United Kingdom [2025]

Jul 14, 2025
15 min read

When we told coworkers we were headed to the UK for vacation, their responses were, "Why?" "Do you have family there?" Well, turns out, there's loads to see :P Nick was to end up at a stag do in Bristol, so we traversed as much as we could of the southern parts of England, as well as Cardiff, Wales. It was honestly overwhelming when it came to planning, because there are just so many interesting things to do/visit. The countryside was gorgeous, and we're hoping we can make it back to experience Snowdonia sometime soon!

Pre-trip Notes

Driving: Driving on the right side of the car and left side of the road really took a toll on us by the end. We had to travel long distances most of the days of our trip, and the route was never a "straight shot." That said, renting a car was really our only option given everything we wanted to do.
Tickets/Tours: We'd read that for much of what we wanted to see/do it was recommended to book in advance. This really took away any semblance of flexibility we'd usually like to have, but because we booked everything ahead of time, we were able to see almost everything we wanted. The exception was Bodleian Library, but that was especially tricky due to a wedding occurring the same day we'd have liked to visit. Thankfully, most places didn't care if you were a bit late, which was clutch on our Windsor/Stonehenge day, as we were delayed by traffic and then a state visit at the castle.
Trains: For the few trains we did take, we booked these in advance as they're cheaper than buying closer to the day of travel. Also, book your actual seats. Ash ended up having to stand with a heavy backpack for much of the ride from Bristol to Paddington. Learned that lesson the hard way lol.
Bag storage: Twice in London we needed to store our bags while we explored and couldn't check into our Airbnb/hotel yet. So, we used Radical Storage, and it worked like a charm.
Public transit: As long as you have a debit/credit card, you're set. You tap your card to enter and tap to get out, which is how you're then charged for how far you traveled. We took the Hoppa bus between the airport and hotel, and we found it difficult to find at the airport. So, we ended up needing to ask a handful of people along the way until we found the right place.

What We Did

London, England

Natural History Museum: This is free, but it's advised you booked your slot in advance, especially if you plan to go on a busy day. The museum itself was OK, but between Chicago and Houston natural history museums, we're 100% spoiled. The hanging whale skeleton is super cool, though! Also, if you're there while the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit is going on, we hear it's really worth a visit.
Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A): Complete with a massive Chihuly piece and so much more, this was a nice one to visit to round out our first (very jet-lagged) day. We also really enjoyed having champagne while listening to a live piano performance at the café.
Big (Fucking) Ben: Only took pictures from the outside, but was cool to finally see it not covered in scaffolding <3
Westminster Abbey: Where the royals are coronated, married, and sometimes buried, we opted for the audio guide and found it very helpful and interesting.

Houses of Parliament/Palace of Westminster: We only took pictures from across the Thames, but it's really stunning to see!
Buckingham Palace: We knew that you needed to get there super early to see the changing of the guard, but sweet Jesus, we had no idea just how many thousands of people would be there on a Friday. Volunteers warned the crowd of pickpockets, and we were able to better see the guards a St. James's Palace later in the day.
Churchill War Rooms: SO COOL. Highly recommend, and book tickets in advance. Museum and bunker-like tunnels under a government building used to secretly strategize during WWII.
Brick Lane: A recommended area to explore/eat, and we really enjoyed it! We grabbed dinner and Ash bought a couple of books from Brick Lane Bookshop. We also found a hang bar to swing on before walking back west :P
Tower of London: Even though we got tickets in advance, the queue was MASSIVE. A couple in front of us advised we head straight to the royal gems/jewels to avoid long waits later - such a great tip! It sheer amount of crowns, golden dishes, scepters/staffs, etc. was insane. There was even a conveyor belt to keep people moving at one point XD. We also checked out the Norman Keep (first of three we'd see on our trip) to see armor for men and horses. The wooden horses themselves were also antique (centuries). We had lunch at the café, which had a nice selection of soups, sandwiches, and wraps.

The British Museum: SO much to see. Also free, but super crowded. Highly recommend hitting the top things to see outlined in the museum guide/brochure, because the museum itself is huge. "Top hits" included (but not limited to): the Lewis Chessmen, Nigerian Benin Bronzes, an Easter Island statue, the Rosetta Stone, and Assyrian lion hunt reliefs. We were especially wowed by the amount of well-preserved cuneiform!

Shakespeare's Globe: A replica of the original (burned down), and it was really cool! We saw the Merry Wives of Windsor and opted for standing tickets (be prepared to stand for a long time if you go this route lol, but you can sit at intermission). The play was really funny and the venue really blew us away!

Greenwich Prime Meridian: We didn't book this in advance, but we thought it was worth the price to check out the museum and stand on the actual meridian for pics. We learned all about the royal astronomers who built on each others' work to better understand the stars/planets and time. There is a whole section dedicated to the creation of the clock to get the world on a unified time system (late 1800s). It was amazing to see how quickly they were able to condense the technology down to a smaller/portable clock! We also visited the Royal Observatory to see one of the last telescopes used for official purposes, which mostly consisted of making small observations over YEARS.
Home of Charles Darwin-Down House: Darwin lived here for 40 years with his wife (cousin lol) and their 9-10 kids :O What was especially interesting here is that Darwin often recognized just how privileged he was. His family was so well-off that it was no issue for him to sail the world in his 20s. On his tour, he took so many notes that would later be the basis for his On the Origin of Species theory of evolution. He fine-tuned this work for several years to solidify as much as possible, as he knew he'd likely get major pushback from the scientific community. We also explored the greenhouses and grounds around the house, and there was live music playing beyond the trees. We had sandwiches at the café, which were delicious.

Dover, England

Dover Castle: We started with the war tunnels since it was pouring rain, and it was AMAZING. The tunnels were originally dug for Napoleonic conflict and later used during WWII. They were meant to be barracks, but it was quickly realized it was too cramped and not-so-great conditions so usage was scaled back. Note: You can see the tunnels cropping out of the cliffs from certain vantage points. During WWII, the tunnels were used for Operation Dynamo, which was a strategic initiative to evacuate 300,000+ troops from Normandy. It was found out decades later that Hitler intended to take Dover Castle as a UK base, but before doing this, his condition was to take down the RAF first (they never could). There's an especially ominous picture here of Nazis looking across the Dover Strait from France. From the tunnels, we went to the keep (2/3 Normans this trip) and saw furniture reminiscent of the Victorian times. Stained glass and wood floors were from Victorian and Georgian times.

Cliffs of Dover: Nick found an access trail to get us up on top of the cliffs to the north (in the direction of Langdon Beach). We didn't make it to St. Margaret's (it was 8:30 pm and still light out), but the views and hiking were incredible!

Windsor, England

We drove from Dover to Windsor and encountered so much traffic south of London. Not sure if it was due to Wimbledon, but it caused quite a delay!
Windsor Castle: Annoyingly, most of it was closed due to a last-minute state visit (France). We did see the Doll House (underwhelming tbh and not worth the queue) and St. George's Chapel (worth it). The State Apartments were closed, but we funnily got caught up in them "practicing" for the visit. We'd been sent on a boondoggle to get partial refunds due to the closures. So, we got to see a parading of horses and a fancy car, all while getting "You shouldn't be here looks." They were so flustered, which was funny but we also felt bad as they were obviously under a lot of stress. Pro tip: check to see if a state visit is planned during your visit and avoid if possible!

Salisbury, England

Stonehenge: We're so glad we visit this iconic spot. We thought the setup was brilliant and we learned so much from the museum and historians onsite. The museum also included information on other Neolithic sites of which we were familiar (Knowth & New Grange), as well as a skeleton of a guy who lived in the area on chalk rich soil (knew from studying the isotopes of his teeth!). The site was likely a religious pilgrimage site that aligned its stones with the solstices. We walked to the stones instead of taking the shuttle, which was a lovely walk through pasture, with a few burial mounds along the way. After taking lots of pictures, Nick was able to ask an expert onsite lots of questions. She said the people picked the spot likely due to its proximity to the nearby stream, however other experts are looking into a myth of Merlin moving the stones from Ireland based on an Irish child skeleton being recently found nearby. We walked back to the museum and got snacks at the café before our drive south.

Dorset Coast, England

Durdle Door: We hiked an out-and-back loop to an old RAF outpost, where the first half was on the coast and the second half was amongst the cow pastures. Durdle Door was pretty early on and really popular. We also saw a bunch of cows down the way that were eating rocks! We'd never seen that before. The hike along the coast was challenging (very hilly!), and the pasture walk back was much easier. We'd gotten food and drink at Morrison's grocery back in Shaftesbury, so we took a lunch break near the RAF building. We attempted to walk down the cliff (there's a switchback trail, but we quickly deemed it too dangerous (and far) mostly due to steepness and wind. We'd hoped to see some fossils that have made this area popular, but we sadly found none (Mary Anning famously found a ichthyosaur and plesiosaur near here!). There are also options for food, ice cream, and coffee here.

Bath, England

The Roman Baths: A must visit! We did the audio guide and learned about when Romans came here (~46 CE) and built the bath house here, which they called "Aquae Sulis" (lots of homage to Sulis Minerva). The Romans would visit the baths when they were sick, so it was common to contract sicknesses like gangrene lol. But, apparently this particular bath was cleaner than most. There were cold rooms, sauna rooms (slaves had to clean the stacks of sooty hot bricks underneath), and various other pools. They heated the water using water from a natural geothermal vent and routed it through a series of pipes and gates/doors. Another really interesting thing we learned about was people would toss valuables into the baths as offerings, but they'd also toss in curse notes which were notes written on lead about those who had wronged them (most were about theft).

Castle Combe, England

You have to park down the road from the cottages. We parked here, which was about a 10-minute walk to the village.
Cottages: From the cottage center (lots of great photo ops), we walked the ~6 km loop that went more into the woods than expected, but it was really nice!

Wye Valley, Wales

Cadora Woods Circular: A very well-manicured trail except for around the 3.75 mi mark (super shiggy). We saw lots of trees, ferns, fields, Wye River views, and a herd of cute cows. We even got yelled at by three farm dogs (they did good). Aside from a couple of farmers and a woman on horseback, we saw no one on the trail. It was a nice hike!
Puzzlewood: A little pricey for what it is, but for us it was worth it to see the supposed inspiration for Tolkein's Mirkwood <3 There were ALL the mossy stones, as well as fun wooden bridges and offshoots. As had become a pattern by this point, we got sandwiches at the café here. Ash's new favorite sandwich: cheese and pickles.

Pontypool, Wales

Big Pit National Coal Museum: We were really glad we visited. Make sure you get there to give yourself plenty of time to do the underground tour and visit some of the other buildings onsite. There can be quite a wait to do the underground bit. We had to leave all tech behind (including cameras, watches, phones, etc.) before heading down, and we were given hard hats and safety belts. Our tour was given by an former Welsh miner (but not from this particular mine) who told us all bout the family who originally operated the mine (for iron ore and coal). At the time, young kids (5-6 years old) would operate the air doors with only a candle. If the candle blew out, they'd be in total darkness until someone could relight it for them (so scary!). This mine was a huge part of the coal boom for Wales, so it was a big deal when it closed. They'd have drams linked underground (17-20) to carry the coal out; and miners would cut some of the coal seam with what looked like a massive chainsaw, then other miners would come through and chip away what was left to get it hauled away. They'd slowly cut their way through the outcrop, moving the beams and supports as they went, letting the last supported roof collapse behind them. They'd have ~50 horses down there for 8-10 years during their respective lives for 50 weeks each year (poor horses). Since they were expensive, they were apparently treated very well, and they even had a sick bay for them with a vet. The horses would get two weeks each year to go up outside of the mine (which had to be at night, because they weren't used to sunlight), after which it was difficult to get them to go back down. If you go for a visit, bring a jacket, as it's chilly down there! We also caught the last showing of the King Coal immersive show before leaving.

Cardiff, Wales

Parking was 100% stress.
Cardiff Castle: Also doubles as a concert venue! There'd been a James concert the night before, so that was being taken down during our visit. We saw part of an original Roman wall, the Arab room (beautiful), and a photo of Sir Anthony Hopkins from his time here as a student! It had been the national college of music and drama at the time. There is a library from one of the marquesses (like a lord in the 1800s), which was pretty neat, and there was lots of gorgeous stained glass and woodwork. We stopped in at the Norman Keep (3/3!), which had always been roofless, and is situated on a stereotypically-high mound with a mote. Apparently, people lived in the keep (the one room we saw was super small), and the keep itself was deemed unusable after being heavily damaged during the civil war.

Bristol, England

St. Nicholas's Market: Not really open when I could visit in the morning, but seems like it would be a fun place to shop especially during the holidays! The Christmas Steps are also near here, which are in a number of movies!
Cabot Tower: Going up and inside felt a little sketchy, but the grounds around it seem really nice, though! The tower was erected in admiration for Cabot who discovered America (Newfoundland) and is from Bristol.
Victoria Rooms: Victorian auditorium and recital room a friend performed at during uni!
Clifton Suspension Bridge view, Observatory, and Giant's Cave: The observatory was actually really cool, which included a museum that detailed the invention of the camera. West (artist but also scientist) invented the paper, and Talbot invented (a version of) the camera. Lots of people are credited here as being inventors and key players, as well as examples of first "permanent" photos from the ~1820s-1830s. So, Bristol is regarded as one of the birthplaces of photography. At the top of the museum, you can use the actual "obscura" which is like a tower viewer projected into a big bowl. Also visited the cave, which has a great view of the bridge.
Banksy!: A friend recommended this site to help guide our way through some of Banksy's work in Bristol. Some were a bit difficult to find, but Ash managed to find the three she'd set out to see: The Girl with the Pierced Eardrum, Well-hung Lover, and Queen Ziggy (you have to look up for this last one!).

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