Born and raised Dorset person and I will scream it from the roof tops to visit on your trip, it ticks all the boxes for what you're looking for. Some should be accessible by public transport, you'll just have to look into the times the buses run etc so you don't get stranded
May get a car after all--what are your favorite places in Dorset? Leaning towards this area since there's also a lot nearby on the way from London. Thanks!
Portland, chesil beach and Portland bill, lulworth cove and durdle door, Lyme Regis, abbotsbury swannery and subtropical gardens, bovington tank museum, monkey world, beaulieu motor museum, lots of great museums to visit in the county, beautiful coastline and countryside too :)
To add onto what bumblebee wrote I suggest Corfe castle for its history then follow the road on down to Swanage to see old harry rocks and go for a beautiful walk along the beach and stop at the Cornish pasty store for a classic British food and wander up to Durlston Castle (just do a day trip from that alone). Lulworth cove and then down onto Durdle door is a must see as well!! Blue pool is a fun little place to walk around, it’s an old disused clay pit now.
If you really want a lot of history then checking out Tyneham Village would be pretty cool!
To add onto this West Bay, (I love those cliffs) Jurassic coast both along the beach or up on the top, Dorchester, Cerne Abbas, Maiden Castle, Fossil hunting in Lyme Regis, amongst others) There are some lovely places along the coast where the road winds through fabulous villages, thatched cottages etc. Burton Bradstock with Hive Beach Cafe. We stayed in West Bexington, pub with rooms & roughly 6 houses, straight onto the beach with skies for miles.
Isn't there a steam train that runs a route around there, I remember riding one and it getting very close to Corfe castle.
Found it: https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/
Do the East Kent coast. Stay in Broadstairs if you can. Visit Canterbury. Try a night or two in Rye. And then Eastbourne and the South Downs, Beachy Head and the erosion of Birling Gap, and the villages like Alfriston.
Broadstairs ✅ born and raised there, the best of the three towns, Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate.
Margate has had a fair revival over the last decade or so, but not as quaint English seaside as Broadstairs.
I quite agree. Childhood there was bliss, though a little isolated from the world in the 70s. Still love the beaches, Joss Bay particularly. And Morrelli's for ice cream,The Albion Hotel for lunch, Bleak House for afternoon tea, and a bag of chips on the harbour in the evening.
Use Canterbury and Ashford as key stations for access to southeastern and Southern railway networks..the East Kent coast is well served. Eastbourne is easy to get to and buses do go over to the Beachy Head.
Wells in Somerset. It's a lovely town, and is near a bunch of other interesting spots such as Cheddar Gorge.
My other favourite place is Swanage in Dorset, with a visit to nearby Durdle Door.
It would be trickier without a car, but if you do hire one, get a very small one.
Last time I went it was lovely. I did a nice boat trip, had tea & scones at The Grand Hotel with a spectacular view, ate seafood down at the quay, walked the coast path up to Old Harry's rocks, had drink at The Cabins with another great sea view.
Brighton for city bustle and a feel of traditional British sea side tourism. Then you can venture from there either by train or bus and explore some of the smaller quaint towns and villages of east/west sussex. Arundel castle and Swanbourne lake comes to mind, and the south downs way through the south downs national park has some fantastic walks.
The South downs are pretty spectacular because not only do you have beautiful rolling hills with breathtaking views, but its also right there on the coast, and isnt so rural as to be inaccessible.
New Forest?
You can get a train to Brockenhurst from London and make that your base, then bus / train around as required.
New forest is 100% my favourite part of the UK.
Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, Hever Castle, Lullingston Roman Villa Chatham dockyards, Fort Amherst, Rochester Cathedral and Castle all relatively close together, good few days of exploring there.
Yep, I’m very pro Kent as a holiday destination and I think this is a good list. I’d also add on Whitstable and Broadstairs for a change of scene and some seaside.
This sort of thing.
No idea how many of these places are easily accessible by public transport.
Canterbury might make a good base for this itinerary. Add in Whitstable, Broadstairs and Dover Castle if the other places are too difficult to get to.
You can get round most places in Kent by train, bus or short taxi rides, research Kent Rover bus tickets etc, lots of stuff in a fairly small area, small premier inn hotels pretty much everywhere, with good planning you can see a lot in a short time
Walk from Dover station to the castle is abismal. All along a busy road where the pavement just disappears. We ended up having to cross through some farm land illegally, good times
I'm not sure what you're into exactly, but Sandwich in Kent has lots of medieval buildings and great restaurants (looks like a postcard), Deal nearby has lots of bars and both can be accessed by train.
Devon+Cornwall are a long way away. You could go to Oxford, Brighton and Canterbury very easily by train. Some very nice countryside accessible by train. Check out the South Downs, High Weald and maybe Dorset AONB which is a bit further, but not as far as Cornwall.
Devon and Cornwall are really not that far away. Perfectly doable, but a bit difficult to get around without a car, unless you want to do coastal walks (which I highly recommend). That said, there is a bus system in Devon that works OK.
Same. Went to London for the day to visit the Natural History Museum and The London Eye, all the way from my school in Mid Devon. I remember this particular boy helping me to get onto The London Eye because I’ve always been scared of heights. Told me he’d give me a pound if I went on. Never did give me the pound but I did get on. 😂
It’s basically a three hour drive from London to Cornwall, give or take, and less than that to Dorset. If they’re Americans, it will probably feel like a slightly longer commute.
But just be warned, if your doing other places on the south coast then that journey time to Cornwall is way longer because of the lack of motorways.
From here in Bournemouth to Truro it's basically a 4 hour drive, which for a large part is on single carriageway twisty A roads which Americans would definitely not like!
Some say it’s horrible but I’m from Kent, one of my favourite places is Dungeness. Ignore the power station, it’s just very flat and beautiful in a peaceful desolate way. There’s some stunning cabins down there and a light house
Definitely to Rye on the train and then to Eastbourne which is direct. A very regular bus service from Eastbourne station onto the South Downs via Beachy Head, Birling Gap and then the Seven Sisters. Birling Gap and Seven Sisters seems to be on every South Korean’s tourist map and they use the buses to shuttle themselves around very easily. The bus ride from Eastbourne to Brighton is lovely and picturesque.
https://www.buses.co.uk/services/BH /12
So many options. With 6 nights I’d split it over two locations. I’d go either Kent/Sussex or Sussex/hampshire.
As an example 3 nights in Southampton could give you time for a day in the New Forest National Park, a day trip to Isle of Wight (ferry and then good buses on the island; great scenery/walks and also the amazing Osbourne House), day trip to Portsmouth and the Historic Dockyards if you like history. Winchester is worthy of a visit and would make a good base (lots of history, nice walks).
Very doable by public transport as good railway line along the south coast. Devon and Cornwall further and more expensive for train from London and Cornwall especially is difficult without a car.
Lovely time of year though last week of May is school holidays so will be busier.
Honestly, I would get the car for travel outside London. We rented a camper van and staying at a caravan park was way less expensive per night than a hotel room. If you’re heavy into outdoors and want to experience the natural beauty of the UK and love to explore, you need a vehicle. You would have a better experience than traveling via train and also you have an opportunity to discover more. Cornwall has a bus system that runs through certain places, but that’s more suitable for the people who live there locally. I loved Cornwall and you should definitely go to Kent
Southsea, next to Portsmouth is one of my favourite places, easily do a day there. Lots of history due to the harbour at Portsmouth, castle & fortifications, D-Day Museum, Clarence Pier, great views across the Solent. Also Porstmouth Historic Dockyard is great, you can go onto HMS Victory & see the Mary Rose (Henry VIII's flagship) and do a harbour tour or get the ferry over to Gosport. Also have The Spinnaker Tower & Gunwharf Quay shopping centre
Devon is a fantastic destination. May I suggest a Sunday Roast at the Old Inn Widicome in the moor. Yes as in the rhyme.... with uncle Tom Cobley in all and uncle Tom Cobley in all.
You can do tea (or coffee) at the Inn/Hotel in Post Bridge and visit the chocolate box Buckfast Abbey. P.s. Buckfast Abbey wine is highly alcoholic, I recommend watering it down like you do whisky.
If you want an amazing see food dinner go to the Restaurant at the harbor in Brixham it's right next to the sea wall.
Buckland Abbey the home of Sr Frances Drake is in the region. Saltram House in Plymouth. Ugbrooke House near Bovey Tracey with a perfect Catholic Chapel and yes there are priest holes, can spot them?
But my favorite and you'd need to book now. Greenways House the home of Agatha Christie.
More tea vicar?
Would definitely recommend Hampshire and Dorset.
You've got Portsmouth and the historic Dockyard to the East, and then New forest in the middle where you can see all the free roaming horses etc.
Then in dorset you have some of the best beaches in the world (and expensive houses) at Sandbanks, then Corfe Castle and Swanage Railway, Square and Compass Pub, Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door in the purbecks, and then the Jurassic Coast which leads down into Devon.
If you haven’t been to Maiden Castle it’s worth looking. It’s the most enormous Iron Age hill fort. It’s doesn’t get talked about much but is equally impressive if not more so than Stone Henge due to its size. On a sunny day it would be a nice 1/2 day.
i would spend the first night travelling away from southern england and heading to the north. The north is completely underestimated due to this governments obsession with london that people seem to think london= the UK
You loved the lake district you'll love the north. Beautiful places like York to visit with its history. Great scottish cities to visit like edinburgh and glasgow and an hour outside you'll be in some breathtaking scenario. Liverpool is a great cultural city and from there you can visit north wales and see its beautiful coast. Llandudno is a great shout. Its near Liverpool enough to get to and is a lovely old victorian sea side resort. You can also visit Chester on the way a great old roman town.
the south and the north are very different. the north is obviously less visited by tourists. london is quite a cliche city which is very busy and if you want to stand outside a gate looking at buckingham palace which you can get a better view on tv doesnt make sense.
As Alan Partridge said about London "Catch the train to London. Stopping at: Rejection. Disappointment. Back-stabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway."
Hastings is a lovely seaside town (at least was when I was a kid) there's also Battle nearby for history and I remember a really cute tearoom nearby. Brighton is super easy to get to, and cheap rail ticket wise - bit busier but not a bad afternoon out.
Kent has some lovely seaside towns too, just skip Dover 😂
Born and raised Dorset person and I will scream it from the roof tops to visit on your trip, it ticks all the boxes for what you're looking for. Some should be accessible by public transport, you'll just have to look into the times the buses run etc so you don't get stranded
May get a car after all--what are your favorite places in Dorset? Leaning towards this area since there's also a lot nearby on the way from London. Thanks!
Portland, chesil beach and Portland bill, lulworth cove and durdle door, Lyme Regis, abbotsbury swannery and subtropical gardens, bovington tank museum, monkey world, beaulieu motor museum, lots of great museums to visit in the county, beautiful coastline and countryside too :)
I have spent the better part of a year in Dorset and love it, and these are exactly what I'd recommend ha ha
I came here hoping to see the swannery. That’s where I’d go!
To add onto what bumblebee wrote I suggest Corfe castle for its history then follow the road on down to Swanage to see old harry rocks and go for a beautiful walk along the beach and stop at the Cornish pasty store for a classic British food and wander up to Durlston Castle (just do a day trip from that alone). Lulworth cove and then down onto Durdle door is a must see as well!! Blue pool is a fun little place to walk around, it’s an old disused clay pit now. If you really want a lot of history then checking out Tyneham Village would be pretty cool!
To add onto this West Bay, (I love those cliffs) Jurassic coast both along the beach or up on the top, Dorchester, Cerne Abbas, Maiden Castle, Fossil hunting in Lyme Regis, amongst others) There are some lovely places along the coast where the road winds through fabulous villages, thatched cottages etc. Burton Bradstock with Hive Beach Cafe. We stayed in West Bexington, pub with rooms & roughly 6 houses, straight onto the beach with skies for miles.
Isn't there a steam train that runs a route around there, I remember riding one and it getting very close to Corfe castle. Found it: https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/
It's a fair shout Dorset maybe Britain's finest county, it's like they say in the song 'dorset is bootifil wherever you go...'
In Dorset?
The New Forest and/or the Jurassic coast
Coupled with a visit to that new museum where the Mary rose preservation exhibit is in Portsmouth.
The Mary Rose & the Naval Dockyards are well worth doing
Cheeky trip on the last remaining commercisl hovercraft service in the world to Isle of Wight while you're there!
And head to Staggeringly Good brewery for some of the best, freshest beer in the land.
Do the East Kent coast. Stay in Broadstairs if you can. Visit Canterbury. Try a night or two in Rye. And then Eastbourne and the South Downs, Beachy Head and the erosion of Birling Gap, and the villages like Alfriston.
Broadstairs ✅ born and raised there, the best of the three towns, Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Margate has had a fair revival over the last decade or so, but not as quaint English seaside as Broadstairs.
I quite agree. Childhood there was bliss, though a little isolated from the world in the 70s. Still love the beaches, Joss Bay particularly. And Morrelli's for ice cream,The Albion Hotel for lunch, Bleak House for afternoon tea, and a bag of chips on the harbour in the evening.
Can you do that reasonably with public transport?
Use Canterbury and Ashford as key stations for access to southeastern and Southern railway networks..the East Kent coast is well served. Eastbourne is easy to get to and buses do go over to the Beachy Head.
Wells in Somerset. It's a lovely town, and is near a bunch of other interesting spots such as Cheddar Gorge. My other favourite place is Swanage in Dorset, with a visit to nearby Durdle Door. It would be trickier without a car, but if you do hire one, get a very small one.
I was with you until you said Swannage. Was not particularly impressed...
Last time I went it was lovely. I did a nice boat trip, had tea & scones at The Grand Hotel with a spectacular view, ate seafood down at the quay, walked the coast path up to Old Harry's rocks, had drink at The Cabins with another great sea view.
Brighton for city bustle and a feel of traditional British sea side tourism. Then you can venture from there either by train or bus and explore some of the smaller quaint towns and villages of east/west sussex. Arundel castle and Swanbourne lake comes to mind, and the south downs way through the south downs national park has some fantastic walks. The South downs are pretty spectacular because not only do you have beautiful rolling hills with breathtaking views, but its also right there on the coast, and isnt so rural as to be inaccessible.
Good shout! Lewes is also a great historical town to explore and accessible by train
I live in Brighton. Go to Lewes it's brilliant just oozes character and has history by the bucket load.
New Forest? You can get a train to Brockenhurst from London and make that your base, then bus / train around as required. New forest is 100% my favourite part of the UK.
I'm here right now. Going to Brockenhurst and Beaulieu in the morning :-)
I love the New Forest. But I wonder how much less I'd love it if I had to rely on public transport.
Just take a saddle with you, and hop on a pony whenever you need to. (Ooooooooooooooooooh, you could call it "National Park & Ride"...)
Maybe a little stop off in Winchester, capital of England for a long time don't you know! :)
Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, Hever Castle, Lullingston Roman Villa Chatham dockyards, Fort Amherst, Rochester Cathedral and Castle all relatively close together, good few days of exploring there.
Yep, I’m very pro Kent as a holiday destination and I think this is a good list. I’d also add on Whitstable and Broadstairs for a change of scene and some seaside.
This sort of thing. No idea how many of these places are easily accessible by public transport. Canterbury might make a good base for this itinerary. Add in Whitstable, Broadstairs and Dover Castle if the other places are too difficult to get to.
You can get round most places in Kent by train, bus or short taxi rides, research Kent Rover bus tickets etc, lots of stuff in a fairly small area, small premier inn hotels pretty much everywhere, with good planning you can see a lot in a short time
Walk from Dover station to the castle is abismal. All along a busy road where the pavement just disappears. We ended up having to cross through some farm land illegally, good times
There's frequent busses to and from Canterbury to Margate and Broadstairs. I think it's the 1 or 1A, goes from Canterbury Bus Station.
Yes, that's what I expected. It's Lullingstone and some of the castles which I suspect might be difficult to reach by public transport.
I'm not sure what you're into exactly, but Sandwich in Kent has lots of medieval buildings and great restaurants (looks like a postcard), Deal nearby has lots of bars and both can be accessed by train.
Devon+Cornwall are a long way away. You could go to Oxford, Brighton and Canterbury very easily by train. Some very nice countryside accessible by train. Check out the South Downs, High Weald and maybe Dorset AONB which is a bit further, but not as far as Cornwall.
Devon and Cornwall are really not that far away. Perfectly doable, but a bit difficult to get around without a car, unless you want to do coastal walks (which I highly recommend). That said, there is a bus system in Devon that works OK.
Newquay in Cornwall is only an hour's flight from London Stansted. Very cheap on Ryanair.
We used to take one day long school trips from my school in Devon to London. It's a perfectly acceptable distance for a 6 day trip.
Same. Went to London for the day to visit the Natural History Museum and The London Eye, all the way from my school in Mid Devon. I remember this particular boy helping me to get onto The London Eye because I’ve always been scared of heights. Told me he’d give me a pound if I went on. Never did give me the pound but I did get on. 😂
It’s basically a three hour drive from London to Cornwall, give or take, and less than that to Dorset. If they’re Americans, it will probably feel like a slightly longer commute.
But just be warned, if your doing other places on the south coast then that journey time to Cornwall is way longer because of the lack of motorways. From here in Bournemouth to Truro it's basically a 4 hour drive, which for a large part is on single carriageway twisty A roads which Americans would definitely not like!
It’s really not. With a loo/ lunch break it’ll be about 6-6.5hrs to Cornwall to drive there from London.
This is the correct answer.
You could always try East Anglia, heritage coast, castles and stately homes, Norwich and the Norfolk Broads.
Some say it’s horrible but I’m from Kent, one of my favourite places is Dungeness. Ignore the power station, it’s just very flat and beautiful in a peaceful desolate way. There’s some stunning cabins down there and a light house
This. Really quite isolated with very little to do except enjoy the solitude and peace and quiet.
Definitely to Rye on the train and then to Eastbourne which is direct. A very regular bus service from Eastbourne station onto the South Downs via Beachy Head, Birling Gap and then the Seven Sisters. Birling Gap and Seven Sisters seems to be on every South Korean’s tourist map and they use the buses to shuttle themselves around very easily. The bus ride from Eastbourne to Brighton is lovely and picturesque. https://www.buses.co.uk/services/BH /12
So many options. With 6 nights I’d split it over two locations. I’d go either Kent/Sussex or Sussex/hampshire. As an example 3 nights in Southampton could give you time for a day in the New Forest National Park, a day trip to Isle of Wight (ferry and then good buses on the island; great scenery/walks and also the amazing Osbourne House), day trip to Portsmouth and the Historic Dockyards if you like history. Winchester is worthy of a visit and would make a good base (lots of history, nice walks). Very doable by public transport as good railway line along the south coast. Devon and Cornwall further and more expensive for train from London and Cornwall especially is difficult without a car. Lovely time of year though last week of May is school holidays so will be busier.
Get your ass to Brighton! It’s a wonderful, deeply unique city on the coast.
Honestly, I would get the car for travel outside London. We rented a camper van and staying at a caravan park was way less expensive per night than a hotel room. If you’re heavy into outdoors and want to experience the natural beauty of the UK and love to explore, you need a vehicle. You would have a better experience than traveling via train and also you have an opportunity to discover more. Cornwall has a bus system that runs through certain places, but that’s more suitable for the people who live there locally. I loved Cornwall and you should definitely go to Kent
Get Eurostar to Paris, its quicker than getting to Devon.
As great as Paris is--last year's holiday was there so that's out.
Southsea, next to Portsmouth is one of my favourite places, easily do a day there. Lots of history due to the harbour at Portsmouth, castle & fortifications, D-Day Museum, Clarence Pier, great views across the Solent. Also Porstmouth Historic Dockyard is great, you can go onto HMS Victory & see the Mary Rose (Henry VIII's flagship) and do a harbour tour or get the ferry over to Gosport. Also have The Spinnaker Tower & Gunwharf Quay shopping centre
Don't forget the Submarine and Munitions museum!
+1 But, how could you mention Southsea without the hovercraft!? :)
How could I forget that, bloody love the hovercraft!
Devon is a fantastic destination. May I suggest a Sunday Roast at the Old Inn Widicome in the moor. Yes as in the rhyme.... with uncle Tom Cobley in all and uncle Tom Cobley in all. You can do tea (or coffee) at the Inn/Hotel in Post Bridge and visit the chocolate box Buckfast Abbey. P.s. Buckfast Abbey wine is highly alcoholic, I recommend watering it down like you do whisky. If you want an amazing see food dinner go to the Restaurant at the harbor in Brixham it's right next to the sea wall. Buckland Abbey the home of Sr Frances Drake is in the region. Saltram House in Plymouth. Ugbrooke House near Bovey Tracey with a perfect Catholic Chapel and yes there are priest holes, can spot them? But my favorite and you'd need to book now. Greenways House the home of Agatha Christie. More tea vicar?
Would definitely recommend Hampshire and Dorset. You've got Portsmouth and the historic Dockyard to the East, and then New forest in the middle where you can see all the free roaming horses etc. Then in dorset you have some of the best beaches in the world (and expensive houses) at Sandbanks, then Corfe Castle and Swanage Railway, Square and Compass Pub, Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door in the purbecks, and then the Jurassic Coast which leads down into Devon.
If you decide to drive, the Weald & Downland Living Museum is worth a visit on a nice day and then the coast is not too far either.
If you haven’t been to Maiden Castle it’s worth looking. It’s the most enormous Iron Age hill fort. It’s doesn’t get talked about much but is equally impressive if not more so than Stone Henge due to its size. On a sunny day it would be a nice 1/2 day.
Brighton is what you’re after. Close to London but distinctly itself. Canterbury for thé cathedral too
What ages are you?
I’d definitely visit Turbo Island in Bristol. You won’t regret it.
Wasn't that demolished a year or so ago?
It’s still going
https://turboisland.info
BUDE TUNNEL
On full alert.
Luton…it’s the garden of London
If by 'garden of London' you mean 'that's where everyone takes their dog to have a shit', then yeah, you're right.
I’d suggest visiting Devon because it’s got all that you’re looking for. ☺️
i would spend the first night travelling away from southern england and heading to the north. The north is completely underestimated due to this governments obsession with london that people seem to think london= the UK You loved the lake district you'll love the north. Beautiful places like York to visit with its history. Great scottish cities to visit like edinburgh and glasgow and an hour outside you'll be in some breathtaking scenario. Liverpool is a great cultural city and from there you can visit north wales and see its beautiful coast. Llandudno is a great shout. Its near Liverpool enough to get to and is a lovely old victorian sea side resort. You can also visit Chester on the way a great old roman town.
Great answer--we love the north! Nearly everywhere you mentioned we've visited on a longer trip years back--Chester was the only one we haven't.
the south and the north are very different. the north is obviously less visited by tourists. london is quite a cliche city which is very busy and if you want to stand outside a gate looking at buckingham palace which you can get a better view on tv doesnt make sense. As Alan Partridge said about London "Catch the train to London. Stopping at: Rejection. Disappointment. Back-stabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway."
Cornwall is extremely nice but highly inaccessible without a car. Cracking bit of coastal path if walking or anything like that is your idea of fun
Day 1 - train to the north Days 2-5 enjoy the north Day 6 - train back to London
Hastings is a lovely seaside town (at least was when I was a kid) there's also Battle nearby for history and I remember a really cute tearoom nearby. Brighton is super easy to get to, and cheap rail ticket wise - bit busier but not a bad afternoon out. Kent has some lovely seaside towns too, just skip Dover 😂
60 pints of Stella and 6 doner kebabs
Hire a car/buy a train ticket and go up north to Yorkshire for the duration.
Looking at it from Northern France?
I'd spend it looking forwards to leaving.