Getaways from London: day trips and destinations close by.

Five airports and a station for every direction

London shares the flights from Spain between five airports. Heathrow takes those from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife South. Gatwick, to the south, adds the most cities: besides almost all of those, Alicante, Murcia, Almería, Santiago de Compostela, Menorca, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma. Stansted and Luton, to the north, add Girona, Zaragoza and Santander the first, and Granada and Asturias the second. London City, by the river, has flights from Madrid, Málaga, Palma and Ibiza.

To leave London it is best to think in stations, not roads. Paddington is the western gateway: Oxford in about an hour, Bath in 1h 20, Windsor with a change at Slough and Moreton-in-Marsh, in the Cotswolds, in about 90 minutes. Waterloo takes you to Windsor direct and to Salisbury in an hour and a half. King's Cross, to Cambridge in about 48 minutes; Euston, to Watford Junction for the Harry Potter studio, and Marylebone, to Stratford-upon-Avon in about two hours. Towards Kent and the south coast, trains leave from St Pancras, Victoria and London Bridge: Canterbury in 55 minutes by high-speed, Whitstable in a little over 1h 15, Rye with a change at Ashford and Brighton in an hour. If you land at Gatwick, Brighton is half an hour by train from the airport.

You only need a car for the Cotswolds with the family, where the zoo, Burford and Bibury have no train linking them. Remember that in England you drive on the left.

The Harry Potter studio and Windsor, in a long half-day

Less than an hour by road are the Harry Potter studio, at 50 minutes, and Windsor, at 55. They are long half-days that by train you can do without thinking about parking.

Between an hour and a half and two hours is the majority: Whitstable (95 minutes), Cambridge, Canterbury and Oxford (100), Brighton with the Seven Sisters cliffs (110), the Cotswolds (124) and Rye with Camber Sands (125). To almost all of them, the train takes quite a bit less than the car.

What lies more than two hours away calls for an early start or sleeping there: Stratford-upon-Avon and Salisbury with Stonehenge are 135 minutes away and Bath, 150. For those there are a night in Stratford with a Royal Shakespeare Company performance and two nights in Bath with Stonehenge.

Hogwarts in the Snow, from 14 November to 17 January

In winter it gets dark around half past four, so it is best to choose city or indoor plans. From 14 November 2026 to 17 January 2027 the Harry Potter studio stages Hogwarts in the Snow, with snow-covered sets; in December, Bath has a Christmas market, and from September to April it is native oyster season in Whitstable. In Oxford, in December and January, punting is swapped for the Ashmolean Museum.

In spring, Cambridge has its best weeks from April to June, although from mid-May to mid-June some colleges close for exams. It is also the season for Windsor on weekdays and for Oxford's punts, which run from February to November.

In summer the coast pulls: Brighton and the Seven Sisters, from April to September with light until late for the cliffs; Camber beach, next to Rye, from April to October, and Whitstable's, from May to October. In Stratford, from Easter to October, there are boats on the Avon, and in Salisbury it is best to catch the first bus to reach Stonehenge before the coaches.

In autumn, September leaves Cambridge and the Cotswold villages green and without August's queues, and Canterbury or Bath work in any weather.

Canterbury in 55 minutes from St Pancras

• No car, in a day: Canterbury from London. High-speed from St Pancras in 55 minutes, the cathedral with a guided tour and the market; avoid Mondays.
• With one or two nights: Brighton and the Seven Sisters. An hour by train, the Royal Pavilion and the pier on Saturday and, on Sunday, the chalk cliffs from Cuckmere Haven to Birling Gap, setting off on the 12 Coaster bus.
• With two nights: the Cotswolds. Direct train to Moreton-in-Marsh, on Saturday walking the Cotswold Way from Chipping Campden to Broadway and on Sunday Stow, Bourton-on-the-Water and Bibury.