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Need a little help with London!!!
My husband and I are taking a vacation to London in May. For Christmas he bought me a Fodors book on London. I have already read much of the book, but I would like to hear from you guys. Some parts of the book are a little too detailed. We are going to be there for 6 full days. We love to do all the touristy stuff. We get up early and stay up fairly late. What are realistic things we could do in a day. Does anyone have suggestions on day trips from London? I would love to hear from you! Thanks and Happy New Year
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Hello H,
Why don't you reread the Fodors book on London and repost your own schedule including your interests ect.. Then let people make comments/suggestions. Mike |
Kitty, there are so many London itineraries here that you could take a look at. Also, look up at the top of this web page under Destinations for some add'l ideas.
http://fodors.com/world/europe/engla...ure_30002.html May should be a good time of year to visit. Be sure to visit some of London's wonderful parks. Our favorites are St. James and Regents as well as Hyde Park. If you are into museums and art galleries, then the British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Museum and the Victoria & Albert museum should be on your list. If you have any interest in history, then do yourself a favor and visit the Cabinet War Rooms. Since this is near Westminster Abbey, you could include this in your itinerary on the same day as well as a stroll along the Thames and maybe the London Eye. The Tower of London should be on the top of your list also, allowing about 2-3 hours for the tour and browsing on your own. You could also incorporate a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral which is not far away. If you love shopping, then you have your standards like Harrod's and Liberty's as well as Carnaby Street and the street markets. You can also look at doing "walks" with London Walks (http://www.walks.com/). Do some more research and come up with a tentative itinerary, then come back with questions! Planning is half the fun! |
"<i>What are realistic things we could do in a day.</i>"
If you click on DESTINATIONS above there is a lot of well organized info. How much you can manage in a day covers just too many variables -- but in general count on <u>no more</u> than 2 "majors" a day. By Majors, I mean the biggest attractions. Places like: The Tower of London, British Museum, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, V&A, National Gallery, Greenwich, Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle, etc. There are exceptions of course, but if you limit yourselves to a maximum of 2 "biggie"s in any one day that will leave you time for smaller sites, leisurely meals, serendipity. Otherwise - you'll end up dashing to and fro and run yourselves ragged. As for day trips - only 6 days you may not want to go much farther than maybe Hampton Court, or Windsor, or Greenwich. 6 days is only long enough to barely scratch the surface in London. If you feel you "must" take an out-of-town day trip, there are many threads suggesting some options -- Bath, Oxford, Canterbury, Brighton, Warwick/Stratford-upon-Avon, even York or even Paris. But again, 6 days is not very long just in London itself. |
Here's a phototravelogue on what we did on a long week in London, including a number of day trips (Greenwich, Salisbury, Bath, Stonehenge): http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-pfqcfg
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If you are at all interested in literature, don't miss the British Library Special Documents Room. It has everything from the Lindesfarne Gospels and Gutenberg Bible through Shakespeare and Dickens to the lyrics of a Beatles song handwritten on the back of an envelope.
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I dont know what your intersts are but here is a week's itinerary I came up with for my family when they visit us in London this spring. My hubby and I will be at work and will meet them for dinners etc.
Arrival Day Head to our house to drop stuff Walk along the Thames, relaxing day Sunday Sunday lunch at a pub, catch up and maybe walk through a park Monday AM Walk by Buckingham Palace (no interest in changing of guard) Walk through St James Park Whitehall and Cabinet War rooms PM Secrets of Westminster Abbey walk http://www.walks.com/Homepage/Monday/default.aspx#316 Walk by Houses of Parliament Meet for tea with Jamie and Scott Tuesday Salisbury and Stonehenge Tour http://www.walks.com/Homepage/Tuesday/default.aspx#97 Wednesday (shopping day) Oxford Street Regent’s Street Trafalgar Square Leicester Square Dinner on Villier’s street with Jamie and Scott West End Show Thursday AM - Tower of London PM – Over Tower Bridge, Borough Market London pub walk with Jamie and Scott Friday AM Soho - Charing Cross walk down the Strand to Fleet Street – lunch at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese PM Tour of St Paul’s with London Walks http://www.walks.com/Homepage/Friday/default.aspx#137 Hope this helps! Of course this is catered to my family, but you could also do Harrods, Knightsbridge shopping, Hyde Park, Greenwich...so many choices! |
You can get a good overview of The City or West End by boarding a Heritage Route bus (a normal city bus route plied by old Routemaster double-deckers). Take a guidebook and sit up front on the upper deck.
#15 bus from Trafalgar Square to The Tower. #9 bus from Aldwych to Royal Albert Hall The best day trip one can take from London is PARIS. Enough of Jolly Olde - get into the City of Light, if only for a day. See tinyurl.com/2zsw8z |
there is so much to do in London, with only 6 days you will not wish to leave on a side trip.
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Have a look at the eye witness guide, easy to read and lots of pictures, wlaks etc.
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danon, I respectfully disagree.
There is nothing intrinsically more "important" or "interesting" in London to take precedence over a trip to the other (arguably) most fascinating city in Europe. If one had three days in London, one could see three days' worth. Four days, four days' worth. The fact that OP has 6 doesn't mean they should all be spent in one city. If one takes the first train out in the morning and the last train back at night, no prime sightseeing time is lost to travel (you get to Gare du Nord at 8h50). |
Hello Kitty,
I went in 2004 and my two day trips were Oxford and Hampton Court...If you want to see pictures and similar to someone else that has already posted, my pictures are layed out and captioned as a travelogue per day, so you will get an idea as to what I did during the 7 full days that I was there. This was my first time in London. http://lynnsview.com/Gallery/ go to the 2nd page for the pictures of London....I just returned this year and those pictures will be up in about a week or so (unless this miserable cold I've been fighting comes back to bug me ...grrr ) On that trip, I spent the first 3 days in Bath, I wouldn't suggest Bath for a day trip because in my opionion there's too much to see to do it justice in just one day. |
Semimike: thanks for the pictures. I feel like I have had English History 101 as well as some beautiful visuals. Good job!
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"There is nothing intrinsically more "important" or "interesting" in London to take precedence over a trip to the other (arguably) most fascinating city in Europe.'
robs, I'll take Paris over London any time! But, with so many galleries, museums, monuments, parks, churches, palaces etc., one can easily spend much longer than 6 days in this huge city . It all depends on one's interest. |
Okay, how long does a sojourn in London have to be before a trip to Paris is justified?
One week? Two weeks? Nineteen days? Six months? What? Lemma: no matter how long one spends in London, one will not have seen it all, and should therefore never go anywhere else. Prove or disprove. |
It is REALLY not that important to me.
People can do what they please . |
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