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Southampton to London via Cotswold Villages, Downton Abbey Locations & Pub Lunch Turn
4.1
15 Ratings
Southampton
Embark on a scenic journey from Southampton to London, exploring the charming Cotswold Villages, iconic Downton Abbey filming locations, and indulging in a delicious pub lunch at a historic inn.
Duration:
11 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Bampton Library - Our first stop is the charming village of Bampton, which many of you will recognise as the village of Downton from the hit TV series and forthcoming film “Downton Abbey”. Here we can stroll around the village green and visit the church, see the Cottage Hospital, post office and Mrs Crawley’s house from the TV show.
- Burford Library - We depart Bampton and drive along meandering lanes and rolling hills to the beautiful village of Burford, where the ancient stone cottages seem to cascade down to the River Windrush. After a guided walk we will enter a traditional Cotswolds pub for lunch.
- Stow-on-the-Wold Market Square - After our visit and lunch in Burford, we head onward to Stow on the Wold. It’s vast market square would have held livestock fairs where up to 20,000 sheep would have been bought and sold. Visit the charming 16th century church and the Roman Wells. Stroll down the narrow alleys designed to keep the sheep in the square and the cold north wind out!
What's Included
- Two hold luggage items up to 23kg and one 10kg carry-on per person
- Lunch provided
- Complimentary cruise terminal pick-up and drop-off
- Guidance from a professional expert guide
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
Additional Information
Turn your Southampton post cruise transfer into a day trip and experience a world of delightful villages, hidden valleys and meandering streams throughout the Cotswold Hills, visiting Downton Abbey filming locations on the way, before we make a stop for a fabulous lunch in a 15th century inn.
This service is available on all dates when Royal Caribbean, Oceania, NCL, Celebrity, Princess & Disney cruise ships are visiting Southampton. The service is also available to passengers on other ships if your arrival dates and arrival times coincide with ships listed. Please note you will need to make your own way to the ship we are servicing on that date.
- Each person is allowed a maximum of 2 items of hold luggage (75x51x28 cm - 23kg each) and 1 item of carry-on luggage (55x40x20 cm - 10kg each). If you bring extra luggage it will not fit in the vehicle. In this instance you will be responsible for arranging separate transportation for your luggage to your cruise ship.
- Should you wish to bring any mobility aids (wheelchairs or walkers) you MUST contact the operator in advance and provide full dimensions and weight. These items must be able to be folded and stored in the luggage hold. Wheelchairs must be counted as 1 item of your hold luggage.
- Please note, this tour does not visit Highclere Castle.
- Please be aware, this service will change in 2025 to the following: ‘Southampton to London Cruise Transfer, via the Cotswolds, Country Pub Lunch & Oxford’. This will feature visits to the Cotswolds villages of Bibury and Burford, including a country pub lunch, before a visit to Oxford and concluding with drop offs at Heathrow Airport and central London. Any bookings made for 2025 will be on this new itinerary.
Location
Herbert Walker Avenue
08.00am from Royal Caribbean, Oceania, NCL, Princess, Disney or Celebrity cruise ship. Your driver will meet you at your terminal building exit from 08:00am. Your driver will be holding a sign reading "International Friends", and will accompany you the coach.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.1
(15 Ratings)
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Topsypops
Aug 7, 2024
Great way to see the Cotwolds - This is a great way to see an area outside London, that you may not get to see.
We were fortunate to have only one other couple on our tour. Tony was an excellent Guide who made sure we were all looked after well. He was a wealth of knowledge, and being a small group, was able to cater for individual questions and interests.
He was so friendly, and gave tips for overall safety on our onward journeys. Tony - your tip regarding Rock and Sole Plaice was spot on.
The Companies Team at the Wharf worked together to ensure all guests had been collected for all tours before any of them departed.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mrs_cannon56
Aug 4, 2024
A Cotswold Tour to Remember! - My mother and I enjoyed a spectacular tour with Christian Mulcahy as our guide. We spent 8 hours touring the Cotswold Villages and enjoyed a literal history lesson of the UK while hearing fabulous antidotes about root words. Christian was an incredible guide who was very accommodating and informative. We honestly could not be more pleased with the quality of our tour and guide! Highlight: Christian carved out time for my mother and I to enjoy a pint (Guinness, of course) at England's oldest pub! Huge thanks to Christian and the International Friends team!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Suzanne_g
May 18, 2024
Cruise ship to Hotel - Lovely way to go from cruise ship to London hotel. Both the tour guide and driver were incredibly knowledgeable and accommodating. Wonderful way to see the Cotswolds and enjoy the countryside.
Review provided by Viator
Alan_c
May 17, 2024
Excellent! - From pick up at the port to drop-off at our London hotel, it was excellent. Our guide Jeff and driver Gary were fantastic and made a great team. Jeff was very knowledeable, great sense of humor also. The cotswolds village of Bampton was gorgeous. Thank you to the villagers that "suffer" the tourists! The Lamb pub in Burford, and the included lunch were great. Just the right amount of free time in both places. It was a long day from ship to hotel, but well worth it.
Review provided by Viator
Bill_s
May 16, 2024
Outstanding Tour - This tour was fantastic
Jeff the tour guide was awesome and had a lot of stories of the different places we toured
Gary the bus driver was great and also added a few different experiences
I would recommend you do this tour on the way from the ship to London
Review provided by Viator
Vacation54580777182
Jul 3, 2023
What a wonderful tour! - This was a most enjoyable tour. Our guide, Geoffrey, was very entertaining as well as being very informative. You could tell he loved his country and its history. We toured many places on our trip from Southampton to Heathrow, but Geoffrey never made us feel rushed and answered our questions thoroughly. If we ever need transportation from Southampton to Heathrow again, I plan to use this company to take a different tour, perhaps Windsor Castle.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Miriam_h
May 13, 2023
A perfect ending to our cruise and intro to London - The best tour ever! Our guide Tony was so personable and knowledgeable; loved that there were only the six of us plus Tony. Lunch was fantastic too. All of the Downting Abbey information and sites were fantastic! A perfect day
Review provided by Viator
Scfivegrands
May 3, 2023
Pleasant Transfer from Southampton to London - This was a great way to get from the cruise port at Southampton to London Heathrow for our departure. The company was reliable and the bus was comfortable. The included pub lunch was very good. Lamaa drove the bus skilfully and was very accommodating for the passengers. Mike was an amazing historian and knew answers to any and all questions about England and Ireland. All in all, it was a very pleasant day with a drop off directly in front of our hotel at the airport. I would highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aimee_f
Jun 9, 2024
Way too for what we got - Our tour guide didn’t share any information and kept saying he knew we were tired and would let us sleep the entire trip. We started drop-offs at the airport at 4 pm and weren’t dropped off at our hotel in London until 6 pm. In retrospect, we would just get transportation straight to London (unless I was going to a hotel at Heathrow). The pub lunch was very good, but there were no led walking tours anywhere.
Review provided by Viator
410nursedj
Jul 25, 2024
Very Disappointing Tour - Booked Cotswold Villages and Downton Abbey Locations and Pub Lunch with Southampton to London transfer. Very disappointing tour with the most unprofessional tour guide we have ever had. He drove very fast on very narrow country roads as well as driving very aggressively on the freeways. We felt very unsafe. Many bicyclist on the narrow roads and very scary. He consistently made negative comments about England and terrible it was. He dropped us off at Cotswold villages and did not give us a time to meet him back at van. I had to sit in the back seat of a 8 passenger van and could not hear the tour guide talking. He did not wear a microphone and the van rattled loudly with his fast driving. When he was told I could not hear him in the back, he totally ignored the request . We were very disappointed we did not go to Highclere castle where Downton Abbey was filmed. We only went to the church in a village where some filming was done and he showed us pictures of the cast. We asked about going to castle and tour guide just said no, we can't go because of some reason I could not hear. We were picked up at the cruise terminal when disembarking the ship on July 20, 2024 and had much difficulty finding our tour guide. Never once saw him holding a sign. We were right in front of the exit at the terminal! Worst tour guide and tour ever!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
