London Itinerary - Late Summer

Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 12:44 PM
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London Itinerary - Late Summer

All-
I am looking for some advice on our itinerary. We are a family of four traveling in the late summer w/ two teen girls. I've tried to do a lot of research (and stealing from other fodors itineraries!) before posting, but I now need some help. If you could take a look below, I would appreciate it.

We generally do not need to see every inch of London, and we don't like to rush around. Below is my working draft. Missing is Buckingham Palace (possibly 11:30am changing of the guards which may not happen every day when we are there), and the British Museum. Again, we don't have to do everything, but these two attractions were on our short list. Truthfully we aren't really museum-goers but we are staying close and I understand it's a great experience - so we are keeping it in mind. We would also be open to seeing a show at night, but I wanted to get the days nailed down first.

Some ideas on where to plug these in, or to take other things out, would be helpful. Also, identifying any glaring omissions would be helpful as well. I tried to do most of this by research, but I'm now a little stuck.

And thanks to everyone who helped me find a great place to stay on my earlier thread.

All the best,
Rosebud

SUNDAY - Arrive 7:00am to Heathrow
Get settled, hopefully check in early to flat near Goodge Station
Unsure of what to do, how tired we will be... ideas? Afternoon Tea or just get to know the neighborhood. Maybe a nice walk to stretch our legs late in the day. A sunday night might be tricky.

MONDAY (or Wednesday)
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Borough Market (lunch)
Tour Globe Theatre
Millenium Bridge

TUESDAY:
Small bus Tour to Bath/Stonehenge

WEDNESDAY (or monday)
Westminster Abbey
Walk/eat around Big Ben, Westminster Bridge, London Eye,
St. James Park

THURSDAY
Harry Potter Studio Tour - early/10:00am ticket?

FRIDAY
Portobello Market for breakfast - early
Kensington/Hyde park?

SATURDAY - leave for airport early
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 12:53 PM
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Do your Wednesday on Sunday. At worst leave your luggage at Victoria Left Luggage. Being outdoors walking around is the best way to overcome jetlag.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 12:55 PM
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Good idea. Do you think Westminster Abbey will be too busy on a Sunday? The person we are renting from offered for us to leave the luggage at the flat (if there is another tenant).
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 01:04 PM
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Something I like to do the afternoon of arrival day, when arriving on an early flight, is a London Walks guided walking tour. This keeps me outside and moving when I am most tired, I don't have to navigate, I learn something interesting, and see a new neighborhood.

Check Westminster Abbey's website to make sure it will be open for tours on whatever day you wish to go. I think that on Sundays you can only attend services, but do check. I enjoy the verger-led tours at Westminster Abbey, and Evensong, of course.

Theatre in London is very good and I hope you will consider it. Or if that is not your thing, music, dance, comedy, all sorts of performances.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 01:10 PM
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Instead of a tour of the Globe, check to see if there is a performance one evening while you are there. It is quite an experience
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 01:14 PM
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Thank you Kyra and Cheryl. Great ideas. We do want to see a show - I never even thought to see if there is one at the Globe.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 01:36 PM
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I did that Harry Potter tour and it wasn't that great. They basically show you pictures from the movie and if you squint you can see the location where you are walking.
Agree, great to see a show. There is a half-price ticket booth in Leicester Square http://www.tkts.co.uk/

For shopping, don't forget to go to Liberty and Selfridge's and of course Harrads. The museums in London are free, so you can just pop in as you go.

Consider the Churchill War Rooms which has the original bunkers from WW2. When we brought our teenage boys we let them walk around Covent Garden while we had a drink at the pub. Good compromise for all!
Note that just about every shop has wi-fi so the kids could eamil or text you without using expensive overseas data.

LMK if this is helpful - I can think of more.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 01:57 PM
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• Westminster Abbey is NOT open to tourists on Sunday, so no, you can't switch it to Sunday.

• >>MONDAY (or Wednesday)
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Borough Market (lunch)
Tour Globe Theatre
Millenium Bridgevery late lunch. Plus if the point is to see the market -- it doesn't run on Mondays

• >>FRIDAY
Portobello Market for breakfast - early
Kensington/Hyde park?
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 02:31 PM
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Suzette-
Did you mean the Harry Potter walking tour or the studio tour? We are going to the Warner Brothers studio: https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ Thanks also about Covent Garden advice - great idea.

Janis-
Thanks for the valuable feedback. Thursday is the one day that I took directly from an older itinerary (linked below). I will definitely keep your thoughts in mind. I know that Friday isn't that much - as I mentioned, that's what I'm trying to plan now. Trying to figure out a great way to end the trip. Good to know we'll be done by noon.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...irst-timer.cfm

Really appreciate all of your feedback.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 02:35 PM
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Also I was under the impression that lunch spots at the Borough Market were open on Mondays. I had checked the website: http://boroughmarket.org.uk/

Is it not worth going there for lunch if the whole market isn't open? Maybe I'll just switch that to Wednesday.

Thanks again.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 02:41 PM
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>> Thursday is the one day that I took directly from an older itinerary (linked below).
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 03:31 PM
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Got it - thanks Janis! I'll take stab at switching things around a bit based on this advise - and oops yes, I meant Monday (not Thursday).

Really appreciate it. I'll post again sometime soon!
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 07:10 PM
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Goodge St Station is fairly close to the British Museum..so if you feel like stopping in for a bit, it is free and you can be very selective.

Summers are crowded, so once you have decided on which days you can get tickets to the tower of London in advance.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 07:32 PM
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>>so once you have decided on which days you can get tickets to the tower of London in advance.
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Old Feb 2nd, 2016, 09:59 PM
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There's market on Portobello Road on Fridays as well - perhaps not all the stands they have on Saturday, but it's a good day to go. Not as busy as Saturdays. And lots of nice places for breakfast - try the Electric. Or Gail's.

If it's still on when you're there; Jesus Christ Superstar at the Regents Park Open Air theatre. It's always a bit of a risk in case it rains, but a great place to spend a summer evening. Take a picnick or eat there, the food is good.

British Museum; go and see it even if you are not into museums; it's also a nice place for tea under the glass roof of the courtyard. And it's free.

Teen girls may enjoy Camden Market. If they like shopping, then Topshop on Oxford Circus.

I wouldn't do two day tours - I think you'll find that you will not have enough time in London.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 01:14 AM
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The food stalls are definitely there on Monday at Borough Market...some of the other parts of the market will be quieter but if you are going for lunch there are lots of options. I would much rather go on a Monday when there are less crowds than later in the week when the crowds are intolerable (for me).
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 01:32 AM
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The best day for Borough Market .are thus fri ,Sat.
Portobello is Sat and Sun the rest of the time it's just a street
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 02:02 AM
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Portobello Road on Sundays is just on Portobello Green, under the Westway (clothes, and food stands), no stalls in the street. Golborne Road (further up Portobello, with some interesting shops and restaurants) is closed Sundays. Friday is the second busiest day of the week on Portobello Rd.

If you go to the Tower on a Monday, you can still get lunch at Borough Market, as Jamikins says, and then continue along the Thames towards the Globe, Tate Modern and the Millenium Bridge - and further towards the Eye. It's a nice walk.

I do like the Borough Market food market - but it's not that big, and does get very busy. I wouldn't change my schedule just to incorporate a market day.
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 02:59 AM
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There are so many other food markets in London if you are looking for lunch options - they may not have the gourmet food shops/stalls, but if you are looking for street food you have tonnes of options.

To get you started:

http://www.timeout.com/london/restau...st-street-food
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Old Feb 3rd, 2016, 09:28 AM
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Just jumping back in and so happy to see all of these messages. Thank you for the advice!

It's funny, despite adding the markets to our itinerary, upon reflection we realized that they really aren't all that important to us. We will be keeping all of your advice in mind regarding them (time/day to go, if it's worth it, etc. Thanks Avalon!)

Jamikins: Even after doing a lot of research, I had not seen this specific link before. It's great - thank you! We may just do as you advise and grab some street food along the way.

Tulips: I did check the schedule at Regents and do think we are going to do that. I was leaning towards it, but your advice threw it over the top. Appreciate the tip!

Maxima: Thanks for the tip on British Museum. We may do that on our arrival day. It's only two blocks from our flat and since we don't want to spend a lot of time, we may just pick a few sections. It will force us out and about after a long flight.

Okay - now I'm going to redo my itinerary and will repost here when I figure some things out.
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