I am traveling to Europe with 3 friends in June 2004. Our ages range from mid 20's to mid-30's. We travel together every summer, but this is our first trip abroad.
We have come up with a tentative itinerary, which reflects a blending of everyone's must sees.

Thursday- Arrive London 9:30 AM Take Tube to Hotel. We are staying at The Montana Hotel in Kensington.

Afternoon
Take Double Decker Bus Tour
Lunch at Pub-any suggestions?
Evening:
Possibly Harrods- Open to suggestions for shopping and dinner

Friday
English Breakfast (any suggestions?)
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben/Parliament
Buckingham Palace
London Eye (if lines are not long)

Evening
Picadilly Circus
Trafalger Square
Dinner at Pub

Saturday
Tower of London
Lunch at Pub
Tower Bridge or Millenium Bridge
Globe Theater

Evening:
Open

I would like to be able to add Evensong at St Pauls, the British Museum, and some time strolling through a park or along the Thames. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hi,

The British Museum is open some evenings, you can check their website to see when.

Friday is a light day - you can probably add the BM or go to Evensong that day (check the website to see if they do it every evening).

You can't go into Buck Palace, so that is just a walk-by to see it. And unless you make special arrangements, you can't go into Parliament either, so that can just be a walk-by also (cross the river to get some great full-building pictures).

Do the extra strolling you want to on Saturday evening. It's light pretty late in the summer in London.

Have a great trip!
Karen

If you take the Big Bus double deck tour of London, it comes with a free walking tour that begins by the museum at Trafalger Square. It was a fun tour with a couple of interesting pub stops.

Sounds like a great plan, it does seem light so don't be surprised if you find you can add some more things!

The line for the London Eye looked enourmous in June when I went, but it only turned out being a half an hour. I've heard it doesn't get much longer than that. Definitely give it a go.

Have fun!
Tammi

Thank you for your replies. I am glad to hear you say this seems like a light itinerary. Part of the joy we find in traveling together is the unplanned adventures along the way. We also enjoy just strolling through a city, people watching, and we have one dedicated shopper. We like a general plan with time to do what strikes us at the moment.

Thanks again!

I'm not sure about Karen's comment about special arrangements to see Parliament. We were in London in early September and took a Westminster tour with London Walks which ended with an option to visit Parliament. The tour lasted about 2.5 hours (with a pub stop), after which the guide showed us the entrance to Parliament and bid us adieu. It didn't seem like the guide had made any special arrangements. We just walked to the designated entrance (which is across from Westminster Abbey), passed through security, filled out some minor paperwork, passed through more security and then were ushered into the upper balcony of the House of Commons. It was a great experience though 15 minutes of it was plenty for us. We could've also visited the House of Lords but decided not to.

I'm not sure if the procedure is any different during the daytime hours--however I do recall that Parliament starts later in the day (afternoon-ish?) and goes into the evening. I also recall that they don't meet everyday and something about a light being on in one of the towers at Parliament to indicate when the houses are in session... Sorry for the fuzzy memory.

In short, it was a very interesting experience that we really enjoyed. I'd highly recomment it.

Just one other suggestion. Since you're interested in seeing the Globe, why not take in one of the plays there? You can arrive a bit early and see the display before heading into the theater for the play.

Have a great trip!

Hi
A couple of things -
1) You can obtain tickets for the London Eye in advance and I would definitely advise this.
2)Apart from the British Museum you haven't mentioned visiting any other Museums - and they are superb AND free. I know you are trying to do a lot in a short time (and pleasing all 4 of you)but The Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert, Museum of London, Portrait Gallery etc are SO worth a visit.

I would suggest trying to do the Tower Friday morning instead of Saturday since the weekend might be busier. If you arrive when it opens, you could spend several hours there and still be able to do Westminster Abbey/Parliament and maybe even the London Eye after lunch. While you're in that area, I would also suggest the Cabinet War Rooms. It's a fascinating exhibit of London during wartime. It should take you less than an hour.

You might also want to consider dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was the original one, you know, and they have a great little souvenir shop across the street. Food's not bad either.

Thanks for the additional information and suggestions. I had not thought about it being more crowded on a Saturday at the Tower of London.

Again, thanks!

Your itinerary is pretty consistent, but I see a couple of holes:

On Thursday, add "Dinner at Pub"
On Friday, add "Lunch at Pub"
On Saturday, add "Lunch at Pub" and "Dinner at Pub" and build around that.

When you buy your London Eye tickets, you can give a time you would like to go...I believe 8:00 was the last time...and right before dusk was beautiful...also, we went into Parliament, had to fill out a paper,etc. and found if you go around 3-4...the line wasn't as long. I would definitely take in a play...go to Leicester Square, get 1/2 price tickets for a performance...we enjoyed that...