London to Bath: Day Trip
Whether you’re just getting a start on your road trip, like I was, or you’re looking for a day outside of the city center, take a look these places.
By train, by car, by bus, hell… by teleportation, just hop in and let’s go!
We began our day by picking up our rental car from Heathrow Airport at about 9am. If you’re from the Unites States, keep in mind that most of these cars are going to be peanut sized. You may not like looking at them, but they’re quite nimble, and you’ll appreciate the space saving once you drive a bit. If you’re going by train or bus, you’ll just hop on and off at the stations.
I chose a final destination that wasn’t too far away, but was worthwhile for a next day adventure as well. Bath, UK was the solution. I had been to Bath years before, but my recollection was hazy.
Leave London Heathrow, which is already far west of town. This will save you a lot of time if you’re driving.
First stop, Windsor Castle inside the town of Windsor, Berkshire. I had never searched photos of this place. When we drove up, it was quite massive. It was impressive. It surprised me how nice the exterior was.
In the UK, you get 3 types of castles: The humungous stone castles, as if plucked from medieval movies. The ruins castles which look like Drogo melted 80% of them. Then, the pseudo castles which are labeled castles, but really are some form of a large manor or mansion. Granted, I am not challenging the formal definition of castles in the UK. I am just speaking from a colloquial label on first glance. It’s actually fun to guess which the next will be. It’s like watching a film without viewing the trailer. I do appreciate all types though.
Parking in Windsor’s town can be difficult. Driving up to the castle can get you stuck in a traffic loop for quite a while. Being as we were on a timeline, we messed up aiming for a car park. The best bet is to park slightly down the street from the town shops leading up to the castle. We used the RingGo app and parked on the street coordinating with ID#37514 location. It was a quick walk, I recommend this spot. Walk the Long Walk through Windsor Great Park on your way to the castle, it is spectacular.
You can enter the castle (estimated 4 hours on average inside), but it’s a bit pricier than others. Being on limited time, we didn’t want to pay that much for a quick walkthrough. I only frivolously spend money on Legos, speakers, and Harry Potter paraphernalia 🤣.
You can walk the town for a bit. It’s a compact, nice little area. There are loads of shops. Grab some coffee, snack, or souvenir. I sold out and got Starbucks, being that anywhere else I order coffee it comes in a shot glass 🤭. You can certainly capture some nice photos from outside of the walls as well.
Onward to Highclere Castle! I have wanted to see this castle since I lived in London in 2013. After this trip in 2022… I still want to see this castle 😂.
My plans didn’t go accordingly, but that doesn’t mean yours cannot. You have a few options here.
Many will want to visit this for the relation to Downton Abbey. I hadn’t really paid much attention to the show until this year. Although I did see it all over Alnwick Castle in 2019. My reasoning was for its architecture and use in a childhood movie I adored (The Secret Garden). Either way, it has got its perks.
Unfortunately, tickets to this place are few and far between in offerings. They are also expensive, even more so with that lovely exchange rate. Granted, they do offer full interactive type tours. We had one day to go there, and they actually had a ticket opening for that day. However, it was for a lengthy tour of “how people live in a castle,” or something of the sort. Personally, I have zero interest in anything such as that. I, namely, wanted to see the gardens and walk some of the interior a bit. I had no desire to do any formal interactions or tour. I forwent the tickets, and they sold out a day later anyhow.
There was an alternative. There are several public footpaths that are nearby the estate. I suggest going on 1 or 2. 1 is closest, and 2 has a great experience. These can be difficult to navigate. Read more about it here.
Stonehenge was next on the agenda, but its last entry is at 3pm, typically. They close it at 5pm, again, typically. However, there are special tours that allow you in later at night through the rear entrance. Due to the sunset being far later than we’re used to, we went for it.
After driving in long circles around the area in an attempt to find a back way, we finally caught a break. Unfortunately, you’ll have to drive many miles to circle around because you cannot really turn around like you normally would be able to. I will pinpoint the location of this side entrance on a map above. The exact coordinates are 51.1778026, -1.8319481. I believe you can also access this road from the opposite side, however, you cannot access it from the You must pay attention because it comes up on you very fast and then it is gone. Don’t forget, you’re on an interstate going fast in one lane.
Beforehand, I tried to enter the main gate. It was, of course, closed. I then tried to find some walking paths from other blogs (as recent as 2022) but they were, literally, fiction 😑. I had driven to towns, through towns, and all over. Finally, I just decided to circle the damn place on my own intuition.
You will span maybe 7-10 miles to circle this. The final turn onto the A303 is where we saw it up close! Suddenly, we passed what appeared to be a dirt road. It’s a bit hidden if you’re not explicitly looking for it. So… we circled again. Ten or so minutes later, I got onto the road. It was a bumpy dirt road. There were a dozen RV type vehicles parked all the way down for a mile or so. I got out not knowing if we were allowed there. I started taking photos as soon as I could. We were pretty far off in the distance. There were also sheep all over.
A few minutes later, no one intervened so I attempted to drone. After that, I noticed a group walking down toward the perpendicular path to the stones. I decided to follow. Once you get to the rear gate, you’ll meet a security guard. He is very friendly, and probably more knowledgeable than the tour guides working there. He also explained that we were safe where we parked, and we were more than welcome to take this rear path that is right behind the main path. It is very close to the stones. You don’t have to pay to go here either. You can access it until late, and it was fairly empty. What a win!
We walked up as close as we could get, granted even the paying customers cannot cross the inner rope to the stones. You can easily get decent photos with a phone here. A 50mm lens will seem like you’re too zoomed in. We snagged some photos just as a tour bus arrived. It must’ve been a night tour group. They proceeded to block the stones, but it was fine because we already got photos. Point being, if you wait a bit, it’ll clear out between tours.
It was great to be able to figure this out. I cannot believe people were listing ridiculous walking paths from miles away online. Do yourself a favor, just find this road and do the brief 2-minute walk to the stones for free. If you do make it before 3pm, just pay to enter. It will support the upkeep and workers, and it isn’t too much.
The security guard was insightful, as I mentioned, and he told us about the town of Avebury that was only 30 minutes north. It had stones all over the town that formed circles. We though, why not… It only diverted us from Bath an extra 10-15 minutes.
Avebury Sunset
Avebury has a car park using the Justpark app with ID#516221. There is no sidewalk. You must jump across the main interstate, but you’ll see a gate that connects to the large open field where the largest stones are. You can walk this path quite a while, it’s beautiful. Sun was setting perfectly on the stones. Nearly no one was around. There were pubs nearby that looked open, but parking appeared to be crammed. If you want to see those, just walk past the large stones and stay in the open field to be safe.
Finally, the last haul to Bath. It’s a pretty drive and relaxed. Maybe 45 minutes or so from here. Once you arrive in Bath, it may be packed. We stayed at the Abbey Hotel Bath, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel - Marriott. It is dead city center in a great location. However, we found out that they don’t have their own car park. The best bet to park is the Manver’s Street Car Park (with Mipermit app ID#751012) but park up top because Bath didn’t seem the safest. There is another gated car park further down, if need be.
Pulteney Bridge
Bath, surprisingly, was pretty wild at night. It was a Friday though. I felt like I was in a massive frat party 🤣. It could’ve just been bad coincidence. Anyhow, the stay was nice. We stayed in the basement and had a large room with its own private patio. Check out The Real Italian Pizza Company for great food. Sit on the second floor for a fun view. Also, you can grab a night photo off the bridge which is right next to the Marriott hotel.
Relax, have a good night.
Side note; in the morning, the town was beautiful and lively with absolutely no party crowd left. It’s a perfect time to explore the entire city.
