Novice travelers in London for 3 days
 

We're novice travelers and have three days to tour fabulous London! To make the best use of our time, would you recommend we take one or more organized tours or wing-it and take the tube to the most popular tourist attractions? Should we do a walking tour and a hop-on-hop-off bus tour to get acquainted with the city?

Thanks in advance!

You can see a lot in three days - but don't push it or everything will end up a blur. On your first morning you can start one of the hop-on-hop-off bus tours to get around and see all the major sites from the outsides. You can get off where ever something looks interesting and then get back another bus to continue the tour.

As for what to see - first click on DESTINATIONS above to get a good idea of the main/basic sites of London. Then tell us what sorts of things you want to see do.

The tube is great - but you can also take buses and do a lot of walking. BTW most of the major museums and galleries are free.

Some of the "musts" might include (though you don't have enough time for all of them)

Tower of London
Boat trip on the Thames
Westminster Abbey
St Paul's
British Museum
V&A
Go to the Theatre
Tate Modern
National Gellery/National Portrait Gallery
Imperial War museum
Hyde Park
The Eye

That is just a very short list - you'd have enough time for about 6 of those in 3 days.

I would encourage you not to do organized tours. The tube is very easy to use (my kids loved riding the tube). A lot of people do the hop-on-hop-off buses although we never have. However, people do recommend them to orient yourself to a city.

I would suggest you get a map (I like the Streetwise maps) make a list of what you want to see and then map out where they are in relation to one another. Have a plan, but then be willing to deviate from it.

janisj gave you a good list to start with.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/cen_bus.pdf is a great map for visitors. It shows the main "sightseeing centric" bus routes. The tube is good for long distances but for shorter trips, buses or often walking is better.

The H-o-H-o buses have the advantage of a commentary that explains what you are seeing.

You may find a long lineup for the Abbey; it closes early (around 4:00 )but it is opened late on Wednesdays.
The British Museum is huge - pick one area you are interested in.
All three Tate galleries ( including the Tate Britain) are filled with wonderful art but require a long visit.

The Abbey - 10 pounds
The Tower of London - 16 pounds
not sure about the Eye

We just spent three days in London in May. If you like, you can read about what we did on my trip report - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35015831

We took the hop-off, hop-on bus the first day, which gave us a nice, stress-free overview of the main tourist attractions.

I would have loved to take one of London Walks' tours - http://www.walks.com - but we didn't have time.

Lee Ann

&quot;<i>All three Tate galleries</i>&quot; - huh? There are only 2 Tate's in London. (Tate Store hardly counts as a place to visit since access is severely limited and it requires advance application to get permission)

Two other Tate galleries are hundreds of miles from London.