Kiddo

My DH and I arrive at Heathrow around 8:30 am on a Friday morning and have to leave for Glasgow on the following Sunday which unfortunatley gives us too little time in London, but it couldn't be helped. This will be my DH's first time to London and my 2nd after 30+ years - but with the way my memory is these days -- it might as well be my first too!

We would like to see Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London etc. Do you recommend taking the tours of Buckingham Palace and/or Westminster Abbey or maybe attend an evensong service there or St. Paul's? Also considering a walking tour of London and looking for a nice moderatley-priced location for afternoon tea.

Would love to get ideas on how can we maximize our short time that we'll have available.

Robespierre

http://www.walks.com has a number of guided walks, but with the short time you will be in town, you might want to cover more territory (if only superficially).

If you can settle for a drive-by overview of the sights (with perhaps short walkaround stops now and again), then either a commercial bus tour such as http://www.bigbus.co.uk or http://www.theoriginaltour.com will do it for $30 or so.

You can also design your own itinerary using city buses (a day pass is £3.50) with this map:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/cen_bus.pdf

To see where things are in geographical perspective, get this free map at the Tube station:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/pdfdocs/centlond.pdf

Underhill

Since your time is so limited, skip the tours--they eat it up quickly. I like your idea of attending evensong at Westminster Abbey.

For afternoon tea, head to Fortnum and Mason.

Kiddo

Thanks for your suggestions Robespierre and Underhill.

Keep 'em coming!

janisj

I agree w/ underhill. You have limited time so you'll want to see things on your own schedule. If you had a week - then some of the walking tours are great. But w/ barely 2 days, I wouldn't bother. And if you are flying in transatlantic on Friday you will probably be jet lagged and moving pretty slow.

If you are exhausted on Friday, the one of the hop-on-hop-off tour buses would be good -- open air sightseeing w/o walking.

- Buckingham Palace is just a quick "walk by" so that won't be a problem. You can go there any time, day or night, and see it when it fits in the schedule.

- The Tower gets VERY crowded on weekends - so I'd advise going there Friday afternoon. Normally we recommend going to teh Tower right at opening time to avoid the crowds. But by about 2:30-3:00 p.m. the crowds start to thin out a bit so that is a good time to visit.

- I'd recommend visiting Westminster Abbey right at opening time on Sat morning. You will be done by noon and miss the worst of the crowds.

- Friday after the Tower you could make it to Evensong at St Pauls if you scoot.

- If you do decide on a walking tour - do an evening one.

Kiddo

Thanks to all who replied.

Despite our short timeframe, my DH would still like to tour Buckingham Palace and see the changing of the guard. Is it necessary to pre-book the tour?

Also, according to the schedule on the BP website, the changing of the guard only takes place on even days during September which means we would only be able to see it on Friday, the day we arrive. Assuming our flight arrives on time at 8:30 am on Friday, am I right in thinking it's going to be very tight, to say the least, to make it in time for the changing of the guard?

janisj

I think you should forget about the changing of the Guard. It starts at 11:30 - but you need to be there by 10:30 in order to see anything. BUT - you will be VERY lucky to even be in central London by 10:30 - and you will still have your luggage w/ you. So you would either have to go to a train station like Victoria and check your bags, or you will have to go to your hotel and drop them until you can come back to check in. I just don't think there is a practical way to see the Guard change.

Yes - tickets to tour the Palace are timed and should be booked ahead.

Kiddo

Thanks Janisj. I think you're right about the changing of the guards -- oh well -- another time! But I'll definitely book the Palace tour now.

mabern2

Bookmarking...

Robespierre

IF you get out of LHR by 9:30 or so (which is neither a piece of cake nor highly unlikely),

AND IF you get to Victoria in 45 minutes by changing Tube lines at Hammersmith,

AND IF you can get your gear dumped at the station without much delay,

THEN you can be at Buck House in good time to queue for the Changing of the Guard (it's a few minutes' walk from Victoria).

AND IF this timetable falls apart at any point, what have you lost? I'd say go for it, but don't plan on it.