If you've done this, please let me know what you thought of it. Did you book a package including a bus tour of London, or just take the train, and find a tour bus when you arrived? Did you have enough free time there after the tour? Did you feel it was worth the money? Is there a tour company you could suggest?
Wasn't planning to get to London/England at all on a European cruise/trip planned for fall 2007, but when I saw how close it was, thought we might give it a day, and I could visit my penpal of 35 years. Seems it would cost about $500AM , plus one more night in a Paris hotel, so dunno if one day in London is worth that much. I'd be most interested in your thoughts...(before I book flights)

Thanks, Marian

Hi Marian,

>...thought we might give it a day, and I could visit my penpal of 35 years.<

That sounds like sufficient reason to me.

Day return tickets on eurostar trains Paris-London are about $95 return, perhaps cheaper even at www.eurostar.com. In London you can do your own on and off bus tour for about $25 or so - so $500 even for two is way too high, unless of course you actually take a tour.

o Take the first Eurostar in the morning.
o Buy a bus pass for £3.50
o See historic London with this map: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/cen_bus.pdf
o Do Whitehall and the Eye last (closest to train).
o Return on last Eurostar.

(I don't like the hop-on/off buses because you can spend a lot of time waiting for the next one when you've finished at a place.)

Even though there is no way to see and do everything in London during one day, you will be able to see a lot. I like Robespierre's idea of buying a travelpass for the day and doing it on your own. Some things may be more interesting to you than others and you will have the power to come and go as you please. And like ira said, visiting a friend of 35 years definately makes it worth the trip. Go and have a great time.

Don't expect to be able to do too much.

A pre-organised tour is unlikely to have a convenient gap to see a penpal for lunch. It's absolutely certain not to have time for you to get out to wherever the penpal lives.

The time you have to allow for travelling within London is almost certainly a great deal more than you're used to where you live. In practice, seeing a penpal properly will considerably limit the amount of sightseeing you can do, and you might find it easier to see a few Greatest Hits under your own steam rather than any kind of tour.

Remember too that in organising your time you have to allow for checkin time at the station coming home. This has recently been reported as due to be increased to 45 minutes soon for economy passengers.

Sometime in autumn 2007, Eurostar's main London station will become St Pancras, rather than Waterloo as at present. Dates are not yet definite, but Robe's sensible suggestion about finishing at The Eye will no longer apply. Nor will many of the hundreds of excellent suggestions about managing such a daytrip you'll find by searching this board.

If your penpal is from London, I definitely would not want to do an organized tour. She/he could probably do as good a job showing you around. After all, she ought to know what your interests are after 35 years!

Exactly! Ask the penpal to show you round. Buy him/her lunch somewhere nice.