1 day tour in London
 

We will be cruising Scandinavia this coming July. Unfortunately, we will only get to spend one day (maybe even a half day and evening) in London on our way back to the states. Does anyone know a reliable local tour company that will help us with a half day or full day tour of the highlights of London? Many thanks.

jun<BR>there are several to choose from. Most will conduct the tour using an open top double decker bus. One company that I can think of right off hand is Frames. Why don't you do a quick search with google for something like "london bus tours" and see what you find. They can be pretty informative, and some will have a hop-off/hop-on plan, while others just haul you around for half a day and you look out the bus at the sights. I think you would want the on/off type so you can explore a bit also.<BR><BR>Here is a link to a pretty cute story about one such tour, and the title is pretty, "See London On Your Arse":<BR><BR>http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/review/333983.html

London Walks has a full-day tour that starts at 10am (www.walks.com). I didn't do that one but I did other tours with them and I think they're pretty good. Most of their tours are about 2 hour themed tours. Regardless of what you decide to do during the day, you might be interested in one of their evening walks.

The plain, regular hop-on-hop-off tour buses give a narrated tour that would have the flexibility for you to get off and explore if something caught your interest. I would think this would be the ideal combination of tour, price (much cheaper than Frames et al.) and convenience, as they leave every few minutes.

I prefered the Bigbus to London Pride. There are more routes and choices and the tour guide is not the driver, so you can ask questions without disturbing the driver.<BR><BR>Bill

EvansEvans and Frame Rickards are two major tour companies, both have websites.

My husband and I are going to be in London for one day in July. I have hired a "blue badge" (a licensed tour guide) to drive us around London all day. His name is Stanley and he even takes you into museums and shows you around the art exhibits. I found him in an article 10 years ago in the New York Times. Let me know if you are interested. We figured it was the best way to see the most in a short amount of time.<BR><BR>

Everyone,<BR><BR>Thank you all for your advice. I will look up the different suggestions. Just a little more about our situation - I will be traveling with my parents who are in their mid-70s. They have never been to London and I really want them to enjoy themselves. Let me know if you have more tailored suggestions based on the fact that I really want them (ok health, can't walk for long periods of time) to have fond memories of London. Thank you.

My suggestion, re: the big bus stuff: If you choose this way, be sure to board the bus with the pre-recorded tour where you listen to the language of your choice via headphones. We did this on one trip to Londor for fun and found that the busses do actually stop at some good places - and the hop-on, hop-off aspect is great. On one leg we grabbed the prerecorded narration and it was good. On another leg we got a bus with a living, breathing narrator, but she was really hard to hear, didn't have much good info and rather than headphones (with volume control) the sound came via speakers in the walls of the bus.

Just got back from a short London trip yesterday! Actually just one night while traveling back home from a german business trip... so I can relate to what you are asking about. I got to my hotel from the airport by noon and within 15 minutes I was at the bus stop at the Marble Arch for 'The Big Bus Company' which offers a FANTASTIC hop on and off tour. However, with my time so restricted and the weather non cooperative, I didnt 'hop off'... I sat atop of the open double decker bus and snapped away with my camera... in awe that I was seeing sights I had viewed in books and travel posters my entire life. They have three routes... that are color coded based on what sites interest you. I took the green route first... then left the tour for my reservation on the London Eye observation wheel at 9:30pm... the next morning I was at the bus stop by 8am for the blue route... and back in time for my early afternoon flight. Check it out at www.bigbus.co.uk and www.londoneye.com I bought my tickets for both online so I didnt have to waste time in lines or looking for ticket booths... and it really simplified things. Since it was my first time in London I wanted to paint the town with a broad brush and these two methods of seeing London were PERFECT.

Last year my mom came to visit me in North West England, and spent two days of her trip in London. We chose the Hop on Hop off bus, but I must say we were spending more time waiting for buses, so we gave up and stayed on the bus. I did notice that the big red buses (I think this is called the Original London Bus Tour, but I'm not sure.) were very frequent and we were sorry we didn't take them. We took a tour on a brown bus which offer a free river cruise in the price. A few words of advice, I never noticed how sedetary my mom was until she got here. She's very active at home with her many meetings, work, etc. but all day walking is something else all together. Rather than buy all those hop on hop off tickets. Maybe you could hire a personal tour company or driver for the day. I have no idea what this would cost, but I'm just writing and thinking at the same time (Dangerous :).

are you going on norwegian cruise lines?? So are we..we will be doing london on our way back, the cruise lines can assist you with a tour comp and we have done london on short time..most tour comps are great...hope to see you in July