London for an afternoon/night
 

En route to munich we (boyfriend and i ) will be in london for an afternoon and night, having to be at the airport early morning. Thinking of leaaving bags in a locker at airport(do they still have these post 9/11?) and jaunting round london. So, what to see, where to stay in such a short time span??????

If you have to spend the night in London then leave your bags at the hotel.

As for "what to see", what do you want to see? If you've read about (in guidebooks, and indeed on this board) London then some things must stand out for you.

Do you have any idea of your budget? Do you want an airport hotel so you can roll out of bed onto the plane, or would you rather stay in central London and make the journey to the airport early in the morning?

If the most important thing is making an early flight I would use Priceline for a Heathrow hotel; store the bags there, make my way into the city center either by Tube or otherwise and do the sightseeing, etc., bearing in mind the possible restrictions to getting back to the hotel late at night.

If you would rather stay out late then I would stay in the city and make my way to the airport the next day..and for one night I'd consider Priceline for a hotel in the city, too.

Just want to drop by to say "hi" to m_kingdom2. You haven't been around too much lately, but glad to see you still "pop in" once in a while. Any trips recently? I've always enjoyed reading your trip reports.

To curzan-
Both m_k2 & Dukey have given you good ideas to start. You should leave your bags at the hotel where you're staying for the night. Whether you should stay at the airport (and which airport is this?) or in central London depends on whether you plan on staying out late in London or not.

What you should see depends on what your interests are, and have you been to London before. Is this your 1st time to London, or 20th time to London? Do you like shopping? History? Art?

How are you arriving in London? Which airport are you leaving from? What is your budget?

As for what to do: What do you want to do? See castles and palaces? Or see art? Or pub crawl? Go to the theater?

When will you be there?

before we can give truly useful advice/suggestions we need to know 1) which airport? 2) what times are your arrival and departure flights? 3) Your approximate budget for a hotel? 4) what sorts of things do you like/want to see in London?

I honestly don't know why we have to "know" which airport it is..why? because all of them are hard to reach after a certain hour at night by public transport; all of them could be reached by taxi or a car service regardless of the hour.

I still think the biggest question is whether or not the OP feels more comfortable being AT the airport in the morning or is willing to travel there by some means the morning of.

Dukey-
I think which airport the OP is flying out does make a (small) difference. Arranging for a car service is much more expensive if the OP is flying out of Gatwick or Stansted, compared to Heathrow.

I believe the Gatwick Express starts running at 3:30a, so the OP can still take that if they only need to be at the aiport by 4am. But if they're leaving from Gatwick, maybe they should stay at a hotel closer to Victoria station.

Just an example.

Which airport (combined w/ how early the flight is) can make a lot of difference re where it makes sense to stay.

Just one example - for LGW, I'd stay near Victoria unless the flight was before 7:00 a.m. but if it was really early, I'd stay near the airport.

there are other/similar considerations for the other airports

I also think it matters what airport cruzan is flying into. Flying into Gatwick and flying out of Heathrow (or vice versa), I'd want to spend the night in London, nearer the train station that would take me fastest to my flight the following morning. I wouldn't want to spend time transferring from one airport to another before going sightseeing.

I'm not sure what airport you're flying to/from, but we stayed in the Victoria Station area, which gave us easy access to the Tube and therefore Heathrow.

As for what to see, I'd head over to Westminster, where Buckingham Palace is just a few minutes walk, then try and get in to see Westminster Abbey, walk around Big Ben and across the river to the Eye. You can pre-schedule a flight on the London Eye at balondoneye.com, and print your advance tickets. That's a neat thing to do and will give you a 30-minute view of London.

From there, I'd walk back across the bridge and up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square, and if you still have time, head up towards Picadilly. You can have dinner and drinks at any pub along the way.

Take a cab back to your hotel for a fun experience of riding on the "wrong" side of the road.

Have a great time.

Jules

Wow those are great responses! thanks. im sure ill have more questions after figuring out where we are going to stay.

Hello again, a few months later! Following is a list of hotels weve found ranging cheapest $32 to our top budget $89. Any advice on these, or a different one? Our heart is not set on any of the following. We fly into Heathrow,11am on March 9th. want easy access to the train as our flight leaves 9am on March 10th to germany. We plan on dropping off our stuff at the hotel, then checking out london(want to see windsor castle, the tower, etc. and some other famous sights) for the afternoon, evening. We arent late night people, and want to have a quiet hotel for a good nights sleep to ensure energy for the week ahead. Thanks for any advice!!!!

Avoca House Hotel
map: 46 Belsize Park, London, NW3 4EG

Comfort Inn Hyde Park
map: 18-19 Craven Hill Gardens, London, W2 3EE

London House Hotel
map: 81 Kensington Gardens Sq, London, W2 4DJ

Comfort Hotel Harrow
map: 2-12 Northwick Park Rd, Harrow, HA1 2NT

The middle two are your best bet as they're more in the centre than the others, especially important as you're very limited with time. As for the property themselves, it's only for a night, and for that price, don't expect any luxuries!

I'd skip Windsor unless it's your very most must-see, because it's actually out of London. It's an easy trip, but not when you have less than a day total for all your London plans.

woops. not windsor then. I think we are interested in close famous sights, just to get a feel of london.

Someone else suggested Thanet Hotel?
8 Bedford Place: Bloomsbury
£ 100