London trip

[CountZero]

Going to London for a mixed business/pleasure trip. Will be in London for 5 full days and a handful of half days. Doing an overnight trip to York in the middle. Will also be in Windsor but that's when the business side of the trip is happening so not expecting to have any time there.

I'm putting together an itinerary now. I think I know about all the usual sites (Tower of London, Westminster, Parliament, Trafalgar, St Pauls, etc) and museums (British Museum, V&A, National Gallery, etc) but I want to hear about anybody else's experiences.

What did you enjoy, not enjoy? What was a bit off the beaten path that you enjoyed? If you went to York what did you enjoy there?

 

[SaurusX]

I heard the Brits like to drink.

 

[rsutoratosu]

Central london, belgo central has lots of awesome beer, I worked in london and never been to museum, london eye is kinda cool, you see the whole area, only if you're into that.

What kinda food do you like ? indian food popular, belgain food (mussels), nando peir peri chicken - grilled with spicy flair.

Now its easier to find food with apps from yelp and stuff, long time ago, it wasn't

 

[Newell Steamer]

If you smoke cigars, check out http://www.jjfox.co.uk/index.php?clicked18=true, they are in the Pall Mall area.

 

[highland145]

I heard the Brits like to drink.

Yeah but the close the bars at 10:00

 

[Fingolfin269]

York is so cool. You have to visit the shambles. 5 minute walk from Yorkshire. I'd also highly recommend just taking the time to walk the roman walls around the city. The national rail museum is there as well. It's a pretty sweet museum and best of all it's free.

 

[OCGuy]

When are you going, and I hope you got in on the airfare war that let me get First/Business class to Europe at the end of July + 10 nights in a nice hotel for $1800.

 

[CountZero]

Central london, belgo central has lots of awesome beer, I worked in london and never been to museum, london eye is kinda cool, you see the whole area, only if you're into that.

What kinda food do you like ? indian food popular, belgain food (mussels), nando peir peri chicken - grilled with spicy flair.

Now its easier to find food with apps from yelp and stuff, long time ago, it wasn't

Big fan of Indian food so I definitely plan on hitting that up while there. Basically open to any kind of food suggestions high end, low end or whatever.

 

[CountZero]

When are you going, and I hope you got in on the airfare war that let me get First/Business class to Europe at the end of July + 10 nights in a nice hotel for $1800.

End of May and it's basically an extension of a business trip so I didn't have much control over that unfortunately. No deal nearly that good but my airfare was covered, hotels on the other hand were "holy crap" expensive.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Where are you staying? (In both London and York)

Reason I ask is we found this place in London to be prices extremely well relative to the location.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...er_Inn_London_County_Hall-London_England.html

 

[OCGuy]

End of May and it's basically an extension of a business trip so I didn't have much control over that unfortunately. No deal nearly that good but my airfare was covered, hotels on the other hand were "holy crap" expensive.

Nice. Well airfare being covered is a crapton better deal!

I will be headed to London for a couple nights from Munich, so post up your experience and recommendations when you get back.

 

[Leyawiin]

I did all the things you mentioned, but one of the most memorable was a pub crawl on a Saturday night through Knightsbridge. I was staying at a friend's house in Southeast London so I got to see a lot of everyday living and I actually enjoyed it a lot too. Seeing how people get on in their neighborhoods is more revealing than hitting tourist sites.

 

[Exterous]

Where are you staying? (In both London and York)

Reason I ask is we found this place in London to be prices extremely well relative to the location.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...er_Inn_London_County_Hall-London_England.html

Excellent suggestion. I was going to suggest that myself if no one else had. Fantastic location right by the eye and essentially across the street from Parliament and Big Ben with two relatively convenient tube stops at Westminster and Lambeth North (although Westminster will likely be more used)

If you are there from Fri-Sun I highly recommend checking out the Real Food Market just north of the Jubilee Gardens. Should only be a short 5 minute walk from the Premier Inn. Fantastic food options from a variety of vendors; French, Indian, German, Polish, Cheese, Chocolate, Beer etc etc

http://www.realfoodfestival.co.uk/market

The Shard is a bit of a hike but its the tallest building in Europe and provides an excellent view of London (weather depending). If you want to go make you may want to book in advance because walk up tickets can run you 30-100 pounds as opposed to 25-30 on the website

If you want to see the Crown Jewels get there early. The first time we went we got there 3 hours after they opened and there was already a long line to get into the long line (literally) to see them

 

[SolMiester]

Going to London for a mixed business/pleasure trip. Will be in London for 5 full days and a handful of half days. Doing an overnight trip to York in the middle. Will also be in Windsor but that's when the business side of the trip is happening so not expecting to have any time there.

I'm putting together an itinerary now. I think I know about all the usual sites (Tower of London, Westminster, Parliament, Trafalgar, St Pauls, etc) and museums (British Museum, V&A, National Gallery, etc) but I want to hear about anybody else's experiences.

What did you enjoy, not enjoy? What was a bit off the beaten path that you enjoyed? If you went to York what did you enjoy there?

Dont forget the London Eye, will give you a great view of the city!

 

[SolMiester]

Yeah but the close the bars at 10:00

??, 11pm when I was there!

 

[highland145]

??, 11pm when I was there!

It's been 12 years...Queens Jubilee and a big soccer cup. Our hotel was in the same spot as the bar. Thankfully, for us, the fans were pushed to the road.

 

[Williz]

Bars most definitely don't close at 10, more like 1/2am. Whitecross food market is a good place to visit, it's a 5 minute or so walk from Moorgate station. I used to go there on my lunch breaks to get some tasty venison burger or fried Rabbit legs.

 

[Fingolfin269]

If you are there from Fri-Sun I highly recommend checking out the Real Food Market just north of the Jubilee Gardens. Should only be a short 5 minute walk from the Premier Inn. Fantastic food options from a variety of vendors; French, Indian, German, Polish, Cheese, Chocolate, Beer etc etc

http://www.realfoodfestival.co.uk/market

Agreed! This was a great find for us as well.

One other note in terms of cost. If you're looking to just run in and grab a quick bite somewhere we found Pret a Manger to be the best value option available. Kind of reminded me of Panera Bread in some ways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pret_a_Manger

 

[rsutoratosu]

Dont forget the London Eye, will give you a great view of the city!

The eye, you can buy your ticket on the internet and pick up there, depending on what day it is, there are tons of people waiting on line.. so you can save some time.

Also if you're getting around via tubes, you can get oyster card and put some pounds in so you dont need to figure the $$ out every time you need a ride. Dl the tube app for schedules & etc

 

[IronWing]

The Museum of Natural History is pretty good and tube accessible.

Will you be renting a car? If so, the Hawk Conservancy is neat. Of course, if you're heading that way you might as well see Stonehenge, Avebury, West Kennet Long Barrow, and the White Horse as well. All can be done in a single day.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

Was in the UK four years ago and able to have about a 1/2 day for sightseeing in London. I was staying out by Heathrow - took the tube into Hyde Park Corner station. From there I walked to Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abby, Parliament/big ben then walked across the Thames. Walked along the south bank to the Tower Bridge, went by the Tower of London, St Pauls to Trafalgar Square then to Picadilly tube station back to the hotel. Didn't have much time or money but took a ton of great pictures and got quite a bit of exercise.

Would love to go back with more money & time.

 

[CountZero]

Where are you staying? (In both London and York)

Reason I ask is we found this place in London to be prices extremely well relative to the location.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...er_Inn_London_County_Hall-London_England.html

Staying at the Lancaster London for the first part of the trip (access to Paddington Station makes getting to and from Windsor very easy). The Cedar Court Grand for York. Rounding it out with Citizen M Bankside for the remainder of London.

Think the wife was against the Premier Inn for some reason though the location looks to be incredibly convenient.

 

[The Green Bean]

fhh

 

[CountZero]

Thanks for the advice. Got back a bit ago.

In London we did Victoria & Albert Museum, British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, Tower of London, St Pauls, Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden, Borough Market, Harrods, Trafalgar Sq., Leceister Square, Picadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace/changing of guards, St James Park, Hyde/Kensington Park.

As for tips we enjoyed everything we did. I would say if Modern Art isn't your thing just skip Tate Modern or just go up to the cafe and have tea with a view.

The weather wasn't great so we skipped Portabello Market and didn't see as many of the smaller sites since we bussed/tubed a lot. Our first hotel had us on the 17th floor with views of Hyde Park, Big Ben/Parliament, St Pauls, etc so we just skipped the Eye which would've been higher but maybe not worth the time commitment.

Spent about 4.5 hours at each of the museums we went to aside from Tate and got a fair amount of museum fatigue. Each of them seemed to have some kind of highlights guide, if pressed for time I'd do that and zip through. If it is something that really interests you try splitting it up over two days. I really wanted to go back to the British Museum a bit more refreshed for the areas I just zipped through but it didn't work out. Two 3 hour trips would've been much better than the one 5.5 hour trip we did. We also didn't do any of the paid exhibits, we didn't have enough time to do the permanent collection let alone extra.

For Tower of London go early and immediately to the crown jewels. The line by the time we left at about 1:30 was very long. Also absolutely do the Beefeater tour, I usually hate those kinds of things but it was well worth it.

Buckingham Palace was packed well before the changing of the guards but out of luck we wandered by while they were setting up on Birdcage Walk in front to of the Wellington Barracks. Even the bit we watched was quite long and repetitive (guy marches around, salutes, yells, another guy does it, repeat, group turns, more yelling, etc) so I don't think waiting for hours to watch it is a great use of time but the setup on the side was nice enough for us.

We had no bad meals but we did have a few mediocre meals that just came down to being too tired and beat to bother finding a good place to eat.

York was also excellent and a perfect break away from London. Since the York Minster was so much less crowded that St Pauls or Westminster it gave a lot more opportunity to just wander around inside and enjoy it.

 

[Leyawiin]

York was also excellent and a perfect break away from London. Since the York Minster was so much less crowded that St Pauls or Westminster it gave a lot more opportunity to just wander around inside and enjoy it.

Its beautiful. The city walls and ridiculously narrow medieval streets are great. I took a lot of day and overnight trips from London while I was there - small "cathedral" cities plus Liverpool. London was fun, but after a week I was getting pretty tired of it - needed the breaks.