Will be in London two full days on route to Istanbul and the Mediterrean. What should I do? Would like to take two full day tours. The canned ones are London Major Sights which includes a lunch cruise. It hits everything or seems too. Next day was thinking of a canned full day tour to Stonehendge, Bath and Salisbury. The day we arrive (2:00pm)we have tickets to see Cats that evening. Are we foolish to opt with the canned tours for the two days. Is Stonehendge, etc worth a full day. What would you do with two full days, two people that have never been before and probably will not make another trip to London??
Are there any better or top tour companies?? Also if the hotel reserves the tours do they charge a fee. Is it safe to call yourself from the hotel to reserve tours or should I call the tour companies
now (for August)

Bath and Salisbury are each worth a day. Salisbury has a wonderful medeival Cathedral with the highest spire in England and some beautiful old streets to explore. Bath has a beautiful Abbey, the Roman Baths, the Pump Room, the Crescent - the list goes on and on. I would skip Stonehenge. If you want to see acient stone circles, see Avebury - about 15 miles from Stonehenge. Avebury has stones you can still touch. It is much larger than Stonehenge and it actually has a village in the middle of it.

We did the same trip you are about to do (London & Istanbul) last summer. One reco I have is a red bus tour of London, hop on hop off. You can get info on them from your hotel. You pay one price for 24 hrs, they go all over London and usually have very good guides. We felt this was the best way to see London in such a short period of time. Also, if you are still looking for tickets: we bought a Toronto to London return, plus over the internet and phone purcahsed London to Istanbul. This really reduced the cost of our flight. There are a few sites that advertise Britsh travel agents and prices (I found them through Yahoo, Travel, Britain). Lastly, if you are looking for a hotel in London, try to advoid using the hotel booking service in London (there is one near Victoria Coach Station). It is very helpful, but the hotels add a premium onto the price they charge you to cover their cost to the booking service. If you actually have time to get to Stonehenge and Bath you won't regret it - definitly must sees!

You didn't mention whether you will be back to England again. If you might visit the rest of England another time, just wouldn't be in London again, I'd say stay put in London and don't worry about leaving it. There are too many wonderful things to see in London to not spend your time there. (And by the way I hated Cats - I'm probably the only person alive who did, but I thought it was silly. I enjoyed Miss Saigon, Phantom, Les Mis even more - even the touristy old Mousetrap was a treat.) If I had two days in London I would definitely go to the theatre (probably go to two different performances if I could squeeze in a matinee). I would take the tube to Trafalgar Square, pop in to the National Portrait Gallery spending time on floors that particularly interest me then finishing off with their great gift store, then walk down the Mall (pronounced 'mell') towards Buckingham Castle. Then I'd turn left at Castle and visit Cabinet War Rooms, an underground bunker where Churchill ran the war from. I'd walk towards Big Ben and Parliament bldgs., take a look at New Scotland Yard, walk through Westminster Abbey, walk along the Thames, find an interesting pub (the Sherlock Holmes pub is fun) to have lunch in. In evening would go to play and then to Ronnie Scott's jazz club afterwards. Next day I would either spend some time in British Museum or Courtauld Institute, do a lot of sightseeing and some shopping at Harrod's, rest my feet in Kensington Gardens, walk by Kensington Palace, and maybe even take a boat trip with dinner on Regent's Canal. Such a wonderful city, hope you enjoy.

If you are interested in a day trip, I would recommend going to Greenwich. They have the Cutty Sark ship drydocked there, a nice maritime museum, and a musuem of time with the prime meridian marked in the garden. Also, I would recommend going to an outdoor market in London. They are worth a shot! If you will be there on a Sunday, Speakers Corner in Hyde Park is fun. Anyone and everyone gets up and lectures on their favorite topics, no matter how absurd. It's great fun! <BR>

After living there for a year, I would say that you should just stay in London. (Salisbury will probably disappoint you but Bath is wonderful, especially around 9am when few are there.) Overall, I would suggest that you don't go on the hotel tours--you will spend too much time doing things that may not particularly interest you. Rather, I would tend to agree with what 'Mavis' (above) said about walking around and taking in the area. Go on a bus tour, but only on one of them that has a personal tour guide & definately sit on the top! (Avoid Madame Tussaud's; the line will eat up too much of your time!) I would recommend going to the Tate Gallery, which is smaller than the National, but is just as diverse; this means you could reasonably tackle it in about 3 hours. Take a walk in Regent's Park, especially around the Queen's Rose Garden. I would see if you could go to Les Mis, instead of Cats; it's in the heart of Soho and after the play, you could then hop over to Bar Italia on Dean Street, off of Old Compton St. for a coffee and a sight of London nightlife. If you then felt up to it, walk down Shaftsbury towards Piccadilly and go into Bar Rumba, a small, dark club that contains good house music with terrific cocktails. Start the morning off with something light (tea & toast?!?) and take a boat tour down the Thames toward Greenwich. This is a terrific way to see the river, backs of buildings, and things along the SouthBank that you wouldn't get to see on other tours. Walk up the hill to the Int'l Timeline, take some good pics, and venture around the city for an hour or so. This is a good place for a little pub lunch and to buy nice momentos. Finally, the last thing I would suggest is that you eat at a nice restaurant...London has a terrific mix of foods & eateries! Enjoy your trip!!! <BR>

There're so many wonderful things to do in London I'd not wander off if I had only two days. Here just a smattering of activities that I adored (but we're all different): theatre (THE #1 thing to do in London, there's nothing like it anywhere else); The Tate Gallery and National Gallery; Westminster Cathedral; picnicing in of the many lovely parks (e.g., Green Park, St. Jame's, Hyde Park); walking along the Embankment; the Museum of Gardening History next to Lambeth Palace; free lunch-time concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields; windowshopping/browsing at Fortnum & Masons and Liberty's department stores. And Hatchards Bookstore -- it's fabulous. Foodies enjoy the food halls at Fortnum & Masons and Harrods. And, of course, afternoon tea at one of the grand hotels (make reservations!) such as the Savoy, the Lanesborough, the Dorchester or the Ritz.