chuastan

My wife and I will be coming from Paris and arriving in London on April 4, 2012 630pm. We will be staying only until April 7 12-noon (hotel is near Earl's Court). Need your advice to draft a sample itinerary for 2.5 days?

From my research, these are the places that catch our interests.

Which among them are the must-see and which can be crossed out from the list? Also, which one should be grouped together in one day, so as to efficiently manage our time?

Big Ben
The Houses of Parliament
Trafalgar Square
Westminister Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Covent Garden
Chinatown
St. James Park
Hyde Park
Kensington Gardens
Royal Albert Hall
St. Paul's Cathedral
Tate Modern
London Bridge
West End (Les Miserables)
Natural History Museum
Camden Markets
Tower of London
Shakespeare Theatre
Waterloo Station
London Eye
British Museum
Bond Street
Knightsbridge
Harrods

Thanks in advance.

texasbookworm

You look like you really only have 2 days. By the time you settle into hotel and get some dinner, there won't be much of arrival day left.

Also, depending on where you are departing from, you may not have any time on departure day. If you are flying, you'd need to be at the airport 2-3 hours ahead, and it takes time to get there. So hard to suggest anything really for then either.

Now, as for your two full days:

One day: Be at the Tower of London at opening, spend about 3 hours. Go to British Museum until closing.

Other day: If you get up early, you could take tube to Hyde Park Corner, walk through Green and St. James Parks past Buckingham Palace and on to Westminster Abbey. Be at the Abbey at opening. Spend a couple hours in the Abbey. See Big Ben and Parliament. Tube to St. Paul's. Spend a couple hours there. Cross Milinneum Bridge, maybe go into Tate Modern if time, and walk past The Globe.

What to skip this time? Harrods, museums other than the British Museum, and London Bridge. (You very likely mean the Tower Bridge, which you will see from the Tower.) Probably not time for any markets like Camden.

Not sure if you could fit in a show. Not sure where to fit in at least a quick visit to Trafalgar Square--could be done first evening maybe, if you don't mind seeing it not in full daylight. Or very early one morning before sites open. But I'd urge you to be at main sites at opening times.

There are other ways to arrange your days, and only you know which are really YOUR priorities. But my 4 favorite things (I've been to London 4 times) are the Tower, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, and the British Museum. And these are not really close to each other. London is very, very huge and spread out. Each of these 4 have things around them that are reachable by walking and seeing the major site plus neighborhood could be a whole day each. But for 2 days, I'd suggest something like this.

If you do have more time than it looks like on evening of arrival or morning of departure, you could squeeze in some walking around streets or parks. And you could probably figure out a way to see a show if you really want. And I've never ridden the Eye, but I've heard that's a good evening thing to do, so that could be a maybe destination one evening (would make sense to walk along Southbank from Globe area to Eye and get there whenever. A Southbank stroll is another good thing to do.)

nytraveler

Well - you really only have 2 days - the 5th and 6th - plus dinner on the 4th. And you have about 5 days worth of sights.

I suggest you

1) make a list of your 6 must sees - and then add on whatever you can in the area (this is the most that is realisitic)

2) get yourself a really good stret map and mark on it the location of yuor hotel and the sites, then coordinate transit with a very detailed tue map

(I can tell you where I would go - but your interests might e completely different)

Surfergirl

I agree with nytraveler in you making your own short list of what you MUST see. Very good advice.

Also, often overlooked is the great information provided by the non-forum portion of the Fodor's website -- the "destination" portion -- that helps you bundle areas of a city by proximity and by subject. So . . . take a look at:
http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/e...p_2386642.html

The one thing I note that is missing from the above link is any reference to the Tower of London. Which is almost sacreligious!! The Tower of London and that area in general makes up for a good half day, and would be at the top of my personal short list. Not that we went on this tour last time around -- summer of 2010 -- but that's only because my husband and son have gone to the Tower of London twice, and I won't even start to count the number of times I've been there, especially having lived there and had to accompany every friend that came to visit! I got on a first name basis with the ravens!

Most of the places at the beginning of your list are close enough that you can visit them, snap photos, and check them off your list in a couple of hours.

The number 15 bus will take you from Tower Hill Station to St. Paul's cathedral, then Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Regent Street.

Frankly, on a good day, it's nice to just walk the whole city, but you won't have the time, and I think it's more fun to jump on a bus and see the city than taking the Tube.

chuastan

This is now my revised draft itinerary:

DAY1 (April 4, 2012)
Arrive in London (St. Pancras Station) at 630pm
From St. Pancras station, take tube to hotel (Earl's Court)
Check-in for 3 nights.

Go check out Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden.
Anything else to do that night?


DAY2:
Go early to Westminister Abbey (opening 930am). Spend a couple of hours there.
Afterwards, cut through St. James's Park to catch the Changing the Guard at 11:30 am at Buckingham Palace.
See Big Ben and Houses of Parliament.

Any reasonabley priced LUNCH suggestions? Fish and chips? or Chinese food?
After lunch, go purchase theatre tickets at TKTS (Leicester Square)
Then, go window shopping (my wife's main hobby)
-Picadilly Circus?
-Bond Street?
-Knightsbridge?
-Harrods?

Watch West End show 730pm (Either Les Miserables or Mama Mia)

DAY3:
Go early to Tower of London (Opening 9am)
Spend the morning there.

Afterwards, take Bus 15 or Tube to St. Paul's Cathedral. Spend a couple hours there, climb to the top.

London Eye sunset ride?
Any reasonably-priced dinner suggestions?


DAY4:
We have until 12-noon in London, anything else we can do for the whole morning?

Thanks,

janisj

Just a couple of quick comments:

• If you go to Westminster Abbey at opening time (a good plan) you won't be able to view the Guard change at the palace. By 11:30 hundreds (actually thousands, especially if it is a nice day) of folks will have staked out the viewing spots. Big Ben and Parliament are across the street from the Abbey so no need to back track - they will be right there as you queue to get inside the Abbey.

• Piccadilly Circus is not a window shopping sort of place.

lovs2travel

I’m not sure if you will be able to fit this in, but after you visit St. Paul’s Cathedral, you could walk over the Millennium Bridge to Shakespeare’s Globe. It closes at 5:00 p.m. You could then go on an evening ride on the London Eye, which closes at 9:00 p.m.

If you get a travelcard, you’ll be able to use the 2 for 1 deals at a few of the places on your list – the London Eye, Royal Albert Hall Tours, Shakespeare’s Globe and Exhibition Tour, St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London. You’ll save a significant amount of money. www.daysoutguide.co.uk

Use www.maps.google.com to get a visual of where you want to go. You can use the public transit or walk options.