Best way to get around London for the day?? And itinerary...
 

Hi,

I will be traveling to London from Paris just for the day next month. I will be arriving via Eurostar into St. Pancras station. I am wanting to start off at Wetminster Abbey and then work my away aroun to seeing Big Ben/Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, National Gallery, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Trafalgar Square and then the British Museum. It's all alot to pack in I know but a day is all we have - 12 hours to be exact.

Could anyone recommend the best way to get around to these sites? Would it be the tube or another way? And what would be the best route to take to see these sites?

Any suggestions at all would be appreciated! I know it will be a rushed day but it at least will give us a little taste of London.

Thanks!

Am interested to see the responses you get as that's pretty much the stuff I'm worried about packing into <i>three</i> days! :)

You said the best, which I think would be to hire a private guide for the day. Of course it would cost and arm and leg. Not the best would be by tube, walking and by bus.

Print out or purchase a London map and and determine the order to see the sites without going to and fro.

Have a grand trip. London is indeed special.

Which day of the week will this be? Have you checked the opening/closing hours of these places?

I'd suggest this:
From St Pancras, take Circle line to Tower Hill, visit Tower of London.
Then back on Circle/District line to Mansion house, walk from there to St Paul's Cathedral.
Back on Circle/District line to St James's Park station, and walk to Buckingham Palace.
After photo-op at Buckingham Palace, walk through St James's Park to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.
From Houses of Parliament, hop on any bus on Whitehall towards Trafalgar Sq.
Visit National Gallery.
Hop on any bus heading North on Charing Cross Rd and get off for British Museum.

If British Museum and/or National Gallery is open late the day you visit, you have a better chance of seeing both.

One thing worth considering is the day you choose - come on a Friday and both the National Gallery and the British Museum are open into the evenings: but I think you would need to set some priorities for when you realise you're really running out of time and enthusiasm.

First, at St Pancras get yourself a travelcard for the day for zones 1 and 2, as this will cover tubes and buses.

The Abbey won't be open until 0930. If you're arriving on a very early train and need to use up some time, you could walk around Parliament Square and into the Park towards the Palace - you'll only be able to see the outside of those anyway (I'd have suggested possibly keeping this area to discard as geographical outliers). To get there direct from St Pancras, an option might be (depending on the time you arrive) taking the Piccadilly Line to Green Park, and changing there for the Jubilee Line to Westminster, or walking through Green Park past the Palace and on through St James's Park to Westminster.

I'd have suggested starting with the Tower so as to avoid the crowds if you get there when it opens at 0930, then bus 15 to St Pauls, then bus 11 to Parliament Square for the Abbey (possibly skipping the Palace, unless you feel like a walk in the park to get some air). You could then get a bus back up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square for the National Gallery, and from there, bus 24,29 or 176 to Tottenham Court Road, taking you close to the British Museum. From there, walk to Holborn tube station for the tube back to St Pancras.

BUT - You'd be paying for entrance to the Tower, the Abbey and St Paul's and you might feel you simply couldn't get your money's worth in the time. The National Gallery and the British Museum are free, but whether you'd really be in any condition to appreciate them at the end of a long day is up to you....

You can also see all of London from street level (instead of Tube tunnels) by acquiring a Bus Pass for &pound;3.80 and using these maps:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...al_bus_map.pdf

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...on-bus-map.pdf

The second one is available free at any Tube station.

I don't think there's any way you can do the usual visits to the Tower, St Paul's, Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery and the British Museum all in one day. You could feasibly visit all of them, but you'd always be rushing through on your way to something else. I think you need to prioritize what exactly you want to <i>visit</i> vs. what you want to see from the outside. You can <i>see</i> the Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace in an hour or so. But if you want to tour Westminster Abbey, that's obviously a much larger chunk of time.

Personally, if you'll be in Paris I'm assuming you'll be visiting the Louvre and/or the Orsay. So I would skip the National Gallery on your London trip (much as I enjoy it myself), unless you have extra time and are there on a late opening night.

You could start at the Tower, spend three hours or so there, fairly quick visit to St Paul's, lunch, head over to the Westminster area, walk up to Trafalgar Square and then down the Mall to Buckingham Palace, and then spend the remainder of the day in the British Museum, taking you close to St Pancras at the end of the day to catch your train back to Paris.

Also, I would really familiarize yourself with the tube and bus maps before you arrive, and do get a one-day Travelcard as Patrick mentioned.

I don;t see any way you can actually see all these place - unless you mean just look at the outside.

First, have a look at the opening hours.

Second, plot them out on a map.

(You do have amap of London, don;t you, with the major sights indicated? If no, get one now.)

Now, get a decent guidebook and see how long it says is needed to see the various sights.

Add up all those times, and put travel time (average 15 minutes for government work - although some will be longer).

Now that you see how many times 12 hours the total is - list your must dos in descending order - and figure out what you really have time for, leaving time to get back to the train for Paris (you can;t just hop on- but have to check in in advance.

Once you have the places listed you can actually see - then see if tube makes sense. I would think cab will be faster for most of it.

Big Ben/Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square are no big deal. Each is really just a "walk by" and you don't go inside any of them.

But the National Gallery, St. Paul's, Tower of London, and the British Museum are about 2 full days worth by themselves.

Sorry, but you won't get to more than 1/2 of your original list traveling around on your own. If you take a H-o-H-o bus you will be able to ride past everything on your list but won't have time to go inside more than maybe two.

So - either cut your list waaaaay back - or spend 2 days in London.

mark

Hi,

Ok, I've tried to narrow things down and organize a bit. I'm scratching the British Museum - and perhaps the National Gallery as well, although if I can even run in for an hour I'd like to see a couple of things I'd studied in art history. I will also be skipping St. Paul's Cathedral unfortunately.

So, I'm thinking of:

Going to the Tower of London when it opens at 9am spending 2 hours there. Will take the tube as suggested above to get there from St. Pancras.

From the Tower I was thinking to go next to Buckingham Palace for a quick look around with a walk through St. James' Park to Westminster Abbey for a tour, about an hour? or so. Then on to Big Ben/Parliament for a short stop.

Lastly a quick stop at Trafalgar Square with hopefully a bit of time for The National Gallery.

Then on to St. Panras.

Any suggestions on this itinierary? Any thoughts on lenghts of time to do each of these? And any further suggestions on getting around with the sites in this order (best means of transport, etc)?

I really appreciate everyone's help and thoughts. I know it's still alot to fit in but any help with trying to do so and getting around would be a wonderful!

Thanks to all!!

Oh, and we will be there on a Thursday, arriving around 8:30am and departing around 8:30pm:}

Getting around - assuming you are with someone else the best bet is to go to the St Pancras station booking office (NOT Kings Cross / St Pancras Underground Station) and buy a 1 day off peak travelcard for zones 1 - 2.

Not only will this allow you to use trains & tubes in the centre of London but allows you to save money at places like the Tower of London with the offers on www.daysoutguide.com.

Either print the offers off or find the brochure at the afore mentioned booking office

I think that should be fine, as long as you allow yourself time to eat! :) Just to make sure you know, Buckingham Palace is only open to the public during August and September. So your "quick look around" the palace will basically be yep, there it is.

As far as getting around, you can take the Circle or District line from the Tower (Tower Hill) to St James's Park and walk to the palace. Everything else on your itinerary is within walking distance, and you can take the Northern line from Trafalgar Square (Charing Cross) back to St Pancras.

Alanrow,

Could you tell me where I would find the booking office you mention? I've checked for information on the website you posted, but I only see information for trains in and out of London, nothing on traveling around London.

Thanks!

alanRow can probably address this better, but since it's getting late in London, I'll give it a go. There's a deal that allows you to get 2 admissions for the price of 1 to several London attractions, but to get them, you (technically) have to present paper travelcards purchased from a RAIL station (not an Underground station). That web site isn't meant to be a site about getting around London via the tube. It's the site that describes the special offers you can get with the travelcards. Click on the "2FOR1LONDON" tab at the top and it'll take you to a list of places where you can take advantage of that. (If you stick with your current itinerary, it looks like you'll just be able to use it at the Tower, but everywhere else is free anyway except for Westminster Abbey.)

The 2for1s are designed for people using the national rail services (which also includes a fair number of commuters into London). Those lines in London, and the stations on them, are shown as the thick lines on this map:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tocs_m...onnections.pdf

Thanks again everyone!

I really appreciate your help!

YK I'll be using your information for getting around - I really appreciate it.

I'm skipping the British museum so what would everyone think would be the fastest and best way to get from the National Gallery to St. Pancras? How far in advance would you arrive at the station?

I don't know why but I'm still a bit confused on the travelcard - should I just get one then that's most covenient located in the underground? Or should I search our a kiosk for the one that offers the discount? Sorry if I'm being dense and not getting what might have already been spelled out -

:}

Eurostar check in opens 90 minutes to departure - but you MUST check in at least 30 minutes before departure to be allowed on the train - so leave yourself plenty of time to get back to the station.

Buy an Oyster Visitor Card for &pound;12 on the train. You won't use up the full value, but it will enable you to go directly from your train to the Tube station platform and get on with your itinerary.

From the National Gallery, get a 24, 29, or 176 bus to Leicester Square, and ride the Piccadilly Line to St. Pancras. If you get on the bus an hour before your train departs, you'll have plenty of time to get there and clear immigration & security.