5 day London Itinerary - PLEASE MAKE SUGGESTIONS
Apr 22nd, 2008, 02:55 PM
#21
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Regarding your latest itinerary:
1. with an 8:25 AM flight arrival, you may be a good three hours before you finally hit your hotel, what with going through customs and travel into the city. Doing the bus tour and planned walking around may be all you can manage to do that day. I'm also not a fan of taking a nap, but different things work for different people.
2. you might be able to see Westminster Abbey on Tuesday before Buckingham Palace's Changing of the Guard. I actually saw the Abbey and then walked right to the Horse Guards Changing of the Guard, which is closer and according to more than one guide book, more interesting. Note that the line for the Abbey can get long, thus it's not a bad idea to make that a first stop on any particular day.
3. doing the Tower of London first thing in the day is wise as ticket lines there can get long, too. It's also a good idea to see the crown jewels first thing, as the line for this can get really long as the day progresses. A Yeoman warder tour is well worth doing while there, very informative and entertaining, and it doesn't cost extra.
1. with an 8:25 AM flight arrival, you may be a good three hours before you finally hit your hotel, what with going through customs and travel into the city. Doing the bus tour and planned walking around may be all you can manage to do that day. I'm also not a fan of taking a nap, but different things work for different people.
2. you might be able to see Westminster Abbey on Tuesday before Buckingham Palace's Changing of the Guard. I actually saw the Abbey and then walked right to the Horse Guards Changing of the Guard, which is closer and according to more than one guide book, more interesting. Note that the line for the Abbey can get long, thus it's not a bad idea to make that a first stop on any particular day.
3. doing the Tower of London first thing in the day is wise as ticket lines there can get long, too. It's also a good idea to see the crown jewels first thing, as the line for this can get really long as the day progresses. A Yeoman warder tour is well worth doing while there, very informative and entertaining, and it doesn't cost extra.
Apr 22nd, 2008, 03:32 PM
#22
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Don't know if you are interested, but one of our favorite places was The War Rooms for WWII; sometimes called Churchill's War Rooms. We spent 2-3 hours there & could have spent much longer. It was fascinating & centrally located.
We rode the HOHO bus on our 2nd day to get the full benefit (all day long). Glad we did that; such a great & easy way to see the city & hop on & hop off to see places up close.
Also didn't see any "London Walks" tours on your list. We feel those are must do's for us. Cheap, but done so well; no advance booking needed, just show up. We learned so much more than if we walked around by ourselves. Plus their tour covered the places we had planned to visit anyway. They are usually about 1 1/2 to 2 hour tours.
Have fun.
We rode the HOHO bus on our 2nd day to get the full benefit (all day long). Glad we did that; such a great & easy way to see the city & hop on & hop off to see places up close.
Also didn't see any "London Walks" tours on your list. We feel those are must do's for us. Cheap, but done so well; no advance booking needed, just show up. We learned so much more than if we walked around by ourselves. Plus their tour covered the places we had planned to visit anyway. They are usually about 1 1/2 to 2 hour tours.
Have fun.
Apr 22nd, 2008, 05:18 PM
#23
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Thanks - should we just remove Hampton Court from our list so that we have more time for walks, etc.? Hampton Court looks great, but I don't know if we could spend our time more wisely if we skipped it??
Apr 22nd, 2008, 05:27 PM
#24
odd bits and pieces:
- You do NOT have to <i>schedule</i> Big Ben/Parliament. They are "just there", directly across the river from your hotel You do not go inside either one and you will see them <u>every single time</u> you walk out the front door of your hotel and walk across the river to the Westminster tube station. In your 4+ days you will likely walk past Big Ben 8-10 times or more
- You can do something the afternoon after returning from HCP - but probably nothing major like the British Museum You take the train from Waterloo station which is about a 5-6 minute minute walk from your hotel. Whe nyou get to Hampton Court you walk across the river to the Palace. The train is about 35 minutes. Then 3 hours or so at the Palace. The gardens are terrific - but the main attractions at HCP is the bldg itself. Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours for the Palace and about an hour for the grounds. By the time you eat lunch - it will be probably 2:30 or later before you head back to the train station. So it will be after 3 p.m. before you get back to Waterloo. Do something less "major" the rest of the afternoon. that might be a good day to have a nice early dinner and then go to the theatre.
- It really is too bad you have to do the Eye/cruise on the same day since the HCP day would be a perfect time to do the Eye. You'd take the train back to Waterloo, walk over to the Eye, and after getting off you could pop back to the room to freshen up. Do the two really HAVE to be done on the same day or do you have vouchers you can use any day??
- The Trouping of the Colour will snarl things on the Saturday - so that would be a great time to head out to HCP.
- You do NOT have to <i>schedule</i> Big Ben/Parliament. They are "just there", directly across the river from your hotel You do not go inside either one and you will see them <u>every single time</u> you walk out the front door of your hotel and walk across the river to the Westminster tube station. In your 4+ days you will likely walk past Big Ben 8-10 times or more
- You can do something the afternoon after returning from HCP - but probably nothing major like the British Museum You take the train from Waterloo station which is about a 5-6 minute minute walk from your hotel. Whe nyou get to Hampton Court you walk across the river to the Palace. The train is about 35 minutes. Then 3 hours or so at the Palace. The gardens are terrific - but the main attractions at HCP is the bldg itself. Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours for the Palace and about an hour for the grounds. By the time you eat lunch - it will be probably 2:30 or later before you head back to the train station. So it will be after 3 p.m. before you get back to Waterloo. Do something less "major" the rest of the afternoon. that might be a good day to have a nice early dinner and then go to the theatre.
- It really is too bad you have to do the Eye/cruise on the same day since the HCP day would be a perfect time to do the Eye. You'd take the train back to Waterloo, walk over to the Eye, and after getting off you could pop back to the room to freshen up. Do the two really HAVE to be done on the same day or do you have vouchers you can use any day??
- The Trouping of the Colour will snarl things on the Saturday - so that would be a great time to head out to HCP.
Apr 22nd, 2008, 05:49 PM
#25
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janisj - as far as I know....I can do the London Eye whenever. The lunch cruise I am stuck with Friday or Saturday (because it runs Wed - Sat and we won't be there on a Wed or Thursday). So I can move the London Eye to another date (as long as when I call....they have availability. They should this far out...I will call tomorrow.
Apr 22nd, 2008, 05:53 PM
#26
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I am playing around with the schedule some.....
Day 1 FRIDAY
- Arrive at Heathrow - 8:25am
- Check-in at hotel and get settled
- Parliament/Big Ben (walk by on way to lunch)
- Lunch (ANY SUGGESTIONS in this area?)
- Westminster tour
- Walk around Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus/Trafalgar Square (maybe by doing a hop on/hop off bus tour???)
Day 2 SATURDAY
- Visit a Camden market?? (or another good arts/crafts market)
- Lunch Cruise – Board from Waterloo Pier at 12:35 and return at 14:15.
- London Eye
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Millennium Bridge
- Walk through Tate Modern to see architecture. Not really interested in art….sorry.
Day 3 SUNDAY
- Royal Observatory Greenwich
- Greenwich Market
- British Museum (only plan on spending a few hours in here….not all day.)
Day 4 MONDAY
- Tower of London (arrive at opening time)
- Lunch with co-workers
- Lloyd’s Tour (couple hours at most)
- Leadenhall Market (next to Lloyd’s)…won’t take long
- Tower Bridge Experience
- WICKED MUSICAL
Day 5 TUESDAY
- Buckingham Palace (changing of the guard….what time? 11?)
- Harrods ?? (maybe just for the fun of it)
When should we go to Hampton Court Palace? Or should we skip it?
Maybe move Buckingham /changing of the guards to another day and do Hampton Court on Tuesday?
Janis - I could do Hampton Court on Saturday to get away from the Trooping the Colour event, but then I would need to find another day for St. Paul since they are closed on Sun. I hear that the Trooping event really only affects the area around the mall and Buckingham?
Day 1 FRIDAY
- Arrive at Heathrow - 8:25am
- Check-in at hotel and get settled
- Parliament/Big Ben (walk by on way to lunch)
- Lunch (ANY SUGGESTIONS in this area?)
- Westminster tour
- Walk around Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus/Trafalgar Square (maybe by doing a hop on/hop off bus tour???)
Day 2 SATURDAY
- Visit a Camden market?? (or another good arts/crafts market)
- Lunch Cruise – Board from Waterloo Pier at 12:35 and return at 14:15.
- London Eye
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Millennium Bridge
- Walk through Tate Modern to see architecture. Not really interested in art….sorry.
Day 3 SUNDAY
- Royal Observatory Greenwich
- Greenwich Market
- British Museum (only plan on spending a few hours in here….not all day.)
Day 4 MONDAY
- Tower of London (arrive at opening time)
- Lunch with co-workers
- Lloyd’s Tour (couple hours at most)
- Leadenhall Market (next to Lloyd’s)…won’t take long
- Tower Bridge Experience
- WICKED MUSICAL
Day 5 TUESDAY
- Buckingham Palace (changing of the guard….what time? 11?)
- Harrods ?? (maybe just for the fun of it)
When should we go to Hampton Court Palace? Or should we skip it?
Maybe move Buckingham /changing of the guards to another day and do Hampton Court on Tuesday?
Janis - I could do Hampton Court on Saturday to get away from the Trooping the Colour event, but then I would need to find another day for St. Paul since they are closed on Sun. I hear that the Trooping event really only affects the area around the mall and Buckingham?
