Iowa_Redhead

I only have two days in London, and about two weeks worth of things I want to do. I've brutally narrowed things down, but am I still trying to cram to much in or do you guys think it's doable? I have a London pass, so the only enterance fee is for Westminster Abbey, and the various tours. I'll use a PAYG Oyster card for the bus.

Monday
Tower of London: Get there right at 10. I read somewhere that it's a good idea to go in and see the crown jewels area and then go back out to join a tour. Is that good info, or just start with the tour? I think I remember something about White Tower Tours in addition to the regular Yeoman warder tours, has anyone taken that tour? Is it worth the time?

St. Paul's Cathedral: Tours are at 1:30 and 2, last approximately 2 hours I believe.

Tower Bridge: Are there good views for pictures? Closes at 6:30 I believe, with last admission at 5:30.

Ceremony of the Keys: At the Tower, starts at 9:30 and I need to be early (9:10'ish?).


Tuesday
Houses of Parliament/Clock tower: Stop by to take pictures first thing in the morning.

Westminster Abbey: There's a tour at 10, approximately 90 minutes. Is three hours enough time here?

Westminster Cathedral: How far of a walk is this from Westminster Abbey? It didn't look that far on a map.

Royal Mews: If I have time; last admission is at 3:15 and close is 4:00.

Any suggestions for changes, or does this look doable? Also, what's good for lunch in the Tower/St. Paul's area and in the Westminster area? I'm looking for something simple and quick. Not McDonalds, but if there's anything good I can pretty well grab on the go, I'd love suggestions.

Thanks for any help

Londonres

There are a few places to eat in Strutton Ground, off Victoria Street. They include some nice take-away sandwich shops, a chinese buffet, and a fish and chip cafe. There are also a couple of Pret a Manger sandwich shops on Victoria Street. You pass them on the way to Westminster Cathedral (10 minutes from Westminster Abbey or catch a bus). You can sit out to eat sandwiches etc at Cardinal Place, opposite Westminster Cathedral.

For Tower of London, there are some good places to eat on the south bank of the river. Walk across Tower Bridge (its a public road and you can take photos without going into the exhibition) and turn right. There are lots of pubs, cafes and restaurants along this footpath beside the river. You can grab something to eat, and then walk to Tate Modern, and you can use the Millenium Bridge to get to St Paul's Cathedral.

Cruiseryyc

My question is, why bother with actual tours of St. Pauls or Westminster Abbey? Just go in and wander around yourself, that way you're on your own time.

laustic

Well for Monday you could start at the tower (early is a good idea for sure!) and then walk across tower bridge and turn right and walk along the river until you get to the Millenium Bridge to see St. Paul's. This is a really great walk and a fun way to see London.

You'd really be cutting it close to get there in time for a 2:00 tour. The tower will take a minimum of 2 hours and then you'll probably want to have some lunch. Plus you'll want to have time to just stop and take in the sights. You might be able make it in time for evensong at St. Pauls.

I've always just toured the tower on my own (twice now). The first time I got the audio tour and I really enjoyed it. The yeoman warder tours seem fun, but they've always looked way crowded. I love the Tower of London!

For lunch if it's Thurs, Fri or Sat the Borough Market is a must! There are a ton of other restaurants in the area. I've eaten at the Pizza Express over there. It's a fairly average pasta chain type place.

Tuesday's itinerary I can't comment on quite as much. I've never done the royal mews or the cathedral. Just a few other ideas though -- it can be convenient Westminster Abbey with the Eye. After the Eye you can walk along the Thames towards Gabriel's Wharf. There is a lot to see to see and do along the way - Southbank book market, Oxo tower, etc.

Alternately, Trafalgar Square is a medium length walk from Westminster Abbey. The National Gallery is over there and it's amazing!

bachslunch

I think your itinerary is very manageable. A couple of thoughts:

1. yes, go to the Tower of London right when it opens. And yes, first thing, go and see the crown jewels since the longer you wait the longer the line can be -- I encountered no line at all first thing. The Yeoman Warder tour I took was excellent (very informative and entertaining), and doesn't cost anything extra besides an optional (but I thought well deserved) pound coin in the guide's hand afterwards. I don't know anything about White Tower tours, but it was easy enough to see on one's own. You can spend 2-4 hours there easily.

2. like at the Tower, the entrance lines at Westminster Abbey can be long, so it's a good idea to make this your first stop when it opens.

3. I didn't need to do a tour at St. Paul's when I went, and I saw pretty much everything as far as I could tell. There are guide maps at the admissions desk that work fine. Same with Westminster Abbey.

4. Westminster Cathedral is about a 10-20 minute walk from the Abbey, and is open weekdays and Saturdays until 7 PM (5:30 PM on bank holidays). The cathedral's worth seeing (unusual look to it as it's mostly brick with some marble, and has some nice mosaics), but there are other things I'd put ahead of it on a must-see list. The Royal Mews and Queen's Gallery (neither of these two attractions is extensively large) are on the way to the cathedral, so there's no need to backtrack. On a sightseeing day I did in London in this area, I was able to manage this itinerary with no difficulty:

-Westminster Abbey
-Changing of the Horse Guards
-Cabinet War Rooms/Churchill Museum
-walk through St. James's Park
-Royal Mews and Queen's Gallery

and could have fit Westminster Cathedral in afterwards with no problem. Or if Parliament is in session, you might be able to go in to see some speechifying in the House of Lords and/or House of Commons (if there's a line, the one for Lords will be shorter). I went later in the evening on yet another day (no line at all) and was able to see some of both -- they often hold sessions until 10 PM Monday through Thursday, and the interior is as ornate as many churches.

And as laustic mentioned, you could instead spend the afternoon at the nearby National Gallery. Also, the Banqueting House is in the Westminster area and well worth an hour's visit.

azzure

I really, really recommend taking a verger's tour at Westminster Abbey -- our guide really made history come alive. If you get to the Abbey when it opens, just sign up for the first tour of the day...or you can sign up in advance the previous day.

Iowa_Redhead

Okay, from the advice above I want more time at the Tower, less time at St. Pauls Cathedral. The audio tour or just poking around on my own is plenty for St. Paul's, not going with the guided tour. I'm still planning on hitting the Tower Bridge for pictures. I have to get into the exhibit to take pictures from the upper walkway, correct? Then dinner and the Keys Ceremony.

The second day, get to Houses of Parliament bright and early to take pictures of the outside. Still planning on the verger tour at Westminster Abbey, followed by a jaunt to the Cathedral. I may or may not make it to the Royal Mews. Depending on how walking is going, I'll see what else I can wander into.

Thanks for all of the help.

janisj

- Tower > St Pauls > Tower Bridge is a lot of zig zagging. But if you do the Bridge experience after the Tower you'll have a hard time getting to St Pau's by 2 p.m.

- I don't think I'd recommend Westminster Cathedral at all. If you were there a week or more, then sure -but not when you only have 2 days.

- You do have to enter the Tower Bridge Experience to get to the upper walkway. But you can tell them you "have done the Experience before (so, it's a lie - not to worry), and the you just want to get up to the walkway. They will let you bypass the "Experience floors" and take the lift to the top. This will save you about 45 minutes.

- However - if it is just the views you want, you could climb to the top of St Pauls, ride the London Eye, or go to the free observation deck at the OXO Tower instead.

- Yes, you got it right - enter the Tower, head straight to the jewel House and you will have the Crown Jewels practically to yourself. Then backtrack to the entrance and hook up w/ a Yeoman Warder tour. A hint about the jewels: There is a moving walkway that travels along both sides of the jewel cases. Once you've gone up and back and seen them most folks want to look some more -- but they think they are done and have to leave. But behind both walkways is a raised platform (maybe three steps up) where you can go to look at each case pretty much as long as you want.

Iowa_Redhead

Janisj, thanks for your help. I put Tower Bridge last for the day because if I miss it I won't whine too badly. If I have to hurry through St. Pauls because I dinked around at the Tower Bridge, I'd whine until I get to go back to London. I love the advice to get straight to the top of the Bridge. I've learned that some of my favorite photos can be described by: "I climbed 427 stairs to get that picture of nothing". I didn't realize I could take pictures from the top portion of St. Paul's. Depending on views, time and my feet I may skip trying to take pictures from the Bridge. I'll be back in the area for the Ceremony of the Keys, and if I'm there early enough I can try to get sunset pictures of the Bridge itself.

I just found out about one of the markets in the area, Antiquarius Antiques Center. They're open til 6pm, so I think I'll bypass the Royal Mews and head there instead on Tuesday. That's in the right direction for my hotel at least.

So, updated plan:
Monday - Tower (drooling over jewels and then a tour), St. Paul's (no tour or audio tour), possibly Tower Bridge. Ceremony of Keys and hopefully sunset pictures.

Tuesday - Houses of Par. for pictures outside, Westminster Abbey (with tour), Westminster Cathedral for a bit. Hop a bus or the tube to get to Antiquarius on King's Road.

Thank you again to all for your help, I'm completely bouncing off the walls with excitement. I can't wait until I leave May 11.

bob_brown

The people who do the tours at Westminster Abbey are among the best informed guides I have found.

Only one person I have met hit me as being relatively better: The guide who escorted our tour to Vaux le Vicomte and Fontaineableau.

As for the Tower, I got tired of our guide who seemed more intent on incarcerations and murders than anything else.

Take an audio tour. That way you can switch and/or shut it off.

kgh8m

I loved our guide at the Tower.

If you're planning on climbing to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, it may be worth doing before the Tower. Those 600+ steps to the top will feel a lot harder if you've wandered all over the Tower and then rushed to get there. And it CERTAINLY is worth it. St. Paul's opens at 8:30, and if you want an audiotour, those start at 9:00. I don't think you need a guided tour.

From there, all you'd have left to accomplish in your day would be the Tower and the Tower Bridge. You can also buy Tower entrance tickets up to 7 days in advance online.

janisj

The problem w/ doing St Paul's first is that the queue for the crown jewels gets very long not long after opening time. Yes, an advance ticket will get someone into the Tower w/o waiting in line, but it will not let you jump the queue for the Jewels.

BTW - if you flipped the Tower/St Paul's to Tuesday, you can enter the Tower at 9 a.m. instead of 10:00. That would give you a full hour more sightseeing time that day.

noe847

Here's a link to photos from my first London trip:
http://tinyurl.com/hp3nk
You can see the views from the Eye and from St. Paul's (on a few different levels). I loved the view from the Eye because it is right on the Thames (as the Tower Bridge would be, obv.)

Londonres

If you need to get between St Paul's and the Tower/Tower Bridge in a hurry, take a number 15 bus.

Westminster Cathedral is en route between Westminster Abbey and the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace. It's unusual, as it's a 19th century building in the Byzantine style. Not an obvious choice for a first time tourist, but worth a quick look.

An alternative to Westminster Cathedral would be to have lunch in St James's Park and see the views from the bridge across the lake. The wooden building with a turf roof is Inn on the Park; it has a restaurant and a cafeteria, and you can buy take away sandwiches etc. You could then walk through the park to Buckingham Palace.

Iowa_Redhead

Thanks for the help.

Kgh8m, I'm using the London Pass so I can only get into places once, and I'm afraid an hour or so isn't near enough time in St. Paul's. I definitely want to be at the Tower right when they open to go drool at the Crown Jewels. Now that I'm changing plans to take an audio tour instead of a guided tour I won't be in such a rush to get to St. Paul's by a certain time.

I want to keep the Tower/St. Paul's on Monday because last admission at St. Paul's is 12:00 that Tuesday (May 13). Also, I'm going to the Ceremony of Keys on Monday and want to know where the heck I'm going ahead of time.

Noe847, thanks for the pictures. I love the ones of Houses of Par. and the clock tower. If I have a chance I'll definitely try to get onto the Eye.

Londonres, my feet thank you for the bus tip. I busted up a foot last summer and it still gets ouchy if I walk too much.

lilygirl

Bookmarking. I also have just a couple of days in London so this is helpful. Thanks for starting the thread Iowa_Redhead.