Touring London
 

Hi...Is a bus tour the best way to see the typical highlights of London for a day?

If you only have a day, then a bus tour in the morning and visiting 1 sight in the afternoon might be a good idea.

It depends though. Do you like museums or churches or parks or pubs or theatre shows? With just 1 day, you cant do it all and will need to prioritize depending on your taste.

If I had 1 day:
I'd go to St. James's park early in the morning, Westminster Abbey, walk to Trafalgar square, the British Museum or the Tower of London or wander through the City of London. I'd take the ferry from the tower to westminster and go on a night london eye ride. But thats just me, based on the bits of central London I like.

If I could only go to one place in London, it would be Westminster Abbey because for reasons I love Poets Corner within it. But that is a very personal preference. Others will no doubt have other preferences.

I mention this to highlight that of all the sights in London, picking 1 or 2 for 1 day is a very personal decision.
If you had a week, it would be easier to give you a 'standard' itinerary.

You can do either a coach tour, or a hop-on hop-off tour. With the latter, you can visit the stops on the tour, yet not have to worry about finding your way around city, just wait for next bus.

If I had to pick one route for a day: Covent Garden- Trafalgar Sq - down Whitehall to Westminster.

Enough along that route to fill a day.

Do you only have one day?

Lee Ann

There's really no one best way to see the highlights--it depends on your personal preference. Some people really like the Hop On-Hop Off tours, others much prefer to go it on their own.

When I go to a new city I like an "orientation" tour, because it helps me get my bearings. I did the Hop On-Hop Off tour in London years ago. I liked it for the overview, but found that waiting around for the bus to return and going to my next stop of interest (which wasn't necessarily the next few stops of the bus), wasted a lot of time. So I took the tour all the way through once, went to my first 2 sights, and then made my own way after that.

If you decide to take a tour, here are two popular ones: http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/londo...FQ9-hwod034oiA

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

You can also tour on your own by getting a one-day Travelcard and using a combination of the Number 11, 9, and 15 buses. There are posters who are more knowledgeable than I about the routes, so I will leave it to them to chime in. The disadvantage is that they are not narrated, and sometimes tourists go past sights without knowing what they are looking at.

If you stay in a very central area like Trafalgar Square, you can walk to many sights (London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, National Gallery,River Thames, etc).