pattyshearts

Planning a trip to London for the first time. How many days do I need to see the main attractions and then a day trip to Bath? From there we expect to fly to Paris for a few days. The British Museum is a must for us but what else is a must? I haven't brought my tour book yet. I usually purchase Eye Witness Trave but do you have another suggestion?

I don't heard great things about the food, in fact my aunt recently got very sick on the food (I know this can happen anywhere though) Any suggestions for Italian food or good restaurants?

Saw the replies about some hotels.

Anything you suggest would be helpful.

noe847

The city is so huge and has so much to offer for those interested in history, art, royalty, parks, outdoor markets, theatre - really just about anything can be found in London. In general, however, I'd say a week would be the minimum visit to see many of the attractions most of interest to you (particular ones will differ from person to person) and a day trip to Bath.

I found it a bit daunting to tackle planning for our first London trip. I finally just took a weekend and sat down with a map and a few guidebooks. That gave me a little framework that I could use to begin to build my trip. You will have to do a bit of reading and thinking of what is of interest to you. For example, Madame Tussaud's wax museum is a huge tourist draw in London, but bears very little interest for me, and so won't be on my "must see" list anytime soon. You've already gotten a start by knowing the British Museum is a must for you.

The online London tourist map at http://travellondon.com/templates/attractions/map.html
is helpful to see where things are located so that you can group things that are near each other. The Eyewitness book would probably be a decent introduction to the city's main attractions. Here's a website about London: http://www.ukguide.org/london.html
The "Destinations" tab in the Fodor's bar above gives a 5 day suggested itinerary. And, of course, there are a million threads on this forum about London.

As you do your reading and planning, coming back to the forum with particular inquiries will be of enormous help. It is a lot easier to give useful answers to specific questions.

The food is actually quite good, and there is an amazing variety of cuisines available. Here are a couple of threads about food in London:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...2&tid=34786481
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...2&tid=34750684

GirlScoutMom

pattyshearts,
I took my Girl Scout Troop to London in 2001. We were there for 10 days and still didn't see everything. But we had sat down with a guide book and figured out what were "must sees" for us. We wanted to see a varity of things. My girls (13 & 14 at the time) wanted to see: Buckingham Palace, London Tower, Madame Tussaud's (I'm with noe847... wouldn't bother with that again), Bath, Globe Theater, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Stonehenge (I didn't care for this), Cutty Sark (also wouldn't bother with), British Museum, Straford Upon Avon, Warwick Castle, Winsor Castle and Oxford. I would recommmed the London Walks... I have taken the Sherlock Holmes one and will be doing the Jack the Ripper one next summer. Just a bit of fun for about 10 pounds.

wombat7

GSM - probably more accurate to say that you went to south England for 10 days and spent 6 of them in London? Assuming that you spent 4 days going to Stratford, Bath, Oxford, Windsor and Warwick

olympicgaym

London is a big city, but to get an overview and see the main sights I thought it was easily done in 3 days.
In 3 days we saw Buckingham Palace,Houses of Parliament,Hyde Park, Picadilly and Trafalgar Square, all of which can be seen in a couple of good walks. We toured the Tower, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum and climbed the dome of St.Pauls. We even saw Madam T's and a west end show.
We even attended the Portabello Road Market and hit some shopping. We also took a day trip to York in the 4days(5nights) we spent in London before going to Amsterdam and Paris.

alanRow

So no London Eye, Greenwich, Camden Market, Borough Market, Tate Modern, Globe Theatre, V&A, Natural History Museum, British Library, Cabinet War Rooms, National Gallery, Kew Gardens, Tate Modrfn, Millennium Bridge, Food Hall at Harrods, Tate Britain, Science Museum...

rex

This thread is "filed" correctly under the "topic" of United Kingdom.

Not sure this is the subject of your question in http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34839016 - - but this one is correctly in the UK "forum" (a virtual forum, at best, as others have explained to you).

Best wishes,

Rex

noe847

Well, in 6 days I saw: 3 West End plays, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben/Houses of Parliament (walk by), Charing Cross bookstores, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery (just the Sainsbury Wing), Banqueting House, Horse Guards (walk by), Cabinet War Rooms, Downing Street (walk by, obviously), British Library, Tower of London (just the Yeoman Warder tour, the crown jewels and the White Tower), St. Etheldreda's, St. Bartholomew the Great, Brompton Oratory, St. Paul's (climb the dome), Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden/Neal's Yard, Liberty, Oxford Street shopping, vintage clothing/King's Road shopping, Portobello Market, Victoria & Albert (just the dresses)

My husband saw much but not all of the above, and at times split off and saw: Greenwich (most of a day), Thames Barrier, boat on the Thames, Tate Modern, and the Imperial War Museum.

I left feeling that there was so much that I had missed! We will be returning to London for several days in August and I hope to see: British Museum, Borough Market, Camden Market, Ceremony of the Keys, Tate Britain, National Gallery (RAF Museum for my husband), Shepherd's Market, Fortnum & Mason, one West End play, some of the parks, and a trip to Salisbury to see Stonehenge (inner circle), Old Sarum, Salisbury Cathedral (tower tour).

I know that when I leave London I will already have started a list for the next trip - which will include Hampton Court, Windsor, Hampstead, Courauld Gallery, Soane's Museum, Queen's Gallery, Kew...

Carrybean

I've been there 15 times & haven't seen it all.

ilovetotravel29

Including Bath, i would say 4 to 5 days....but that may not include the nearby castle

janisj

"but that may not include the nearby castle"

Just WHICH nearby castle are you talking about?

pattyshearts: some on this thread think you can see the basics in 3 or 4 days. But unfortunatley, thqat means a "drive by" look (or in some cases a walk-by). London has quite literally dozens of VERY major sites and hundreds of nearly major sites.

If you mean just ticking off the list -- "yep, saw the outside of Parliament, went inside the Tower (but only for a couple of hours), went inside Westminster Abbey (but didn't get to take the Verger's tour)," etc - you can see a TEENSY bit of London's main sites in 3 or 4 days.

But if you read a guide book or the "Destinations" on this site you will see there are tons of other major sites. A first visit to London should probably be about 7 days (though that will stilll only barely scratch the surface). One day is jet lagged, and it takes a couple of days just to get used to getting around on the buses/tube. Count on one or two major sites a day plus other things of interest. Then you can figure out how long YOU will need - and then add another day for Bath.

GirlScoutMom

wombat7- we stayed all 10 "nights" in a London hotel. Several days were spent traveling to the other places. Guess I just meant we didn't sleep in the other towns, just in London. Also, forgot we also saw St. Paul's, went to Portabello Road and saw The Lion King. Plus spent an afternoon at the Girl Guide/Girl Scout world center "Pax Lodge".

ilovetotravel29

I meant to say Windsor if I am remembering correctly....there is a day trip near London...I think it is Windsor Castle.

W9London

Looks like there are enough suggestions for the attractions.

As for Italian food, it depends on your budget. Teca (right around the corner from Claridges Hotel) and I seem to get along well, albeit somewhat on a pricey side , I admit.
Taberna Etrusca near St. Paul on Bow Lane has outdoor seating in a courtyard. Though this place is mostly for lunch rather than dinner.

zupermaus

definitely go to one of the famous streetmarkets except Camden (too crowded, touristic and crap) to see a world open to all comers whether youre a visitor or a local, old or young, theres something for everyone here and youre all in it together. Street theatre will be great, the food too - shoppings definitely secondary.

Portobello on Fridays and Saturdays (@ Notting Hill tube station) is great, as is Borough food Market on Fridays and Saturdays (London Bridge tube), and the supertrendy Brick Lane/Spitalfields markets (both are interconnected) on Sundays (Liverpool Street tube for starting in Spitalfields, Aldgate East tube for starting in Brick Lane)in the Bangladeshi community.

zupermaus

ps whatever the markets specialise in(portobello for antiques and fashion, Brick Lane for ANYTHING)they always diversify into food and fashions too to cater to the crowd. - arrive with an empty stomach if youre looking for great streetfood, though there are always upmarket eateries nearby catering to the weekly scrum.

zupermaus

oh yeah, same applies to some of the best pubs in the country^