Warwick Castle and Stratford Tour from London

In the Price

Every option includes the superior coach with Wi-Fi and USB charging, an expert guide with a personal audio headset, a walking tour of Oxford and a panoramic drive through the Cotswolds. The English and Spanish options that say including entries also cover admission to Warwick Castle and Shakespeare's Birthplace. Infants aged 0 to 2 sit on an adult's lap, and children 3 to 16 are priced separately from adults 17 and over.

• Superior coach with Wi-Fi and USB charging
• Expert guide and personal audio headset
• Walking tour of Oxford
• Panoramic Cotswolds drive, no stop
• Entry to Warwick Castle and Shakespeare's Birthplace only in including-entries options

Not in the Price

Lunch, drinks and gratuities are extra on every option. In the excluding-entries options you also pay admission at the gate, and Warwick Castle lists one-day tickets from £26 booked in advance against £31 on the day, while Shakespeare's Birthplace costs adults £25.00 online or £27.00 on the door. Those are the public prices at each site.

Bring money for food at the stops, since no meal stop with a set menu is promised.

• Lunch and drinks
• Gratuities
• Entry tickets unless the including-entries option is chosen
• Any Cotswolds stop, which the tour does not make at all

What You May Pay on the Day

Budget for lunch at Warwick or Stratford, coffee and any souvenirs. Warwick Castle opens from 10am with a closing time that varies by date, and its Castle plus Dungeon package runs from £34 online. If you book an excluding-entries option and later change your mind at the gate, the on-the-day prices above apply.

There is no mandatory extra stated on the listing.

Early Morning at Victoria

Arrive at the Evan Evans kiosk opposite Gate 1 inside Victoria Coach Station by 8:00 AM. The coach rolls at 8:30 AM. Victoria Tube station is about a 300 metre walk from the coach station, and the address is 164 Buckingham Palace Road, so leave time for the walk from your hotel.

There is no hotel pickup on this tour.

Morning at Warwick Castle

The coach heads north-west into Warwickshire for the first stop, over a thousand years of history in one of England's medieval castles. The listing does not state the time on site, and the castle opens from 10am with a closing time that varies by date. Expect outdoor walking along the walls and grounds in whatever weather the day brings.

Midday in Stratford-upon-Avon

The town where William Shakespeare was born is the second stop. If your option includes it, you go into Shakespeare's Birthplace itself. Otherwise you see the town on foot at your own pace, and food is at your cost here if you have not eaten at the castle.

The Birthplace ticket from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is valid for 12 months from purchase, which is no help on a day trip but useful to know.

Afternoon Through the Cotswolds to Oxford

Between Stratford and Oxford the route crosses the Cotswolds as a panoramic drive. You look at stone villages through the coach window and stop nowhere. If stepping out in Bourton-on-the-Water or Burford matters, this tour does not do it, and you should look at a Cotswolds option instead.

The coach then reaches Oxford for the included walking tour with the guide.

Evening Return

The tour finishes around 7:00 PM at Victoria Train Station. Plan any evening onward travel from Victoria after that.

Anyone Who Wants to Stand in a Cotswolds Village

The listing says plainly there will be a panoramic drive through the Cotswolds but no stop off. If photographs from a moving coach are not enough, book the Cotswolds Small-Group Day Tour, which runs a 16-seat minibus, or the Cotswolds and Oxford Guided Day Trip, which stops at Burford and Bourton-on-the-Water and gives 2.5 hours in Oxford.

Travellers Who Need a Short Day or Hotel Pickup

This is a 10.5-hour day, 8:30 AM to about 7:00 PM, and the listing asks for at least a moderate level of physical fitness. There is no hotel pickup, and both castle and town involve outdoor walking. If ten and a half hours sounds like too much, the Windsor Castle Half-Day Trip runs 4 hours with castle admission included.

People Who Want Every Ticket in the Fare

Castle and Birthplace entries ride on the option you choose, and lunch is never included. If you want a single price with admission inside, compare the Leeds Castle, Dover and Canterbury Day Trip, where Leeds Castle entry is included on every option. Wheelchair users can join this tour, but must contact the operator at least seven days before travel so a suitable vehicle is arranged.

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller.

Oxford by Train Is Simple

Direct trains run from London Paddington to Oxford, and Chiltern Railways runs from London Marylebone. Once there, the Ashmolean Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Weston Library are all free, and Christ Church Meadow is free in daylight. A Bodleian guided tour starts from £12.50 for 30 minutes.

UK rail fares are dynamic, so no fare is quoted here, but Oxford is one of the easiest day trips from London by train.

Warwick and Stratford Are the Hard Part

We have no official train times or bus link between Warwick Castle and Stratford, so a do-it-yourself version of all three stops in one day is not costed or timed here. What we can give is the entry prices. Warwick Castle lists one-day tickets from £26 in advance, Shakespeare's Birthplace costs adults £25.00 online, and a Bodleian tour starts from £12.50, before any train fares.

Where the tour earns its price is the driving between three spread-out places and the fixed 10.5-hour shape. If you only care about Oxford, do it yourself. If you want all three, the coach is the practical way.

Consider Staying Over

Three destinations in one day means shallow time at each. If Warwick and Stratford are the draw, a 2 day trip from London or a 3 day trip from London gives the region room to breathe.