A week of day trips from a London base

Why base yourself in London for a week of day trips

Staying in one hotel in London and doing day trips by train, rather than moving hotels every night, cuts out repacking, saves on short-stay accommodation markups outside London, and keeps you close to Paddington, King’s Cross and Waterloo, the three stations this week runs from. It also means you always come back to a familiar base, which matters after a long day trip when the last thing you want is to navigate an unfamiliar town in the dark.

The trade-off is pace. Five out-and-back day trips in six days, plus a full day in London itself, is a lot of early starts and late trains. This itinerary keeps each day trip to a single destination rather than trying to stack two towns in one day, because rushed excursions are where people say afterwards that a place felt “surcotée” — overrated only because they gave it ninety minutes.

Before you go: the practical basics

Book a hotel near a mainline station if you can — somewhere between Paddington and King’s Cross keeps every excursion in this itinerary within a 15-minute cab or bus ride of your bed. Get an Oyster card or set up contactless on the day you land; both cap your daily and weekly fares automatically on the Tube, bus, DLR, Overground and Elizabeth line, so you don’t need to work out the cheapest ticket yourself. Most UK train operators sell advance tickets 8-12 weeks ahead at a fraction of the walk-up price, so book London-Oxford, London-Bath and London-Cambridge fares as soon as your dates are fixed.

Check the UK ETA rules before booking flights — most visitors, including EU nationals, now need an Electronic Travel Authorisation from gov.uk/eta before travel, applied for only on that official site, never a third-party one.

Trip	From	Journey time	Typical off-peak return fare
Windsor	Paddington (via Slough)	40-55 min	£15-25
Oxford	Paddington	55-65 min	£25-40
Stonehenge	Waterloo to Salisbury, then transfer	1h30-2h to site	varies by tour
Bath	Paddington	1h25-1h35	£40-60
Cambridge	King’s Cross	50-70 min	£25-40

Prices move with the season and how far ahead you book — treat this table as a range, not a quote, and check the operator’s site or your GetYourGuide/Viator booking for the day’s actual fare.

Day 1: Arrival and central London orientation

Spend your first day getting your bearings rather than trying to see everything. Walk from Westminster along the river to South Bank, taking in the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey from the outside, then cross to see the London Eye and Tate Modern from the South Bank side. This is also the day to buy your Oyster card, book any advance train tickets you haven’t already, and confirm your day-trip reservations.

If jet lag allows, a short evening walk through Bloomsbury past the British Museum (free entry, worth noting for a rainy afternoon later in the week) is a gentle way to end the day. For an oriented first look at the whole city, a bus tour or a Thames cruise both work well without requiring much energy.

a guided walking route through London’s film locations is a good low-key way to see several neighbourhoods on foot without a fixed itinerary.

Day 2: Windsor

Trains to Windsor leave from Paddington, changing at Slough for the branch line — the whole journey runs 40-55 minutes depending on the connection. Windsor Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world and the sovereign’s official residence, so opening hours and the Changing of the Guard schedule are published in advance and worth checking before you travel, since the Guard doesn’t change every day.

Across the Thames from the castle is Eton, home to Eton College; the college itself is visited on guided tours only, with restrictions during term time, but the town’s high street and the bridge views back to the castle are open any time. Budget half a day for the castle and an hour or two more if you want to walk into Eton.

A half-day Windsor tour with castle entry included is worth it if you’d rather not queue for tickets yourself, since Windsor Castle’s own ticket line can run long on peak mornings.

Day 3: Oxford

Trains from Paddington to Oxford take 55-65 minutes. Oxford isn’t a single campus — it’s a university made up of independent colleges scattered through the city, so pick two or three to visit rather than trying to see them all. Christ Church, the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera are the most photographed; several colleges charge separate entry and close to visitors during exam periods, so check which are open on your date.

If you have your own transport or book a combined tour, Blenheim Palace in nearby Woodstock is the only stately home in Britain that’s neither royal nor a bishop’s residence — it’s the birthplace of Winston Churchill and worth the extra half-day if your schedule allows it.

A direct day tour from London to Oxford handles the return transport and typically includes a walking tour of the main colleges, which is useful on a day trip since Oxford’s layout isn’t obvious on a first visit.

Day 4: Stonehenge

Stonehenge sits on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, roughly two hours from London by car or coach. It’s a prehistoric stone circle managed by English Heritage and a UNESCO World Heritage Site — not a castle, and there’s no building to walk through, just the circle itself and a visitor centre. Most people see it as part of a half- or full-day tour that also stops in Salisbury, whose cathedral has the tallest spire in Britain and holds one of the four surviving original copies of the 1215 Magna Carta, or in Avebury, a larger and much less visited stone circle nearby.

Independent train travel to Stonehenge itself is awkward — the nearest station is Salisbury, and from there you need a bus or taxi to the site — so most visitors book a coach tour direct from central London instead of trying to do this one by rail.

A day tour to Stonehenge with return coach travel from London is the simplest way to do this leg, and most versions include timed entry so you’re not queuing at the visitor centre.

Day 5: Bath

Bath trains run from Paddington, 1h25-1h35 direct. Bath is a Georgian city, not a Roman one, though its centrepiece is the Roman Baths — the bathing complex the Romans built around the natural hot spring, now a museum you walk through rather than swim in. The Royal Crescent and Bath Abbey are both a short walk from the baths, and the whole old town is compact enough to see on foot in a day.

A guided walking tour of Bath’s old town is a good way to get context on the Georgian architecture before you go into the Roman Baths yourself, since the baths’ own audio guide focuses on the Roman period rather than the city around it.

If you’d rather combine Bath with the surrounding countryside instead of Cambridge later in the week, a Bath and Cotswolds combination tour covers both in one long day — worth considering if you’d prefer to swap out one of the six destinations here for the Cotswolds villages instead.

Day 6: Cambridge

Cambridge trains leave from King’s Cross or St Pancras, 50-70 minutes depending on the service. Like Oxford, Cambridge is built around independent colleges rather than one campus — King’s College Chapel is the single most-visited building, and punting on the River Cam (being poled along the river in a flat-bottomed boat) is the activity most associated with the city, though it’s worth knowing that punting yourself takes practice; a chauffeured punt is the easier option for a short visit.

Oxford and Cambridge are genuinely different cities with different architecture and atmosphere, not two names for the same trip, so don’t skip one on the assumption you’ve “already done” the other.

A combined Oxford and Cambridge day tour exists for travellers who want to compare both cities directly, though on this itinerary you’re visiting them on separate days, which gives more time in each.

Day 7: Back to London

After five early starts, the last day is deliberately light. Use it for whatever the week’s pace didn’t allow: the free permanent collections at the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern or the V&A (all national museums with free entry), a West End show booked a day or two ahead, or simply revisiting a corner of London you only passed through on Day 1, like Greenwich or Camden. It also gives you a buffer if any of the earlier trains ran late or a booking needs rearranging.

Getting the logistics right

Every day trip above leaves from one of three stations — Paddington for Windsor and Oxford, Waterloo-adjacent transport or a direct coach for Stonehenge, and King’s Cross for Cambridge — so a hotel within easy reach of all three, roughly the Bloomsbury or Paddington area, minimises your daily transit time. Buy point-to-point train tickets in advance rather than turning up on the day; walk-up fares on these routes can be two to three times the advance price.

Pack for a temperate, changeable climate rather than a single forecast — layers and a light waterproof cover both an 8°C January day and a cloudy 23°C July one better than one heavy coat. And remember that in the UK you drive on the left, which matters if you’re tempted to add a rental car for the Cotswolds leg instead of the train-based days above.

Frequently asked questions about a week of London day trips

Do I need a car for this itinerary?

No. Windsor, Oxford, Bath and Cambridge all have direct or near-direct trains from central London stations, and Stonehenge is normally done as a coach tour rather than independently by rail. A car adds flexibility for the Cotswolds but isn’t needed for any of the six destinations in this plan.

Which stations do I need to know?

Paddington for Windsor and Oxford, King’s Cross or St Pancras for Cambridge, and Waterloo or a direct coach pickup for Stonehenge (via Salisbury if going independently). Victoria is the station for Brighton, if you swap that in instead of one of these six.

Can I do Stonehenge and Bath on the same day?

Some tours combine them, but it makes for a very long day with limited time at either site. This itinerary keeps them on separate days so you’re not rushing the Roman Baths after several hours on a coach.

Is a week enough time, or should I cut a destination?

A week fits all six comfortably if you treat Day 7 as a buffer. If you’re short on time, Stonehenge and Bath are the two most commonly combined or the two most easily dropped in favour of an extra London day.

Do Oxford and Cambridge feel very different, or is one enough?

They’re different cities with different college architecture, different rivers (the Isis in Oxford, the Cam in Cambridge) and different atmospheres. If you can only do one, Oxford is closer and marginally easier as a single day trip; Cambridge is better if punting on the river is the deciding factor.

What’s the best way to book tickets to these day-trip sites?

Book train tickets separately in advance on the operator’s site for the best fares, and use a tour booking for Stonehenge specifically, since independent rail access there is limited. For Windsor Castle and busy Bath attractions, a pre-booked timed ticket avoids queuing on the day.

Will the weather ruin any of these days?

Rain is possible any month and doesn’t usually stop these trips — Windsor Castle, the Bodleian, the Roman Baths and King’s College Chapel are all mostly indoor or covered. Stonehenge is the one outdoor site with no shelter, so check the forecast and dress for it.

Do I need the ETA for these day trips specifically?

The ETA is an entry requirement for the UK as a whole, not for individual towns — if you need one to enter the country, it covers this entire week, including every day trip, not just London itself.