a ferry across the harbour entrance and short taxi ride to Gosport's Submarine Museum.

 

A cheaper option, if you're prepared to scrub Lacock and either Salisbury or Bath, is a train direct from London to Southampton, drop your luggage at your hotel & take the train for a day-trip to Salisbury, or past Salisbury to Bath. Because it'll be a late start from Southampton you'll not have time to visit both Salisbury and Bath, but if you opted for Salisbury you would also have time for at least a ho-ho drive-by of Stonehenge.

That leaves the next day free for the side-trip to Portsmouth, and the last morning for a look round Southampton.

 

You could tour both Salisbury and Bath in one full day from Southampton, either by train or private car (plus Stonehenge drive-by & a little time in Lacock if by private car)

That would have to be the day after you transfer from London, which takes your plans for Portsmouth out of the equation since its not worth going there for half a day. But it gives you the option of leaving London late in the day, giving you most of that transfer day in the capital.

 

Yet more options are train transfer to Southampton via Bath or Salisbury. This involves hauling luggage, but there are storage facilities near both of those stations.

 

You could even take the train from Southampton to Salisbury for the morning of your embarkation day

 

Lots of permutations, depending on your priorities and how much money you want to spend.

 

Here’s some useful websites:

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search

Relevant stations are London Waterloo, Southampton central, PortsmouthHarbour, Bath Spa, Salisbury.

Timetables only available from 3 months out, so choose a random date on the same day of the week.

Cheap pre-booked Megatrain tickets available on some trains London to Southampton or London to Portsmouth at just £4 pp. Can give you more detail if you want to choose this option

http://www.visit-southampton.co.uk/

http://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/

http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/

(nb – The Mary Rose is inaccessible at present due to the re-building of it’s hall, & HMS Victory will not be looking at her best due to a major renovation but will remain open)

http://www.thestonehengetour.info/

 

JB :)

[LAC2]

Thanks again, John.

 

More and more to think about. You make sound suggestions and I will take them to heart. when we started planning this trip we thought 3 days pre-cruise would be sufficient. It appears our time-table and wants need to be tweaked.

 

Thank you, also, for the links.

[LAC2]

I see now that our original plans were a bit too much for the time allowed.

Will delegate Bath and the Caen Hill Locks to another time.

 

What do you think of a plan to travel from our London hotel, to Hampton Court, south past Arundel Castle for photo-op, on to Portsmouth for a tour through the Dockyard, ending in Southampton? Still too much for one, all be it long, day?

 

Then the 2nd day perhaps we could take the train to Salisbury and back to Southampton.

 

Doable? Will we get to see much of the English countryside? Really don't have any desire to do Stonehendge.

 

I've looked and don't find any established tours like this. Thinking perhaps private car. Better out of London or Southampton.

 

Thank you so much for comments and advise.

[gosport11]

Just a quick comment,Portsmouth are having a lot of Charles Dickens themed things planned this year,to celebrate his birthday

[LAC2]

Amberley Village and Arundel Castle in West Sussex look amazing.

 

Does anyone think Arundel Castle is better to see than Hampton Court?

[K8T]

Personally, I think you are trying to do too much. There are so many options, you probably need to choose what is most important to you. A private car is easy, but expensive option.

 

There is a direct train line from London Waterloo, to Southampton and that may be the way to go, the line also goes through Winchester, which is a fantastic town (the old capital of England), it has tons of history, really old buildings and a fantastic cathedral, you could in fact stay a night here, or go onto Southampton and then get the train back there the next day.

 

It takes around 15/25 minutes from Southampton (direct) to Winchester and both train stations are walkable from the town.

 

Southampton is good for a day, there is great shopping and also some history there.

 

From Southampton, you can get to Portsmouth - again a direct train line, takes about an hour at the most. I am not sure how you get from the station to the Historic Docks, but a taxi wouldn't be expensive, maybe someone else will know this. Personally, I think the docks are not that interesting - but there speaks a female, my otherhalf would enjoy them.

 

You can also take the train from Southampton to Bath - there is a direct train, takes an hour and a half. The journey is a beautiful one, through great countryside, the station you need is Bath Spa.

 

If you have a need to go to Salisbury, then get the train again, from Southampton, takes 30/40 minutes direct. However, if you wanted to see Stonehenge, you would need to take a taxi or the bus. There is a tour that goes from the town to Stonehenge and also Old Sarum, which is a hill fort just on the edges of Salisbury. http://www.thestonehengetour.info/

 

 

Also you have the New Forest on the doorstep from Southampton a 20 minute drive away. You really need a car to make the most of this area, as stations are not really convenient. There is a tour bus from here too, although it only runs in the summer

 

http://www.thenewforesttour.info/index.shtml I would suggest if you do this, to do the Green Route.

 

There are some truely beautiful villages and towns in the Forest, which isn't a forest at all anymore, just open common land with wild ponies grazing on it. It would be easy enough to book a car/taxi for the day at an agreed rate in Southampton and go to places like Beaulieu (great old house and car museum), Lyndhurst (I used to work in Lyndhurst) and Lymington. See the wild ponies roaming on open land and experience some beautiful scenery. Lyndhurst has a very interesting museum and visitor centre, that will tell you all about the forest, its traditions and history.

 

In the UK, you can get a Day Return fare on most trains, if you travel after 9am it really shouldn't be too expensive.

 

London is great and everyone heads and stays there, but really it isn't a real snapshot of the UK, bit like saying New York is what America is like!

 

I lived and worked in Southampton and the New Forest for many years, so perhaps I am biased, but I think Southampton is a great base to travel from.

 

So much to see and so little time now, I probably haven't helped atall!!!!

[John Bull]

Amberley Village and Arundel Castle in West Sussex look amazing.

 

Does anyone think Arundel Castle is better to see than Hampton Court?

 

Yep.:)

Though most would disagree.

 

Hampton Court was a major royal palace & has significant history. It's huge, with magnificent halls, gardens, a famous maze, its original "real tennis" court etc. Worthy of a day, pointless for less than a couple of hours. You will see virtually nothing from the road, it has a long drive.

Not far from Heathrow.

 

Arundel Castle is nowhere near as big or well-known. But it's very much more manageable. Inhabited and extended/altered since it was built in about the 12th century, so you get to see glimpses of castle life through the centuries. A wide spectrum of history in mebbe 2 to 3 hours. Pleasant little town too.

Again, you will not get a worthy photo-opportunity from the road. Anyway, it'd be daft to go so far out of your way for just that. But alternatively you can visit next day by train or car from Portsmouth

I don't see nearby Amberley as worthy of a visit, other than its Chalk Pits museum if you're into 19th/ early 20th century engineering.

 

Portsmouth historic dockyard needs a half-day (K8T - very different from years ago, 3 historic ships, big museum, lots of buildings, displays, artefacts). Add Portsmouth's other sights & you're looking at a very full day.

 

The only advantage of London - Portsmouth via Arundel is that its a more scenic route - but that come at the cost of a much longer journey time than driving the super-slab. And a great deal more expensive by car than the simple & inexpensive direct train (K8T - the train terminates at Portsmouth Harbour, mebbe 100 yards from the dockyard gate :))

 

So London hotel to Southampton (or Portsmouth) hotel really means via Hampton Court OR Arundel OR Portsmouth dockyard. You'll not fit in two, never mind three

 

Good train service from London to Southampton or Portsmouth.

Portsmouth train goes past Arundel - you'll see both castle & cathedral from the train but the station is outside the town & I doubt there's anywhere to store luggage.

 

There's a good direct train service Portsmouth-Southampton-Salisbury-Bath.

 

So some options to consider:

 

1. (I rate this by far the poorest option of the three)

By car, London - Hampton Court or Arundel Castle - Southampton hotel.

Full day. Bath or Portsmouth or Winchester by day-return train

Cruise morning - Salisbury or Winchester by day-return train (both best with short taxi hop from rail station to city centre/cathedral), or Southampton old town on foot.

 

This involves a car/driver for a full day on a one-way trip from London. If you're prepared to consider a car/driver you'd do waaaaaaaay better to have it to tour on your full day - options from Southampton include, as K8T's suggestion, the New Forest. Combine it with an hour or two in Salisbury. Or drive further west, to the Dorset downs & villages.

Best option from Portsmouth is probably Chichester & the Sussex Downs, mebbe include Arundel and/or the Weald & Downland open-air museum if the weather's fine www.wealddown.co.uk/

Any of these tours would give you some great countryside & villages.

But at the expense of the full-day suggestions below.

 

2.

By train, London - Southampton hotel (any city centre hotel), day-return train to Salisbury (or possibly Bath, if you make an early start from London)

Full day. Day-return train to Portsmouth or Bath.

Cruise morning - day-return train to Salisbury or Winchester, or Southampton old town on foot.

 

3.

By train, London - Portsmouth hotel (Holiday Inn Express, Gunwharf Quays?), most of the day/evening in Portsmouth

Full day. Day-return train to Bath or Salisbury or, in the opposite direction, to Arundel.

Cruise morning - more sights in Portsmouth, train to Southampton.

 

See - you really should have planned to spend a fortnight in England :p

But pruning our wishes to fit our itineraries is something we cruisers have to accept.

And with two nights at the same hotel, you can be flexible & change your plans as you go.

 

More coffee, more headache pills, more options to ponder.:D

 

JB :)

[LAC2]

You are right. A fortnight would have been wonderful. I, however, still have to answer to my boss as I'm still part of the working crowd. I'm already taking 3 weeks, which is really unusual in the US for a vacation.

 

Lots and lots to think about.

 

I need to stop looking at different areas and adding to the wish list and decide what our "absolute musts" are.

 

Thank you all.