Windsor Palace and Hampton Court same day-too much?

[cruisegal415]

We have two full days pre-cruise in London.  We'd like to see both Windsor Palace and Hampton Court, and have been vacillating on whether to do a transfer from London to Heathrow that includes a two hour stop at Windsor Castle on the day we embark, or try to see both of them the day before.  There are some excursions that will pick us up at our hotel Weds. morning and drive us to Windsor, allow two hours there, then drive us to Hampton Court, and allow two hours there.  These are pretty expensive for two people.  So now I'm wondering about trying to get to Hampton Court on our own, which I know is doable, but can we take a train to Hampton Court, tour Hampton Court for a couple of hours, and then go to Windsor or vice versa? Trying to get a driver through a company that works with Viator would cost over $700 for two of us, that is too much.  Are there cabs or ubers that would take us from London to either Hampton Court or Windsor? What suggestions do you have?

[John Bull]

The first bit's easy.

You can take the half-hourly direct train to Hampton Court station from central London's Waterloo station, or join it at Vauxhall station if that's more convenient to your hotel. 

Journey time 30 - 40 minutes, fare about £8.

A five minute walk from the station over the RiverThames & Hampton Court Palace is on your right. It's well worth a visit, and two hours won't do it justice.

 

The next bit's not so easy.

Hampton Court to Windsor is about 15 miles.

30 minutes by road, but a tortuous 90 minutes by train since you start by going in the wrong direction to Clapham Junction where you change to a train to Windsor & Eton Riverside, fare £10. Then a ten-minute walk to Windsor Castle (note "castle", not "Palace")

Again, 2 hours is less than optimal.

 

Then easy back to London Waterloo

Back to Windsor & Eton Riverside station for the half-hourly direct train to Waterloo. Journey time one hour, fare £11.

 

https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

The krunch is Hampton Court to Windsor - the train will cost you more than an hour compared to a taxi.

I'll leave a Londoner to guestimate the cost of a taxi, but phoning for one - or an Uber (are they even allowed?) - will be so much cheaper than hailing a traditional black cab.

 

Check opening & closing times and figure how much time you'll have with either option.

 

I didn't understand "............whether to do a transfer from London to Heathrow that includes a two hour stop at Windsor Castle on the day we embark"   The day you fly out from LHR, or cruise out from Southampton?,

 

JB 🙂

[cruisegal415]

23 hours ago, John Bull said:

I didn't understand "............whether to do a transfer from London to Heathrow that includes a two hour stop at Windsor Castle on the day we embark"   The day you fly out from LHR, or cruise out from Southampton?,

 

JB 🙂

I totally wrote that wrong.  I meant, we can take a transfer from our hotel to the port in Southampton (not Heathrow, don't know what I was thinking) that would include a two hour layover in Windsor to see the palace. 

 

I am now thinking maybe we should just go to Hampton Court on one day, that way we have enough time to explore as we wish, and then just do the two hour visit on the day we head down to Southampton since it is easier to get to Hampton Court than to Windsor from our London hotel.

[John Bull]

33 minutes ago, cruisegal415 said:

I totally wrote that wrong.  I meant, we can take a transfer from our hotel to the port in Southampton (not Heathrow, don't know what I was thinking) that would include a two hour layover in Windsor to see the palace. 

 

I am now thinking maybe we should just go to Hampton Court on one day, that way we have enough time to explore as we wish, and then just do the two hour visit on the day we head down to Southampton since it is easier to get to Hampton Court than to Windsor from our London hotel.

 

 

Yes - spot on 🙂

 

And I'll hazard a guess that the tour-transfer from your hotel (or one very close) to your cruise terminal in Southampton via  two hours at Windsor castle is this one .............. 

https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/london-heathrow-to-southampton-via-windsor-castle.html

Well-established tour coach operators, used by many many Cruise Critic members.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

[cruisegal415]

10 minutes ago, John Bull said:

And I'll hazard a guess that the tour-transfer from your hotel (or one very close) to your cruise terminal in Southampton via  two hours at Windsor castle is this one .............. 

https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/london-heathrow-to-southampton-via-windsor-castle.html

Well-established tour coach operators, used by many many Cruise Critic members.

Exactly right.  I found another one that is more reasonable but picks  up from our hotel starting at 7 am, then goes to Heathrow to pick up passengers there, so it's basically two hours on a bus before they even start the drive to Windsor.