Four countries, one small island. Pick the days that earn the drive.
Which Highland coach actually stops at Glencoe, what the studio tour costs once the transfer is in, and reviews of every other day out you can book across Britain.
A film lot, a loch and a stone circle. Britain’s four opening bookings.
The days a first British itinerary tends to hang off. What each costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The one that goes firstHarry Potter Warner Bros Studio TourThe Warner Bros lot outside Watford, with the sets standing as they were left. Entry is timed and school holidays are gone weeks ahead.
02Three counties, one coachStonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from LondonSalisbury Plain before the crowd, then Windsor and Georgian Bath. The long day that covers most of southern England.
03The long day northLoch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands TourOut of Edinburgh before nine, Glencoe by late morning, Loch Ness after lunch. Twelve hours, and the only way north without a car.
04Anfield on a quiet dayLiverpool Football Club Museum and Stadium TourThe tunnel, the dugout and the trophy room at Liverpool Football Club, on a ground empty enough to hear.
The days out more people book than anything else in Britain.
Every tour review in Britain →The bookings that carry more travellers than anything else in the country, and what earns each one its place.
1
The London Eye Entry Ticket
Ride the London Eye for about 30 minutes in a spacious glass capsule, reaching 135 meters above the Thames. You’ll see Big Ben, Westminster, the City of London, and many familiar landmarks from a fresh angle. Choose standard or fast-track entry, use the free app for guidance, and book a clear-weather time for the best views.
From · $39
Read our review →
2
Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour
from $117
3
Magical London: Harry Potter Guided Walking Tour
from $20
4
Madame Tussauds London
from $36
5
Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from London
from $111
6
Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Transfers
from $144
7
Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands Tour
from $62
8
Tower Bridge Entry Ticket
from $21
The best British days start with a coach leaving before nine.
Three kinds of long day out of the cities, what it costs to get on one, and which base each leaves from.
Six British cities, and the best day out in each.
A capital that takes a week, a castle on a dead volcano, two rival waterfronts, a city the Romans walled and the Vikings rebuilt, and the town where the road to the Highlands begins.
What a day out in Britain actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good number of the best British days come in under the price of a theatre ticket.
Guided walks, cathedral and abbey entries, river cruises and the short runs out of town.
- 1The London Eye Entry Ticketfrom $39
- 2Magical London: Harry Potter Guided Walking Tourfrom $20
- 3Madame Tussauds Londonfrom $36
The full-day standards: the Highlands from Edinburgh, Stonehenge with Bath, the studio tour with transfers.
Private guides, small-group runs to Skye and the once-a-trip splurges that earn it.
Britain keeps its history behind a gate and sells tickets at the door.
Edinburgh Castle sits on the plug of a dead volcano above Waverley station. Windsor is a working royal house. The Tower keeps the crown jewels behind glass, and the Guard changes in front of Buckingham Palace whether or not anyone is home.
London is not one visit. It is a list you work through.
Everything in London →
The river splits the city and most of the set pieces line up along it, Westminster at one end and the Tower at the other. Work east on the water, walk back through the parks, and keep the studio tour for a day of its own.
- 1Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tourfrom $117
- 2Magical London: Harry Potter Guided Walking Tourfrom $20
- 3Madame Tussauds Londonfrom $36
Westminster, the Abbey and the clock tower
Every coronation since 1066 has happened inside the Abbey, and most of the people who mattered are buried under the floor you walk on. The clock tower is booked separately and months ahead.
See the whole thing from the river instead
A river boat from Westminster to Tower Bridge costs less than a taxi and passes almost everything on the postcard. Commuter services run on the same piers, with no commentary and no queue.
Film locations first, the studio second
A walking tour covers Leadenhall Market, the Millennium Bridge and King’s Cross in an afternoon. The studio lot is out in Hertfordshire and needs its own booking and its own day.
British cities are small, old and built for walking.
Two thousand years of street plan in London, a medieval wall you can walk the whole way round in York, closes and vaults in Edinburgh. A guide and two hours beats a bus and a whole day in nearly all of them.
Edinburgh is a castle, a buried street underneath it, and the road to the Highlands.
The Old Town is built on top of itself: vaults under the bridges, closes dropping away off the Royal Mile, a fortress on volcanic rock. Most Highland coaches pull out of Waterloo Place before nine, which makes where you sleep a booking decision.
Every Edinburgh day out →
Liverpool sells two things, and does both of them properly.
The band and the football. Penny Lane and Strawberry Field are real streets you can stand in, the Cavern still has a stage under the pavement, and Anfield and Goodison sit ten minutes apart across a park.
- 1Liverpool Football Club Museum and Stadium Tourfrom $33
- 2Beatles Magical Mystery Tourfrom $30
- 3“Blue Route” – City & Beatles Tourfrom $27
Three things that only happen in Britain.
Old streets and big churches exist all over Europe. A film studio that kept every set, a street bricked up under a bridge, and a mounted regiment handing over to a brass band do not.
The studio that kept its sets
When the last film wrapped, the production kept the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express standing on the soundstages where they were built, and opened the doors. It is not a theme park and there is nothing to ride. It is the actual lot, with the props laid out and the paint still chipped in the places it chipped on camera.
- 1Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 26,588 reviews
- 2Magical London: Harry Potter Guided Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 22,044 reviews
- 3Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Transfers★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 17,586 reviews
Edinburgh’s buried street
When the South Bridge went up in the 1780s the arches underneath were let out as workshops and then abandoned as the damp took them. Mary King’s Close was built over in much the same way. Both are still down there, at street level, under a city that simply carried on above them.
- 1The World Famous Underground Ghost Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 9,272 reviews
- 2Underground Vaults Walking Tour in Edinburgh Old Town★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 8,506 reviews
- 3Ghost, Ghouls and Gallows Tour : Guided Tour with Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,212 reviews
The Changing of the Guard
The old guard hands the palace over to the new one in the forecourt, with a band that has been known to play film themes. It runs on alternate days for much of the year and daily in summer, it is cancelled by heavy rain, and the free view from the Victoria Memorial is better than most of the paid ones.
- 1Buckingham Palace: The State Rooms Entrance Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 7,395 reviews
- 2Buckingham Palace & Changing of the Guard Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 2,971 reviews
- 3Changing of The Guard Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,510 reviews
Four British bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be sorted the night before from a pub table. These four run on timed slots, opening seasons and calendars that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio TourEntry is timed and the lot sells out weeks ahead over school holidays and Christmas. There is no walk-up queue to join.
- 02Buckingham Palace: The State Rooms Entrance TicketThe State Rooms open only while the household is elsewhere, roughly July to September. Outside that window the gate stays shut whatever you have booked.
- 03Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath from LondonEntry runs on half-hour slots and the circle itself is roped off unless you have booked one of the inner-circle visits outside opening hours.
- 04Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry TicketTimed entry, and in August the whole city is booked out for the festival. Pick the castle slot before you pick the flights.
It rains, and by December the light is gone at four.
Britain does not really have a bad season, it has a short one. Midwinter daylight in Scotland runs to about seven hours, and a wet afternoon anywhere is a solved problem: the big museums charge nothing, the distilleries are warm, and tea is a meal you book a table for.
By kind of day — castle, coach, walk or pub
London, Bath, York, Edinburgh: the line almost everybody draws first.
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