Stone circles before lunch. A fire in the pub by six.
Which Stonehenge coach day actually stops in Bath, and which one drives past it. What the Crown Jewels cost once you are through the gate. Whether the Beatles tour is worth the train to Liverpool. Reviews of every tour you can book in England.
The one everybody books first
Buckingham Palace Entrance Ticket & Changing of the Guard Tour
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,720 reviews · from $98
Four days out a first trip to England hangs off.
The stones, the Tower, the band and an Oxford quad. What each one costs and what you are actually getting for it.
01The big coach dayStonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from LondonStonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath in one run out of London. The stones are quietest before the afternoon coaches reach them.
02The jewel-house morningTower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition TicketThe Crown Jewels, the ravens and a Yeoman Warder telling it the way only they can. Go through the gate at opening and head straight for the jewel house.
03The Liverpool dayBeatles Magical Mystery TourPenny Lane, Strawberry Field and the barber shop, on a bus with the songs playing. It finishes at the Cavern, which is the right ending.
04The Oxford walkOxford University Walking Tour With University Alumni GuideRound the colleges with somebody who studied inside them, past the hall and the staircases the films borrowed. The cheapest hour in the city.
London first, then the five places worth the train ticket.
A capital you could give a fortnight to, a river city that sells its band by the hour, two university towns built around quadrangles, a valley of honey-coloured villages and a Georgian crescent over Roman plumbing. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
England gives up its best stories at walking pace.
A licensed guide with a good voice is the cheapest upgrade on sale in this country. Four kinds of walk, what it costs to join each one, and the hour it wants.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Oxford University Walking Tour With University Alumni Guide
The city walkTwo hours and a guide, and the streets start making sense.
Whitechapel, 1888The 1888 sites, walked in the order they happened.
Ghost walksYork and London once the shops have shut and the lamps are on.
Historic pubsRooms that have been pouring since before the Great Fire.
All 301 walking tours in England →
England’s most booked days out.
Every English review we have written →The tours that carry more travellers than anything else in the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from London
Leave London at 8am for Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath on an approximately 11-hour coach tour. You’ll get guided commentary, Stonehenge admission, and optional entry to Windsor Castle and the Roman Baths. Guides such as Saul, Peter, Pablo, and Kevin have been praised for clear storytelling, but the schedule moves fast and may leave little time for lunch.
From · $111
Read our review →
2
London Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour with Optional River Cruise
from $39
3
London Small Group Tour of Historical Pubs
from $40
4
Beatles Magical Mystery Tour
from $30
5
“Blue Route” – City & Beatles Tour
from $27
6
Oxford University Walking Tour With University Alumni Guide
from $41
7
Tower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition Ticket
from $49
8
Alton Towers Resort 1 Day Admission Ticket
from $43
9
London Jack the Ripper Guided Tour with Ripper-Vision
from $27
Castles, palaces and a stone circle older than every one of them.
England charges at the door for nine centuries of it. Windsor and the Tower are still working royal buildings, Leeds and Warwick are built for a day out with children, and Stonehenge asks for an out-of-hours slot if you want it without a crowd.
- 1Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from Londonfrom $111
- 2Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath with Pub Lunch in Lacockfrom $123
- 3Tower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition Ticketfrom $49
The Thames does more sightseeing than any bus in London.
Westminster down to Greenwich by boat costs less than the taxi and shows you ten times as much. Past that: speedboats turning under Tower Bridge, a pole and a flat-bottomed punt on the Cam, and the cruise-port runs out of Southampton and Dover.
England tells it better once the lamps come on.
Whitechapel walked at the hour it happened. A York ghost bus with the lights off. A silent disco down Shaftesbury Avenue, and a West End curtain at half seven. None of it works in daylight.
More after-dark England →
Liverpool sells its four sons by the hour, and it is worth every minute.
Penny Lane, Strawberry Field, the barber shop and the Cavern steps, on a bus with the records on. Then a waterfront built on Victorian shipping money, two cathedrals at opposite ends of one street, and a stadium tour at either end of the city.
- 1Beatles Magical Mystery Tourfrom $30
- 2“Blue Route” – City & Beatles Tourfrom $27
- 3Liverpool City Sights Hop On Hop Off City Tour – 24hr Ticketfrom $19
What a day out in England costs once you are at the door.
Every review on the site, sorted by the price on the door. A good share of the best English days land under the price of a theatre seat.
Walking tours, cathedral entry, a punt on the Cam and most single-attraction tickets.
The coach days: Stonehenge with Bath or Windsor, the Cotswolds, the studio tour with transport.
Private black cabs, out-of-hours access at the stones, and the once-a-trip splurge that earns it.
Three things that only happen in England.
Castles and cathedrals stand all over Europe. A regiment handing over guard to a brass band, a flat-bottomed boat poled under the Bridge of Sighs, and a film set you can walk through do not.
Changing of the Guard
The Old Guard hands the palace over to the New in the Buckingham Palace forecourt, with a regimental band playing anything from Handel to a film theme. It does not run daily and it is called off in heavy rain, so check the morning you want it. Stand back at the Victoria Memorial rather than pressed against the railings: you see the whole march in, not one bearskin.
- 1London Sightseeing Tour: Guard Change with Tower of London Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,672 reviews
- 2Changing of the Guard Guided Walking Tour in London★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,793 reviews
- 3Buckingham Palace Entrance Ticket & Changing of the Guard Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,720 reviews
Punting the Cam
A punt is a flat-bottomed boat pushed along off the riverbed with a sixteen-foot pole, and Cambridge has been doing it for a century. The Backs run behind six colleges, under the Bridge of Sighs and the Mathematical Bridge, and the whole stretch takes about forty-five minutes. Chauffeured is the sensible booking. Self-hire is the funny one.
- 1Punting Tour in Cambridge★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,690 reviews
- 2Shared Guided Punting Tour of Cambridge★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 787 reviews
- 3Cambridge Walking & Punting Tour by Alumni™ King’s College Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 698 reviews
The Potter Trail
The Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express sit on the studio floor at Leavesden, twenty miles north of London. The places that stood in for the rest are scattered across the city and Oxford, from a Borough Market doorway to the staircase at Christ Church. The studio is timed entry only; the walking tours are the cheap way into the same story.
- 1Tour for Muggles The Ultimate Harry Potter Walking Tour in London★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,684 reviews
- 2Original Harry Potter Locations Tour – Guided Tour of London★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,117 reviews
- 3Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter Tour with Superior Transport from London★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 2,073 reviews
Four English bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged the night before over a pint. These four run on timed slots, a ceremony calendar and a studio that sells out months out.
- 01Stonehenge Inner Circle Private Tour from London with Bath VisitAccess inside the circle runs before the site opens and after it closes, with a hard cap on the group. Those slots are taken months ahead.
- 02Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Transport from LondonLeavesden sells timed entry and nothing else. Through the school holidays it is gone weeks before the date.
- 03Changing of the Guard Guided Walking Tour in LondonThe handover does not happen every day, and heavy rain cancels it. Check the calendar before you build a morning around it.
- 04Tower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition TicketThe Tower opens at nine and the jewel house queue is at its worst by eleven. A dated ticket gets you through the gate; the early hour gets you the room.
England will rain on your best-planned afternoon.
Rarely all day, rarely heavy, reliably at some point. The answer is the same in every city: get under a roof worth being under. The national collections cost nothing at the door, tea is booked by the hour, and a studio floor or a gin still does not care what the sky is doing.
By place — capital, coast and the north
By kind of day — walk, castle, boat or bar
London, Windsor, the stones, Bath, Oxford, York: the run almost everybody does first.
Windsor
StonehengeThe newest reviews from England.
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