DenverDice

Hi all: I need some advice. I have an 8-hour layover in London this Sunday. I figure I need to reserve 3 hours for customs, leaving airport, returning, customs again -- this leaves me about 5 hours to see London. I plan to take the express train to Paddington. Does anyone have advice on what I should include in my brief itinerary? Can I even do a hop-on hop-off bus tour in that timeframe?

DiAblo

May I assume you’ve not been to London before? If indeed that is the case I would think a hop on-hop off bus would be your ideal. London is far to big to walk and you can’t see much using the Underground. The options of getting off and on at your leisure would be affordable and at least give you the best chance of controlling your time. However, beware of traffic tail-backs and allow yourself more time than you think you’ll actually need getting back to the airport. There is an element of risk involved, you know, so err on the safe side.

DiAblo

Sorry if this shows up twice, but I was saying that a good way to conserve time might be to exit the tour bus in Trafalgar Sq. and grab lunch in the crypt at St. Martin's-In-The-Field. You could see the church and dine there or take you meal al fresco in the square and be ready to hop on your bus and go about your sight-seeing.

Fosco71

The Paddington Express is a good idea. It will get you into the city pronto. You're going to get tons of suggestions on this, but having been to London on several occasions here's what I'd do. I'm assuming you've never been to London so this is kind of a "bang for you minutes" suggestion.

At Paddington, which is a major hub on the Tube, you should buy a travel card for the day. Then transfer onto the Tube's Bakerloo line going toward Baker St. At Piccadilly Circus, leave the Tube for a moment for a quick snapshot. Get back on the Tube and proceed to Embankment. Transfer to District or Circle line toward Westminster. From the time you get off the train at Paddington until now I'd say you've spent about 30-45 minutes. But in front of you as you exit Westminster Tube is Big Ben and Parliament. Take some pictures and cross the street over to Westminster Abbey. I'd visit here, spending about an hour, which won't do it justice, but hey, you will have seen it at least.

After finishing at Westminster Abbey, you've probably used up close to two of your five hours. Get on the Tube again at Westminster and and take the District or Circle line to Tower Hill. Exit here and get some pictures of Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Get on the cirle line heading toward Aldgate and stay on the Tube until Baker St. You've probably used at least 3-1/2-4 hours now.

Time permitting, I'd leave the Tube at Baker St. and walk about a block to 221B, Sherlock Holmes' fictional address. If you're not into Holmes, you can transfer to the Jubilee line at Baker St. and go to the next stop at St. John's Wood. From here, you're just about a 10 minute walk to Abbey Road and the studio and crosswalk made famous by the Beatles.

Get back to Baker St. and transfer to any line that will take you two stops over to Paddington. Get on the Heathrow Express and it's back to the airport. A little hectic? Yes. Allowing enough time for all the sites? No. But you could spend forever in London and it wouldn't be enough.

Hope this helps. Please post any questions.

flanneruk

It's impossible to predict how much time you've actually got until you've come through immigration (Customs is a non-event in Britain), boarding card for the onward flight in hand and secure in the knowledge your bags have been through-checked. If either of those isn't the case, you may not have time to go into London at all.

Remember you may not necessarily be leaving from the same terminal, even if it's BA in both cases. There's no outgoing passport check (and outgoing Customs disappeared practically everywhere in the world decades ago), but security queues can be immense.

You might want to check on the Flyertalk site about people's real experience of queue lengths for your outgoing terminal at the time concerned, in the class you're flying out on (not here, where far too many posters give you unhelpful rants about how they queued incoming at T4 once at 0800 even if you make it clear you're taking a domestic flight from T1 at 2000).

Personally, I wouldn't waste time at P. Circus, which has to be practically the most charm-free bit of London, even including the immigration queue at T4. And, given your shortage of time, I wouln't risk any trips on the Circle Line of the tube.

From Paddington, I'd take the Bakerloo line to Charing Cross. Follow the Trafalgar Square exits to T Square, check the Pieros at the National Gallery (or give yourself an instant course on British history at the National Portrait Gallery, going to the cafe at the top for one of the best - and free - views of London around) then walk down Whitehall, past the guards on horses outside Horseguards Parade and past Downing Street, to Parliament Square (Westminster Abbey and Big Ben)

It's then a 75 min, practically all-green, walk back to Paddington, past Buckingham Palace, across St James' Park, up Constitution Hill and then across Hyde Park (which re-opens late Saturday night after Live8). The absolute best way of getting the system to work again between what seems like two overnighters.

janis

I think spending so much time underground on the tube (fosco's plan) makes no sense at all. You only have a few hours - you want to spend it on the surface where you can actually see things. Plus Picciddilly Circus is ONLY worth seeing at night when the lights are on ala Times Square. During the day time there is nothein to see there.

As flanner says - you won't know until you are there if you will have enough time to do anything -- if you flight is delayed or there are snafus in passport control for instance.

If the weather is nice and you are fit enough for a long walk, flanneruk"s route would be lovely. And his warning about the Circle tube line should not be ignored - fairly frequent stopages and problems and you could be stranded w/o a plan B for getting back to Paddington.

But if you can't walk that far - then I'd take the Paddington Express and near the station is a bus stop for the hop-on-hop-off open air tour buses. You could ride it around for as long as you want - get off somewhere for a nice lunch then get on the next bus for more tour.

Or - if you want a little less hectic day - you could catch a cab from LHR to Windsor - about 15 minutes. Wander along the river, have a nice lunch, maybe tour the Castle and then back to LHR.

Robespierre

The problem with the commercial tour buses is that you have to wait for the next one every time you get off and look around. Sometimes they arrive when they're supposed to, and sometimes they don't. You could easily spend most of your layover standing at Big Bus stops. Another issue is that they probably don't necessarily go where you want to.

I'd suggest buying an Off-Peak Travelcard for Zones 1&2 at Paddington, immediately take the Bakerloo Line straight to Waterloo(~15 min), and begin your own bus tour there. Download this tourist bus map to see what you can do:

<b>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/cen_bus.pdf
</b>

For example, you could walk upstream past the Eye (maybe ride it if there's not much wait time), then either walk or take a bus to Westminster, Trafalgar Square, or Piccadilly Circus.

Or you could take the RV1 across to Aldwych and take the #15 eastbound to many monuments and towers, including The Monument and The Tower. The RV1 route down the south bank serves numerous sights, too - all the way to The Tower.

Any time you hear <i>Time's Wing'ed Chariot Drawing Near</i>, you can jump on the nearest Tube and navigate back to Paddington.

Fosco71

I understand Janis' concern with my plan; i.e., not being able to see London from the Tube, but with my plan you WILL see London. The Thames at Tower Bridge, the inside of Westminster Abbey, and either Baker St./Regent's Park area or St. John's Wood which is a nice little residential area. And don't forget, you'll see a lot of one of the most iconic of London sights....The Tube itself! Which may not be the most preferable but is certainly the most efficient way to get around London in 5 hours.

I think you should avoid buses altogether except to get on one for the novelty and I totally agree with Robespierre's comments on the bus tours. I simply would not risk wasting time at a bus stop or in traffic. Maybe traffic has thinned out a little since the congestion laws, I don't know, but I know when I was there before the congestion mandates I saw plenty of boot to bonnet traffic.

I like Janis' idea about Windsor Castle. Isn't Hampton Court very close to Heathrow? A Concord flew directly over me one day while I was in the maze at HC.

I think the real question here is what do you want to see?

janis

To clarify -- my suggestion re the bus tours was ONLY if the OP can't walk long distances.

&quot; . . . if you can't walk that far . . . . .near the station is a bus stop for the hop-on-hop-off open air tour buses&quot;

not everyone can physically walk the distance in flanner's itinerary. And if one can't manage that - then all the walking and stairs using the tube would be just as difficult.

If DenverDice is active I definitely recommend a few hours of walking - either flanneruk's suggestion, or along the river. But if a three mile stroll isn't in the cards, then the bus tours are a good choice.

Robespierre

I think the Sunday traffic is sufficiently less than on workdays that getting stuck in it on a bus isn't nearly such an issue.

DenverDice

You guys rock - lots of great suggestions here. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I've never been to London, so even if I see some sights whizzing past me on the tube or from a cab, I will still be thrilled. It's hard to say if I'll feel like walking after my first trans-Atlantic flight ever. I hate to fly, so I'm not sure how much the stress will wipe me out.

I am also not adverse to springing for cabs to shave off some time and hassle. I'm not on a huge budget, but this is probably my only chance to see London. I will most likely feel too rushed to visit museums, so I'd like to stick to outdoor sights that I can ooh and aah over, and of course take photos of. Some quiet time on the Thames and a pint at a pub would help get me ready for flight #2 to Athens.

I bought a London pop-up map yesterday, so now I can see all of your suggestions and figure out my itinerary. And you're right, it all hinges on how long I'm stuck in Heathrow trying to get out. I will take that time and double it as an estimate for my re-entry time.

DenverDice

Just looked at my itinerary details and I arrive Sunday at Terminal 4. Then when I return to the airport, I need to be at Terminal 1.

Robespierre

The Heathrow Express serves all terminals.

For the benefit of anyone reading this later: you can save the price of a street map by simply downloading and printing out the tourist bus map linked above. They are also available free at any Tube station.

DenverDice

Any idea how much a taxicab would cost from Paddington to Westminster?

m_kingdom2

Whilst it's all a good idea in theory, I'd say that you're far better served checking into an airport hotel, and sleeping. Let's face it there's so much that can go wrong time-wise, rushing around won't be enjoyable.

Save London for another time.

Leely

Hi Denver Dice,

I did this last summer. We had about the same layover time as you. People have given you good suggestions.

We walked all around, spent most of our time outside to help adjust to the time difference. We would have loved to go to a museum, but we figured we were better off with outdoor sights.

Then we were able to sleep pretty well on our flight to Nairobi. As a result of &quot;pushing ourselves&quot; in London we didn't really have jetlag when we reached our final destination.

That said, I know this wouldn't necessarily work for everyone. It did work for us.

Have a great trip.

DenverDice

Leely - did you take an organized bus tour, a do-it-yourself bus tour or simply get to a central location and walk around? These are the three options I'm most comfortable with. I fear a taxicab will be too expensive and unless I get a great cabbie, I won't know what I'm seeing out the window.

Leely

We took the tube to a central location (not Piccadilly...I forget which, but we returned from Piccadilly), walked through Hyde Park, strolled past Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc. Took photos everywhere. Had lunch.

Actually, I think we followed something I had printed out from the FAQ thread on the Europe Board of Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree; they get this very question time and again over there. It's not that different from what posters here have recommended, and they have different versions for sunny vs. rainy days.

We cut the day a bit short to be on the safe side re: our departing flight. I'd definitely err on the side of caution when it comes to getting back to Heathrow.

Still, it was nice to get out of the airport. And it whetted my appetite for a &quot;real&quot; trip to London.

Have a good trip, and a nice few hours in London.

Roundtrip

Personally, I wouldn't cut it quite so short. On my last trip to London I had a flight back to the States departing at around 1:00 pm. I arrived at LHR to check in around 6.30 am. With my boarding pass and satchel (I didn't have any large carry-on)I then hopped on the tube and went back into London for my &quot;farewell.&quot; I limited my time to a stroll through lovely Kensington Gardens, and had a relaxing tea and delicious treacle at the Orangery,which is adjacent to Kensington Palace. I enjoyed watching familes with children sailing little boats on the pond and had a gaggle of geese surrounding me trying to get at my treats. People even began taking pictures of me and the geese. It was quite charming, and a nice way to end my 10 day stay in London. Don't assume you won't return to London. My advice: choose one destination (a park, garden, plaza, etc.) and spend 2-3 hrs there and then head back to LHR, vowing to return.

DenverDice

Well, I just returned from my trip and I did indeed do a whirlwind stop in London during my layover. I took the Paddington Heathrow Express train into town, hopped on the shorter tour bus and blazed past all the major sites. I got back to the airport with two hours to spare. I'm glad I did it. It was fast, but I got to see London and I am now itching to go back. What an amazing city!