London Day Trips: The Long Weekend Plan
Three days: the two hardest bookings first, then the loosest-planned day last. This route keeps the same 2-day plan , Windsor Castle and the Warner Bros Studio Tour, and adds Oxford as the offbeat third day. Need a fourth, the 4-day version adds Cambridge on top of exactly this spine.
Book these before you go
- Warner Bros Studio Tour (Day 2), zero walk-up tickets exist, ever; book at wbstudiotour.co.uk or check availability on GetYourGuide .
- Windsor Castle (Day 1), GBP 32 advance versus GBP 36 at the door, book at rct.uk .
- Check hotel rates near Paddington on Booking.com , Windsor, Oxford, and Bath all leave from that terminus.
The three days at a glance
| Day | Focus | Travel time from London | One-way transport |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windsor Castle | 22-28 min (Paddington) or 55 min (Waterloo) | Great Western Railway or South Western Railway |
| 2 | Warner Bros Studio Tour | About 20 min to Watford Junction, then a shuttle | London Northwestern Railway (Euston) |
| 3 | Oxford | 51 min to just over an hour | Great Western Railway (Paddington) |
Day 1: Windsor Castle
Paddington to Slough, change for Windsor & Eton Central, about 22 to 28 minutes total from around GBP 6, or a direct Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside run of about 55 minutes from around GBP 13. Entry is GBP 32 booked in advance, GBP 36 at the door, covering the State Apartments and St George’s Chapel. It’s a working royal residence, so confirm the week you’re going at rct.uk ; the King’s actual schedule can close rooms, or the whole castle, at short notice.
Day 2: Warner Bros Studio Tour
There are no walk-up tickets to the Warner Bros Studio Tour, ever, so this day only works if it’s booked weeks ahead. Entry-only tickets start around GBP 56. The cheap route in: Euston to Watford Junction, about 20 minutes, then the dedicated shuttle bus for a GBP 3 return fare, contactless or card only, roughly every 30 minutes. Budget the better part of a day for it.
Day 3: Oxford
Great Western Railway from Paddington, 51 minutes to just over an hour. There’s no single “Oxford ticket”: Christ Church’s Great Hall runs about GBP 22.50 to 24.50, while the Divinity School, the actual Hogwarts-infirmary filming location a few minutes away, is a separate GBP 3 ticket capped at 15 minutes. The Bodleian’s reading rooms and the Bridge of Sighs cost nothing to view from outside. See the full Oxford breakdown for the rest of the day.
Why save Oxford for the last day on this route?
Because it’s the one day on this route with no fixed hour to hit. Windsor and the Studio Tour both hinge on a booked time slot; Oxford rewards wandering between colleges as their hours allow, so it settles naturally into the day with the least schedule pressure, once the two locked-in bookings are already behind you.
Does adding Oxford make the Studio Tour day feel rushed?
No, they don’t compete for the same hours. The Studio Tour sits entirely on Day 2 and needs the better part of that day on its own; Oxford is a full separate day trip on Day 3, not an add-on squeezed around the other two.
Bring a printed or downloaded college map before Day 3; several Oxford colleges post their daily opening hours only on paper boards at the lodge gate, not consistently online.