Which palace/house in London?
 

I will have a little extra time on a tour with high school students and am trying to decide which royal home to see. I have never been to any of the London sites, so I am open to anything. I plan on going back annually for the next several years, so this isn't a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.<BR><BR>Things to consider--easily accessible location, reasonable admission fee and length of touring time...I probably will only have about 2-3 hours to spend. I am leaning toward Kensington Palace for the exhibitions and such, but am totally open to opinions and ideas. <BR><BR>We are seeing Hampton Court and Leeds on the British portion as well.

Hi<BR>I'm assuming you will be going to the Tower of London. I think that technically that's still a royal palace.<BR>It takes at least half a day to see, and if you go, do take the Yeoman Warder's tour.<BR><BR>Have you booked for the Tower's Ceremony of the Keys held every night?<BR>The kids might like it, and start to finish including waiting time is only a half hour, but tickets have to be requested weeks in advance.<BR><BR>Any chance you could work in a half to 2/3 day at Windsor? It's a great visit, walk through tour, nice places for lunch, even have a Changing of the Guard.<BR><BR>Kensington Palace is ok, not especially memorable imo except for the royal gowns and the Victoriana, don't know if that will appeal to all.<BR><BR>Spencer House is pretty small and yet gorgeous, but never a royal residence, though Princess Di's family lived there for a couple of centuries (she didn't though.) Really like a miniature palace overlooking Green Park.<BR>Only open on Sundays though. Tour takes about an hour.

I haven't seen all the royal residences in London, but I would say skip Kensington Palace. It's relatively expensive and I found little to hold my attention...

I'd skip Kensington too. Not worth the price. <BR><BR>I'd recommend the Tower of London. You can do that in 2-3 hours. The royal sites all seemed to be about the same price, so you probably don't need to factor that in if you are choosing between them. Tower was about 11GBP, I believe. <BR><BR>Windsor Castle is great but with travel time you'd need more than your alloted time. <BR><BR>Have fun!

Oops-- I should have added--we are doing the Tower and I have done Windsor twice.<BR><BR>Thanks for the input thus far!!!!

Well - since you only have 2 or 3 hours Kens Palace is the best choice. It doesn't compare to some of the others - but they would take an hour or more R-T just to get to. <BR><BR>That is UNLESS your trip is in August or September. Buckingham Palace is open to the public those months. So if your trip falls into that window, Buck House is doable in 2 or 3 hours.<BR>

I've got suggestions on two houses we have visted in London and found interesting.<BR><BR>Linley Sambourne House - He was the cartoonist for Punch and lived at this house from 1874 on. Very decorated in Victorian fashion and virtually unchanged from when he lived there. When we were there, there were no crowds and the curators were delightfully informed on the house and people who lived there. Interesting to see how people who worked for their living lived instead of looking at royalty's palaces.<BR><BR>Apsley House - Home of the first Duke of Wellington built between 1771 and 1778 (he bought it in 1815 after battle of waterloo). Interesting exhibits on silver and dinner services and porcelain objects he owned. Much more formal house than Linley Sambourne's.<BR><BR>Look both up and see which style appeals to you. Both are fun and only take a couple of hours at most. We felt more personally involved at Linley Sambourne's because of the wonderful people working there.

Another fun private-house-turned-museum is architect Sir John Soane's. In the early 1800s he took over 3 adjacent townhouses and stuffed them with art and antiquities in a unique and extremely creative way. For instance, in the basement he built a very gothic tearoom around an Egyptian royal sarcophagus that he got by outbidding the British Museum for it, he was that kind of guy.<BR><BR>The new, photo-deficient web site really doesn't do his personality justice, but you can read between the lines in the descriptions of the collections. It's quite a place.<BR><BR>http://www.soane.org/

Have you seen or considered the Royal Mews? <BR>This is not a house, but worth a visit - the Queen's carriage house/stables. It is at Buckingham Palace, but separate entrance and admissions.

I really enjoyed Hampton Court Palace much more than Windsor. It is a palace rather than a castle (yes, there's a difference) it was cheaper to get to, easier to get to, you can take a train out and a boat back, the crowds were MUCH smaller, admission was a bit less (no big deal), etc. Hampton is assoicated with Henry VIII who was definately a very vital person in English history.<BR><BR>Hampton just seemed more laid back and &quot;personal&quot; to me.