Day Trip to Windsor, England
During our stay in London we spent an afternoon taking a short train ride over to explore Windsor England. The train ride takes about an hour and half. The cost of the train varies greatly depending on the time of year you book and the time of day. We were able to snag relatively cheap tickets.
Windsor is a lovely walk-able town running right along the River Thames. It is full of cozy alleys and beautiful shops and restaurants to explore.
As cute as the downtown is, our main reason for visiting Windsor was to explore Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world and is currently one of the official residences of The King. Tickets are 31 pounds, but well worth the admission price. We decided to take a self guided tour rather than guided so we could explore at our own pace.
The castle has georgeous interior and exterior spaces to explore. On the inside we got to explore magnificent ceremonial rooms which were used by Queen Elizabeth II to entertain guests, incredible artwork, armour worn by Henry VIII and so much more. We unfortunately were unable to take any photographs inside the castle walls. We were also lucky enough to catch the changing of the guards ceremony in the courtyards!
The surrounding grounds of the castle were full of beautiful gardens and wildflowers.
After exploring the castle we headed to The Ivy for some happy hour. This is a very colorful quirky spot where you can stop in for coffee, drinks or food after an afternoon of exploring.
We had some more time before our scheduled train ride back to the city, so we meandered through the streets a little longer to see more of the town.
We stopped by the Crooked House, built in 1687. It’s served many purposes over the years to include teahhouse, butcher shop, boutique and more. Today it serves as an English tea room.
We then went towards the river and found a nice park bench to relax for awhile before heading back to the train station. As we were enjoying the peaceful river views, we noticed a school rowing practice was taking place. It was fun seeing their coach yell from her own boat as the kids raced by. It was one of our favorite parts of the day as we just relaxed and watched the practice take place.
Windsor is such a cute town and we would’ve gladly spent more time here exploring. It’ll definitely be a spot to come back to.