Ten Days in London (July 4th - July 13th) - Itinerary Planning
 

I'm trying to plan ten days in London for my wife and I (26 &26). I want to maximize time while minimizing costs (thus maximizing the use of rail passes, cheap days for ticketing... etc).

July 4th: Arriving in to LHR at 10:00 AM and travel to Apartment in Zone 4 (rail line). I don't plan on doing much this day besides getting acclimated with local area, doing some grocery shopping, etc, etc... We may try to venture into and out of London just to get acclimated with rail journey.

Thursday July 5th- Thursday 12th are open and thus we are really planning an eight day itinerary.

July 13th: Need to be to LHR for a 1:35 flight to Rome.

All of the classic tourist sites in London are on our list (don't expect to spend too long in Museums). In addition, we would like day trips to Oxford and Bath (I am wondering if the train tickets will be cheaper on the weekends???).

I'm comfortable enough with doing everything on my own so save money on tour fees and the sorts but know I'll need to plan extensively in order to maximize our time.

Where do I start?

I should mention, I just ordered the Rick Steves 2012 book just to get an idea. We can probably work out the day to day planning.

But, I want help with big picture planning.

Do I get an Oyster card, is there a best way to maximize admissions into popular sites, etc, etc??

first congrats on booking, London is a super cool place that you should really love and am sure there is plenty to do for free. I suggest you both get 1 week travel cards for the first week. They are about £41 each- they will cover, buses, overland, tubes, DLR etc etc-prtically all travel within zones 1-4.

I would definitely recommend a walk around the parks, Hyde Park or St James...weather should be good then and totally free. If you do St James you can combine with seeing Buckingham Palace, Horsegards Parade, Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral.

On a Saturday I would say walk along the southbank from waterloo to London Borough Market...amazing (free) foodie tourist market by the river. Its a great little area and it is a nice walk along the south bank to get there, past the Globe theatre, Tate modern etct etc

haha, just realised you are the Beckenham flat person...so congrats on that.

(ok Blakheath/Greenwich day i have already mentioned)

Another cool free thing to do is just to wonder around Regent street and the area to the east of regent street- "soho", which is full of little shops and restaurants, including cute "Kingly Court" and famous Carnaby Street. To the south of this boundary is London's China town and L. Square Regent street and Piccadilly circus are worth seeing for themselves, you can also wonder to Fortnum and Mason department store which i think is way better than Harrods and in a nicer area. These are all extremely walkable in them selves. If the weather is good you can rent deck-chairs...or bring a blanket and sit in Green Park which is equally close.

Ooh just thought with the London Borough Market suggestion you could start the day at the London eye just at the start of the south-bank walk to Borough market. (or go the other way and end up at London Eye)

Dont get an oyster card. When you are at Victoria go to the rail station ticket hall (not the underground one) and get yourself a 7 day transit pass for zone 1-4 (valid unltd for all buses, trains, and tubes in zone 1-4). This will cost you £41.80 each. For the other days you may just want to get a day transit pass at your train station.

The benefit of this over the same thing on the oyster is that you get 2for1 on alot of the big ticket sites in London (Tower of London for one) and will pay off for you! check out the http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/ for details.

jamikins, can I get that at Heathrow in order to make my transport to the apartment the first time? Or, should I use that day as a 1 day pass and then buy the other at Victoria?

No you cant. Heathrow only has a tube stop. You must go to a National Rail train station (Victoria has both) and you cant buy them in advance.

But yes, a 1 day should work to get you to your train station (or even a 1 way ticket if you dont plan to go out again).

The only thing you need to check with the apartment owners is that there is a manned ticket booth at your station. If not, you are better off buying the 7 day pass at Victoria on your way in and having them start it the next day.

You will know you go the right thing if it is a paper ticket that is orange with the National Rail symbol which kind of looks like crows feet on it.

This website will help you plan your jounreys - you can see train times etc: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Top left of the page is the symbol you should see on your paper tickets.

You should be able to buy a 7 day travel pass at your station as long as it is manned in the morning. If not you may have issues with your cards not working in the automated machines...so its just easier to stop at Victoria and get them. You will need to do the transfer from the tube to the train anyways so its not a big deal.

Oh and here is the tube website (the one above is really only for the trains) www.tfl.gov.uk

Yay for you!

1. One way to plan your days,if you want to take the time, is to read some trip reports here. Everyone's is different, but you can get an idea of what actually works. Just click on names (like if you click on mine and scroll to the TripReport part, there are 2 trip reports from 2008 and 2010 that might help you, esp. 2010.)

2.Make yourself a list of most important things to do, get a good map and group them by neighborhoods/areas, and don't plan more than 2-3 "big" time-consuming sites in one day. Allow plenty of time to get from place to place, too.

3. Two websites to get familiar with: Definitely look at Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk) for info about all transportation stuff. Including planned (and when you get there unplanned) Tube issues. Also walkit.com is a cool site to use to plan itineraries to see distance and time needed, a bit more accurately than similar function on googlemaps.

4.About travel cards/Oyster cards, etc. There are ??dozens iff not hundreds of threads about these things here on Fodors. You will probably need an Oyster card and MAYBE a 7daypapertravel card (which you can only get from manned National Rail windows in stations which serve both the rail and the Tube lines.). If you are using the Tube upon arrival at LHR, you will best buy an Oyster card there and load it with some amount of cash. If you are going to take day trips out of London, and on those days you wouldn't use London transport, then you may not want to get a 7day card, because the days are consecutive and you would "lose" that day's credit if you didn't travel.

Here's what we did when we were there for 14 days, took day trips, and wanted to avail ourselves of the 2for1 offers:
Upon arrival at LHR we got Oyster cards and loaded them up and traveld into the city and used those cards for a couple days. We went by a station (Victoria) the day before we wanted to use some 2for1 vouchers and bought two ONE day paper travel cards and used that the next day with vouchers for our discounts. We used the Oysters for the rest of the trip, except for the day we went to Oxford via coach when we didn't use London transport. We topped up the Oysters once. When we left from LHR, I turned Oysters in and got back the deposit and leftover cash refunded (I've heard this refund business isn't as straightforward as it was for us, but it was sure easy in 2008).

When we did this (Oyster plus 1day travel cards plus not needing London transport everyday in 2008) I compared this to what we would have spent if we'd bought a couple 7 week cards with extensions from and to LHR--we saved some by doing what we did.

5. There is a bus service to Oxford which is cheaper or comparably priced, last I looked, to train fare, doesn't require pre-booking so you have flexibility, and drops you closer to the middle of town than the train station. There are two services--the Oxford Espress [sic] and the Oxford Tube (which is NOT connected to the London Tube in any way at all). If you are interested in this option, check out their websites to see where they pick up in London. You pay on the bus.

Any suggestions on the best days to travel to Bath or Oxford?

No particular best day I would do day trips during the weeks to avoid as many crowds as you can.

A problem w/ doing the day trips on weekdays (other than via the Oxford bus) is you'd have to leave after 9:30AM to avoid peak travel costs. That would get you into Bath fairly late if you caught the 9:30 from Paddington, you'd arrive at 11AM and only have 1/2 a day there.

Catching a 7:30 train gets you in at 9AM but would cost more than twice as much. peak travel is not an issue on weekends.

So, the price is higher before 9:30 but on the weekends the price is lower because of the lack of "business" and "work" customers?

Are crowds significantly larger on the weekends? Could we beat them by going early on a weekend and spend the latter part of the day off the beaten path?

And, Oxford Bus? Details?

As I mentioned above, two services/lines
The Oxford Espress http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=27
The Oxford Tube http://www.oxfordtube.com/
Look at their websites to see maps, costs, pickup points, etc.
(We actually were able to go to see C.S.Lewis's house and grave via bus--we rode about 90 minutes to Thornhill ParkandRide, got off, walked to those places, caught a local bus on the LondonRoad and rode into town. Caught the bus back to London from the bus station that evening. Worked great for us.)

Again as I mentioned above, you can read my 2008 trip report to see how this day worked for us.

Great to allow 10 days to see London. There is so much to see and do that even after a month you would not have seen everything, but 10 days allows for ample opportunity to see a great deal. We did a similar trip a couple of years ago and also spent 10 days touring the city.

Prior to our trip I also printed journey planners from the TFL website that Texasbookworm recommended. You can choose your method of transport via tube or bus and just plot your point A and point B and it will show you a plan with bus routes/tube routes etc. We used the buses extensively as I had a senior with us on that trip and it was great to just hop on the bus to get to the next destination.

Although you mention you don't plan on spending much time in the museums, I have to say London is chock full of world class museums everywhere you turn and the best part is that they are free. Do spend at least some time in the British Museum, Victoria and Albert known as the V&A, National Gallery, and Imperial War Museum just to name a few. Even the quirky John Soanne museum --a small house in which the architect who designed the Bank of England had a tremendous private collection of antiquities and paintings is worth an hour or so of your time.

I highly recommend to join a London walks walking tour. We loved the Royal walk we took of the Westminster area and they are reasonably priced for a two hour walking tour.

Of the venues that charge admission, all the guide books rave about the following and they are well worth the time and money spent on them: St Paul's Cathedral--climb to the top, Westminster Abbey, The Churchill War Rooms right near Westminster Abbey, and don't miss the Tower of London. If you venture out a bit, we all really enjoyed Hampton Court Palace. It is a great day out! Enjoy your trip and be sure to write a trip report when you return to hear about your experiences:)

I'm getting a bit further into my itinerary planning and need some help. I'm sitting here with maps spread out and guide books surrounding me (as well as lots of blank copies of a July calendar...).

I have a temporary outline (quasi built around the days London Walks offers certain walks) but am open to suggestions and help. I tried my best based on what items are close to each other, etc etc..

I have an open day and some sites left to fit in and I'm sure you all will have some suggestions.

Wednesday July 4 - Arrive at Heathrow, travel to flat, get acclimated, go grocery shopping, and walk around neighborhood

Thursday July 5 - Trafalgar Sq, Piccadilly, Soho - Wander a bit (thinking we may sleep in a bit on this day)

Friday July 6 - 10:45 AM Royal London & Westminster London Walk, Buckingham, Parks, Churchill War Rooms

Saturday July 7 - Greenwich (Market and tourist stuff)

Sunday July 8 - Tower of London, Tower Bridge

Monday July 9 - Football stadium tour (either Chelsea or Fulham depending on availability.. Fulham is first choice), 2:15 PM British Museum London Walk.

Tuesday July 10 - 10:30 AM St. Pauls London Walk, Millenium Bridge, Tate Modern, Shake's Globe (maybe coming back at night for $5 standing tickets -- I did this years ago, don't know if they still do)

Wednesday July 11 - OPEN?

Thursday July 12 - Day Trip to Bath - London Walks

Friday July 13 - Travel to Heathrow and head to Rome

Still trying to fit in the following: London Eye (if they still offer a 2-for-1), 10 Downing St., Notting Hill, Windsor (worth it??), Harrods, V&A Museum.

Also, possibly a show if TKTS has a good deal one day? Not sure the best way to stop by the booth and check each day.

Thoughts?

Many of your days are very/relatively light so you can probably fit in everything on your 'fit in' list.

Windsor is VERY 'worth it'.

You really can scratch Downing Street off your list. First of all it takes no time at all. But even if it did -- you can see <u>nothing</u> at all. Honestly. Just an iron gate and a couple of policemen.

Glad my days are light. I'm being intentional not to over plan. My wife thinks that is an issue I have (and it is...).

Am I leaving anything out or forgetting anything?

"<i>Am I leaving anything out . . . ?</i>"

Yes, half of London ;) But you can't see/do <i>everything</i> in a first (or 21st) visit.

One thing you'll want to do is buy a copy of TimeOut on the day you arrive (and the next issue when it hits the streets - it is a weekly). It lists tons of stuff. Concerts, walks, exhibitions, lectures, special events, plays, comedy clubs . . . So you can add sites/events 'on the fly'.

The British Library is great.

Hey there, if u are prepared to get up early you can easily have tower of london "done" by lunch time, giving u the afternoon to see something else :-)

OR...how about doing the london eye in the morning and then Tower in afternoon More than doable!

"<i>OR...how about doing the london eye in the morning and then Tower in afternoon More than doable!</i>"

I wouldn't do that myself. It is generally best to get to the Tower first thing in the AM. That way one can avoid the worst of the crowds and there are no queues for the Crown Jewels.

for your free day....how about camden a picnic/walk round in one of the parks and finish in marlebone?

It should be nice weather.... you could start in and visit camden town (very unqie, market, canal-side) in the morning and then walk to Primrose Hill village for lunch supplies/coffee and the wonder though Primrose Hill going south and walk all the way through Regents park ending up in Baker street/where you can cross over into Marlebone village. This is a nice evening place for pubs/dinner. Fantastic cheese shop if you are into cheese. and if you like steak " Relais de Venise" is here...

http://www.relaisdevenise.com/
no menu...just tell them how you like your steak cooked. The place next door does nice cocktails

In primrose hill you could get lunch if you did't fancy picnic.

janism, good point! Tower first, London eye in late afternoon/early evening

Isn't planning fun! And you are making good choices, in my opinion. I would add some secondary "stuff," some places you might want to see each day if you have leftover time. Getting to your top 1-3 spots each day will make you feel successful, and if you have some other ideas, you will feel like you got extra stuff for icing on the cake.

What happened to Oxford as a day trip? It's wonderful. (More than Bath? IMHO yes but... If you don't think you want to attempt a day trip on your own, Bath will be a great destination.)

If you can move the stadium tour to another day (the "free" one?) then on July 9 go first to the British Library for an hour or so, walk to the British Museum and walk around yoursefl for a while and then catch the London Walks tour if you want to.

About Globe tickets--well, I'm glad I didn't have to stand with the groundlings for 2.5 hours. And if you really want to see a play I wouldn't suggest you risk finding tickets for seats on the day-of. It was certainly a highlight of my 4 trips to London to see King Lear at the Globe--worth every pence! But we ordered tickets as soon as they put them on the website almost, so....

You can of course spend as much or as little time as you want anyplace, but you can probably fit something else in after Greenwich. We had a boat ride and a walk along the southbank a bit, dinner, and King Lear at the Globe after being in Greenwich for the morning and early afternoon.

I would definitely say to be at the Tower of London at opening. That would be another day to do a Southbank stroll.

I have never done any London Walks but hear good things, but as far as St. Paul's goes, I'd urge you to, if you can/want to/have a pretty day, to walk up to the dome--the views are worth every step! And I don't know if the Walk includes that (probably not) or if you could stay and do that. We are kinda independent souls who like to linger with the cameras, so tours don't work so well for us, but you know your own preferences and style.

My rule of thumb re London Walks (which are generally great):

I only take their theme/neighborhood walks. I don't take 'walks' of places that have their own tours or are easily done independently w/ a paper or audio guide - like Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, St Paul's, the V&A, etc. IMO if you want a tour of the Abbey, take a Verger's tour. The British Museum is best done on your own (including one of the museum's own specialized tours if you want)

London Walks has so many other good options for neighborhoods/themes one might not get to otherwise.

We went on the Royal London Walks tour on Friday and loved it. Besides seeing the inside of Westminster Abbey without waiting on line we also saw the changing of the guard without having to wait and the guards were so so close to us as they passed by. It was wonderful.

When you are in Trafalgar Square on your first full day, you can certainly go into the National Gallery which is another magnificent museum in London. Also, the National Portrait Gallery is right around the corner. St Martin in the Field is across the street. My son did a brass rubbing there and had fun. All that will fill up your day.

We did the London Eye in the evening after the Cabinet War Rooms. Just walk across the bridge and there you are so very close. In July it doesn't get dark until very late so if you go between 6-8PM there would still be plenty of light.

Another thing to do is to climb to the top of St Paul on your own. Check to see if you can do that after the Tower. Not sure on their Sunday hours though.

I also recommend that you see the Imperial War Museum. There are dozens of things to fill up days.

If you have a day take the train to Hampton Court Palace. We loved the Palace. Check out my trip report where I described the Palace in detail including the kitchen demonstrations. The grounds were spectacular in the summer too. Enjoy your trip and be sure to write a report when you return:)

Go to Hyde Park and Harrods. I love to stroll along the pond and just people watch. Next door is Kensington Gardens where you can hunt down the peter pan statue. I love Harrods for a few reasons. 1.if you ever want to see true HauteCouture it's there and 2.if you want to see a fabulous market it's there. I am from the US and was intrigued that so much could go on in one store, and I live outside of NY. On the one hand it's glamour with (look for the ladies in all black...from head to toe looking very elegant ...always at the Chanel bag counter...UNbeleivable jewels!!)and on the upper floor is a regular shop for appliances. The juxtaposition is great. There are just as many locals as there are tourists.I love the student uniform department. All those adorable british things!! Yes,I do visit the typical places and they are all great. I nearly fainted when I was by the EYE because it was so crowded! Go to the VA. You have plenty of time. Go to the National Maritime Museum and the fan museum (a little bitty place but cute)Go to Camden Town for the ultimate London show...home of the Doc Martin and the latest alternative fashion trends.When I travel I see the most likely places and then I reserve time to just people watch. Keep in mind London is expensive. Make sure to check the weather report before going! I am always cold when I go to London.

I would also recommend the Imperial War Museum (across the Thames but not that far; free).

You can't sightsee in any churches on Sundays.

Oh, and I'm twice your age (how'd that happen?) and we got a LOT done on the afternoons when we arrived about the time you did and we were completely fine with a packed day on the first full day. The day you arrive it is best not to plan anything definite, I think, but get out and acclimate and time adjust and walk and get to know the neighborhood. Good plan. But, I think you can add a bit to that first full day (July 5) safely.

I'm loving all of the advice. Thank you all!

I'll work on adding in some of the suggestions over the next couple of weeks and I'm sure I'll be back.

Is it bad that I want to go NOW?

>>Is it bad that I want to go NOW?<<

Nope, we all go through it.

Lots of changes made:


Wednesday July 4 - Arrive at Heathrow, travel to flat, get acclimated, go grocery shopping, and walk around neighborhood  Possibly head into London and Wander

Thursday July 5 - Trafalgar Sq, Piccadilly, Soho - Wander a bit (thinking we may sleep in a bit on this day), National Gallery, V&A Museum

Friday July 6 - 10:45 AM Royal London & Westminster London Walk, Buckingham, Parks, Harrods, Churchill War Rooms, London Eye (If Weather and time permit)

Saturday July 7 - Greenwich (Market and tourist stuff), Boat back to city, show in the evening (will have to travel into TKTS in the morning and then out to Greenwich, right?)

Sunday July 8 - Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Southbank, Imperial War Museum, London Eye (if it didn’t work on Friday)

Monday July 9 - Football stadium tour (either Chelsea or Fulham depending on availability.. Fulham is first choice), British Museum, British Library

Tuesday July 10 - 10:30 AM St. Pauls London Walk, Millenium Bridge, Tate Modern, Shake's Globe (maybe coming back at night for $5 standing tickets -- I did this years ago, don't know if they still do)

Wednesday July 11 – Paris Day Trip (I know, I know, I know… Lots of con’s here, however, I think I want to do it. It would mean a lot to the wife and I think we’ll enjoy it).

Thursday July 12 - Day Trip to Bath - London Walks

Friday July 13 - Travel to Heathrow and head to Rome

A few items I'm still considering and don't know where/how to fit them in:

Windsor
Natural History Museum

I know lots of people will say Paris is a bad idea, and it may be. But I think I can do the BIG items in one day (Louvre, Eiffel..). This may fail miserably, but I'm willing to risk it.

Just a quick note as I am off home - you can go to the TKTS booth in Leicester Sq the day you do SoHo and buy your tickets in advance (they do advance ticket sales now, I think 1 week in advance) to save yourself the trip in on the day you plan to do Greenwich. You may want to start that day in Blackheath and walk across the heath and down to Greenwich through Greenwich park, its a lovely walk and its downhill!

Leaving in just a few hours. Thanks for all of the help Fodorites!

Enjoy your trip and please report back - dont forget your umbrellas and layers...forcasts arent great for London. Its warm and a bit humid, with showers for the next couple of weeks.

But dont worry, there are lots of pubs to take refuge in :)

<i>I just ordered the Rick Steves 2012 book just to get an idea</i>

Surprised no-one picked up on this statement as the RS UK book is generally described as "poor" and the advice - especially for London - is often described as "interesting".

" the advice - especially for London - is often described as "interesting""

"interesting", in this case, is English for "wrong"