4 days in London - would you go?
 

There are amazing deals on flights to London over Memorial Day weekend (May 25 is Mem Day), and I am contemplating making a quick 4 day trip. We would probably fly out on Friday night, getting there early Saturday morning. And we would need to come back on Wednesday (since I am departing for a beach trip that Thursday). We have been to a few places in Europe but never London. We typically don't suffer too badly from jet lag because we are usually so excited to see our destination and make the most of our time there.

So, my question is: Is it worth it - is $550 (for a nonstop from Atlanta) a good enough deal to make it worth only spending 4 days?? If so, in what area of London would you stay to make the most of 4 days?

I've done a trip of this length before without a problem. if you could take the day flight Friday, you might adjust better to the time difference (I found this option cheaper as well).
Since you have a beach trip the following weekend, if you just planned in advance that the London bit would be hectic then you'd be fine.
I'd suggest staying near Hyde Park area given the centralness to the tube. To make the most of 4 days there you will be using the tube fairly often and should get an Oyster card to save $$$.

I definitely have quite a few 3-day weekend trips to London (from the East Coast of USA). While you can't see everything, 4 days is still a good amount of time.

Since you haven't been to London before, one word of advice: don't try to cram everything in... pick a couple of things on the top of the list of what you want to see/do, rather than checking off some long list.

Couple things to remember though:
1) I think that weekend and following week is the Bank Holiday in UK followed by school holiday week, so expect some closures on attraction sites on Monday (some, not all), and expect more crowds at touristy places. [I'm not 100% sure on the holidays, so double check.]
2) While the airfare is affordable, are there affordable hotels available?
3) For hotel location, I'd stick with Bloomsbury, Soho, Trafalgar Sq, Mayfair, Kensington.

This is a perfect amount of time for a trip to London, as long as you can handle the flights. I would maybe check out the Tower of London, a museum or two, and maybe a show or shopping if you like. London is a great city and, as long as you don't overdo it, 4 days will be very enjoyable.

In a heartbeat!

Of COURSE I would! :)

yk is right - May 25 is a bank holiday in the UK, and that week is a school vacation week. A quick check of some museum web sites suggests that they'll still be open, so I don't know how much will actually be closed. Also not sure how much extra traffic London gets from UK holidays - maybe everyone goes to Cornwall or Spain or somewhere? Maybe some of the UK residents will chime in. Anyway, just things to keep in mind.

Absolutely! I just did, in February. My tix were 550 as a matter of fact and I thought that was great - and even better for late May. You should have great weather and four days is fine for a city break.

If you've never been there, central is better. YK mentioned some good areas. I would considering making a "geographically logical" list of things to see and do (also by your priorities) but don't get too stressed if you can't do them all. It's a fairly short flight and you can always go back - especially if the fares stay that low!

Nothing of importance will be closed due to the Spring Bank Holiday (unlike other holidays like good Friday, Christmas, etc). Some tourist attractions like the Tower of London or Hampton Court Palace will be more crowded than a typical spring weekend. But w/ many locals leaving town for the weekend, some places will be less crowded than normal. London easily absorbs crowds since it is so large and spread out.

From the east coast, due to the shorter flight time, a 4-day trip is no hardship at all.

I won;t do less than 7 days unless it's business since I do get jet lag - and the first 3 dys tend to be a sort of blur.

If jet lag doens;t bother you the plane fare sounds a great deal.

I jetlag HARD (and I do mean, HARD) the first day, before a short nap and shower, that is - but after the first day, I am fresh as a daisy. If you can get yourself to your room for a one hour nap and a shower the day you arrive you should be good to go through dinner time.

For some odd reason, the shower really perks me up for several more hours - even if I am about to keel over from lack of sleep.

For instance - this last trip - on jet lag day - I was just about to fall over but made it back to the hotel at 11 AM, got a one hour nap, took a shower, and then after eating lunch managed to spend the next 5 hours non-stop walking and then had dinner. It was great. The brisk air and the walking probably helped, but it would have been impossible without that revivification.

You guys are awesome - thanks so much for the endorsement and great advice! I realize we wouldn't be able to see everything, but I think it would be a great sort of initiation trip to London The hard part is going to be convincing my husband that we should go! I have already planted the seed about the low airfares so wish me luck!

flygirl - I totally know what you mean - I always take a shower after a long flight to wake me up. Actually, I do it after short flights, too, just to get the "plane smell" off :)

yk - That's a good question about the hotel rates. I need to start doing some checking for the areas you all have mentioned.

Do any of you have hotels that you recommend? We generally prefer to stay in smaller places as opposed to big hotel chains. I don't even know what I would consider affordable for London since I have just started the research - is it ridiculous to think we could find somewhere for US $100 per night?

Absolutely, especially going from the east coast. Don't forget to leave some time open for the parks - they're a wonderful break from the crowds.

My recent stay was at the Morgan Hotel in Bloomsbury, which had a small double for 85 pounds.

Re: flights over.. I wonder if part of the issue with the first day is the early flight/early arrival. If you land in London at 6 AM, your body is telling you it's 1 AM (which isn't all that terribly later than when I go to bed anyway...). It's tough to sleep on such an early flight because you are usually awake in the evening, and then they are feeding you breakfast at "midnight". It's been a while since I've had a later evening flight, but it would seem that it's more in line with a regular sleep cycle. Take off at 10 PM, fall asleep an hour later, land at 10 AM (which is 5 AM) and maybe 4 hours of sleep is possible.

Of course, I HATE to land so late because half the day is gone!

$100 is possible if you go through bidding via Priceline, or book via Hotwire. If you are not familiar with either one, read up on betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com.

Actually - on Priceline you may be able to do much better than $100. W/ the bank holiday and there being almost no business travel, the 4 star-type properties that are PL specialties should have low occupancy and therefore lower than normal PL rates.

Give it a try (after you have the flights booked since you can't change your mind w/ PL)

A quick look on Hotwire for your dates (May 23-27) for 4 nights, the only one I'd choose is the 3* in South Bank, which is the Holiday Inn Express South Bank with breakfast included. Rate is $99/n; which after tax and fees, comes out to $117/n.

If your budget is tight, you can consider the 2.5* in Kensington/Chelsea, which is the Holiday Inn Express Earls Court, again with breakfast included in the rate. You can get it for $59/n; so after tax and fees is $71/n. The rate is hard to beat, but the location is less convenient than the South Bank, and not the best for a first-time visitor to London (though it is easily accessible by tube).

Having said that, I think you can do better with bidding via Priceline for a nicer hotel in a better location for $100 or less per night, if you are comfortable with the bidding process on Priceline.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't choose a hotel near Earls Court, especially for a first time visitor. It is technically central London, but there are other places that are much more central. The location of the Morgan Hotel that flygirl mentioned is really great, in my opinion, and that price works out to about $125 US right now. So if you don't feel comfortable with Priceline, something like that is a great option.

I wonder if flygirl got a special discount somehow at Morgan? I'm looking at Morgan's website, and double rooms are listed as £110.
http://www.morganhotel.co.uk/price_list.html

yk - i just noticed that, too.

Couple of questions about Priceline since I have never used it:

I thought I read that breakfast isn't generall included when you book via a Priceline bid - is that true?

Also, our arriving flight would land at 7am. I think we'd prefer to check into the hotel and freshen up so I would think I would need to book for the previous night, right? I assume I would need to notify the hotel that we won't actually arrive until early the next morning so they don't think we are no-shows?

My stay at the Morgan found me in what they called a large single (one bed, but big enough for two average-sized people) for £85. That was February though, so off-season.