Rare LINDAE3213 Posted June 5 #1 Share Posted June 5 Hi! Taking adult nephew on 1st trip....on his list is stonehenge/windsor castle. I've seen both but it's been 40 years since. Found an 11 hour tour...yes I know it will be longgg day..similar to our grand canyon tour via vegas...mostly drive time. Anyone been recently? Pro/con on tour companies...thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bull Posted June 5 #2 Share Posted June 5 There's a number of established & respected coach operators offering this itinerary as a day-trip from central London - Evan Evans, Golden Tours, Premium, Kings Ferry, International Friends, to name just a few. The main choices are Stonehenge alone, or Stonehenge plus Windsor or Stonehenge plus Bath. Windsor alone from central London is very cheap and easy by direct train. Ditto Bath, altho it's a lot further. Stonehenge (plus Salisbury) just a little more complicated - direct train to the historic cathedral city of Salisbury then ho-ho to Stonehenge. But combining two or more places in one day isn't practical by train. If you are spending time in London pre-cruise - or especially post-cruise - and your cruise is out of Southampton or Dover, there's a much better option............. International Friends offers cruise passengers a choice of door-to-door tour-transfers between ship and central London hotels or (for Southampton cruises) Heathrow airport. The ship-to-London direction is by far the better value since it's not constrained by cruise registration times and consequently tours are more-comprehensive. Ship > Salisbury Stonehenge > Windsor > London hotel is one of the options. https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/shore-excursions-and-cruise-transfers.html Whatever your transport, buy your Stonehenge tickets with your tour (or Salisbury ho-ho) tickets. Numbers at Stonehenge are limited,............ - If you buy tickets from the Stonehenge website you have to quote a half-hour arrival window, if you're late for that time window you'll have to wait for an under-subscribed window. - If you buy on arrival you risk the same delay. - But tickets bought from tour operators (and the Salisbury ho-ho and ships' tours) are "admission anytime" JB 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TouchstoneFeste Posted June 5 #3 Share Posted June 5 16 minutes ago, John Bull said: But tickets bought from tour operators (and the Salisbury ho-ho and ships' tours) are "admission anytime" To really blow your nephew's mind, look into an "inner circle" tour of Stonehenge. Seeing it from the outside is amazing. Seeing it up close is ... beyond amazing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LINDAE3213 Posted June 5 Author #4 Share Posted June 5 Thanks for info..we are not cruising pre or post just visiting london..but I have found this board responsive to questions...been pending admission on another site for several days now...so can't ask questions there. I am aware if we do both in 1 day via tour it will be overview trips to both not comprehensive but my thought is some is better than none. Nephew can always come back on other trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LINDAE3213 Posted June 5 Author #5 Share Posted June 5 1 minute ago, TouchstoneFeste said: To really blow your nephew's mind, look into an "inner circle" tour of Stonehenge. Seeing it from the outside is amazing. Seeing it up close is ... beyond amazing. Will do! We are not going til end July...i was there in 1980's with high school trip via the travel club...we found cabbage patch dolls to bring home...such fond memories of being a teenager on my 1st trip...nephew is 28 but I think he will enjoy london and any little surprises will be delightful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeMark Posted June 6 #6 Share Posted June 6 Did International Friends from Southampton to Bath and Windsor, drop off at our hotel in London. Big win. Well done and very professional. A good day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehowlingroad Posted June 7 #7 Share Posted June 7 If you have the time for, I would recommend separating Windsor and Stonehenge. We did the International Friends tour mentioned above, and found it unbalanced-- too much time at Stonehenge and not enough at Windsor. It was convenient for us, coming back from Southampton port, but if you don't need the transfers, then consider looking for a Stonehenge-specific tour, or one of the specialty tours that allow for inside-the-henge viewing, and then doing Windsor on your own. The town outside the castle is a lot of fun to wander, but the combined tour will give you the option of the castle or the town, but not enough time for both. We also did Bath on our own on our last trip to London and it was very easy-- 90 min one-way train from Paddington Station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LINDAE3213 Posted June 7 Author #8 Share Posted June 7 25 minutes ago, thehowlingroad said: If you have the time for, I would recommend separating Windsor and Stonehenge. We did the International Friends tour mentioned above, and found it unbalanced-- too much time at Stonehenge and not enough at Windsor. It was convenient for us, coming back from Southampton port, but if you don't need the transfers, then consider looking for a Stonehenge-specific tour, or one of the specialty tours that allow for inside-the-henge viewing, and then doing Windsor on your own. The town outside the castle is a lot of fun to wander, but the combined tour will give you the option of the castle or the town, but not enough time for both. We also did Bath on our own on our last trip to London and it was very easy-- 90 min one-way train from Paddington Station. Understood...still looking at every option...trying to lay out the daily itinerary....have to get nephew to put his wish list in priority order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajtaylor29 Posted June 18 #9 Share Posted June 18 We booked Stonehenge Full access tours, which was a private car. Options were for either sunrise or sunset tours, i would have preferred sunset but they were sold out so we did the sunrise tour. Driver picked us up at our hotel at 4:30 am............yuk. BUT, it was an amazing experience and i would highly recommend. After Stonehenge he toured us a couple of other places on the way back to London. Great trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bull Posted June 18 #10 Share Posted June 18 9 minutes ago, ajtaylor29 said: We booked Stonehenge Full access tours, which was a private car. Options were for either sunrise or sunset tours, i would have preferred sunset but they were sold out so we did the sunrise tour. Driver picked us up at our hotel at 4:30 am............yuk. BUT, it was an amazing experience and i would highly recommend. After Stonehenge he toured us a couple of other places on the way back to London. Great trip! I drove a sunrise group some years back, they were staying in a hotel in Salisbury. There were no facilities a out of regular visitor hours. But they knew that, the coach had hot drinks and a bathroom, they brought food with them, and they didn't need audio guides because they'd hired a very knowledgeable local guide who travelled with us. Was it the same for you ? Or were there any facilities at that God-forsaken hour ? JB 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajtaylor29 Posted June 18 #11 Share Posted June 18 I"m trying to remember what we did about facilities!! I'm sure the driver made a stop for us somewhere (i remember getting coffee!). We also didn't need audio guides as our guide/driver knew what he was talking about and we learned so much from him! Getting to walk thru and right up to the stones was just amazing! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TouchstoneFeste Posted June 19 #12 Share Posted June 19 12 hours ago, John Bull said: I drove a sunrise group some years back, they were staying in a hotel in Salisbury. There were no facilities a out of regular visitor hours. But they knew that, the coach had hot drinks and a bathroom, they brought food with them, and they didn't need audio guides because they'd hired a very knowledgeable local guide who travelled with us. Was it the same for you ? Or were there any facilities at that God-forsaken hour ? JB 🙂 Ours left London around sunrise, so it turned out to be a "Pretty early in the morning" tour; still, it was breathtaking to be alone in the inner ring. The facilities were open and the regular tour buses were just starting to arrive as we left. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMLAalum Posted June 19 #13 Share Posted June 19 We visited Stonehenge on our own, driving from Chipping Campden very early in the morning so as to be on the first bus to the ruins (prepurchased tickets). Both DH and I were able to get amazing people-free photos! We entered our best shots in our camera club's competition- DH, the camera buff, took a 1st and I received a 2nd using my Lumix point and shoot. It is well worth the pre-dawn departure to experience Stonehenge ahead of the crowds! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQrobin Posted June 24 #14 Share Posted June 24 Definitely get the EARLIEST tour for Stonehenge! It gets insanely busy every single day. We did our tour thru Princess on our port stop at Portland. It was a combo of Stonehenge and Salisbury cathedral. LOVED it, great tour guide who made the bus ride enjoyable as he gave history of every town we drove thru on way, as well as various legends and lore. My hubby had done Stonehenge back in 90s when it wasn't roped off, so he was afraid he wouldn't enjoy this but he did. Salisbury cathedral was magnificent, could have spent a whole day there, and we got to see the Magna Carta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LINDAE3213 Posted August 9 Author #15 Share Posted August 9 Back from trip..did golden tour ..stonehenge first windsor castle 2nd. Windsor felt rushed. Good overview but kept watching the clock. As others said should do windsor on its own. Took Buckingham palace tour on a monday and it was fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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