dga: to clarify; A photo is still required for multiple-zone weekly travel cards (such as zones 1-6 or zones 3-5) and for those outside of zones 1 or 1 and 2. But for a straight zone 1 or zone 1-2 card, a photo is no longer required. This was done to help visitors who spend 95% of their time in central London.

Ben: Great pointers for pub "etiquette". :) A lot of visitors are unsure of what is expected in pubs . . . . . .

Mr. Haines, This is the best London post ever. May 04 is our time and this really helps. Thank you for this and all of your other help.

Mike

I agree with the others about skipping the hop on hop off bus tour (even though most on this board insist it is a MUST). We went to London for 8 days last year and didn't bother with this. To me it is a waste of half a day or more driving by places you want to see more in depth. I too agree that maps are for orientation!

Pixies - I think you missed the point of Hop-on-hop-off bus tours. You hop OFF when you get to "places you want to see more in depth". Then after you visit The British Museum, or the Cab. War Rooms, or whatever, you hop back on and ride some more.

I don't necessarily think they are a "must" but for a first time visitor they are a good way to see where things are while hearing a commentary about the sights, some history, and interesting anecdotes.

A lot of folks don't even know there is a Banqueting Hall, or a Burlington Arcade, or a Wallace Collection, or an Apsley House, or a Jewel Tower - but taking the bus tour they hear about these and a hundred other places they might decide to visit.

janis, keep going with listing those type places. You were on a great roll!

Hi
I most respectfully disagree that a bus tour is a recommendation for everyone at the start of their visit.
For those who have enjoyed it, that's great. I unfortunately am not one who becomes oriented by being a passenger in a bus, though trying to follow the route on a map as I ride, does help.

On my first day, especially since I am likely to be exhausted from the transatlantic ride, I need to keep moving under my own power. So I pick a destination or a neighborhood, and walk, even if shortly thereafter stopping for breakfast (caffeine) or lunch (caffeine.)

It is also due to this forum that after many visits I became brave enough
to try city buses, some of which have routes just as interesting if not more so, than the tour buses.

I'm glad ben and others mentioned the Banqueting House, it's one of my favorites. As is Spencer House, though visits are limited to Sundays.
Seeing those, I would delete
Ken. Palace and the Albert Memorial.

I note the Imperial War Museum is not listed, and I found it quite dull, but some people enjoy it.

Always the problem of making recommendations or warning people away from places is that we come from the perspective of having already visited the places ourselves. For example, I've visited Kensington Palace and the Imp. War Museum and found them dull and doubt I'd go again. Yet, do I fervently wish I'd never seen them?
No. There are thankfully very few venues anywhere that I deeply regretted seeing. Oh no, I lie, there is at least one:
The London Dungeon.

Hi Ben:

I just have to say that I always think your advice is terrific...it helped me a lot when I was traveling the first time to London with my pre-teen child! I am getting ready for my 3rd trip to London this coming Spring and I am renting a flat off Pall Mall....so I will be within a quick step to my favorite "National Gallery"... this trip will include the Tate Modern as we have not had the chance to hit it yet!

You know how they have those Taxi Cab Interviews -where the rich and famous jump into the cab in NYC and are quickly interviewed - you should have park bench interviews in Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens - 15 minutes rest just to say hello to those who so enjoy your advice! :)

Pub Crawls: Thanks Ben for your advice on how to converse with locals in a pub...it gave me a good chuckle. Chat Noir, thank you for your question, because that is of interest with me as well.... especially since I was so disheartened by everyone saying "I don't go on pub crawls because that is for those who enjoy getting totally p*s*ed"...too bad... I just want to go to nurse a drink, but enjoy the atmosphere and company, and see "haunted" or "historic" establishments....

ttt

I'm also amazed at the number of people who seem to miss the point of the hop on-hop off bus trips. It seems many people just get on and ride the whole circuit. In my opinion it's the best way to see four of five of the main sites. YOu start in the morning and keep getting off to explore the places you want to visit. Take all day and do a lot of them.

I'm also surprised that people seem to miss the point of a pub crawl. I think it's called that because after visiting a bunch of pubs, the only way you'll be able to get back home is to crawl. God knows, you won't be able to walk!

I'm sorry but the Imperial War Museum dull! Wow. The Holocaust Exhibit? The 1940s House? The Blitz Experience? It certainly proves that there are different strokes for different folks. I agree that Big Ben is kind of a symbol of Britain, although the British may find it not worth spending time gazing at. I'd definitely pass on Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard, Madame Tussaud's, Dungeon. I think I'd even skip Kensington Palace unless I had a particular reason for going.

As I've mentioned before we really enjoyed seeing a trial at the Old Bailey but I'm an English mystery fanatic so worked for me on a variety of levels. We also find friends enjoy an hour or so at Covent Garden, I find the shopping prices outrageous but enjoy the street theatre.

In a week, I'd go to the theatre three times, and try a different pub every day if I could. Absolutely yes for Courtauld Institute, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, Museum of London, Tower and the Victoria & Albert if there's a great exhibit on.

I still haven't explored places like Hampstead Heath but agree a day trip to Hampton Court, Richmond, Kew a nice break.

Thank you, PJS Parlour, for topping this: I had lost sight of it. I have adjusted advice in my note on a first visit, and shall be glad to e mail it if asked. Also, I have used forum writers and the sources I write the pub walk that hansikday thinks may be usreful. Again, please ask if you would like it.

[email protected]

Ben I would love the email. I have been to london before and I am returning with my brother and sister. This trip is their first, I thought it would be good to use your advice showing them lONDON. Thanks in advance for the email, PJ

I'm guessing his reaction to Big Ben is kinda like my friend's (who is from/lives in Munich) comment about the Glockenspiel: what the hell is so special about a clock? Or even a clock with rotating puppets? I kinda had to agree with him about the Glockenspiel, it was rather boring. Hopefully Big Ben will be a bit more interesting!

I have sent them by e mail. Your siblings will have not just my advice, but also the well-informed sniping from this correspondence. They are very welcome. If they have a profession, taste or interest (nursing, computing, contemporary architecture, or whatever) please tell me, and I may know something here that would please them, beyond the standard visits. Welcome back.

Ben Haines

I would also love a copy emailed to me!! [email protected] thanks so much!! :)

I sent jamlynn a copy by e mail. Others have asked by e mail.

Ben Haines

Ben, your advice is always so helpful, I know I've taken it many times. But I have one question - by Big Ben on your "not worth it list" do you mean going IN it? (I guess I wasn't even sure you could do this). But to SEE it would have to be my number one thing to do in London. I can (and have) spent hours standing on the embankments across the river and just looking at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment - different times of day, different light, nighttime. I think most first timers to London should have this experience.

Other things I would not have wanted to miss on my first (or subsequent) trips are: walking through Hyde Park and Covent Garden. I also though the Museum of Natural History is a must, if just for the building. Since it's free, a quick look inside the main hall only takes a few seconds and it's right across the street from the V&A.

One other thing. If it's a first trip to London it's probably a first trip to England so I would add a day trip to some small town that's easily done by train such as Cambridge, Canterbury, Warwick, etc.

My 2 cents: I agree, that as an American, I was thrilled with seeing Big Ben for the first time, especially at night. And, since it's so close to Parliment and Westminster Abbey, all of those can be seen. Yes to Covent Garden and Hyde Park. If visitors are there on a Sunday, I think Speakers' Corner is amusing.
After the stroll through St. James Park, a visit to the Cabinet War Rooms for history buffs. I found this most interesting. Lunch at any sandwich shop(look in window to see what it looks like,inviting or grubby) or pub (DON'T eat the hotdogs grilled outside Buckingham Palace. Smell great, taste like sawdust! Maybe they don't grill these anymore!)
Seeing the food courts of Harrod's is amazing, but, for me, the rest of the store could be a miss.
Great list, Ben. I want to come visit you!

Isabel: I am glad my advice has been helpful. The First Visit list is a set of my own ideas, annotated in square brackets by points from other writers. So Big Ben is there in square brackets. I think what happens at Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Brandenburg Gate is that people go there, look at it, and say to themselves that they have indeed arrived. I have never felt that need: when I down a coffee and cake in Gerbeaud s I know I am in Budapest. In fact, I find I do see these iconic monuments simply because they are on the skyline or on a bus route, as Ms Possum says (niece of Old Possum, I wonder). Walks by the Serpentine, in Hyde Park and in Covent Garden are there in square brackets. The great hall f the Natural History Museum did not quite get in.

I think London has enough to see for a week, without excursion.

Ms Possum: The Cabinet War Rooms are in the present list: Speakers Corner did not quite make it. If I were the Queen I should steam out of my front gates one fine morning with a crowbar, and overturn each hot dog stand that pollutes my front yard. Then go back in for a cup of tea. The constitutional results would be splendid. The monarch, head of state, cannot be charged in her own magistrate s court for disorderly behaviour.

[email protected]

Mr Ben, what you said about the Queen and hotdog stands made me laught out loud! :)). I agree!. Who is old Possum, by the way? (we could be related after all)