I will be in London at the end of the month and have one day to see sites before taking a cruise the next day from Southampton. I will be arriving at Heathrow @ 9:00 am and then will take a Dot2Dot transport to my hotel the Park Plaza on Vauxhall Bridge Rd. near Victoria Station. After dropping my luggage off I'd like to then travel from this area to the British Museum, Covent Park & Charing Cross to visit the bookstores, if I can fit it all in.

I would appreciate any advice on how to get to these places. I am not sure if it would be better to book a bus tour and hop on and off or rather get a travel card and take regular buses/tubes to these sites.

Thanks for your help...

charring cross and the major bookstores are near to each other...a 5-8 minute walk...if you mean covent garden, its not a park but the area of an old market place which is very tourist and local orientated....its also about a 5 minute walk in the other direction... for speed i would take a taxi to charring cross and walk from there...you could easily spend the 6-7 hours you will have in this area...

Since you likely will not be setting out for sightseeing until close to noon I would not waste the time (which can add up if stuck in traffic) and money on the bus tour. Don't know that hotel but if it is near Victoria you can travel on the Victoria line one stop to Green Park where you change to the Picadilly Line to either Holborn or Russel Square and walk a few blocks to the museum. From there you can walk to Covent Garden and then on to Charing Cross. From there either pick up the Bakerloo line at Charing Cross and travel one stop to Embankment, or just walk to the Embankment station and pick up Circle or District line back to Victoria.

There are no worthwhile bookshops anywhere near Charing Cross (a railway station built more or less on the site of a cross erected by Edward 1 to mark his wife's funeral procession)

There are reasonable bookshops well over half a mile away along the stretch of Charing Cross ROAD from Leicester Square tube station north to Tottenham Court Rd tube station - though they've been badly hit by aggressive competition from supermarkets and the internet over the past decade. There's a slightly more atmospheric cluster of them in St Martin's Court and Cecil Court, just SE of Leicester Square tube station.

If all you want to see are bookshops, the BM and Covent Garden and you won't get to the hotel till midday (you won't), you're not going to have time to mess about with bus tours. In fact, you won't have time to use buses for travel.

Get the tube to Leicester Square, do what you want with bookshops, walk through Covent Garden to the BM (checking its opening hours first). Download a Google map: Covent Garden is the area bounded, from Leicester Sq tube, by St Martin's Lane/Upper St Martin's Lane/Monmouth St at the west, High Holborn to the north and Kingsway to the east.

After the BM, get the tube back to Victoria.

There's a modest group of bookshops along Great Russell St, just south of the BM, and one or two interstingish discount places at the southern end of Bloomsbury St, near its junction with Gt Russell St

I totally agree w/ flanner. You have little chance of getting to your hotel before noon - especially if you use dot2dot. It is sort of like SuperShuttle in the States. They drop passengers at various hotels, and if you are at the end of the route you could be driving around London for quite a while (of course - you could also be at the beginning of the route and get off first)

You don't want to go to Charing Cross station. Take the Victoria tube line one stop to Green Park and transfer to the eastbound Piccadilly line 2 stops to Leicester Sq. Then walk to the places flanner described.

If you are running late - instead of walking to the British Museum, you can take the tube from Leicester Square or Covent Garden to Russell Square.

If your day in London is a Thursday or Friday then some sections of the British Museum stay open until 8.30 so completely support Flanner's suggestion.

If you have an interest in a particular subject it might be worth searching for bookshops which specialise in that subject so you can focus your attention.

Thank all of you for such specific advice, you've given me a lot to consider. For one thing, I do know that I am going to give up the tour idea and probably take a taxi to reach that area and the tube to get back to Victoria.

Because I am traveling alone I have to admit that I am a little nervous about using the tube - because of the possibility of misunderstanding the signage and getting on the wrong train or missing my stop. Are train stops clear to understand even if I don't know the area?

Thanks again for your help,
Trenia

You'll get the hang of the tube quite quickly. The signs are very clear, each station has lots of wall maps to help you find your route, and you can always ask staff to be sure you have it right. Plus each station is announced on speakers in the car.

Yes, the tube is easy to use. Easier than NYC's subway IMHO. And if you aren't sure, you can always ask your fellow passengers. They may look aloof, but they'll help you. Unless you don't read/speak English (which I doubt based on your postings here), you won't have any major problems.

Your problem in London with asking other passengers for help is that they may well not be able to speak English, or may be as lost as you are.

Ok...the tube it is! YK, I am so glad you mentioned that it's easier than NYC's Subway system because that is exactly what I was wondering! I definitely feel better about taking it.

Thanks!