Bath or Windsor as excursion from Southampton?

[mousefan73]

Hi!

In November will be arrive Southampton on the Virtuosa and are looking at two excursions. I am trying to find MSC specific reviews on these. Need your input on which one we should book.

 

1. Bath: SOU24 for 7 hours.

It says 2 hours drive to get there. City tour and a walkabout with guide for Pulteney Bridge. States enough time to explore on your own for lunch. I assume another 2 hours back. Leaving actually only 3 hrs for Bath?!?.

 

2. Windsor: SOU19 for 8 hours

It says after an 1.5 hour drive you arrive at the Castle. With a tour of the State roooms and St. George's Chapel. After the tour you  head to the city ( I assume the bus takes you there from the Castle to town?? if not how far of a walk?) where you have time to shop and check out the gregorian streets.

 

 

Has anyone taken these tours.. We need to decide which one. Bath seems so hectic compared to Windsor doesn it? longer drive, is it? and shorter stay.

I am a huge Jane Austen fan and am worried, there is more single things to see there spread out vs Windsor. Windsor is a single location and the town just a town.. I think in bath i would be trying to run about trying to take in the Crescent, Roman Baths, Jane Austen stuff. KWIM?

 

Any insights on these? thanks!

 

 

Plus my mom is mobile but elderly, which one is least exhausting. She can walk but is Slooooow and needs a sitdown here and there.

Edited October 20, 2022 by mousefan73

[ChattTenn]

We did a tour from London that included both places. 

 

Bath is famous because of the Roman Bath but not too much to see regarding the town (small).

 

Windsor Castle is very large and town surrounding is very small not too much to see.

 

Both places will require a good amount of walking.  For us I would choose Windsor over Bath because the castle has more things to see.  Our tour was on a large bus and it took us to the lower part of the town then walked through a section of town (I believe near a McDonald) then right to get ticket and entered the castle.  That tour included the Stateroom (very nice) and the Late Queen her dolls collection.  We went through St. George's Chapel on our own (just before leaving the castle).

Happy Cruising

Edited October 20, 2022 by ChattTenn

[BklynBorn47]

I agree with the above post - Windsor instead of Bath.  We have done both, not on a cruise but on our own when that was our preference pre covid.  

 

There was a lot to see in the castle which included touring the kitchen and climbing the tower (not for you I understand). Is there time to walk the castle grounds on your own?  I remember shopping in town.  It was pleasant.
In Bath we had our own car.  It would have been a lot of walking.  I would think that would be hard on your mother and limit the amount you could see, especially the Jane Austin sites.  

 

Considering the Queen's recent death, I think the Windsor visit would be more memorable.

Good luck.

[Ehg]

As a UK resident both of these seem crazy to me - on our little island we find any distance a chore! 😂

 

if you’d like a suggestion, I would recommend either hiring a car or getting a taxi and going to Lymington (or if you hire a car you could just explore the South coast, which is beautiful).

 

Lymington is a lovely Georgian town with an active sailing scene, loads of fabulous places to eat and a very pretty nature reserve walk. 
 

However, if you’d like a recommendation between the two, I would also go for Windsor for exactly the reasons given by BklynBorn47. It’s an extremely pretty town and quintessentially English. The late Queen’s favourite home 🥺and home to Eton Collage. 😊 

[Stockjock]

We just got back from a stop in Southampton a couple of weeks ago.  We chose the London tour, but I wouldn't recommend it.  I think we spent a solid 5+ hours on the bus and there wasn't enough time to really see much, although we did have a bit of time in the Tower of London.

We will be back there later this year and we chose to do the Titanic Trail walking tour in Southampton.  It's only about $40 USD per person and I've read reviews elsewhere suggesting that it was interesting.  We didn't do Bath or Windsor because we thought they'd be boring.  We didn't care about Stonehenge either.

[sm9690]

On 10/20/2022 at 9:41 AM, mousefan73 said:

Hi!

In November will be arrive Southampton on the Virtuosa and are looking at two excursions. I am trying to find MSC specific reviews on these. Need your input on which one we should book.

 

1. Bath: SOU24 for 7 hours.

It says 2 hours drive to get there. City tour and a walkabout with guide for Pulteney Bridge. States enough time to explore on your own for lunch. I assume another 2 hours back. Leaving actually only 3 hrs for Bath?!?.

 

2. Windsor: SOU19 for 8 hours

It says after an 1.5 hour drive you arrive at the Castle. With a tour of the State roooms and St. George's Chapel. After the tour you  head to the city ( I assume the bus takes you there from the Castle to town?? if not how far of a walk?) where you have time to shop and check out the gregorian streets.

 

 

Has anyone taken these tours.. We need to decide which one. Bath seems so hectic compared to Windsor doesn it? longer drive, is it? and shorter stay.

I am a huge Jane Austen fan and am worried, there is more single things to see there spread out vs Windsor. Windsor is a single location and the town just a town.. I think in bath i would be trying to run about trying to take in the Crescent, Roman Baths, Jane Austen stuff. KWIM?

 

Any insights on these? thanks!

 

 

Plus my mom is mobile but elderly, which one is least exhausting. She can walk but is Slooooow and needs a sitdown here and there.

I used to live in windsor and the castle is just a couple of minutes walk from the shops etc.

[HikingPete]

17 hours ago, Ehg said:

if you’d like a suggestion, I would recommend either hiring a car or getting a taxi and going to Lymington (or if you hire a car you could just explore the South coast, which is beautiful).

 

I am local to Southampton and I agree with this. Get a car, and you can visit nice little towns like Lymington, Romsey, the New Forest, or go to Winchester and see the Cathedral there as well as some nice museums, a castle, old roman walls etc. There are loads of "National Trust" or "English Heritage" sites nearby which usually have great grounds to walk through, but also historically significant.

 

Plan appropriately and you will see much, much more by yourself than you would on a tour in the UK.

[perakcruiser]

I would not recommend someone who never drove on the British side of the road (which unfortunately is also the Malaysia side) to rent a car in Southampton. Also still a lot of manual gearing rental cars around in Europe. 

[BertieRulesOK]

I grew up in Southampton.  The train station is easily reachable from the port and you can get a train to Winchester.  Winchester is very beautiful and Jane Austen lived there.  Very old and you can visit Jane Austen's grave in the Cathedral.  The Catherdral is beautiful.  Most importantly for your mum, Winchester is more or less FLAT.  Bath is on a hill.  Big hill.

 

Make sure to book for a lovely pub lunch in Winchester.

Edited October 23, 2022 by BertieRulesOK

[jmlh]

Can anyone suggest some other day trips from Southampton by train or bus.  We will have 3 days there next fall after a trip to Ireland & before our transatlantic.  Thanks.

[HikingPete]

On 10/21/2022 at 5:53 PM, perakcruiser said:

I would not recommend someone who never drove on the British side of the road (which unfortunately is also the Malaysia side) to rent a car in Southampton. Also still a lot of manual gearing rental cars around in Europe. 

 

Most rental companies will have automatic options. Its fairly straightforward to drive on the alternate side too. But if driving manual or on the left is a concern, there are regular trains to most of the places I've listed directly from Southampton.

Edited October 24, 2022 by HikingPete
Reworded and added info about trains

[Ryan82]

Second the recommendation to go to Winchester. Windsor is nice, but there's not actually that much to see. Bath is nice, but same applies tbh.