5 days in England: London, Bath & Stonehenge

Get up early and be at the Tower of London before it opens 9am (it helps to buy skip-the-line tickets ahead of time) so you can get on the first Yeoman Warder tour of this bastion of London's Middle Ages.

Time: 155 min. (The tour lasts an hour. Budget another 45 minutes to tour the White Tower, 30 minutes for the Crown Jewels, and 20 minutes to wander the grounds and walls.)

Transit: District or Circle to Tower Hill.

Grab the Tube to the center of London, bustling Trafalgar Square. Take a few minutes to enjoy the square, statues, and pigeons.

Time: 10 min.

Transit: District or Circle to Embankment.

Take a stroll though the Covent Garden neighborhood, slowly making your way north towards the British Museum (which we'll visit after lunch). Window shop. Check out the Covent Garden Market. Grab lunch at some point.

Time: 50 min.

Transit: Walk.

Find lunch—you are spoilt for choice in the Covent Garden/Soho area.

Time: 60 min.

Transit: Walk.

Make your way to the British Museum, the world's greatest repository of archaeological finds—the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies, Parthenon friezes, Celtic hordes, Roman statues, Easter Island moai, and so much more. Stay until they kick you out (unless it's Friday, when they stay open late, then leave around 5:30pm instead!)

Time: 175 min. (Budget at least 20 minutes for the awesome museum shop.)

Transit: Walk.

Have an early-ish dinner, then spend the evening doing whatever floats your boat (some ideas are below)

Time: 90 min.

For your evening plans, choose one of the following:

Option 1: Attend a play or a show.

Option 2: Indulge in a pub crawl (an early play may leave you time to pub-crawl a bit afterward).

Option 3: Just enjoy the street acts and nighttime crowds milling around Leicester Square, Piccadilly, and Covent Garden.

Make sure you get off the Tube at Westminster station before the top of the hour so you have a chance to see the iconic Elizabeth Tower of the Parliament building—which most people call "Big Ben" (technically, that's just the name of one of the bells inside the tower). Once the bells are chiming again (scheduled for summer 2021), stick around to hear it to ring the hour with its famous Cambridge Chimes tune.  

Time: 10 min.

Transit: District or Circle to Westminster.

Get in line early to be among the first to enter the famed Westminster Abbey when it open at 9:30am to pay homage to the British monarchs, English poets, and other notables buried inside.

Then grab an early lunch on the go. I recommend a quick sandwich at the kiosk by the Abbey's West Towers, though if you need a sit-down break, take 30 minutes to dine in the Abbey's Cellarium. You might also want to grab a snack to keep in your bag for later.

Time: 110 min. (90 min. for the Abbey, 20 min. for lunch)

Transit: Walk.

Walk a few blocks north of the Abbey to the amazing Churchill War Rooms, the underground warren of rooms from which World War II was run.

Time: 75 min.

Transit: Walk.

Stroll west through St. James's Park towards Buckingham Palace.

Time: 15 min.

Transit: Walk.

Buckingham Palace is typically only open to the public in August and early September, and again around Christmas, so we are going to assume you won't actually be able to get inside. Still, most people want at least to see it, so here it is. Please don't tease the stoic guards wearing the big furry hats.

Time: 10 min.

Transit: Walk.

Walk around to the right (north) side of Buckingham Palace and up Constitution Hill between the palace gardens and Green Park toward the SE corner of Hyde Park and the Wellington Arch, which you can climb for nice low-angle views over this leafy green heart of London.

Time: 35 min. (15 min. to walk, 20 min. in the arch)

Transit: Walk.

Finally, you get to get off your feet and back on the Tube—though only for a few stops— to ride from Hyde Park Corner to South Kensington for the fabulous V&A Museum.

Time: 90 min.

Transit: Piccadilly to South Kensington.

Walk up Brompton Road to take an afternoon tea in the Georgian Restaurant at Harrods. Feel free to browse other departments as well.

Time: 90 min.

Transit: Walk.

Take the evening to enjoy as you will. Similar choices as last night:

 Option 1: Attend a play or a show.

Option 2: Indulge in a pub crawl (an early play may leave you time to pub-crawl a bit afterward).

Option 3: Just enjoy the street acts and nighttime crowds milling around Leicester Square, Piccadilly, and Covent Garden.

If you are still peckish, take a post-theatre or late-night dinner.

Start your day on the north side of Trafalgar Square at the National Gallery, filled with Old Master paintings.

Time: 90 min.

Transit: Northern or Bakerloo to Charing Cross; Piccadilly to Leicester Square; or Circle/District to Embankment.

Walk across the top end of the square to visit St. Martin in the Fields, the blueprint for 1,001 be-spired New England churches.

Time: 15 min.

Transit: Walk.

Head outside the church, turn right, and find the glass entrance near the north flank of the church to the Cafe in the Crypt (which is actually under the church, but has a separate entrance). Have lunch atop a tombstone.

Time: 45 min.

Transit: Walk.

Make your way to St Paul's Cathedral. Be sure to visit the tomb in the basement, and climb the dome for splendiferous views over London.

Time: 75 min.

Transit: Circle from Embankment to St Paul's.

Cross the Millennium Bridge to Southwark.

Walk just east of the bridge to the famous Shakepeare's Globe Theatre, a delighfully accurate replica of an Elizabethan-era performance space. Spend 20 minutes or so perusing the museum exhibition on the history of the Globe and of London theatre while you wait to join the next tour around the theater itself.

TIP: If there is a play on tonight (usually at 6pm or 7:30pm), I highly recommend arranging for tickets ahead of time (or you can play it by ear and see if there are any left when you stop in). Then plan to return to the Globe for the show after you visit the Tate, which is next.

Time: 60 min.

Retrace your steps back to the foot of the Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern, a fabulous museum of modern and contemporary art in an old power station. Make sure you save time for the excellent museum shop (good spot for gifts).

Time: 85 min.

Time to turn around yet again and walk back past the Globe to enjoy a drink (and maybe dinner) in The Anchor Bankside, an historic pub where Shakespeare himself once got sloshed and many other famed Londoners have enjoyed a tipple.

(If you are going to the Globe for a 7:30pm play, you will have just enough time to raise a glass or two; if your show is at 6pm, just come here afterwards.)

Time: An hour (more if you aren't headed to a play).

A play's the thing! Take in a play as the bard intended it to be heard Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. (As mentioned above, some shows start at 6pm, so adjust accordingly.)

Time: 2–3 hours.

This itinerary assumes you are arriving in Bath around mid-morning from somewhere else in Britain, so it picks up around 10am. (Tip: There's an 8:30am train from London Paddington train station which arrives in Bath at 9:59am.)

If you happen to have truly a full day in Bath (i.e.: you are waking up in a hotel here), I'd go ahead hit Bath Abbey first thing in the morning, before the tour; that way you can allow yourself a bit longer at tea and/or touring the Roman Baths. (Or you could always just sleep in!)

Check into your Bath hotel—but just stay long enough to drop you bags and splash some water on your face so you can head right back out again to begin enjoying Bath. You want to be on the Abbey Church Yard before 10:30am for your free tour!

Be on the Abbey Church Yard in front the of The Pump Rooms by 10:30am for an amazing free walking tour of Bath, during which you'll see lots of architectural highlights, including The Royal Crescent, The Circus, and Pulteney Bridge.

Time: 120 min. 

Have a proper afternoon tea (in lieu of lunch) in the elegant Pump Rooms.

Time: 60 min.

Visit the marvelously gothic Bath Abbey.

Time: 20 min.

Tour the ancient Roman Baths at the heart of town.

Time: 90 min.

Visit the Victoria Art Gallery.

Time: 45 min.

Time to hit the Bath Spa! Spend two hours soaking in the waters and taking treatments like an ancient Roman or Georgian grandee.  

Time: 120 min.

Have a late dinner and call it a night.

If you don't already have one, head to the car rental place in Bath to pick up the car you are renting for 24 hours. This will be the best way to fit in a bunch of the amazing prehistoric sights spread around Wiltshire.

Drive the A4 east out of Bath, through Chippenham and Caine.

Just past the hamlet of Cherhill, look to the right to see the second oldest White Horse in Wiltshire carved into the chalk hillside. It's best admired from the roadside.

Time: 45 min.

Continue along the A4, though the Beckhampton roundabout taking the second exit (Marlborough and Silbury) to continue on the A4. 8/10 of a mile past the roundabout, you'll pass Silbury Hill. Slow to appreciate it.

Just past Silbury hill (about 320 meters), there's a small roadside parking area for the short trail leading to the West Kennet Long Barrow, a gorgeous prehistoric passage tomb.

Time: 25 min. 

Continue half a mile down the A4. Just after you pass a thatched brick building on the left then a smaller thatched stone house, there is an unsignposted road to the left (across from West Kennett Farm on the right). Turn up this road.

After a half mile, on the left you will see a fence gate at the start of West Kennet Avenue, an ancient trail flanked by standing stones. Hop out of the car to snap a few pictures.

Continue up the road into Avebury, the only medieval village actually contained withn an ancient stone circle. Spend 20 minutes wandering around.

Time: 20 min. 

Have lunch at the Red Lion, the pub inside the stone circle.

Time: 35 min.

Drive about 45 minutes south to Stonehenge. Spend an hour exploring the world's most famous stone circle.

Time: 60 min.

Continue south to the site of Old Sarum on the northern outskirts of the city of Salisbury, about a 15-minute drive. You have two choices:

1) Spend about half an hour visiting Old Sarum.

2) If you are kind of done with grass-covered stone remnants of the past, skip it and just drive all the way into Salisbury, where you will have enough time to squeeze in another sight or two (I recommend the Salisbury Museum and/or St Thomas Church)

Time: 45 min. (15 min. drive, 30 min. at the site)

OK, again two choices here, depending on your plans for tomorrow.

If you no longer need the rental car (heading on to another city via rail or whatever) quickly check into your Salisbury hotel (just drop the bags in the room and leave), then drop the rental car off (most rental offices are around the Salisbury rail station, or just SW of it, off Churchfields Rd./Lower Rd.). Try to get this all done in about 30–40 minutes. This is the option we figure you will be taking.

If, however, you intend to keep the rental car through the morning (perhaps to drive to an airport or something), then don't waste valuable sightseing time checking into your hotel yet; park in the city center and you'll have a bit longer to squeeze in an extra sight or two—though make the Cathedral the first thing, then see how much time you have left after.

Time: 40 min. (10 min. drive, 30 min. either taking care of the hotel/car or squeezing in some more sightseeing)

Make a beeline to the Salisbury Cathedral, glory of the Gothic age. Stay until they kick you out.

Return to (or check into) your hotel and freshen up.

Enjoy dinner at one of Salisbury's ancient eateries.