Published 2026-09-21 by the Rushxo team. More guides.
Short answer: the classic day trips from London are all two hours or less by car, and for a family or a group of friends a fixed-fare car is usually cheaper than the train once you count everyone's tickets, the taxi at the far end and the walk from the station. The price below is for the whole car, one way, from central London on a weekday.
| Destination | Miles | Saloon | Executive | MPV (6) | 9-seater |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor Castle | 25 | £76 | £106 | £91 | £121 |
| Oxford | 60 | £139 | £169 | £154 | £184 |
| Cambridge | 60 | £139 | £169 | £154 | £184 |
| Brighton | 55 | £130 | £160 | £145 | £175 |
| Canterbury | 60 | £139 | £169 | £154 | £184 |
| Stonehenge | 88 | £188 | £218 | £203 | £233 |
| The Cotswolds (Bourton-on-the-Water) | 90 | £192 | £222 | £207 | £237 |
| Stratford-upon-Avon | 100 | £210 | £240 | £225 | £255 |
| Bath | 115 | £236 | £266 | £251 | £281 |
Live engine prices at the time of writing for a 09:00 weekday pickup in WC2. VAT, tolls and parking included; priced per car, not per seat. Your exact quote appears before you pay.
Forty minutes from Kensington on a good morning. The Castle opens at 10:00 and is best done first, before the coach groups; the Changing of the Guard is at 11:00 on most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Add lunch on Eton High Street across the bridge and the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park, and you are back in London by 16:00. A saloon is £76 each way; the same car can go on to Heathrow, which is only 15 minutes from Windsor, if it is your last day.
Both are 60 miles and about 90 minutes. In Oxford ask to be dropped at St Aldate's for Christ Church, the Bodleian and the covered market; in Cambridge the Backs and King's College Chapel are a ten-minute walk from a Queen's Road drop. Neither city lets cars into the centre easily, which is exactly why a drop-off and a pre-booked pickup beats driving yourself. £139 one way for a saloon, £154 for a six-seat MPV.
These are the trips where a driver who waits makes the day. The Cotswolds have no useful trains: Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow, Bibury and Burford are 10 to 15 minutes apart by road and an hour apart by bus. Bath is a two-hour run down the M4 and the Roman Baths plus a walk along the Royal Crescent fills the day. Stonehenge on its own is a 90-minute drive for a 45-minute visit, so most people pair it with Salisbury or Bath. For any of these, ask for an as-directed day rate rather than two one-ways; it works out cheaper once the driver waits more than two hours.
An hour and a half to the seafront. The Lanes, the Pavilion and the pier are all within a ten-minute walk of a Old Steine drop. Summer weekends are the busy exception: leave London before 09:00 or after 11:00 to miss the A23 queue. £130 one way; see the dedicated London to Brighton page.
Every trip is a fixed fare with no surge and the driver can take a different route home if you want to stop somewhere. Related: intercity transfers, London's parks and gardens, Warner Bros. Studio Tour transfers.
Windsor for a half day (25 miles, from £76 one way), Oxford or Cambridge for a full day (from £139), the Cotswolds or Bath if you want countryside and a night away. Stonehenge works best combined with Bath or Salisbury.
For one person, usually not. For three or more with a return, often yes: a fixed-fare MPV to Oxford is £154 each way for the whole car, against peak return train tickets of £30 to £60 per person, and it takes you door to door with no station transfers.
Yes. Waiting time is charged by the hour, or you can book two one-way journeys with different pickup times. For a full day (Cotswolds, Bath, Stonehenge) an as-directed day rate is usually the better value; ask on WhatsApp.
Yes, and the return leg can be booked at a different time to the outbound. Returns are discounted ("Return, save 5%" on the booking page).
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