jeciwall28

I will be traveling to London in May 2012. I am a single female solo traveler. I found a highly rated hostel in Swiss Cottage, London called Palmer's Lodge. It got great reviews and the price is awesome, due to the GBP to Dollar conversion. My question is: Being that Swiss Cottage is not centrally located, how long are the tubes to get to the major attractions of London? I don't want to spend more than 20 minutes on the tube to get where I need to go. I appreciate any feedback and also suggestions to other great hostels. My budget is around $45-60 USD a night, and will not be spending a whole lot of time in my hostel. Thanks.

janisj

Depends on what you want to see/do

Swiss Cottage by tube to:

Big Ben/Westminster Abbey = about 12 mins w/o line changes.
British museum = 25 mins w/ changes.
V&A = 25 mins w/ changes
St Paul's = about 20 mins
Tower of London = about 30 mins.

jeciwall28

This wil be my 1st time to London, so I am wanting to see all the major attractions and museums. I will be staying for 6 days and be flying into Heathrow Airport, probably arriving at 10:45 pm on a Tuesday night. Is this a good idea? I am trying to make my trip to and from the airport as quick and painless as possible. It just seems all of the nicer and budget friendly hostels are out of the way. I do love to walk too, so a great neighborhood is what I desire. I was hoping for Hyde Park or Chelsea area, but they are pretty pricey. Thanks for the times for the tubes.

texasbookworm

You will want to get familiar with the Transport for London (TFL) website. You can check out routes and travel time estimates as well as check on problems and closures on the lines. Wherever you end up, you will benefit from being able to use this website.

I also like walkit.com where you can plug in addresses and get a very good idea of walking distances and times.

Just understand going into this planning that London is VERY spread out and the "major" sites are very far apart. Get yourself a good map, or use a good on-line one, and when you decide on your list of things you want to see, and you decide on your housing, then you will want to arrange your days BY AREA, by neighborhood. And don't overschedule. 2-3 major sites per day are all I recommend you try to schedule. Transport, weather, crowds, potty breaks, eating, unexpected distractions, shopping, photo-ops all WILL occur, so if you have a realistic plan that doesn't have you scurrying all over the place, you will have such a good time.

janisj

Getting from Swiss Cottage to various sites isn't that bad. On the other hand, getting to Swiss Cottage from Heathrow is a slog. At that time of night especially. It will take about 90 minutes and assuming you get started by 11:30PM you won't be anywhere near the hostel until after 1AM.

You <i>could</i> make it in about 70 minutes --but that would require taking the very expensive Heathrow Express and then schlepping to the Hammersmith & City tube station at Paddington and two tube rides from there.Not a journey I'd want to attempt on a first visit . . . at midnight.

A pre-booked car service would be better/much easier.But it would cost about £30-£35.

If it was me . . . I'd probably priceline a hotel at Heathrow for your arrival night. Then the next morning take public transport to the hostel. Even being right off the airport property, you won't get to the hotel until nearly midnight.

jeciwall28

Awesome suggestions, thank you all so much.

jeciwall28

I did look into coming in through the Gatwick airport, and all arrivals start at 7:00 am. This might be a better option for me, as far as arrival time and costs a little less than Heathrow. I will be coming from Atlanta, GA, USA so these big airports don't really scare me, it's more of the commute to my hotel. How far out is Gatwick from Swiss Cottage? I am going to investigate it more.

janisj

It will be much better IMO arriving in the morning. The same day flights (the ones landing late at night) are great for jetlag -- but only if one is staying in a location convenient to LHR.

From LGW in the morning you'd take an inexpensive train to London Bridge station and then jump on the Jubilee tube line all the way to Swiss Cottage.

jeciwall28

So I'm pretty much set on coming in through Gatwick at 7am and taking the train into the city. Other than Palmer's Lodge, does anyone have any other Hostel suggestions that are in a safe, conveniently located neighborhood and budget friendly. I would really like a great atmosphere, some place that has a market, shopping, local eateries. Am I asking too much? !!

jeciwall28

Also, do you think it's possible to have Karl Pilkington pick me up from the airport?

PatrickLondon

Have you checked out the YHA hostels? They have more central options.

http://www.yha.org.uk/

jeciwall28

I actually had, the on in Oxford. But it was hard to book a 7-day stay, as there were a couple of days that were completely booked that week, I don't want to have to split my stay between two different hostels.

BigRuss

These days, I'm thinking Karl isn't so strapped that he needs to provide taxi service to random female travelers. He's also taken, as far as I know (per the Ricky Gervais show) and don't think Mrs. Karl would like it . . . she's not as daft as he is.

<<I was hoping for Hyde Park or Chelsea area, but they are pretty pricey.>>

As for the location: your price point is so low that you're doing pretty well to even be as close as Swiss Cottage to Central London. The Jubilee line cuts through the center of London and will give you easy access to Buckingham Palace (4 stops away) and Big Ben/Westminster Abbey (5 stops). And Trafalgar Square is easy walking distance from the latter.

P.S. - I'm thinking the British Museum is less than 25 minutes by Tube - should be doable in about 15 or so because it's just five stops including a transfer (Jubilee to Bond St, Central to Tottenham Ct Road).

P.P.S. - They're not "the tubes." The system is called "the Tube."

jeciwall28

Thanks BigRuss. In America, it's just simply the subway and we take trains, not tubes. I can't wait for London!! So what I gather from your post is that the Jubilee line is an awesome and convenient way to get around the city? I am booking my Swiss Cottage hostel today. Thanks so much.

P.S. As far as Karl goes, he is mored loved than Ricky is in America.

PatrickLondon

Check out www.tfl.gov.uk, once you've had a good look at:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...itor-guide.pdf

qwovadis

eurocheapo.com/london you can do better cheaper closer in personally might try to be within walking distance to everything central to save. www.twizi.com another good site.
Generator and Millenium a couple of good ones.

Happy Trails!