philanderson

I will be taking a redeye from DC to London leaving Thursday night and arriving the morning of Jan 14. I will fly back on Sunday night. My wife and I have a room at Five Sumner Place and plan to spend a fair amount of time at the V&A.

We'd appreciate suggestions on restaurants as well as unusual things to do in the immediate area. As we will only be there a short time, it does not make sense to us to try and do more of the City.

Thanks in advance.

erinb

hi phil,

You don't say what your interests in food, if you are on a budget or what, but as far as restuarants in the area, you should have no problem.

Gloucester rd has a whole slew of them, ranging from budget to highbrow. indian cusine to italian.

If you are on a budget, a great bargin and great meal can be found a little mom and pop italian rest. on gloucester called dino's. if your breakfast is not included in your hotel, they do a wonderful full english breakfast also.
You are also close enough that the Orangery at Kensington Palace would be a wonderful option for lunch and or afternoon tea. A walk in the park afterwards just makes it a great day.

There are several pubs in your area, so a hot and reasonable lunch especially during the colder months can be found at any of those pubs.

As far as interesting things to do. I don't know if you have been before and have already done all the usual tourist things such as kensington palace etc.
The V and A is a wonderful museum. I only got to spend about a half a day there and wish I had taken a full day. My next trip this spring is dedicated to making sure I do so.

Sunday morning, they may still have the artist fair all along Bayswater on the Hyde park side. This past year it was much smaller than it used to be, but it is still worth a lesiurely walk.

With so little time, I wouldn't try to cram all the sites. You will just be disappointed because of lack of time to enjoy. This short a stay, plan small and just absorb the feel of London.

I would definitely take in a play on Friday or Saturday night. Try one of the pre-theatre dinners around the theatres.

My intinary for such a short stay would be something like the following:

arrive friday am, drop off luggage at hotel or check in if allowed. Find a good breakfast place and enjoy a cup of good english coffee and take a deep breath. Schedule to tour one of the sites you haven't seen yet or take an open air bus tour of london that morning for about 2 or 3 hours. Hop on and off at your leisure.

AT about 2:00pm, head to the Orangery for lunch. Walk back thru kensington gardens and hyde park to your hotel. Arrive back at your hotel around 4pm to rest a little and then head out to see a early film. London has some wonderful independents and foreign films that never reach the states. Dinner after the movie at a resturant close to the hotel. Friday night restuarants will be open late.

Saturday:

Up early for breakfast and then possibly head to notting hill for portobello market. If you go, go early and get there by 8:00. Leave before 10:30. after 11, the crowds are so bad you won't be able to stand it. some great buys.

I would make saturday my shopping day. Head for oxford street, maybe take in a few department stores and possibly harrods. Take in a leisurely lunch at one of the local pubs and finish out the afternoon. Arrive back at hotel about 4pm. head out for pre-theatre dinner around 5pm and hit a play around 7:30. hit a pub afterward for an after dinnner drink or head back to hotel.

Sunday am. Breakfast and early walk thru the park to bayswater for artist fair. finish up about 10:00 to head to V and A museum for the rest of day. They are open from 10am to 5:45pm. You don't say when you are flying out early sunday night or late. If you have to check out, ask to leave luggage and pick up after you finish with museum.

sunday evening fly home.

also for your info, try www.toptable.com for restuarants in your area. they have some great suggestions.

enjoy!

adamhornets

The cafe at the V&A is very good if you need to save time. The Bombay Brassiere very close to Gloucester Road Tube is awarding winning and there are loads of ethnic restauants around. There's even a Starbucks opposite the Tube Station.

You could also spend time in the other great museums of South Kensington, the Science Museum and The Natural History -both do exactly what they say on the tin!

Or, in Hyde Park, you could look at Diana's memorial fountain, or try to as it's curently shut again!

vcl

Cirque du Soleil is playing at Albert Hall while you are there. If you haven't seem one of these shows, I highly recommend it.

Lots of good eating on Cromwell Road and Gloucester Road. Good pickup snacks at Waitrose and Sainsbury's.

m_kingdom2

Kensington is a small area, at least see the rest of Knightsbridge and Mayfair. Kensington has the museums and Albert Hall although strictly speaking none of that is in Kensington W8.

Three nights is plenty of time to spend exploring the entire city. Where's your sense of adventure?

taggie

Does the V&A still do the Sunday morning jazz brunch? You eat brunch in the cafe while being entertained by a jazz combo... then can roam the museum for the rest of the day. We did this a few years ago and it was kind of neat.

Is Sumner Place closer to the Gloucester Rd station or to the S. Ken station? I thought it was S. Ken...

At any rate, you are very close to the Brompton Cross area... Brompton Rd, Walton Street, Sloane Ave and Fulham Rd all sort of intersect there. Lots of nice little restaurants and boutiques in the area.

Tries2PakLite

I can recommend Il Falconiere (Italian)on Old Brompton Road. I've eaten there a number of times and it has always been very good.
Enjoy your stay. We stayed at Five Sumner Place a few years back and we really enjoyed the hotel and the area.

philanderson

Thanks for the many replies and ideas. Let me answer a few questions and ask a few more.

Most important, I guess, is that Five Sumner Place is in South Kensington, not Kensington. It appears a fairly easy walk to the V&A. We love to walk, and are prepared to do a lot of it if need be.

Sense of adventure? I land at about 930am on Friday and take off at about 430pm on Sunday. Between getting through customs into the country and through security out of the country, and traveling too and from Heathrow, I will have just over 48 hours in London, of which at least a few will be devoted to recovering from jet lag and or sleeping. Also, we plan to spend a LOT of time at the V&A. My wife loves it - I've never been.

Traditional tourist attractions such as Big Ben or the palaces do not appeal to us. Matters cultural, educational, or just plain weird do. We'd like to do a small part of the city well, rather than lots of it glossily.

You've given us lots of restaurant ideas. I hope we use several, though it is a subject we fight over frequently. Corey prefers to eat and walk at the same time, while I like to enjoy my food at leisure. We will probably do some of each. Budget should not be important to us, if we can get over our cheap instincts in this area.

Is there a good location or good info source for more offbeat theater? We did 14 NYC Fringe Festival shows in four days in NYC this past August and enjoyed many of them. Does that news inspire any other suggestions for us? More conventionally, are any Sondheim shows currently playing on the West End?

We love independent film as well, but I do not know if we can squeeze one in on such a short visit. Is there a central info source on independent film offerings?

I did a quick search and the Bayswater artists fair goes on all year around. Sounds kewl. How far is that from South Kensington?

I am new to this board and really appreciate all of the responses, as well as Fodor's making the space available apparently without restrictions.

Phil

vcl

Time Out/London is your best source for what's going on in town and provides a complete listing for West End and other theaters, music, dance, film, clubs, just about anything you'd want to know. Pick one up at an airport newsstand and make your decisions as you make your way into town.

taggie

I second the rec. for Time Out.
The Bayswater art displays are on the north side of Hyde Park/Kensington Garden, along Bayswater Rd. Just walk north from the V&A area through the park and you'll see it.
I would try to hit either the Portobello Rd. market or the Spitalfields one while there, along with some shops in Brompton Cross, but that's just me.

bardo1

RE. Timeout/London:
Don't wait for the airport news stand - they are everywhere in DC:

International News World (at Conn. & K)
Border's (all locations)
Olson's (all locations)
Barnes & Noble (all locations)
etc.

Why not plan ahead?

tedgale

While I would love to eat at a restaurant called the Bombay Brassiere I think the earlier poster meant the famous old Bombay Brasserie.

Patrick

While in London I always make a trip to Kensington to eat a meal at Maggie Jones just off Kensington High Street. It's just so "British" and so good and so much fun. No trip to London would be complete for me without going there.

jody

Instead of eating at the Dino's downstairs on Glouster and harrington..go around the corner and go upstairs to La Sala Romano! Try the dover sole.at a better price than most places ,but anything is really good..the avocado with crab with sauce rosa for a starter is excellent. If you decide on the salad caprese..order 1 for the 2 of you!

We've stayed at #5 a few times and really enjoyed it.You are less than 5 minutes from the V&A..and the Natural History museum and Brompton Oratory. Walk the other way and hit King's Rd, lots of various shops( especially kitchen stuff) , lots of antiques and prints. Really Sumner Pl is one of our favorite places to stay. I could spend days just exploring the area within a mile of any direction..in fact I have numerous times!