In Pic - Durdle Door
A lot can be seen and done in a week in the United Kingdom. I say this from personal experience, as our trip was cut short, but I devised a plan to help us make the most of our limited time in UK. Here is a suggested travel guide for spending a week in UK. This is just my personal experience, feel free to use this travel guide and add/edit locations as per your preferences.
Decadent Diaries Travel Tips
Choose a base to stay for the entire trip. For eg., we chose London and took day trips from there to various places. This saves you the time and effort of pushing your luggage around to a new hotel every few days which can be very stressful. The UK is a small country and you can easily get anywhere by train in a few hours from London. This will make your trip a whole lot more relaxing.
Get a BritRail Pass (buy the Britrail pass which includes England, Scotland and Wales for this itinerary, feel free to buy the pass you prefer as per your choices). The aim of a trip is to relax and destress, and the last thing you want is to sit and book different tickets for different days to and fro. Prices vary on different days of the week, peak & non-peak times and last-minute train ticket prices can be quite high. The BritRail pass works on all national rail services across the UK (England, Scotland and Wales), its available in consecutive and flexible varieties. You can take any train included in this pass at any time of the day, to any location included in the pass of your liking. The peace of mind and ease this pass gives you is really significant. For this itinerary, I suggest a 4-day consecutive Britrail pass.
Download the National Rail App on your phone to keep track of train timings. It is a really efficient app to update you on the platform for your selected train, delays and more.
Public Transport in the UK is clean and efficient, so read up about it and make the most of the places you visit. There are also ride services like Uber, Bolt, etc. if you are too tired to walk. For eg., the same Uber app that you use in your home country works in the UK as well.
Carry a Credit or Debit Card with you, as many restaurants and other establishments have gone cashless since Covid.
Carry a backpack wherever you go for day trips, keep it a bit empty to accommodate any shopping you may do, and carry a bottle of water and a small umbrella.
Wear comfortable walking shoes and clothes while traveling, yes photos are important but not as important as your comfort, ease and enjoyment of travel.
Having an international roaming pack on your phone is essential, as you will need the same for your ride apps, google maps, etc.
Choose a hotel near a London Tube station, as the Tube connects to all the major railway stations as well in London. It will help you get to the railway station of your choice fast and cost-efficiently.
Download the TFL Go app on your phone, this is to help you chart out the best routes from point A to B using the public transport in London - Tube, Bus, etc.
Google Maps is really essential, use the save feature to drop points on the map in a particular location you are visiting and use the different icons to denote different things so you don't get confused. I used the green flags for the attractions and places I wanted to explore, the hearts for the places I shortlisted to eat and the stars for places I had made reservations at or a place that I just couldn't afford to miss when I visited that area, as let's face it you won't land up visiting every green flag or heart you mark on your map, at least I couldn't. But when you have google maps, you do not need any travel guide or waste money on tours, you can be your own travel guide! Google Maps helped me check on their detailed map for some attractions I may have missed out which are marked on the map with special icons by them, I could search for top-rated restaurants as well and more.
DAY 1 & 2 - EXPLORE LONDON
Check out my post here on the 10 Best Things to Do in London which will give you plenty of ideas for your London Itinerary. You can also check out my blog post here on visiting WB Studios - The Making Of Harry Potter if you wish to incorporate that as well.
DAY 3 -WINDSOR
The idyllic town of Windsor is well known for being the home to the majestic Windsor Castle, a residence of the British Royal Family. It is approx a 25-minute train ride away from London, as it is a short distance, using your BritRail pass for this day is not required, you can manage on this day by buying a ticket to and fro. Just a short 5 to 10-minute walk from the Train station are all the major attractions. Windsor Castle was Queen Elizabeth's main official residence. You can explore it from inside if you enjoy royal history along with checking out St George's Chapel which is also in the same compound. Then you can proceed towards the scenic "Long Walk", a three-mile-long tree-lined avenue that connects at one end to Windsor Castle. It was truly beautiful to just sit on the grass and explore the long expanse of greenery. You do not need to walk it up completely, you can get some good views at the Windsor Castle end of the walk.
Close by at Park Street you can see a vibrant pub called The Two Brewers if you want to grab a bite at a quintessential English pub. Walk up High Street and Thames Street, some of the main streets there for some architectural beauty and check out over there Queen Charlotte Street, the shortest street in England. Check out Peascod St for some local shopping and then head to Windsor Royal Shopping, a small but beautiful open mall full of lovely eateries, coffee shops and more. If you have some more time you can also visit the famous Eton College through a tour. There is also Legoland Windsor resort in case you have little ones and wish to visit a theme park with them, then the evening time can be spent nearby the station exploring the above.
If you are a couple you can spend the morning and afternoon in Windsor and head back to London in the evening so as to check out any place in London you may have missed out.
How to Get There: Take the train from London Paddington to Windsor & Eton Central.
DAY 4 - DURDLE DOOR AND BOURNEMOUTH
So from this day onwards i.e. Day 4 to Day 7, you can utilize your 4-Day consecutive BritRail Pass. Head in the morning after an early breakfast to Durdle Door...This natural limestone arch is one of the most photographed and magnificent landmarks on the Jurassic Coast of the UK. The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast, located in southern England. It is well known for being one of the richest sites of prehistoric remains, revealing 185 million years of Earth's history along its 95-mile stretch of coastline.
We went there on an exceptionally cloudy day but it was still absolutely breathtaking. It was quite windy so don't forget to carry a jacket on that day. Many families go there and have a small picnic. If you wish to walk along the coast for some time and explore, you can walk towards Lulworth Cove, another scenic area along the coast. My suggestion is after spending the morning over there, head to Bournemouth which is half an hour away by train. It is a lovely coastal resort town where you can have a late lunch and a stroll enjoying the town. Visit the Bournemouth Pier, the Bournemouth Beach, the Bh2 Leisure Food Court, The Square and the Bournemouth Arcade (arcades in England are one-of-a-kind shopping centers having beautifully covered passages with arches along both sides)
How to Get There: Take a two and a half hour train from London Waterloo to Wool Station. At Wool station do reserve a taxi from a local taxi company and keep it in advance (you can easily find numbers on google search /google map), it is a 15-minute taxi ride from Wool station to Durdle Door. Afternoon time taxi services are busy with school pick up and drops, so do plan in advance and book so you have a taxi to head back to the station with. Alternatively, you can take a bus tour from Bournemouth as well, but as you have a BritRail pass, if you are able to plan out then do so from Wool station.
Head from Wool to Bournemouth by train, it is half an hour away only. Then you can head back from Bournemouth station to London Waterloo by a direct train.
DAY 5 - BATH
In pic- The Royal Crescent
In pic - Pulteney Bridge
Bath is a beautiful city with an old-world charm named after the Roman Baths that were built there.
While walking through this charming city I really felt like I was transported back in time.
The must-see places in Bath are the Bath Abbey, the Roman Baths, exploring Bath Street, Abbey Street and the City Centre. Also must explore is the Beauford Square, Milsom St and Milsom Place, The Circus, The Royal Crescent and of course The Pulteney Bridge. You can also try the Thermae Bath Spa to experience an actual bath in Thermal Waters. You can take a stroll in the stunning Parade Gardens. Things to eat at Bath are the handmade buns, try them at The Sally Lunn's Historic Eating house or The Bath Bun. On the N Parade Passage, there is also a one-of-a-kind vegetarian restaurant called OAK, where each dish is carefully crafted with seasonal ingredients, you can read more about my experience in my post here. If you are a Bridgeton fan, then this place has some of the filmed locations including the Abbey Deli on Abbey Street which is shown as the Modiste in the series, the Royal Crescent, Beauford Square and more. Bath has a pace of its own, its quaint streets and architecture combined with the bridges and beautiful squares and gardens, it's truly a spectacular place to visit and must not be missed.
How to Get There: Take the train from London Paddington station to Bath Spa, it takes one hour and twenty minutes to get there.
DAY6- EDINBURG (SCOTLAND)
What I am about to say may sound completely bonkers to you, but yes a day trip to Edinburg is possible, me and my husband were able to do it, we took the 8 am train and reached Edinburg at 12:20 pm, you can leave earlier by the 7 am train and get there by 11:20 am as well. The best thing about this train is firstly it is a great use of your Britrail pass, as to and fro train from London to Edinburg is quite expensive. Secondly, the kind of scenery we got to see from our train window along the way was truly spectacular. It was like a mini tour of the expanse of England and the beginning of Scotland. Especially in the last hour of the train ride, we got to see the beautiful coastal side of the North Sea and some medieval towns and castles from afar. We took the 4:30 train back so we got 4 hours of quality time, which was more than enough to explore The Royal Mile which is the main street with all the hustle and bustle connecting Edinburg Castle to Holyrood Palace. We were also able to view near the Holyrood Palace the famous Arthur's Seat Mountain. There was so much wonder and history in this Old town area of Edinburg, so we did feel lucky to have included this in our day trips. The Royal Mile was full of shops and restaurants, there was also the mesmerizing St Giles Cathedral. Near the Edinburg Waverley station, there was another lovely monument called Scott Monument. If planned out correctly, yes one can do a lot in a day trip to Edinburg. We did not take a seat reservation, if you can then do take the same from the station before you travel. But we had no issue finding seats as one carriage is always there, especially for unreserved travelers.
How to Get There: Take the train from London King Cross to Edinburg Waverley station. It is a four hour twenty minute train ride, and we were able to do it easily to and fro as there is an onboard restaurant where one can buy stuff to eat, plus I downloaded a few of my favourite show's episodes on Netflix to keep me company.
DAY 7 - CARDIFF (WALES)
Cardiff, the capital of Wales really had a different feel compared to the other cities we visited in the UK. The people here really know how to have fun and the main streets were filled with revelers bringing in the weekend with their friends. The best way to explore Cardiff on a day trip is the Cardiff Centenary Walk, which shows you some of the best tourist attractions in the city. When you visit the Cardiff Market along the walk do try the Welsh Cakes at the Cardiff Bakestones. There are also a number of Arcades to see like the Royal Arcade, Morgan Arcade (which contains Spillers Records one of the oldest record shops in the world) High Street Arcade, Duke Street Arcade and the Castle Arcade. You can also check out Cardiff Castle, Cardiff City hall and Bute Park. Do not also forget to visit the Mermaid Quay, which is the marina area of Cardiff, it is truly spectacular with people dining at bay facing restaurants, you can also see the famous Pierhead over there. You can also do the Cardiff Bay Trail Walk if you have the time. This city has a rhythm like no other and it was awesome to get to be a part of the same.
How to Get There: Take the train from London Paddington to Cardiff Central, it takes one hour 51 minutes to get there.
So there you have it, with limited time and resources it is still possible to cover some great spots in the UK on a 7-day trip, once again these are just my suggestions based on my personal experience, feel free to tweak as per your personal preference and pace! Thank you for reading ❤️
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