To Go To London or Not to Go
 

My 2 sisters and I want to travel to London and visit some of the rest of the UK. I've noticed that the air fares drop after Labor Day, so we are thinking of traveling the second week in September. Is it worth it to save some money and travel at this time? We would hate to get there and find out that everyone in England is on holiday, the weather is going to be bad or the sights we want to see will be closed or on shortened hours.

We normally have an Indian summer around mid September, which can be the nicest time of the year, apart from May/June (midsummer in London is generally horrible, as London just isn't built or equipped for Global Warming summers). Rain is equally likely pretty much all year round.

As more people are back from holiday, the real life of London, which is suspended slightly during the summer, restarts. So new plays come on, the concert halls begin work again, with a repertoire that's not just rehashed classics, and the touring blockbuster exhibitions get here, or start here before hitting the rest of the world. TV, radio and newspapers start having real stories, and the better bars and restaurants fil up. It's a proper city again.

No sights that I can think of are closed (why would they be?) And the day/night ratio is more normal (pretty much 12 hours of each at that time): some people can find our midsummer 18+ hour days a bit fazing.

The downside, of course, is that since most people are back, most non-tourist things - theatres, the tube, trains - are a lot more crowded.

In our experience, mid to late September is the best time to travel to London and the UK other than late May. If the fares are better then, I definitely recommend the second or third week in September.

I have taken a number of trips to the UK and almost all of them have been in September (plus a couple in May and three in November). From experience, I can tell you that September is a wonderful time to travel the UK. I can't compare it to summer, however, because I've never gone in the summer (although I have a tentative trip planned for June/July 2005).

During our September trips we have had generally good weather, matching fairly well with the weather I'd expect here in New England at the same time.

September dates have not seemed to be a problem with any of the places we wanted to visit, either. Several times we visited places that we basically had "to ourselves" because of the slower tourist season. Hill House near Glasgow comes to mind - a small horde of people (maybe 50 or so) were all waiting to go in when they opened. The other 46 rushed through the house in about 20-30 minutes, while we took our time and asked questions of the attendants in each room. By the time we finished with the living room, everyone else was gone and we were practically alone in the house. Several of the attendants remarked that we were "smart" to wait until the crowd passed through and now could see the "real house" through their eyes, and then proceeded to point out details and give us in-depth information about the house and the furnishings. We really enjoyed it (although we're not sure that "smart" had anything to do with it - just a real desire to enjoy the beauty of Macintosh/MacDonald design).

On another occasion we visited a "Theatre Organ" museum (I can't remember the exact name or description) and had a similar experience. We were fascinated by the various organs and the stories behind them and somehow ended up as the only people "hanging around" after the demonstration. We got to ask lots of questions and my father (an organist) was even allowed to briefly play one of the organs!

I'm not sure whether those experiences would have been the same during the summer "high season," but who knows?

So, I say: Go in September. And enjoy yourselves!

(Maybe we'll see you there...we're heading to London - briefly - and then Scotland for a couple of weeks in September ourselves.)

Gayle

Go! The kids are back and school and it will be much nicer than summer.

I just saw this in the Eyewitness guide, there is an open house weekend where they open up buildings and private homes, this year it's 9/18-9/19

http://www.londonopenhouse.org/

Thanks for all the advice!!!!!!!!