London and Windsor in 3 days
 

Hello,

I will go to England first time in my life, we will be 3 people and we booked 3 nights in a B&B near Poters Bar. We only have 2 days for London and we thought to spend the third one for Windsor Castle. Any suggestions about things we should see? Also, if anyone is very familiar with the South of England and South of Wales, we would apreciate, it will be a 15 days tour of South England and South Wales and I don't want to add 10 different topics :)

Is there a reason why you are staying out of London?

I would start with some guide books or the Destinations Link above to get some ideas. What are your interests?

Do you mean Potters Bar in Hertfordshire? If yes then the journey into London is quite fast on the train but it is not so easy to get to Windsor which is west of London, it would take about 2 hours by public transport but can be done.

Do you have an idea of anything you particularly want to visit or a theme you want to build your days round?

Yes, Potters Bar in Hertfordshire, but we will also have a car, we rented one for 15 days. It is a nice and clean B&B with local products and a big garden,we will enjoy to have a nice breakfast outside before we leave for our day trips and also having a glass of wine outside during the evenings. The Windsor Castle can be seen in one day? As about London, in 2 days we can only make an idea in 2 days, we will probably visit it better another time, we would just like to see the best we can in 2 days. What would you personally do if it was first time you go to London and you would only have 2 days?

Well having no idea about what interests you, this is what I would do:

Day 1 - Royal Westminster - start at Buckingham Palace, wander through St James Park to Parliament and do a tour of Westminster Abbey. Then head to Trafalgar Sq and into West End.

Day 2 - head straight for the Tower of London, skip the free beefeater tour for now and head right for the crown jewels. Then backtrack and pick up a beefeater tour. Expect to spend 1/2 a day here. Then cross river to South Side and visit Borough Market if you are there thurs - sat and eat lunch. Then spend the afternoon walking the south bank. YOu can stop at the Tate Modern or walk across the bridge to St Pauls.

Please dont drive into London, that would be madness. Take the trains.

For other ideas: http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/e...ure_30001.html

You won't want to use the car in London - at all.

This is your first visit to London -- I really think you should re-think where you are staying. Potters Bar in not at all convenient plus it will add massively to your local transport costs getting in/out of London.

If you leave PB before 9:30 AM you will pay £10 EACH person for your train tickets in to London or £18 for a travelcard for the train plus transport w/i London. The costs are £8/£13 if you wait and leave PB after 9:30 each morning. But that would not get you to Kings cross until nearly 10:00.

How much are you paying for this B&B? It had better be a HUGE bargain, since you are going to pay a minimum of £39 a day just for your transport (3 train tix/travelcards).

You could drive to Windsor - it is motorway all the way -- but it is a long drive around 1/4 of Greater London.

You would be better off all the way around if you drop the car and spend the 3 days IN London.

Unless you have already fully paid for the B&B (I certainly hope not) you can cancel and find something better.

What guest house or hotel would you recommend in London, janisj? Most of them are fully booked, some are very expensive and there are guest homes with very bad reviews of people that stayed there. The 3 days for the car would cost almost..nothing (a car costs about 200 Euro for 15 days). I wouldn't drive much inside London, but I wondered if there is any good parking in Kings Cross. If there isn't and you have any suggestion for accomodation in London,it would be great.
Jamikins, thanks a lot for the tour you proposed,it is very helpful.

Oh cr80, please please please dont drive into London. The average speed is like 5miles an hour and it takes forever. Not to mention the streets are a maze, parking is an absolute nightmare, plus you would need to pay the congestion charge.

As for places to stay...what is your budget...maybe we can help!

The Bed and Breakfast that I booked in Potters Bar costs around 130 pounds for 2 rooms (we are 3 adults).

Is that a night? Is that your budget? If yes, add in the extra transport costs (parking, gas, TIME, congestion charge, or train tickets) and then see what your total is.

You could check out Premier Inns or Travelodges
http://www.premierinn.com/pti/home.do
http://www.travelodge.co.uk/

Not the most exciting atmosphere...but then you are in London! You can walk to the local pub! Plus you will get 2 full days in London and its easy to do a day trip to Windsor if you want to...although I would be tempted to stay in London for the entire time.

To use the tube/buses etc you can get a 3 day travel pass: for £18.40: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresa...kets/2911.aspx

Again, please dont think of driving...you will also be dealing with rush hour traffic so it will take AGES to get in and out of London!

>>a car costs about 200 Euro for 15 days<<

I seriously doubt it - that's less than GBP12 a day, or less than half the normal rates for an economy car in the UK! Who are you hiring from? There will almost certainly be some catch here, either severely limited mileage, hidden charges or you're going to get an ancient wreck of a vehicle. Commuting into into central London in a car is, as others have said, a big mistake.

please clarify -- is that £130 each night, or £130 total for the two rooms for two nights?

No matter which - you could do better in central London either in a triple room or a twin and a single. Especially when you consider the extra cost of transport.

heck - you could even bid for 2 rooms on Priceline and get a nice 4-star hotel in the center of town for around $100 (approx £60) per room per night. Of course it would not include breakfast.

If you don't want to try Priceline - there is Hotwire where you can ask for a triple room and get rates almost as cheap.

Or - there is Laterooms.com that often has very good specials

It's 130 pounds for every night (a double for 80 and a single for 50). A nice hotel at 4 stars? All I could get on the sites I saw was a 3 star hotels with very bad comments for 150 pounds by night for 2 rooms (people complained it was dirty). I will try the sites you gave me, thanks for your help.

When is your trip? Keep trying, driving in and out of London is a recipe for disaster...unless you want to spend 3-5 hours a day getting in and out and finding parking etc. Parking is likely going to cost you +£20 a day...plus £8 for congestion charge, plus gas, plus time, plus....seriously, I've lived here for 2 years and wouldnt dream of driving here!

Oh, yes, please don't drive in London. You can certainly find some decent hotel rooms at that price. Look at Premier Inn. They have a hotel in Southwark, which I've never stayed in, but that's a nice atmosphere down there. Check it out. Also, try base2stay near Earls Court. Good reviews for that one. Click on the TripAdvisor website, and ask for a list of their most popular hotels in London.

You're getting a small amount of sense here wrapped up in a ton of silly wittering.

Driving from Potters Bar to Windsor is about 30 miles each way. Traffic doesn't always flow smoothly (rush hours outside August can triple journey times sometimes) - but it's rarely likely to take more than 45 mins from a guest house in PB to the nearest car park to the Castle.

It's practically impossible to get to Windsor from ANYWHERE in London anywhere near that fast by train (though you can if you drive out from the centre) - and it's certainly impossible to train as cheaply as driving. If all you want is easy access to Windsor, PB is a great deal better located than any London hotel.

Ignore the downright absurd hysteria about London driving from these women. Anyone who's "lived here for 2 years and wouldn't dream of driving here" is telling you a great deal more about herself than about driving in London.

There can be an excellent cost argument against driving into London during the week. But on Saturdays and Sundays, driving into London, parking in the streets slightly west of Kings Cross and north of the Euston Rd, and buying a tube or bus pass will be dramatically cheaper, though a few minutes slower, than getting a train: it used to take me about 40 mins to drive from my office near PB to my house near Kings Cross on a Saturday. Parking in the area I've mentioned is free on Saturdays and Sundays, and there's no congestion charge then.

If, as seems likely from your English and your travel plans, you live on the Continent, you'll find driving in London a great deal more disciplined and clearly signed than in most big Continental cities, and will share my puzzlement at just how these North American women get themselves into such a tizzy about something millions of us do without whining every single day.


That's the nonsense dealt with. Now to repeat the sound sense:

I've no idea whether, for the days you want, you can get a better hotel deal on Priceline than you're managing at your guest house, but most of the time a decent 3-4 star place on Priceline in London will cost you a very great deal less than £130 a night.

If you're paying €200 for 14 days' car hire, it sounds terrifyingly like Easycar. <b> If it is, cancel it immediately, even if you won't get your money back </b> You're planning to drive round most of Britain. Easycar's mileage charges mean your planned itinerary will cost you 5 times the €200 you think you're paying

And to repeat: driving into London on weekdays (and back) will take a great deal longer and cost at least £30 per car per day in parking and congestion charges alone.

Thanks a lot flanneruk. I will be in Potters Bar on friday, saturday and sunday. So, I could go to Windsor on Friday and to London on saturday and sunday. I also live in an european capital and I am aware about traffic problems, but not so scared of it.
As for the car, I think I will look for Hertz, I always rented from them and didn't have problems at all.

I'd like to know what my lack of driving in London says about me Flanner.

cri80, I can just tell you how I feel about it and was trying to be helpful.

Jamikins, thanks for your help too, I don't doubt about your intentions to help.I am very sorry if you felt offenced.

And jamikins, thanks for the list of the places to see in London in 2 days, I liked the tour you proposed.