Trip in London for 8 days
 

I'm planning for a trip to London with my husband for 8 days next September. It's our first time in London and we will be flying from Egypt. We will be staying at Best Western Phoenix Hotel in Bayswater. I hope somebody could help me with the following:

1- Shall we buy the Oyster card or the Travelcards or London Pass?
2- What do you think about the Hop-on Hop-off bus tours?
3- How shall i plan for the trip especially the mornings?
4- What are the "Not to Miss" evenings in London especially if are interested in Shows and live Concerts?

thanks
walaa

1. You made the fairly common mistake of tagging this a Trip Report. You might have better results posting again without checking the box for a trip report. Those are what you write after the trip.

2.Do NOT buy the the London Pass.

3.You will get better feedback if you tell us a bit more about what you are interested in. I've been to London 4 times and barely scratched the surface. There are certain things that might rise to the top of most people's suggestions, but this will be a more productive conversation if you have give some info.

4.Get a map, get some lists, get a guide book and do some research yourself; then the responses and suggestions from here will make more sense to you. People here are extremely helpful and I for one LOVE to make suggestions, but you really will get more out of this if you come with some knowledge--of what you like, a general idea of London's layout, a list of things you think you'd like to do.

5.Whether you pay for your public transport using an Oyster card or Travelcards may depend upon what you decide to do. No need to decide that yet; you will buy whichever upon arrival, not ahead of time.

6.Again, I'd suggest you repost without the TR tag and tell us a little bit more about what you think you like to see/do, etc.

Also I don't know why you tagged this post with the countries you did. Tag a new post United Kingdom.

thanks for replying back. We are more into seeing historical and royal places and landmarks. I'm planning also to do some shopping. Do you know cheap places for that?

i was thinking of taking the hop-on hop-off bus tour for 3 days where we can step down to see certain landmarks. This tour also includes a river cruise which we like. what do you think? are 3 days too long for sightseeing?

as for the evenings, i was thinking of booking "Lion King" or "Phantom of the Opera". No sure yet.

a dinner night cruise would be nice as well. don't you think?

Wella- Go to the library and check out a couple of travel guides. Rick Steves' London hints are terrific. He will tell you about where to stand to see the beginning of the changing of the guard routine and he will tell you are about the war rooms - very moving. Look at a guide like DK eyewitness. There are tons and tons of photos so you can pick and choose what excites you. We spent a couple of hours in the last remaining umbrella shop. It was a GREAt experience but it certainly would not appeal to everyone. We loved the ceremony of the keys at the London tower ( you have write ahead and get an admission day) But, you need to narrow down what you like, then come to one of these forums and people will be glad to help you. I could not travel without all the help I have received over the years. Feel free to ask questions.

You could use the hop-on hop-off buses to orientate yourself, but you can use the ordinary scheduled buses to get about between the main attractions just as easily (and much more cheaply):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/15101.aspx

Shows and concerts not to miss? That depends on what will be on next September and what your tastes are. Keep an eye on
http://www.timeout.com/london/ and
http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/

With the time you have, in my opinion there's absolutley no reason to do hoho things. Just decide on a set of places that are in the general area of each other and go to the first and then walk or Tube or bus to the next.

London is HUGE and you will need to group your activities by area/neighborhood to use your time most wisely.

Define "cheap." London is an expensive city, to me, in terms of lodging and much shopping. Window shopping is free, there are several fun street markets which aren't too bad, and there are all sorts of "cheap" tourist and lower end shops. So...

I'll give you a list of my favorite places:

The Tower of London--and a walk across the Tower Bridge and along the Southbank. (be at the Tower first thing)

Westminster Abbey and the surrounding Westminster area--and a walk onto or across the Westminster Bridge (be at the Abbey first thing)

St. Paul's and a walk across the Milinneum Bridge and at least into the Tate Modern and more walking along the Southbank. (do this on a pretty day and climb the dome for spectacular views of the city)

A visit to Trafalgar Square including going inside the National Gallery and a walk down Whitehall (or walk up Whitehall after a visit to Westminster area)

The British Museum and the British Library (this can be a whole day)

The Imperial War Museum, Borough Market, the Globe Theatre, Greenwich, Hyde Park, the Mall and Buckingham Palace---plenty to choose from!!!

Why use the hop on/hop off? The money you will waste is ridiculous. Take the 9, 15 and 136 lines and you can see almost any and every site in central London that is interesting. Book a cruise on your own for far less.

Get a seven day travelcard from a national rail station (Paddington is probably closest to your hotel, or Marylebone) and use the daysoutguide.co.uk voucher program. Print as many vouchers as you want before you go to London.

When you get to London, go to Paddington or Marylebone and buy a seven-day travelcard for you and hubby from a manned ticket booth in the national rail station, NOT THE TUBE STATION.

The national rail ticket booth is on the same level as the numerous platforms and the M&S Simply Food store (there's one at both Marylebone and Paddington). You will get a flimsy paper card with plastic coating that you can use on the trains and buses. Present the card and your voucher at the various sites that give the two-for-one discount (Cabinet War Rooms, Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, various London Walks and far more) and you will save a bundle.

Windsor Castle does not have the two-for-one offer, but you may be able to get an admission voucher at a lower price at Paddington station if you buy a ticket to Windsor at a manned ticket booth. We gained a discount voucher at Waterloo (12 GBP instead of 15.50, and we skipped the LONG lines for tickets).

Suggest you visit the TKTS booth in Leicester Square for show tickets. Would avoid Phantom - bored my parents to no end and they have a good tolerance for these pseudo-operatic melodramas like Phantom and Les Mis. Billy Elliot is good (even with the socialist claptrap) but you may need a primer on British slang to understand some of it. Lion King is likely a LOT more fun than Phantom.

For concerts, what do you like? Check out www.londontown.com for listings and look at the O2 website (http://www.theo2.co.uk).

Oh yeah: the London Pass is crap. The best museums in London, with only a couple of exceptions, are free for general admission (special exhibitions may have entry fees):

British Museum
British Library
National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
V&A
Imperial War Museum
Tate Britain
Tate Modern (this is a tourist destination but not on my personal list)

The London Pass adds nothing. It gets you in to smaller places but the pass charges are so high you will run around going to secondary and tertiary sites just to justify the expense. Use the two-for-one offers instead.

Oh jeeze -- I just posted a long entry on your other thread and now see you have two going. Here is the other one

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...for-8-days.cfm

and what I posted there:

>>><blue>Do NOT get a London Pass - nor any pre-purchased travel cards

Probably your best transport option will be a combination of some pay-as-you-go money on and Oyster card, and paper travel card(s) from a trfain station. Even though the paper travel cards are 'train tickets', they work like an Oystercard for the tube and buses . . .and get you in 1/2 price at many sites and attractions

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

"3- How shall i plan for the trip especially the mornings?"

Not quite sure what you are asking here.

"4- What are the "Not to Miss" evenings in London especially if are interested in Shows and live Concerts, night cruises, folklores, etc."

There are MANY plays/musicals on at any given time plus concerts every night of the week so you can go out every evening if you want. Instead of a night cruise -consider a ride on the Eye. Don't take any dinner cruises -generally very expensive for mediocre food.

You can buy discounted theatre tickets at TKTS in Leicester Square. http://www.tkts.co.uk/

And buy a copy of Time Out the day you arrive-it lists everything going on around town</blue><<<

If you have a smart phone, definitely download the Timeout London app. I found it really useful for getting ideas of places to eat and things to do.

Thanks a lot to you all. You have been very helpful.

Speaking from experience - on your first time to London, the Hop-on Hop-off bus is definitely worth it. It gives you a much better orientation, as although the Tube is a fantastic way of travelling you are underground!!. Alot of the main attractions are very easy to walk around eg: from Buckingham Palace walk through the beautiful St James gardens to the historic buildings, Westminster etc.

I also think the hop on hop off buses are a good way to get an overall view of the city and learn a lot about the areas that you would never learn from an ordinary bus journey

For example I've been to New York many times but the last time I took a couple of hop ons and I learnt more about the neighborhoods than I ever could by walking around

The hop on hop off is OK for an orientation, but I cannot imagine doing it for more than one day.

Wella, I agree with Stockles and Geordie that the HOP-ON-HOP-OFF bus is worth it for those not familiar with London. On one of my first trips, I arrived from Boston around noon, napped for a bit, and then set out catching the Big Red Bus near my hotel at Marble Arch. It was a magnificent summer day.


I jumped off at the Churchill Museum (loved it). Then I sauntered down to the river for a cruise on the Thames which was included with the bus pass. A walking tour is also part of the package but I did not take it.

Later I took the bus back to Marble Arch via another route. The ticket is good for a 24 hour period. So the next morning I took the bus back to central London where I visited Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace and surrounds.

Before my ticket expired at 3 PM, I caught the bus back to Baker Street where I visited that very tacky Sherlock Holmes Museum (English teacher, just had to check it out). Then I strolled the length of Backer Street, stopped at Selfridges, and returned to my hotel.

I felt that the HOHO ticket was worth the money for me. Enjoy London….