Any ideas on how long it would take in a cab at 9am on a Monday from our hotel at Westminster Bridge to
Earl’s Court, Warwick Rd. Bus stop C

That is our pick up place to go to Windsor Castle. We are used to the Metro in Paris but only in London a few days and don’t want to figure out the tube unless there is no alternative

According to google maps, assuming you are staying at the Marriott County Hall and want to arrive at 9:00, anywhere from 20 to 50 minutes. In other words, totally dependent on traffic. Since it appears to be a straight shot on the District line, I would recommend taking the tube, it is no more complicated than the Paris metro. Are you going to walk/cab everywhere else?

We’re at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge. Have stayed there briefly before and walked or cabbed easily.
Thanks for the District line 1 info, sounds easy enough. I’ll check it out.

What we have found in The Paris Metro is that sometimes by the time we walk down all the steps and through the underground corridors etc. it’s faster in a cab or walking. Price is not an issue, ease is our concern with our granddaughter in tow.

You seem to answer a lot of questions for London with good info. i do have another question.
The boat from Westminster to Tower of London. At 10am. Do you think it’s necessary to purchase tickets ahead of time?

We usually travel to Europe in Sept. and have only been there once in June when it was definitely
very crowded everywhere. Any chance those boats will be sold out? We already have Skip the line Tower tickets?

I think you are staying at the Park Plaza - right? The absolute minimum time would be about 25 mins but there is tons of congestion/construction in the area so it could take significantly longer. You could walk practically across the Street to Waterloo and take the Jubilee line to Westminster and District line from there. But really the walk to the Waterloo tube station isn't all that much easier than just walking across the river to Westminster.

You'll have to walk across Westminster Bridge to get the tube, but I don't remember Westminster being a difficult tube station, and long walks usually show up when you're changing lines.

I've never taken that boat, can you actually buy tickets ahead of time? I haven't been to the Tower in ages, but I thought the advice these days was to get there early..

Somehow I didn't see your 2nd post. It is almost NEVER faster in a cab than on the tube anywhere in London. There is massive construction all over and roads are very congested. Westminster is one of the more moderized stations and it is pretty easy as tube stations go.

>>The boat from Westminster to Tower of London. At 10am. Do you think it’s necessary to purchase tickets ahead of time? <<

Not really -- but you want to be there at least 15 mins before the sailing time because there can be a queue to buy tix.

But you do NOT want to leave Westminster at 10AM for the Tower -- you want to be AT the Tower by 9:30 ish.

Good info....I think we’ll give the tube a go

What about Park Plaza to Victoria Apollo theater for Wicked?
We had planned on a cab to Aster restaurant nearby for a 5:30 reservation

It is less than 1.5 miles from your hotel to the Aster - that 1.3-ish miles will probably take close to 15 minutes by cab. If it is nice weather I'd walk it myself -- though it would take 20-30 mins. If you don't want to walk, sure - take a cab.

"...sometimes by the time we walk down all the steps and through the underground corridors etc. it’s faster in a cab or walking. "

I found the same. I loaded up my Oyster card but still preferred taking cabs. Both for the ease but also because I got to SEE more of London. At the end of my trip it was taxi only for me!

Again, it depends on the traffic. Faster than the tube (straight shot on the Circle line from Westminster) if you're lucky, longer if not.

Note: use https://www.google.com/maps - put your source and destination in and chose car, public transport,or walking, not to mention day and time. Not very reliable for long distance car travel (too optimistic) but useful around town. Do you have a smart phone? If so, use it for google maps for getting around London. Or use Traveline for public transport.

You'll see even more from the top deck of a bus.

The problem with the tube for this journey is its close to a 10 minute walk into Westminster tube station and a another 5 or so minute walk in Victoria Station. So it could actually be as fast or faster to walk all the way . . . or take a cab.

Take the 211 bus from Westminster Bridge to Victoria Station (10mins) costs £1.50

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/timetable/211/?direction=inbound

The bus will be no faster than a taxi, and likely slower.

>>Take the 211 bus from Westminster Bridge to Victoria Station (10mins) costs £1.50<<

The good thing about the 211 is one can catch it at County Hall and not have to walk across he Bridge. The bad thing is that pesky traffic and all those bus stops. I just plugged in a 5PM weekday trip on the TFL journey planner -- and not 10 mins . . . 26 mins. For 1.5 miles. Did I mention the traffic . . .

Of course, if you have a travel card on your Oyster, or even if you just expect to hit the daily cap, you could ride the bus across the bridge and then take the tube.

We’ll hope for the weather to cooperate. We like to walk and most of these distances seem doable.
Earl’s Court seems the farthest so we’ll have to work on that.

thanks for the tip of getting to the Tower by 9:30

The Citymapper app is excellent for this kind of query and more reliable in its traffic estimation than google maps.

Just factor in enough slack and you'll be fine. I've stayed in that hotel many times. Buses are easiest from the County Hall stop, as was mentioned and for the tube, the Westminster station is the easiest to get to, with good connections.

Second the suggestion of the 'citymapper' app. We use it all the time in London.