Private Tour to Canterbury, Dover Castle & Chilham
Description
Enjoy unrivalled service with collection and drop-off from your hotel; no need to worry about finding a meeting point early in the morning. All our tours are run by some of the most experienced and highest rated guides in London with more than 10 years’ experience in the industry and degrees in history. Your overall tour experience will be greatly enhanced by your local guide. Your tour is entirely bespoke and can be changed at any time; even on the day. We understand that every family has different passions and interests, so we cater our service to your personal needs. Our tour itineraries stand out from the crowd. We won’t ever oversell a product and firmly believe in providing more value through allowing more time at the sights than the big bus tours. We are a small, bespoke company so we guarantee that you won’t be left with an inexperienced backup guide during the busy season. We provide the highest quality guides all year round.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Step inside 1500 years of history to the sight of the very first cathedral in England. Here your guide will explain the story of how a dispute between a King and an Archbishop ended in chaos and the assassination of Thomas Becket in AD 1170.
After a morning in Canterbury, we take a short drive through the majestic Kent Wealds to the South-East coast of Britain, where we stop for a visit to Dover Castle. This magnificent fortress boasts the largest keep in the country, and offers wonderful views of The English Channel from the White Cliffs. Aside from this, Dover has a magnificent exhibit on Operation Dynamo, where British and French Troops were rescued from the shores of Dunkirk in 1940. Here you can learn about the build up and preparation of this brave intervention.
What could be more of a symbol of British identity than the White Cliffs of Dover?! Once romanticised through the words of Vera Lynn, The White Cliffs of Dover served as a message of hope and strength through some of the darkest hours of World War II. This is why we take you to the Battle of Britain Memorial, where you will not only be able to admire the cliffs but pay your respect to 'The Few' that fought to defend the country against the German Airforce.
We finish the day with a drive through a quaint country drive into The Kent Down AONB. Here we stop at the delightfully untouched village of Chilham, with a beautiful church and surrounding Tudor Framed houses.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
As we offer Hotel Pickup to over 650 hotels in Central London, we may change the departure time from 07:30am depending on the specific location of your hotel. Sometimes there are road closures beyond our control that will prevent us from accessing your hotel. In this unlikely sitution, we will ask you to walk or use local transport to meet your driver/guide at a pre-arranged destination. Please look outside your hotel for your guide 5 minutes before departure time. Sometimes your tour van will not be able to park directly outside your hotel, depending on the street that it is located. Please look out for your tour guide and use the contact number provided if you are having difficulty finding them.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have a high level of physical fitness
- Children under the age of 4 are not permitted to travel on this private tour
Reviews(8)
The day trip to Norfolk Castle, Canterbury Cathedral and the town itself was excellent. Our guide, Richard, was incredibly knowledgeable about history across many centuries and it was fascinating to learn just how important Norfolk Castle was from Medieval times to the 20th century. A stop at the Battle of Britain memorial along the English Channel was great as well.
Thank you! We truly appreciate your review. It’s great to hear that the combination of history, scenery, and expert guidance made for a memorable day. Richard is passionate about sharing the rich layers of British history, and we're glad to know he helped bring the stories of Dover Castle and Canterbury to life for you.
Our private tour to Dover, Canterbury and Chilham was amazing! Oz was our tour guide and was personable, genuine, and fun to be around. He provided historical information and context regarding every stop on the tour. We learned so much, including origins of many phrases in English we use all the time. There are so many benefits of a private tour, including tailoring the schedule to your wants, abilities and needs. Without reserve, I recommend Tailored Tours!
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear you had an amazing day exploring Dover, Canterbury, and Chilham with Oz. It’s great to know you enjoyed the historical insights and even picked up some fun facts about the English language along the way! We're so glad the private tour format gave you the flexibility and personal touch you were looking for. Your recommendation means a lot, and we’d love to welcome you back for another adventure anytime!
Our guide Richard was the best we had across numerous guided tours. Dover was unexpectedly special, the Cathedral was spectacular, and Leeds was really unique, with a Downton Abbey quality. The tour worked great for little kids through seniors. A terrific day.
Sam was fantastic. He was not only very knowledgeable about the tour subjects but he also has extensive experience with the mechanics of a tour (ie, he changed our tour sequence so that a partial afternoon closure of the Cathedral did not affect our experience.) His vehicle was spacious and comfortable and he gave us an excellent lunch recommendation. We’ve taken many tours in many places and Sam is tied for our best tour guide ever.
I cannot even begin to explain how grateful my family and I were having found such an amazing company to do some private tours with. My parents don’t get around too quickly these days, and my mom broke her foot right before our trip and had to use a wheelchair last minute. We were really worried about not being able to keep up with a tour. Thankfully Tailored Tours accommodated us in every way possible and put my mind at ease. Sam, who did all the booking/communication, was simply wonderful. He answered all of my endless questions, listening to all my concerns and created the perfect days specifically for us and our unique circumstances. “Tailored” Tours is right! I had such a good experience booking our first tour that I decided to book a second, and I’m so glad I did. We were lucky to have Oz as our guide who was simply phenomenal. He was so knowledgeable and kind, we truly enjoyed his guidance throughout our first tour so we requested him for our second! (Although I’m sure all the guides that work for this company are great!) I was so appreciative of all the ways in which Oz helped to accommodate my parents during our trips, it made it so much easier for them. He really went above and beyond. Overall Tailored Tours provided us with such unforgettable experiences that we will treasure always. Stress free and so easy to work with, I’d recommend them to everyone, and I’ll certainly work with them again if I ever get the chance. Getting to venture out of London without dealing with all the logistics was such a treat, worth every penny. We toured Dover/Canterbury on our first trip and Bath/Lacock/Castle Combe on our second - I highly recommend all of those locations! Endless thanks Tailored Tours!
Hi Cheyenne, Thank you so much for this in depth and wonderful review. Sam found you very attentive and easy to work with when planning the tour, and Oz loved showing you Dover, Canterbury, Bath and The Cotswolds over two day tours. Please do come and say hi next time you're back in London :)
We hired Tailored Tours for a private tour of Dover and Canterbury. Our group of 13 had an amazing day with Oz and Paul! They are both fun, kind, very knowledgeable and our day was flawless. They picked us up from our cruise ship and arranged a fantastic breakfast for us along the way. They went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable, safe and welcome. We absolutely recommend this company to anyone that appreciates attention to detail and first class service. Thanks Oz and Paul, you're both fantastic and come hang out with us in LA!
Hi Michelle, thanks you so much for your kind words and being so good with the long term organisation of this cruise transfer all throughout covid. It was an absolute pleasure to show you my home county, and so glad you enjoyed Paul's company as well. See you in San Diego!
This was a great tour and Oz is totally awesome. Can’t say enough about how convenient, fun, comfortable, kind, accommodating, phenomenally smart and historically intelligent he is. We had a great time. Dover castle is amazing and the history is totally rich! Amazing castle! It is a beautiful area of England, the architecture and the landscape is mesmerizing with the sea, rolling hills, and the besotting castle. The history is vast at this location and Oz was able to guide us the whole day with logistical knowledge and historical facts. Canterbury Castle and the town of Canterbury is breathtaking beautiful and charming! I would love to spend another whole day there! Really a great time. Took my son and friends and it was a great day of making memories. Can’t thank Oz enough for going above and beyond!
Hey Angie, Thanks for this amazing review. You guys were awesome too and a pleasure to show around Dover and Canterbury. Really glad you enjoyed your day!
On a recent visit to London with my friends, we decided to take a day out of the city and explore Dover Castle and Canterbury. We found Tailored Tours on TripAdvisor and they had great reviews so we decided to travel with them. Our Tour Guide ‘OZ’ was the best! He was so kind and looked after us all day and his knowledge of history was incredible! We learned so many interesting stories about the people that built Dover Castle and had a really fun time! On the way home we stopped at a really cute little village called Chilham which was so beautiful! Thank you Oz!
Hi Karito, thanks for leaving a review! We're so happy you and your friends enjoyed your day out with Oz! Please come and visit us again next time you're in England!
