vawegs

Would appreciate suggestions about a great location / area to spend 2 nights in London in October. We have so little time we are mostly planning on hop on / hop off bus and casual strolling in early evening, maybe a quick river trip one evening, if not too chilly. Can I get suggestions for areas close to where we could pick up hop on bus? Willing to pay a premium to be closer to "the sites", with time so limited.
Thanks.

tailsock

premium huh? well you said it. Try The Grand or anything else near Trafalgar Square

http://www.thegrandattrafalgarsquare.com/

ptm

The best hotel is the Marriott County Hall hotel in Westminster Bridge rd.. Next to the London Eye, hop on hop off bus is outside the hotel. You can walk to Big Ben,Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace. The Tube is just across the bridge & Waterloo train station in down the Street. The hotel is on the Thames take a river cruise. Not a better location to be found. . The hotel is our favourite we stay every visit to London,

Seamus

If time is of the essence, then the HOHO bus is really not a good strategy. You are stuck with their rouitng and, more importantly, are at the mercy of London traffic. I have been stuck between stops on one of them for over an hour in traffic, will never again use them. Much better idea - an less costly, as well - is to get yourself a travel pass (Oyster card) and use the tube and buses to do your own hopping around according to the itinerary you wish to follow.

walkabout

HOHO bus is useful for initial orientation to London, but I agree that using them for sightseeing can take up a lot of time. You must coordinate your sighteeing with the routing schedule, and you probably don't want to see the sights in the order of the route, so you have to loop through the route several times to see the destinations in order of personal preference. Very time-consuming.

If you use the HOHO bus I suggest you take it through one time, get off at your first desired attraction, and then go on your own from there. Or you could use a sightseeing company that offers 1/2 day tours, and sightsee on your own afterwards. Some people use the public bus system (I think it's the number 11) to do their own touring, but there's no commentary of course, and unless you have done your research you can easily zoom by a sight without knowing what you are looking at.

IMO the best way to see a lot in a short amount of time is to stay at a hotel that is centrally located. My favorite area is the Trafalgar Square/Covent Garden area. It is walking distance or a short tube ride to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, River Thames, National Gallery, West End theatres, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, as well as bus stops, 3 or 4 tube stops and Charing Cross rail station.

I usually stay at the Strand Palace, but there are many hotels in the Trafalgar Square/Covent Garden area to choose from. I also like the Royal Horseguards Hotel, which is a 5-star hotel. (I have only been able to afford it once). It is in a good location right on the banks of the Thames across from the London Eye, and is also walking distance or a short tube ride to all the aforementioned areas.

Strand Palace Hotel: http://www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk/
Royal Horseguards: http://www.guoman.com/en/hotels/unit...rds/index.html
Evan-Evans Tours: http://www.evanevanstours.co.uk/london-tours.htm
Grayline Tours: http://www.grayline.com/London/View_All

PatrickLondon

The TfL guide to London and public transport has a map showing main scheduled bus routes and tube stations in relation to the main attractions.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/15101.aspx

walkabout

Okay, upon re-reading I realize my post is a little hard to understand. The drawbacks of typing at 2:00 AM I guess!

What I meant to say about the HOHO is that you can take it all the way through once in order to get an overview/orientation to the city. The second time through, get off at your first desired attraction, and go on your own from there, i.e., ditch the HOHO. Or you can use a public bus for your initial sightseeing overview, but you may not know what you are looking at since it is your first time to the city and there is no commentary.

Since ditching the HOHO after a one-time orientation loop may not be worth the cost of the ticket, you can go on an escorted tour of the city with one of the well-known tour companies instead. I listed a couple of links.

If you want to check out reviews of the hotels listed in this thread, please go to tripadvisor:

Strand Palace: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...n_England.html

Royal Horseguards: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...n_England.html

vawegs

The Royal Horseguard looks fantastic. Checking price / availability now. Thanks.