sppunk

I have read many itineraries on this site and think this might work, but many here are experts at this and I value everyone's input so much. Let me know if this is a good order and if I'm missing anything dire.

Thank you in advance!

TUESDAY
Covent Garden
Tower of London (tube stop: Tower Hill)
Harrods
Hyde Park
Trafalgar Square
Lion King

WEDNESDAY
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
House of Parliament
Lunch at Ye Old Cheshire Chees
10 Downing Street
St. Paul's Cathedral
Piccadilly Circus
Dinner at Rules
Democracy (the play)

THURSDAY
Cabinet War Rooms (Clive Steps)
Madame Tussauds
Kensington Park/Green Park
Victoria and Albert Museum
Harvey Nichols

Surfergirl

It's pretty jam packed, but you can do it if you take out a map, pinpoint where everything you want to visit is located, then bunch it into mini-groups so you're not criss-crossing so much.

In other words, and it helps if you know the postal codes, divide it up by the first letter in the postal code. i.e. Hyde park and Mayfair is in W1, the "W" being West; or SW1 for Harrods, in Knightsbridge, as well as Westminster Abbey.

Hope this helps.

sppunk

Thank you for the reply. I have believe my Thursday needs some work, but the others appear to be pretty decent. What would you suggest I change it?

And I will look into segmented the areas by directions as you stated - that is a wonderful idea.

Thanks again.

Suisse

For Thursday, you need to do Madame Tussauds either first thing or last thing because the lines get pretty long. It is worth the stop, just not an hour+ wait in line.

I would also suggest the London Eye since that is not on your agenda. It is best towards sunset on clear days.

The other thing I would suggest is doing one of the walking tours. They are listed in the magazine TimeOut or you can pick up one of their brochures at a Tourist Information site. The Original London Walking Tours are the best as they use theatre actors for the guides. They take about 3 hours and cost only 4 pounds. Well worth it.

Dave_

I would agree that you could find something better than Madame Tussauds and unless this is a must-see for you, I like the idea of replacing it with the London Eye.

I don't think you are fitting too much in (but I generally cram quite a lot in when I travel) - Thursday looks quite busy. However, I do think you need to think about swapping a few things around.

For example a nice (circular) walk is to go from Trafalgar Square along the Mall to Buckingham Palace, through St James's Park (the Cabinet War Rooms are here too) to Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament and then walk up Whitehall past Downing Street (nothing really to see here) to Trafalgar Square.

From here it's an easy stroll to Covent Garden or Picadilly Circus too.

You have a few things that are east of the above, eg Tower of London (get there first thing seems to be the general advice) and St Paul's which maybe best done together.

Your other plans are further west and are best grouped together - Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens (are adjacent), the V&A, Harrods.

If you look at a map you'll see your Tuesday plan of Covent Garden - Tower of London - Hyde Park - Trafalgar Square is a lot of zipping about.

That's not to say it's difficult to travel across London on the tube or bus but why do all those trips when you can do fewer, shorter ones.

kimerley

Hi,
this is a great site to plan your trip.
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk
You put in the date and time of travel,
the from and to...and it will give you your options of travel. Tube or bus etc, even walking times.
My son and I will be in London for the day, catching a nationalexpress bus from Cirencester.Arriving 0920 and departing 2030 hours.The below itinerary will be broken up with meal breaks etc and variations no doubt but Lachlan is keen to visit the below sites as a priority
From Victoria coach station we will catch the tube from Victoria to Tower of London
tube to Imperial war museum
walk to Cabinet war rooms
bus to Trafalgar square
visit St Martin-in-the field church then bus/tube to
Harrods? or just a walk around Chelsea.
Have a great trip

Dave_

Kimerley - you can very easily walk from the Cabinet War Rooms to Trafalgar Square, it's only a few minutes walk up Whitehall.

ChatNoir

I'd skip Madame Tussauds unless you are just dying to see it.

I'd also do the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral, plus add the Museum of London on the same day (all in the same general area).

Not sure why you are going to Piccadilly Circus - its really just a big traffic circle.

Lori

Well, I'm exhausted just reading this, but that is me!! I'd go to the Tower first thing Tues. a.m. We've been to London many times and re-visited the Tower last month. We bought our tickets at our local tube stop and were out there when they opened up. Crowds were light and we even took the people mover 3 times past the crown jewels. A couple hrs later when we were getting ready to leave the place was jam-packed with long long lines to get into jewel area, etc.

St. Paul's is a short distance (like 5 min) from the Tower, just hop on a #15 bus (also#23 I think). I'd do places that are closer together rather then running all over the place. The Tube is efficient, but it does not make sense to go from one end of town to the other when you are next to the attractions.


FYI St. Paul's has scaffolding all over it (at least it did last month, and if I remember correctly it did when I was there last year too). I'd also skip Tussaud's unless you have a big desire for that sort of thing (I do have a friend who loved it, so each to their own). Kensington Gardens are in Hyde Park not Green Park (Green is across from Buckingham Palace). I'd combine Havey Nichols and Harrod's since they are close. Perhaps do the V&A in the a.m. and these two afterward.

If you have no plans for Thurs. nite and still have some strength go over to The London Eye and take a ride. Lovely at dusk and you do not need advance reservations.

As a frequent visitor to London I would like to suggest you do not stick to an iron clad schedule. Part of the fun of London (or any place) is doing some unscheduled things, sometimes they are much more memorable then the "biggies".

allanc

I very much agree with Lori. My own preference is to intermingle different activities AND be prepared to make changes due to weather conditions. I would include a boat trip from Westminster to Greenwich or a canal ride. I would skip Hyde Park, I prefer the British Museum, add the Eye, and just spend some time walking down the riverbank. Harrods is not really such a big deal (other than the fake Egyptian area near the elevators) so we seldom spend more than one hr. their. They have a duty free store at LHR but we find the prices are significantly higher than NA retail. You might want to consider Evensong @St Pauls or the service at St. Martins. London is so much more than the usual tourist haunts. We have been to London on a number of occasions and we always find something new to do or we see things from a different perpective from our last trip.

sppunk

Would it be wise to go to Maddam's early Thursday, then to the museum, and later in the evening taking a canal ride?

Dave_

Unfortunately I can't answer your question about Madame Tussauds but I would say with only 3 days in London I wouldn't include taking a canal ride on a short itineray. Unless you mean a trip along the river?

sppunk

Yes, I was referring to a River Thames cruise in the evening. I have read they are roughly an hour or so long.

We will be leaving for Paris the Friday morning, so I was thinking of something that will be relaxing and set a mood for that leg of the vacation.