London

[Locut0s]

Yes I'm going to London! We will be there for 4 days as part of a 2 week vacation some time in early May. I have to say I'm really looking forward to this trip as I've always wanted to visit London. So what would my fellow ATOTers recommend seeing while there? Other than the obvious tourist traps of course. Anything particularly interesting, off the beaten path not usually visited by tourists for example. I don't like being a "Tourist" but we will still no doubt see the 'must see' sites (Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, The British Museum, The Natural History Museum etc..) The last 2 I'm particularly eager to see. Any culinary recommendations or things to recommend I stay away from I'll try anything once! And while London may not have anything truly 'exotic' I'd still very much like to sample a taste of the place! I'm not the type who travels looking to eat in 'tourist' restaurants. Interestingly enough though many of the tourist restaurants I've seen in the rest of Europe often cater to non-adventurous English travellers How about a guide to how to choose a good bar? Or how about how to order a drink at a bar without getting laughed at as a silly foreigner (well technically colonialist?, Canadian), don't worry I won't ask for cold beer True 4 days is VERY little time in such a large city but better than nothing. The rest of our Holiday will be spent in Rome and Florence. 2 cities I've been to before but spent little time in on our last holiday in Europe. Any recommendations there would be great too.

 

[IronWing]

Will you have a car?

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: ironwing
Will you have a car?

I would hope not. Car in London = fail.

 

[Apathetic]

I went to London for a few days a couple years ago while I was on my way to Scotland. I'm hardly an expert, but here's some stuff I learned.

The subway ("the tube") is the best way to get around London. You can buy an unlimited use 3 day pass (and possibly a 4 day pass) called a Travelcard. (They seem to have a new type of pass called an Oyster card. You'll need to do some research here to see if it's cheaper). Since you don't know your way around London, I highly recommend the unlimited use pass. That way you don't have to worry about planning out the most efficient (cheapest) routes through the subway everytime you want to go someplace.

While the passes are unlimited in use, they are restricted to certain zones. Most of the touristy stuff you'll want to do are in zones 1 and 2. You can see a full color map here Oh, you can get free full color maps like the one in the link at any tube station.

You can get a lot more info by doing a google search for "London underground ticket".

Before you leave, go to a book store and check out their travel guides for ideas about places to visit. The most important thing to track down is the name of the closest tube station. Once you have that and a copy of the tube map, you're set.

I hope this helps.

Dave

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: ironwing
Will you have a car?

I would hope not. Car in London = fail.

True, but there are places one can go w/in an hour or two of the end of the tube system that are cool.

 

[ElFenix]

london not have anything truly exotic? chicken tikka masala is the national dish of england...

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
london not have anything truly exotic? chicken tikka masala is the national dish of england...

Yep, if you can spare a day take a trip to Windsor (see the castle etc) and Eton and round of with a decent curry at the Golden Curry in Eton High Street. Wash that down with a few pints of Kingfisher too

 

[fallenangel99]

I was in London a few weeks ago. I actually stayed 30 miles west of London (Wokingham), so I had to take the train to London, an one hour ride.

Stuff is EXPENSIVE in the UK. Food will easily cost $50+. If are you going to do to the touristy stuff all day, you should get one of those passes for 40 pounds. Youwill then have access to the tube (Subway), bus, and rail for 24 hours. Its not a bad deal as long as you go to a lot of places.

Besides stuff in London, see the Windsor Castle, Eton school, the galleries.

Oh, bring an umbrella. It rains there pretty much every day

 

[cyclistca]

The Tower of London is a must see.

Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament )
Westminster Abby

Note the British Museum is huge. I think that it would take a few days just to see all of it. Look at travel books to find out the best off.

 

[Jahee]

You might want to visit the "Cutty Sark" in Greenwich too... Its an old... Pirate ship lol, thats the best way to describe it.

There are some really nice Carribean food places in south london, place called Brixton has the best in my opinion... If you like that kind of stuff anyway... Whenever i go back to london the first place i go is to one of those places! haha

Other than that, theres not much else to visit... You might want to go on the london eye. which is this, you can get great aerial views of the place...

Also you might try the Millenium Dome

And yea as someone said... Don't drive.. You'll regret it.

The tube will be the easiest way to get around.

 

[Sukhoi]

The Natural History Museum is so-so. The building is sweet and it has a huge room of rocks, but I didn't go through most of the rest. Lots of little kiddies and the usual dinosaur skeletons. The science museum is a couple blocks closer to Hyde Park. Go see it! That place rocks.

I was very disappointed in the British Museum. If you love seeing thousands of ancience vases and stone carvings it'll be great for you, but otherwise IMHO there isn't much to see. I powerwalked through the whole thing in a couple hours. We had the whole day planned.

There are some good English pubs on the north side of Hyde Park. Just walk through the park to get there. It's really nice and only takes 25 minutes or so. I'm trying to remember where the cool pub is that we ate at. It's a block or two north of Bayswater somewhere around the Lancaster Gate station. But there is plenty to eat up around Bayswater between Queensway and Lancaster Gate stations. BTW Queensway might still be closed. They were replacing the elevators last I knew. But Bayswater Station is right up the street from it.

If you go to the Imperial War Museum (which is neat) I would suggest you eat at the Pineapple Bar. It's definitely a local place. I believe it is located at the corner of Hercules Rd and Cosser St, which is just south of Lambeth North station. PM me if you are going to try to find it because I have a pic of the place.

Hampton Court Palace is fantastic if you have a really nice sunny day. We were there in August so I'm not quite sure what the gardens will be like in May, but I'm sure it's still nice.

If you're into aviation go to the Royal Air Force Museum. You take the Northern line out to Colindale and then walk like 15 minutes. Make sure you buy a zone 3 ticket and get on the Edgware branch of the line. Hang a left out of the station, walk along Colindale Ave till you get to the traffic circle where you get on Grahame Park Way, and it'll be on your right after a ways.

And yea the Tower of London is really sweet.

If you have time go to Monument and hike up the 200-300 steps to the top. It's a good view.

Oh lastly Greenwich is pretty neat. It's a big open relaxing area and there is a small museum on the Prime Meridian you can go through.

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: ironwing
Will you have a car?

I would hope not. Car in London = fail.

True, but there are places one can go w/in an hour or two of the end of the tube system that are cool.

So you take a train.

 

[Koing]

You don't have to eat out all the time. You can get some bread, meats, cheeses and fruit

Koing

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: Koing
You don't have to eat out all the time. You can get some bread, meats, cheeses and fruit

Koing

We did that on several of our other trips to Europe. Great way to save money and have a good lunch while site seeing! Since breakfast is not that important to us and is included in the hotel stays, not much of a breakfast but enough, we could get buy with one meal a day (dinner) some days.

 

[Locut0s]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Yes we will be taking the tube, not a car. Though in Italy we will have a car.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Remember at pubs you have to order your food and everything at the bar.