Visiting England
London takes up half of all English trips on its own, and that is not illogical: four world-class museums, free, within three kilometres of each other. But the country starts where the Underground stops. Oxford and its colleges, the Roman baths at Bath, the docks of Liverpool, the cathedral at Salisbury are all under two hours away by train.
What strikes you while moving around is the compactness. One day takes you from a capital of nine million to a limestone village in the Cotswolds, and nothing in between looks like a transition. The train makes that run several times an hour.
You'll love it if
- You come for the museums and you like that they're free
- You take the rain as a given, not as a surprise
- You want a big city and the countryside in the same week
Give it a miss if
- Your budget is tight: this is one of the most expensive destinations in Europe
- You want guaranteed sun and swimming
- Driving on the left down narrow lanes worries you
The must-sees
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1 London +287 recs
Two thousand years of city, from the Roman wall to the towers of the City. The national collections are free, and that changes how you visit: you go in for an hour, you come back the next day, without doing the sums.
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2 The British Museum +33 recs
Eight million objects, from the Rosetta Stone to the Parthenon frieze, and free entry. Two hours are enough if you pick three rooms in advance; otherwise the visit turns into a corridor.
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3 Oxford +80 recs
The oldest university in the English-speaking world, a set of self-governing colleges built around their quads. Some open only at set hours, posted at the gate each day.
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4 Bath +22 recs
Roman baths fed by the country's only hot spring, and a Georgian town in honey-coloured stone built in one piece in the eighteenth century. The whole of it is World Heritage listed.
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5 Liverpool +42 recs
The port that made the Empire's fortune, its warehouses turned into museums, and the Beatles story told where it happened. A day trip from Manchester, or two nights on the spot.
The classic mistake
Buying your train tickets on the day you travel. In England the fare for the same journey can treble between an advance booking and the morning ticket office. Tickets open twelve weeks ahead.
Our itineraries in England
| Length | Route | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Long weekend (4 days) | London | Museums and neighbourhoods |
| 1 week | London › Oxford › Bath | Capital, colleges, baths |
| 10 days | London › Oxford › Bath › Liverpool › Manchester | Historic south and industrial north |
The rail network radiates from London, which makes loops pointless: you set out from the centre for each leg, or head north in a straight line. Journeys rarely pass two and a half hours.
For a week, a base in London and two nights elsewhere are enough. Beyond that, going up to Liverpool and Manchester shows you another country, the one of docks and brick.
When to visit England
| Rating | Season | Weather | Crowds and prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| May, June, September | 15 to 22 °C, showers | Steady, mid-range prices | |
| July and August | 18 to 25 °C, changeable | Peak, high prices | |
| April and October | 10 to 16 °C, damp | Moderate, good prices | |
| November to March | 3 to 9 °C, dark by four | Light, except over the holidays |
Our advice
Aim for the first half of September: the schools are back, the museum queues thin out and the gardens are still open. And book your train tickets as soon as your dates are fixed, that is where half the transport budget is decided.
Getting to England
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1 By plane Fastest
six airports serve London, two of them more than an hour from the centre. Check which one before you compare fares, the transfer can cost more than the saving.
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2 By train Simplest
from mainland Europe, the Channel tunnel drops you at London St Pancras, in the city centre, with border checks built into the journey. From Scotland and the north, the mainline runs into Euston or King's Cross.
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3 By ferry Most flexible
cross-Channel sailings land at Dover, Newhaven or Portsmouth; the Irish Sea routes reach Holyhead and Liverpool. The choice for anyone bringing a car.
For a stay in London, the train wins: it arrives in the centre and the door-to-door time beats flying. For the north of the country or a driving route, the plane and the ferry come back into their own.
Getting around England
The train answers almost everything, and a car is a handicap in town: a congestion charge in London, scarce and expensive parking everywhere. It only earns its place in the countryside, the Cotswolds or the Lake District.
Worth knowing
In London, pay for the Tube and buses with the same contactless card each way: the system caps your daily spend automatically. Buying single tickets costs noticeably more.
What to eat in England
- Sunday roast: the Sunday joint, with roast potatoes, vegetables and Yorkshire pudding. Served from midday to four, and often sold out after that.
- Fish and chips: cod or haddock in batter, malt vinegar. Better from a seaside chippy than a tourist pub.
- Full English breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, black pudding. One will see you through the day, which is the point.
- Pie: a meat pie, steak and ale or chicken. The safest pub dish when the menu wavers.
- Farmhouse cheddar: matured in a cloth-bound truckle, a long way from the industrial block. The West Country makes the best.
- Cream tea: scones, clotted cream and jam, in the afternoon. Whether cream or jam goes on first is a county matter, and it is not a joke.
- Real ale: top-fermented beer, pulled by hand and lightly carbonated. Drunk at cellar temperature, not chilled.
Pub kitchens close early, often at nine, and Sunday service stops mid-afternoon. Booking a table for a Sunday roast the day before is not excessive in the good places.
Where to stay in England
| Area | Good for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| London, Bloomsbury | Museums on foot, stations close by | Central and quieter than Soho |
| London, South Bank | Theatres, the Thames | View and bustle, high prices |
| London, Shoreditch | Going out, markets, food | Young and noisy, well connected |
| Oxford or Bath | Two nights outside the capital | Small towns, everything on foot |
| Liverpool | Docks, museums, music | Distinctly cheaper than the south |
How much does a trip in England cost?
| Style | Length | Budget per person |
|---|---|---|
| Budget (hostel, free museums, cooking in) | 7 days | €550 to €750 |
| Comfortable (hotel, pubs and restaurants, trains booked ahead) | 7 days | €1,300 to €1,800 |
| High-end (smart hotel, notable tables, theatre) | 7 days | €3,000 to €4,500 |
- The national museums: free, including the biggest. It is what sets England apart from its neighbours, and it applies for the whole trip.
- Train tickets: booked twelve weeks ahead, they often cost a third of the full fare. Bought on the morning, they weigh as much as a hotel night.
- Pub lunch: the midday menu costs half the evening card, with the same kitchen.
- The daily cap: in London, paying every journey with the same contactless card limits your daily spend automatically.
- Accommodation: this is the line that explodes. One room in London is worth two equivalent nights in Liverpool or Manchester.
Traditions and way of life in England
Free entry to the national collections is not a promotion: it dates from 2001 and rests on the idea that what belongs to the public opens without a toll. The museums live on donations, visible in the boxes by the exit, and that economy explains their tone, closer to a public service than to an attraction.
The queue is the other institution. You join it without being asked, in order of arrival, and jumping it produces a silent disapproval more effective than any rebuke. That holds at the bus stop as at the bar of a pub, where you order standing and pay as you order.
Two habits worth knowing. In a pub you fetch your own drink from the bar, nobody will take an order at the table, and a group pays in rounds, each in turn. And on the escalators of the London Underground you stand on the right: the left is for those walking up.
