London Daytrips

• Bath

The world’s original tourist town, Bath has been a must-see since AD 43, when the Romans built an elaborate complex of baths to house the curative waters of the town they called Aquae Sulis. In the 18th ...more

• Brighton

Brighton (pop. 250,000) is one of Britain’s largest seaside resorts. King George IV came to Brighton in 1783 and enjoyed the anything-goes atmosphere so much that he transformed a farmhouse into his ...more

• Cambridge

Unlike museum-oriented, metropolitan Oxford, Cambridge is a town for students before tourists. It was here that Newton’s gravity, Watson and Crick’s model of DNA, the poetry of Byron and ...more

• Canterbury

In 1170, four knights left Henry II’s court in France and traveled to Canterbury to murder Archbishop Thomas à Becket beneath the massive columns of his own cathedral. Three centuries of ...more

• The Cotswolds

The Cotswolds have deviated little from their etymological roots: “Cotswolds” means “sheep enclosures in rolling hillsides.” Despite the rather sleepy moniker, the Cotswolds ...more

• Dover

From the days of Celtic invaders to the age of the Chunnel, the white chalk cliffs of Dover have been many a traveler’s first glimpse of England. They have also been witness to some serious wartime ...more

• Hampton Court

Only 12 mi. upriver of central London, Hampton Court is considered part of Greater London, in the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames. There isn’t much else in the area besides the Hampton ...more

• Oxford

Oxford has been home to nearly a millennium of scholarship—25 British prime ministers and numerous other world leaders have been educated here. In 1167, Henry II founded Britain’s first ...more

• Richmond

Richmond is where London ends and the countryside begins. Although accessible by Tube, it is a town in its own right. Edward III built the first royal palace here in 1358, but a major fire in 1497 burned ...more

• Salisbury

Salisbury’s winding alleyways and old-fashioned cinema are a step back in time. Despite its tourist popularity, Salisbury retains its small-town charm. Market Square’s pavement cafes and ...more

• Stonehenge

A half-ruined ring of colossal stones amid swaying grass and indifferent sheep has become a world-famous attraction. Curious tourists visit Stonehenge in droves to see the 22 ft. high stones, pockmarked ...more

• Stratford-Upon-Avon

Shakespeare was born here. This fluke of fate has made Stratford-upon-Avon a major stop on the tourist superhighway. Proprietors tout the dozen-odd properties linked, however remotely, to the Bard and ...more

• Winchester

This ancient capital of medieval England is now a modern hot spot best known for its massive cathedral. Home to Jane Austen and John Keats, Winchester was the center of the kingdoms of both Alfred the ...more

• Windsor And Eton

The town of Windsor and the attached village of Eton center entirely on Windsor Castle and Eton College, two famed symbols of the British upper crust. Windsor is thick with specialty shops, tea houses ...more