Time Allotments in London
 

We will be visiting London in Sept. 06. Of course we want to visit the museums: British Museum, British Library, The National Gallery, The Tate, The Churchill WWII Museum, etc.

My question is: How much time should we allot for each one (we like to make a schedule). I realize we could spend DAYS in the British Museum, but how much time is reasonable?

I think only you can say what's reasonable for somewhere as huge as the British Museum. You could, for instance, just nip in, see the elgin marbles and the rosetta stone, and be out in an hour! Of course, the British Museum, National Gallery, both Tates (Tate Britain and Tate Modern) and the British Library are free, so don't fret if you haven't much time.

The main collection at the British Library could be done in a couple of hours, as could the Churchill War Rooms. The others, well, it's as long as a piece of string really.

Two hours for the British Library (although if you use the interactive computer displays to virtually turn the pages of some of the beautiful illuminated manuscripts, you could spend more time). The good thing about the British Library is that the Treasures room contains pretty much everything you'd want to see. It's just one 'greatest hit' after another.

Two to three hours for the Cabinet War Rooms combined with the Churchill Museum (we did it in two and could have spent longer, but two was OK.)

For the other museums you mention, so you need to come up with an approach. You can find out from guidebooks or online resources (each museum has a website) the notable items in each museum. Make a list of what you most want to see and estimate how much time your schedule can bear. Then plan accordingly. When I did that for the British Museum, I realized that the things I wanted to see were so spread out and our schedule was so tight that we deferred the museum for our next visit.

I was at the National Gallery just under 2 hours, and did only the Sainsbury wing and the gift shop.

If I were to do the Tate Britain, my focus would be the Tudor collection, the Blake collection and the Turner collection, which I think I could manage in 2-3 hours.

Well - first of all you really can't make a schedule. You can work out a basic itinerary, but a time schedule-- not really. For instance - how long do you need at the British Museum?? An hour - 10 hours? Who knows until you've been there. You may find individual galleries that fascinate you and you spend an hour in that one room. Don't focus on a time limit - all the museums are free so you can go back again if one really intrigues you.

ttt

OK - you topped your thread but didn't say what else you want to know.

I would say at least 3 hours for the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1.5 hours for the National History museum.

If any of the museums on your list have an audio guide, be sure to rent it. Not only will this give you a nice over view of collections, but it will help keep you on some sort of schedule. I know – it’s had to schedule time for places that you could literally spend days at, but when vacation time is limited you do your best to (reasonably) experience as much as you can.

I wouldn't schedule, I'd go with the flow & just have a list of places you would like to go. It would be stupid to miss out something because your schedule says you've got to be elsewhere

Making a schedule smacks of "if this is Tuesday it must be Belgium" thinking

You might want to check the museums websites to see what special exhibitions they have.
Also, some popular special exhibitions require pre-booking timed tickets.
Very difficult to suggest actual time allotments. Other museums not on your list include Tate Modern, V&A, Royal Academy of Arts. Not the major-league, but one of my favourite is Gilbert Collection. Happy viewing!

Thank you for all your advice! I am really an obsessive "over-planner." Since there is so much to see in London we have worked out an itinerary that goes something like this:

Saturday: Lunch at Borough Market, The Cabinet War Rooms, London Eye, Dinner.

Sunday: London Original Walk, National Gallery, Concert at Royal Albert Hall.

Monday: Day Trip to Portsmouth

Tuesday: Westminster Abbey & British Museum

Wednesday: day trip to Cambridge

Thursday: Tower of London, British Library, Dinner at Baltic, "The Comedy of Errors" at the Globe

Friday: St. Pauls Cathedral, (free afternoon), Dinner at Rules, "The Phantom of the Opera."

Saturday: The Portobello Rd Market, leave for home (sadly...sniff...)

ok, "schedule" might not have been the best choice of words, but unless you have a lot of time, you could miss out on something that you really wanted to see if you don't have a loose plan, know what is open when, and APPROXIMATELY how much time you'll need where. We usually have a plan and then go with the flow, nothing is carved in stone, but we also don't show up somewhere to find out that it's closed that day, or spend 2 hours every morning trying to decide what to do. Now, if I had weeks on end to spend exploring it would be a different story! Sue, have a wonderful trip!

one word on Borough Market... Friday lunchtime gets jampacked with City workers. Get there earli-ish, by 12:30, or late. Expect looong queues, esp. the ostritch burger stall, venison burger stall, and fallafel stall.

travelinsue, your 'plan' seems quite reasonable to me. I don't think you have packed too much in to any of your days, and you might find yourself on the day with some little blocks of time free to linger or add things.

W9London, is Saturday lunch at Borough Market as bad/busy? That is when the OP is visiting (and also when we will be there in August - morning through lunch).

noe847,
Thanks for pointing out. Correction to my previous comment--Saturday is crowded but definitely not as bad as Friday lunchtime. No office crowds for sure.

Ah, Borough Market!! Have a toasted cheese sandwich for me! Yum! :D

hi travelinsue - please don't under-estimate the time it takes to get between your chosen destinations, time for loo and drinks stops [possibly in reverse order] and how tired you will get. i always found london a particularly tiring place, and I lived and worked there.
By the way [sorry to be picky] it's the Natural History museum, and I would allow much longer than 1 1/2 hours - more like three, especially if you have kids in tow.
Rather than eating before the theatre, [as apears from you itinerary] you might enjoy eating afterwards more, when you're not so worried about the timing. Chinatown is full of restaurants that stay open late, and nearly all of them good to great.
Have a wonderful time!

No kids in tow on this trip!
We are visiting the British Museum, not the Natural History Museum.

Our dinner plans are carefully mapped out: Baltic is about 5 mins from The Globe. They have a pre-theatre menu, so they expect people to be on their way to the theatre.

We don't like to eat late at night, as it keeps us awake.