London Walks
 

Hello fellow fodorites!

I'm heading to London in a couple of months and may do one of the London Walks. There's lots to choose from. Any one of them stand out as fabulous? I'd like to do one in the late morning/early afternoon timeframe before I meet up with friends for dinner.

I would just like to hear about the ones you liked.

Thanks,

Monica ((F))

I really enjoyed the Mayfair walk and found the Kensington walk less interesting. I think a lot may have to do with the walk leader you get, though.

We also enjoyed the Old Jewish Quarter walk. The area of town is less pretty architecturally but the history is so interesting. Plus it ended up at Spitalfields Market which was my favourite market (check market opening days).

I wanted to do the Westminster Abbey walk but we didn't get around to it. Next time, though!

The two that stick in my mind: Little Venice (it's so surprising to find this canal in the middle of London) and a daytrip to Richmond and Hampton Court, especially the boat trip on the Thames. I also liked the evening Thames Pub tour.

We love their day trips - but in London itself I would just pick the ones that interest you. The pub walks are good fun, but are in the evenings!

Daytime walks-I liked the Inns of Court walk-incredible how the traffic noise fads inside of the Inns.

Seconded The Little Venice Walk-nothing like Italy, but the houseboats and neighborhood are rich with history. And Shaugn is a great guide.

Greenwich Walk- Get to ride by boat from Westminister to Greenwich Pier and the views from Greenwich Park of London are quite marvelous.

We have taken numerous tours and all are good. Just choose one that interests you. www.walks.com

If you can do a day tour, go with Richard (with the red cap) on any one of his tours -- Bath, Canterbury, Stonehenge, Oxford/Cotswolds, Greenwich, etc. He's an exceptional guide.

I've done a bunch of these walks and some Explorer Days. But still have heaps more I want to do! Many of their guides are excellent - one or two of their guides I'm not too positive about.

Pick one that follows your interests. I expecially liked the V&A walk, the Legal and Illegal London walk and the British Museum walk. Would discourage the Harry Potter walks as these seem to have very large numbers at the moment - I guess its school holidays.

Hi Monica! We did the Pub crawl with London Walks about 10 years ago. We ended up around the old Globe theatre, as I recall.

oops not quite 10, it was 2004. (We stayed over in London a night on our way to South Africa).

Two years ago I did about seven of them. All were at least good.

I liked the Hampstead day tour and the Hampstead Pub Walk. Nice area of London that gets you away from the big city bustle.

Oh, I forgot about the Hampstead walk! Yes, it was very interesting and Hampstead is a lovely area to browse around or have a meal after the walk. If I ever get a chance to live in London again, I'm aiming for Hampstead.

Also, I don't know if there's a London Walk there, but Highgate is a charming area too and the Highgate Cemetary is fascinating. We just walked through on our own but they do have tours. Here's their website:
http://www.highgate-cemetery.org/

Funny, Highgate was one I also did.
Interesting area, but I thought it was a bit light on content. They did not visit the cemetary, but at the end pointed the way to go.

My one adventure. At the end, they tell you you can take the bus from 'here' to get to a Tube station or work your way back to the original Tube station. So,without a map, decide how hard can it be to find the Tube, just up the hill and around to the right ? It was hard :)

At one point I passed an elderly lady (near her 80's) and asked for directions. She gave me the way (not too far) and I was off. About 5 minutes later, I've turned corner on to main street and I hear a pitter patter of running feet. It is the elderly lady who had run back to tell me that the Tube station was across street on left. I was really touched by her helpful attitude..and spunk.

Hampstead is a gorgeous area.

We took the Inns of Court tour many years ago, right after I graduated from law school; that made the walk very special.

We also took our son on the Spies and Spymasters walk several years ago. It was quite informative, and focuses on real-life spies, mostly Kim Philby, rather than the fictional James Bond.

The Highgate one is beautiful - I love that area of London and the history is fascinating. I also really enjoyed the Oscar Wilde tour.

We try to take the walks that meet our own interests, e.g. Literary London, Theatrical, etc. But, for no particular reason we took the Venice walk recently and loved it. That lead to the Regents Canal Walk, which was a lot of fun and a lot longer than two hours.

We took the Cotswold's trip with Richard on 3 July. It was terrific, but be prepared for a long day and a lot of walking. We happened to stock up on apples (and water) for snacks. The horses along the walking paths have tourists so well trained that we freely gave them up the apples as we went past.

We did two in July. We did the Royal Westminster and a Ghost Walk -- the one on Saturday night.

Loved the Royal Westminster. You see the changing of the guard, but the real value is the tour of Westminster Abbey. OMG. You don't have to stand in line to get in. And you get the move wonderful tour. It's a huge place. You need someone to interpret it for you.

Also, on that tour, we saw Sting's house on Queen Anne's Gate. Totally loved that.

The ghost walk with Shaughan was THE coolest. He is beyond words. My kids loved it so much. So worth it.

I would have taken many more, and if I return, I will. For example, we couldn't fit in the British Museum. My kids were beat by the end of the trip. But if I were doing it, I'd take the London Walks tour of the BM on Monday. You need someone to help you figure out such a huge museum.

Hi Monica

good to hear from you on the europe board!! I did the Greenwich walk which wasn't that exciting to be honest. I prefer to do my own walks, and the year before last did Hampstead and Highgate and liked the others really enjoyed these areas. Also Holland Park is quite interesting. Last year I walked by myself for miles from Camden Markets right through Regent's Park and then for several more miles!!! I was exhausted but had fun.

I like the sound of the ghost walk!!!

I hope you have a great time, I missed you in Paris this year!!
Schnauzer

Thank you again

We loved the Royal London walk on Fridays. We loved being so close as the guards passed right in front of us marching to Buckingham Palace. We also really enjoyed the inside tour of Westminster Abbey. You enter through the Cloisters without waiting on line and they take you to see the coronation chair and poets corner among the highlights.

We're planning on using London Walks next week, and I had a couple questions--
Do you tip the guides? If so, how much? If you go on a walk to a site that requires admission, how does that work as far as paying for admission? Does the guide buy everyone's tickets? Can you use the 2-for-1 Travel Card coupons?
If you do one of the out of town walks, does everyone sit together on the train? That is, does the "walk" start when you board the train with the guide or do you meet again at the destination and do the "walk" from there?
Thanks!