Stonehenge by lunch. A pub cellar by nine.
Which Stonehenge trip actually gets you inside the circle. Whether the studio tour is worth the coach ride out to Watford. What a Cambridge punt costs before somebody offers you champagne. Every tour in England, reviewed.
What England books most: stones, jewels, a zebra crossing.
Every review →The tours more travellers take than anything else in the country, with what each costs and why it earns a whole day.
1
Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from London
Luxury coach day trip from London to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath, with guided UNESCO stops, skip-the-car ease, and included tickets.
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
Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath with Pub Lunch in Lacock
from $123
7
Oxford University Walking Tour With University Alumni Guide
from $41
8
Tower of London and Crown Jewels Exhibition Ticket
from $49
The bits of England you already have in your head.
A stone circle on Salisbury Plain, a castle a monarch actually lives in, a wizarding film set north of Watford, and a boat down the Thames. Here is what each one costs and which version to book.
You have four days in London. The city has three hundred.
The Tower opens at nine and the queue forms at half eight. The good Ripper walks leave Tower Hill after dark. West End seats and river boats sell out on the same Friday. This is the order to book them in.
The day trip that eats your Tuesday: Stonehenge, Windsor, Bath.
All the Stonehenge trips →
Every coach out of London leaves between seven and eight, and after that they differ a lot: which castle you actually go inside, whether Bath gets two hours or four, and whether you stand at the rope or walk into the circle.
Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath in one day
Salisbury Plain before the crowd thickens, a working royal castle at lunch, and Georgian Bath while the light is still good. It is a long sit and it is still the best value day out of London.
Cotswold villages and a pub lunch
Bibury, Bourton and Castle Combe in honey-coloured stone, reached down lanes instead of dual carriageway, with a driver who stops where the light is good.
Windsor Castle and the Long Walk
Forty minutes out of Paddington, the oldest occupied castle in the world at the end of it, and you are back in London in time for the theatre.
What a day out in England costs.
Every tour on the site, priced. A good England day starts at about the price of two pints.
Guided walks, cathedral and museum entry, ghost tours, an hour on the river. The everyday best of the country.
The standard day out: pub tours, punting, the studio tour, afternoon tea, the shorter trips out of London.
The long coach days, inner-circle access, private drivers and the once-a-trip splurges that earn the price.
England's own: a murder walk, a film backlot, a cake stand at four.
Castles and cathedrals turn up all over Europe. Whitechapel after dark, the Leavesden soundstages and a proper afternoon tea belong to England alone.
The Ripper Walk
The murders were in 1888 and most of the ground is still walkable: Mitre Square, Durward Street, the arch on Henriques Street. Walks leave nightly from Tower Hill and Aldgate East, some with the Victorian photographs, a few with a projector throwing them onto the brickwork. It is two miles on foot, so wear shoes that agree with that.
- 1London Jack the Ripper Guided Tour with Ripper-Vision★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,840 reviews
- 2Ultimate Jack the Ripper : Guided Tour of London★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,495 reviews
- 3The Original Jack the Ripper : Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,264 reviews
The Studio Tour
Leavesden is where the films were actually shot and the sets are the originals: the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, the Hogwarts Express standing at platform nine and three-quarters. Entry is timed and released in blocks, and there is no ticket window at the door. Allow four hours inside plus an hour on the coach each way.
- 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
- 3Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Transport from London★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,821 reviews
Afternoon Tea
Scones warm, jam and cream in whichever order your host is prepared to defend, finger sandwiches with the crusts off, and a pot that keeps coming. London does it in hotel drawing rooms, on a moving bus and on the river; the sittings worth having book a fortnight out and most ask you to dress for it.
- 1Afternoon Tea Bus Tour – 1960s Routemaster Bus★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,032 reviews
- 2Afternoon Tea River Cruise on the Thames★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 884 reviews
- 3London Afternoon Tea Bus with Panoramic Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 763 reviews
Liverpool is a two-hour train and a different country.
The Cavern is still on Mathew Street, the four of them are still cast in bronze on the Pier Head, and the Magical Mystery Tour still pulls up outside two ordinary terraced houses. The waterfront does the rest.
All 37 Liverpool tours →
Oxford and Cambridge, from the punt up.
Both cities keep their best rooms behind gates that open for guided groups and close for everyone else, and both look better from a flat-bottomed boat with somebody else holding the pole. Cambridge has the Backs. Oxford has the colleges and the Bodleian.
- 1Oxford University Walking Tour With University Alumni Guidefrom $41
- 2Cambridge University Walking Tour by Alumni™ Kings College Optionfrom $33
- 3Cambridge University With Alumni: Optional Kings College Entrancefrom $34
England gets better once the tea rooms shut.
All the ghost walks →
London Jack the Ripper Guided Tour with Ripper-Vision
Read our review →
Book these before you land in England.
Most of England can be arranged from your hotel the night before. These cannot. They run on ticket releases, limited daily slots and opening seasons that were fixed months ago.
- 01Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Transport from LondonEntry is timed and released in blocks, and the good slots go within days. There is no ticket window at the studios.
- 02Stonehenge Inner Circle Private Tour from London with Bath VisitOnly a small number of people a day are let inside the stone circle itself, on slots that open months ahead.
- 03Buckingham Palace Entrance Ticket & Changing of the Guard TourThe State Rooms open to visitors for roughly ten weeks in late summer and are shut the rest of the year.
- 04London Theatre: Wicked the MusicalWest End seats price by the day. The cheap ones go first and the Saturday houses go first of all.
It rains in England. Here is the indoor list.
Rarely a downpour — more often a grey afternoon that turns up without warning in any month of the year. England answers it better than most places: national museums that charge nothing at the door, a matinee, a distillery tour, a pub with a fire and two hours of tasting.
By city — where are you based?
London327 tours
Liverpool37 tours
York & Yorkshire36 tours
Oxford25 tours
Cambridge28 tours
Bath19 tours
Manchester16 tours
The Lake District11 tours- All the places →
The classic England run, heading north from London.
Windsor
The CotswoldsThe newest England tour reviews.
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Windsor Castle & St George’s Chapel Private 3-hour Walking Tour
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Private Walking Tour with Accredited Expert Guide Windsor Castle
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Pilgrims’ Path walk across the sands to Holy Island
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Daily Manchester City Centre Walking Tour with Local Guide
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Haunted Chester and its Ghosts: A Self-Guided Walking Tour
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