01
London
What London charges for is towers and churches: the Tower €43, Westminster Abbey €36. You get around by tapping a contactless card, with a daily cap of €10 across zones 1 and 2.
Destination
England
The museums charge nothing; the train charges you for booking late
Saved. Open the list →
- Currency
- Pound sterling (GBP), about €1.17
- Language
- English
- When to go
- May–June and September
England is easiest to travel from London, by train: on the fastest services Cambridge is 49 minutes from King's Cross, Oxford 52 from Paddington and Bath an hour and twelve, so all three work as day trips. The national museums have charged nothing since December 2001; what you pay for is the bed, the towers, the colleges and the train.
The first item isn't the flight or the hotel, it's paperwork, and which paper depends on your passport. The ETA — the €23 electronic permission everyone talks about — is only for nationals who don't need a visa. Countries on the UK's visa national list need a Standard Visitor visa instead: apply online, €157 a head, an appointment at a visa centre for fingerprints, and a decision usually within three weeks. The fee isn't refunded if the visa is refused, so check which applies to you on the UK government site before you book, and if it's the visa, don't buy tickets until it is in hand.
Where next
Cities and places in England
Each place has its own page — what makes it worth the detour, and how long you need.
The full list
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
The money is the pound, not the euro, worth about €1.17 — the quick mental sum is to add a sixth to any sterling price. Cards work everywhere, cash is rarely asked for, and in London you tap into the Tube and the bus with the same card you buy coffee with.
The train is the best way to cross England, but the price depends on when you buy. Advance tickets are tied to one specific train, aren't refundable, and with most operators go on sale twelve weeks ahead — London to York booked two weeks out starts at €34. Travelling as a pair or with children, a Two Together or Family & Friends Railcard (€41 a year) takes a third off most fares; on weekdays Two Together is valid only after 9.30.
Blog
Stories from England
How it actually was when we were there, and what was worth it.
A London weekend for two: where the bill has a ceiling
→A London weekend's bill isn't made by the city but by what's paid before you leave. In London itself almost everything has an upper…
Why London's museums charge nothing, and what you still pay for
→Behind the words 'admission free' sit one tax clause and one political decision, not a curator's generosity. Here is how it works, and…
Oxford or Cambridge for one day from London, without regrets
→Both towns are an hour from London and both are sold with the same photograph. The difference is what actually opens for the money…
Bath and the Cotswolds with no car: trains, buses and villages
→The villages connect to the towns on the edge of the region, not to each other. So the plan is built backwards, from the last bus…
York in three layers: the walls, the Minster and Vikings underfoot
→Every age in York built on the one before, and you can see it in one tower, one muddy dig and one window.
Liverpool minus the Beatles: two cathedrals and a stadium
→A city that planned a cathedral twice and never got either one as drawn — and once chose between a dock and the World Heritage List.
Brighton from London: when a weekend beats a day trip
→The sea is cold and nobody comes to swim, so Brighton can be done in a day. A night buys what starts once the day-trippers leave: the…
What it's known for
Six things England means
National museums that charge nothing
Since December 2001 the permanent collections of the national museums have been free to everyone, wherever you come from. Only temporary exhibitions are ticketed. In March 2026 the government said it would explore charging international visitors, following an independent review; so far nothing has been introduced.
The prime meridian runs through a London suburb
At the International Meridian Conference in Washington in 1884, forty-one delegates from twenty-five nations voted that zero longitude should run through the observatory at Greenwich. France abstained and kept the Paris meridian on its maps for decades afterwards.
Football got its rules here
The Football Association was founded on 26 October 1863 in a London tavern and is the oldest in the world. The first FA Cup final was played in 1872 in front of about two thousand people, and the league followed in 1888 with six clubs from the north-west and six from the Midlands.
A legal right to walk across other people's land
England has roughly 187,000 kilometres of recorded public rights of way, of which 143,000 kilometres are footpaths. They cross private estates, pastures and farmyards, and the landowner cannot close them. Which is why here you walk between villages rather than along the road.
The whole of Bath carries two UNESCO inscriptions
Bath was listed in 1987 for its hot springs, Roman archaeology and Georgian architecture, then again in 2021 as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, a joint inscription covering eleven towns in seven countries. Very few places anywhere hold two.
Stonehenge is older than the Egyptian pyramids
The stone circle in Wiltshire went up in stages around five thousand years ago. The ticket is valid all day and can also be bought at the gate; booked online and ahead it costs less, and prices and getting there are on the Stonehenge page.
What to see
Five places for a first visit
This isn't a ranking — it's a route. Any one of these could carry a whole trip.
02
Bath
Britain's only hot springs, in a town built entirely from the same yellowish stone. The Roman Baths are €31 on a weekday booked in advance, with the audio guide included, but nobody bathes in that water. For that there is a modern spa across the street: two hours on a weekday for €51.
03
Oxford
Thirty-six colleges, each with its own gate, opening hours and ticket. Christ Church is €29 on a weekday, while the Ashmolean, Britain's first public museum, charges nothing. From late April to mid-June exams are on and colleges shut their doors to visitors.
04
Cambridge
Tighter than Oxford, with a river that runs behind a row of colleges. King's College and its chapel are €18.35 online on a weekday, yet evensong in that same chapel is free and needs no ticket. A shared punt tour on the Cam takes 45 minutes and costs from €48 a head.
05
Stonehenge
A stone circle some five thousand years old, in an open field in Wiltshire, 43 km south-east of Bath as the crow flies. The ticket is valid all day; without a car, take an organised departure from Bath or Salisbury.
Did you know
Two things you probably did not know
History
The Great Fire of 1666 burned over thirteen thousand houses and eighty-seven churches in London, and the official death toll was six. The real number was almost certainly far higher. The poor were not entered in the registers.
Language
England has no law making English its official language, and no written constitution. Both rest on custom and on statutes passed across the centuries.
Frequently asked
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Do I need a visa for England?
It depends on your passport. Nationals of countries on the UK's visa national list need a Standard Visitor visa: it costs €157, you apply online and attend a visa centre appointment, and a decision usually comes within three weeks. The €23 ETA is only for those who don't need a visa. Check the UK government site before you book.
How much is the train and when should I book?
With most operators Advance fares go on sale twelve weeks before departure, are tied to one specific train and are non-refundable — but cost a fraction of the on-the-day price. A €41 Railcard takes a third off on top.
Are the museums really free?
The permanent collections of the national museums are, and have been since December 2001, for overseas visitors too. Temporary exhibitions are ticketed.
Plan the trip
Ready for England?
Checked at the source13 facts on this page carry a source and a check date.All sources →
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