The stone circle at Stonehenge went up about 2500 BC, and Canterbury Cathedral was the scene of Thomas Becket’s murder in 1170; both, along with four other major sites, can be reached from London in a day. This guide covers six: Stonehenge, the Roman Baths in Bath, Windsor Castle, Blenheim Palace, King’s College Chapel in Cambridge and Canterbury Cathedral. Each section gives the history in brief, then the practical details and the official booking page. Most sites are cheaper or faster to enter if you book ahead.

Looking for more of the country? See our England hub or browse more trip-planning advice under Plan Your Trip.

Contents

• Stonehenge
• Roman Baths, Bath
• Windsor Castle
• Blenheim Palace
• King’s College Chapel, Cambridge
• Canterbury Cathedral
• Frequently Asked Questions

Stonehenge

English Heritage says Stonehenge was built in stages, beginning with an early henge (a circular earthwork) about 5,000 years ago. The stones were set up about 2500 BC: larger sarsens in an inner horseshoe and outer circle, with smaller bluestones between them. English Heritage also records about 64 cremations at the site and describes it as the largest late Neolithic cemetery in the British Isles. In 1915 Cecil Chubb bought Stonehenge at auction and gave it to the nation in 1918, and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

Managing body: English Heritage, a charity that cares for historic sites.

Getting there from London: Direct train from London Waterloo to Salisbury, about 1 hour 30 minutes. The site is 12 miles from Salisbury, reached by taxi or the hourly Stonehenge Tour Bus from the station forecourt, which is run by a separate operator that English Heritage links to. There is no walkable station. By car it is about 2 hours.

Opening hours: 9.30am to 5pm, last entry 3pm, until 16 March 2027. From 28 March to 6 September 2026 the site closes at 6pm with last entry at 4pm. Closed 25 December. Hours may differ at the solstices.

Booking: Recommended. Booking ahead saves 15% on the gate price, and tickets can also be bought on arrival.

Parking: £4 for non-members.

Included in passes: English Heritage members and National Trust (England) members enter free.

Nearby: Old Sarum, named by English Heritage as an optional bus stop.

Prices last checked: October 2026. Opening hours last checked: October 2026.

Where to book: English Heritage: Stonehenge prices and opening times

Roman Baths, Bath

The Roman Baths say hot water at 46°C rises at the Sacred Spring at about 1,170,000 litres a day, and that this was once believed to be the work of the gods. The Romans built a temple beside the spring, dedicated to the healing goddess Sulis Minerva, and a bath-house supplied with the spring water. The official timeline dates the baths and temple to AD 75 and says they were in use for about 400 years. Visitors threw messages on lead or pewter sheets into the spring, and the Roman Baths’ collection of 130 of these curse tablets dates from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. The site opened to the public in 1897.

Managing body: Bath & North East Somerset Council.

Prices (1 September to 31 October 2026, booked in advance):

Ticket	Weekday	Weekend / Bank Holiday
Adult (19+)	£26.50	£29.00
Student / Senior (65+)	£25.50	£28.00
Child (6–18)	£19.50	£22.00
Family, 2 adults + 2–4 children	£69.00	£77.00

On-the-day tickets cost £2 more, and bank-holiday pricing may vary. A bank holiday is a UK public holiday.

Booking: Advance booking is strongly advised. The Roman Baths warn of a fake half-price ticket site and say tickets are sold only at romanbaths.co.uk.

Guided tours: A shared tour is £8 per person on top of admission, hourly from 10am to 3pm. Private tours are £80 for up to 10 people.

Accessibility: A free carer or companion ticket is available when booking online.

Prices last checked: October 2026.

Where to book: Roman Baths tickets

Windsor Castle

Royal Collection Trust says William the Conqueror chose the site above the Thames and began building around 1070, to guard the western approach to London. Edward III, who was born at Windsor, turned it from a fortification into a Gothic palace from the 1350s, and Royal Collection Trust says he spent £50,000, more than any other medieval English king spent on a single building. The Royal Family’s website says ten sovereigns are buried in St George’s Chapel, including Henry VIII and Charles I. A fire on 20 November 1992 destroyed the ceilings of St George’s Hall and the Grand Reception Room, and restoration was completed exactly five years later. Windsor remains a working royal palace.

Managing body: Royal Collection Trust.

Prices (standard admission, 2026):

Ticket	Book in advance	On the day
Adult	£32.00	£36.00
Young Person (18–24)	£21.00	£24.00
Child (5–17)	£16.00	£18.00
Disabled Person	£16.00	£18.00

Under-fives and access companions are free. A ticket can be converted into a 1-Year Pass for unlimited re-admission.

Opening days: Thursday to Monday, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. The castle can close wholly or partly at short notice. St George’s Chapel closes at 4pm and is closed to visitors on Sundays.

Best time to visit: Royal Collection Trust says the castle is busiest from opening through the morning and suggests arriving after midday.

Suggested visit length: 1½ to 2 hours.

Accessibility: The castle stands at the top of a steep hill, with long distances and much of the route outdoors. There is an accessible café, toilets and a Changing Places facility (a larger accessible toilet with a hoist), and registered assistance dogs are welcome.

Security: Airport-style screening. Large bags and pushchairs are not allowed in the State Apartments, and a cloakroom is provided. There is no parking at the castle, so use town-centre car parks.

Rail discount: National Rail’s Days Out Guide gives 50% off entry with a train ticket, valid Thursday to Monday from 1 October 2026 to 22 March 2027, excluding 21 December 2026 to 3 January 2027. You need an eVoucher booked in advance, and these tickets cannot be converted into a 1-Year Pass.

Prices last checked: October 2026. Opening hours last checked: October 2026 (days only).

Where to book: Royal Collection Trust: Windsor Castle

Blenheim Palace

UNESCO’s Statement of Outstanding Universal Value says the English nation presented the site to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, after his 1704 victory over French and Bavarian troops. The palace was designed by John Vanbrugh and built between 1705 and 1722, and UNESCO says the park was later reshaped by Lancelot “Capability” Brown from 1761. Blenheim was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987. Blenheim Palace says Winston Churchill was born there on 30 November 1874, and that he proposed to Clementine Hozier at the Temple of Diana in the grounds on 11 August 1908. Churchill is buried at St Martin’s Church, Bladon, which can be seen from the State Rooms.

Managing body: Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation, a registered charity.

Prices (online / on site):

Ticket	Adult	Child	Family
Palace, Park & Gardens	£41 / £44	£24 / £27	£110 / £116
Park & Gardens only	£31 / £34	£15 / £18	£85 / £91

Blenheim treats Palace, Park & Gardens tickets as donations and converts them into 12-month passes at no extra cost. A one-day option without the donation is offered through a separate booking link.

Opening hours: Blenheim’s site banner gives 10.00 to 17.30, and the Park is open daily 09:00 to 18:00. From 7 September there is some disruption inside the Palace while restoration scaffolding comes down, and entry is currently via the Churchill Exhibition.

Booking: Advance online booking is recommended for faster entry and is possible up to the day of the visit.

Getting there from London: Blenheim’s quickest suggestion is London Marylebone to Oxford Parkway (Chiltern Railways), then Bus S7. Alternatively, take London Paddington to Oxford (GWR), then Bus S3, or Paddington to Hanborough, then Bus 233. The buses stop outside the main entrance, followed by a 10-minute walk through the park to the Palace.

Parking: Free on site, with a charge at selected third-party events.

Green travel discount: 20% off Palace, Park & Garden tickets with code GREEN20 for arrivals by train, bus or bike. Proof of travel is needed on arrival.

Prices last checked: October 2026. Opening hours last checked: October 2026.

Where to book: Blenheim Palace tickets

King’s College Chapel, Cambridge

King’s College says Henry VI laid the foundation stone on Passion Sunday 1441, and that the chapel took nearly a century to finish. Because building was interrupted by the Wars of the Roses (1455 to 1485), the stone changes colour from white magnesian limestone to buff oolitic limestone. The master mason John Wastell replaced the planned vault with the fan vault, which the college says is the largest of its kind in the world and was completed between 1512 and 1515. The chapel is 88 metres long and the vault is 24 metres high. Rubens’s Adoration of the Magi, painted in 1634, was donated to the college in 1961. The Christmas Eve service A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols has been held here since 1918, introduced by Eric Milner-White, and was first broadcast in 1928.

Managing body: King’s College, Cambridge, a working college and chapel.

Booking: Advance booking is encouraged. The college offers “Early Bird” discounted tickets, and the reduced price ends every Sunday night for the week ahead. Ticket prices and opening times are on the official booking page below.

Closures: The college says the chapel can close or change hours at short notice. When the chapel is closed to visitors, the grounds are closed to non-College members.

Getting there from London: Cambridge station has regular London connections and is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the college. There is no public parking at King’s, and the college suggests Park & Ride (edge-of-town car parks with a bus into the centre) or the Grand Arcade multi-storey.

Carols service: About half the tickets for the Christmas Eve service go to the public through an annual online ballot, with no public queue.

Where to book: King’s College Chapel tickets

Canterbury Cathedral

The cathedral says St Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great as a Christian missionary in 597, and that it became the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the cathedral on 29 December 1170, and the Pope made him a saint in 1173. His body was placed in a new shrine in the Trinity Chapel in 1220, and Henry VIII destroyed that shrine in 1538. The cathedral says it survived the Luftwaffe bombing of 1 June 1942 thanks to fire watchers who put out incendiary bombs from the roof. The cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey and St Martin’s Church were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

Managing body: Canterbury Cathedral, a registered charity.

Prices (standard sightseeing entry):

Period	Price
October to March	£18.00
April to September (excluding weekends in July and August)	£19.50
Weekends in July and August	£21.00

The ticket is an annual pass, valid for 365 days from booking with unlimited re-visits, and booking asks for a suggested £3 donation. The cathedral advertises “Kids Go Free” every day, with terms and conditions that exclude groups and schools. It also lists free entry for anyone attending a service of worship, and for UK residents on Universal Credit or Pension Credit (UK benefits), with proof required.

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 10.00 to 17.00, last admission 16.00. Sunday 11.30 to 17.00, last admission 16.00, with 11.30 to 12.30 for grounds and shop only and the cathedral church opening at 12.30. Hours can change for services, events or conservation work.

Booking: Online booking gives fast-track entry. Tickets can also be bought at the Visitor Centre on arrival.

Suggested visit length: One to three hours.

Getting there from London: Southeastern high-speed trains run from London St Pancras to Canterbury West in less than an hour. There are also regular services from London Victoria and Charing Cross to Canterbury East and West, and National Express coaches from Victoria Coach Station. The bus station is a 5-minute walk away.

Parking: Blue Badge holders only (the UK disabled parking permit), by prior arrangement. Public car parks and Park & Ride are suggested.

Nearby: St Augustine’s Abbey, St Martin’s Church, Eastbridge Hospital, the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, the Westgate Towers and the Roman Museum.

Prices last checked: October 2026. Opening hours last checked: October 2026.

Where to book: Canterbury Cathedral booking

Frequently Asked Questions