one day in London...please help
 

I am visiting my Aunt in Box for one week in March and am hoping to take the train to and from London for one day. I will arrive at Paddington station at 0930h and will leave at 1800h. I have never been to London and so would love to see a few sights. Any help would be most appreciated.

London has a huge amount of stuff to see and do, no way to do it all in one day. What sort of things are you interested in?

Where is this Box you are visiting?

Do you mean the village of Box in Gloucestershire?

In the UK a Box can be a euphemism for a Coffin...

Many like the Jump-on/Jump-off bus tour. I do not. I recommend buying a one-day Bus Pass at the Paddington Tube station for £3.50 and guiding your own tour. Print out this map and take it with you:

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

Get on the #15 at Paddington, and ride it all the way across town to the Tower, jumping off and back on whenever you get to something that interests you. If you'd like to ride one of the old-fashioned double-deckers, read this:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/download...s-brochure.pdf

At Tower Hill, catch the RV1 and ride it down the south bank to the London Eye, then walk upstream and across Westminster Bridge.

From there, a #11 or 24 will take you past Westminster Abbey (then Cathedral) to Victoria, whence you can walk to Buckingham Palace, then over to Hyde Park Corner, where you can board a #73 up Park Lane to Marble Arch and back to Paddington on a #15 or 23.

Obviously, there are myriad side trips you can make along this route, but my purpose is to show how simple it is to navigate among the sights.

If you would like a stupefyingly detailed map of Central London, look here:

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

This shows the sights and bus routes in their actual geographical positions. You can pick up a free paper copy of this map when you buy your bus pass.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be flippant. I grew up in the next little village to Box in Gloucestershire and we had all sorts of jokes about those who lived in it when we were at school!

I suggest that you take one of the hop on hop off buses. A ticket lasts 24 hours, they are very frequent and inexpensive. They cover all the major sights. Ride around once (top deck) and listen to the the commentary. Ride around a second time, and get off and on where you like.

I agree that a hop on and hop off will cover most of the important tourist sites. You could also probably take a later train back to Box..why leave London so early? If you have time, I'd take the "London Eye" (Ferris wheel)to see London from on high.

I also recommend the hop on-hop off busses. Another great way to see some of the sights is to take on of the Thames river cruises. They last only about an hour or so but we saw some wonderful views of the Tower, Tower Bridge, Parliament, etc.

Tracy

Juliat....
The box I'm visiting is just a few miles from Bath in Wiltshire. I'm a bit fearful of flying .. hope I won't see any other boxes!

You might take a London Walk, if you have the time. I haven't tried London Walks, but I have tried Paris Walks, and they're related. There are some awfully interesting ones on the website:

http://www.walks.com/

Although we always get a bus pass when we're in a new city, you don't have time to learn the system, so a hop on/hop off tour would be the best, in my opinion. Both of the following companies offer hop on/hop off tours:

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

www.bigbus.co.uk

Also, consider the taxis which are comfy, and the taxi drivers are very knowledgeable.

Sandy

Could you spare a moment to explain what you mean by "learn the system?" To me, using the buses in London is a simple matter of locating where you are on a map, seeing which bus from there goes where you want to go, and getting on. Not much to learn.

By the way, the key to London Transport is here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34739639

julied, Take the majority advice here and purchase a hop on/off ticket to one of the two companies sandypaws mentioned. You'll get a great overview of London with a good narrative. Lots of flexibility getting on/off at different points of interest.

Robespierre, You asked what is meant by "learn the system?" Any first time visitor to a large city is going to experience a learning curve on even the simplest public transport (which the London bus network isn't). The OP has ONE day in London.

Your advice makes much more sense for someone with at least a couple of days to explore.

"Any first time visitor to a large city is going to experience a learning curve on even the simplest public transport..."

You get off the GX at Victoria and go out front to the bus dock. You find Marble Arch on the map and get on the bus that goes there.

Or you get off the RER at Luxembourg and consult your map for the N° 82 stop, and ride it to École Militaire. I don't get what the problem is.

No one I know has ever mentioned having to learn anything. I honestly have no idea what you mean. Or maybe you think a #15 stop is more difficult to identify than a BigBus stop? Perhaps you're projecting? Just a little?