Day Trips From London

Whither we go. To the Cotswolds. And Cambridge. And Oxford & the Cotswolds. Our three regularly scheduled, dreamily perfect day trips from central London.

Yes, welcome to the gold standard of day trips from London to “England at its best.” Gold standard for three irrefutable reasons. 1) We came up with a better way of doing it. A radically different way. We went back to the drawing board. Our starting point was: in a personal capacity none of us would ever go on a coach or bus tour. Crammed and cramped in a tin tube with portholes, no thanks. A takes-forever crawl through London traffic jams, no thanks. To get to the (ugh) motorway, no thanks. More time in the coach than in the magical places we’re going to, no thanks.

So if we wouldn’t go that way ourselves, how would we go? Voilà. By train. Much more comfortable. Much faster. Much more Oxford (or Cambridge or The Cotswolds or Bath).

Get the travel right and good things follow as a matter of course. You’re not just liberating yourself from the coach. You’re freeing up lots of time – quality time. You’ve got time to see Oxford (e.g.) properly. Time to go on walking tours. And SNAP! That’s the second reason our tours are the gold standard. 2) We do in Oxford and Cambridge and The Cotswolds and Bath what we excel at in London: we explore those destinations on foot. Award-winning walking tours. It’s what we do in London. And it’s what we do in Oxford and The Cotswolds and Cambridge and Bath.

And that brings us to 3) The calibre of the guiding. “It all comes down to the guiding.” Our day trips are conducted by Simon, who gets more rave reviews than any other London Walks guide. Which, when you think about it, is really saying something.

And you don’t have to take any of the above on trust. You can verify. Check out the dozens of rave reviews. See what people who’ve been on the tours say.

Anything else? Yes, the tours are reasonably priced.

FYI the other out-of-town tours we did pre-pandemic – to Stonehenge, Bath, Windsor, Winchester, etc. – are still being rehabilitated, and retooled for our post-pandemic public sightseeing day trips programme. Watch this space come 2025. The good news is they are available as private guided tours.

How our day trips work

You meet our guide in the morning at the designated London train station. We take the train to Oxford or Cambridge, etc. Our visit – our day trip to our destination – is split into two walks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, separated by a lunch break. You will also have some free time for shopping, afternoon tea in quaint cafes or a museum visit before heading back to London.

What’s included in the cost

The price listed on the relevant day trip pages includes the following:

• The guide’s fee
• Travel fares
• Entrance tickets to attractions

Discover England on one of our upcoming day trips from London

Cambridge

A bi-monthly full-day tour available all throughout the summer from May to October. Setting off from King’s Cross train station, our guide Simon will show you the wonderful city that is Cambridge. You can expect to see the Bridge of Sighs, mediaeval courts, velvet-soft emerald lawns, the unearthly beauty of Kings, Newton’s room and the garden where he experimented. Discover the world where great scientists have lived and worked! And maybe even a Cam River cruise – yes, we take a punt.

Oxford & The Cotswolds

Start the day at Paddington train station and head to Oxford where our guide has the perfect one-day getaway planned for you. You will discover the must-see city of mediaeval colleges and walls; dreaming spires; kings and punting and Alice in Wonderland. Then escape to the countryside and see the Cotswolds’ rolling hills and English market towns.

The Cotswolds

The Cotswolds is rural England, village England at its best. We travel by train from London Paddington station. We’re met by a local coach (chartered for London Walks only). And off we go to discover – to experience, to savour, to enjoy – the Cotswolds countryside and Cotswolds villages. We visit some breathtakingly beautiful villages – each its own perfect little world of thatched roofs and honey-coloured stones and lanes and chuckling streams and flower gardens and country pubs and independent boutiques. We see them properly, visit them properly – we walk them, see them up close. Compliments of Guide Richard’s superb mini-walking tours in each of the villages we visit.

Bath and Avebury

Bath is the world’s most perfect Georgian city. In the 18th century, the city of Bath was the focus of the Age of Elegance with its Roman Baths and home of Jane Austen. And Avebury beggars all description – it is the largest stone circle complex on Earth.

Hire a private guide on the following Day Tours

The following day tours can be organised upon request.

Stonehenge & Salisbury

Leave Central London and the Thames behind as you depart from London Waterloo accompanied by our guide to go on one of the best day trips you will ever experience. The day tour starts at Stonehenge, the fabulous stone circle standing in the middle of the British countryside. Once you have enjoyed this UNESCO world heritage site, we head to Salisbury. There, your guide will take you through the mediaeval streets lined by half-timbered houses with high over-sailing upper floors and tall gables.

Canterbury 

Discover the heart of Kent on our guided one-day tour from London St Pancras. The tour will take you to Canterbury Cathedral and through the city’s medieval cobbled streets.

Windsor Castle & Eton

The most royal day trip available, only a stone’s throw away from London Waterloo. This tour will take you inside the walls of Windsor Castle as well as the most famous school in the world – Eton.

St Albans

“An England in miniature, an essence of England…” – The most fascinating small city in this Britain is just 20 minutes from London. You will be guided through the most important city of Roman Britain, see the only Roman theatre in Britain, Tudor coaching inns, Elizabethan houses and Georgian England buildings.

Avebury & Lacock

On this day tour, we will take you to Avebury, the largest stone circle complex on earth. Even more impressive than Stonehenge! You will discover an ancient time more clairvoyant and star-born than ours. Then we move onto Lacock, where Harry Potter and Pride & Prejudice were filmed. And last but not least you will see the white horses cut into the hills and Silbury, the largest Neolithic monument in Europe.

Oxford & Blenheim Palace

Come with us on this quintessential English day trip to visit Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Built in the 18th Century, it was used recently as the set for The Favourite! As well as a visit to the palace, our guide will give you a tour of Oxford and its amazing architectural treasures.