My family and I will arrive on May 5th - May 8th for our very first visit to London.
I need your help with some last decisions - can you help us with your thoughts about...
Is the 'Hop on/Hop off' bus worth $40 for 24 hours? We were thinking it would be a nice thing to do on the day we arrive to orient ourselves to the city. If you're vote is yes, would you recommend the Original Bus Tour (live guides some better than others - if you get a dud, hop off and take the next bus) or the Big Red Bus company (pre-recorded messages, that many times don't work very well or are hard to hear). I've also read that there is a regular bus that takes you by many of the famous sights (I don't recall which bus was recommended).
For some perspective: We plan to try 'London Walks' Historic Greenwich and if that goes well, Westminster/ West End, British Museum Walk or St. Paul's to the Tower of LondonLondon Walks
Boats: We'd like to take an evening boat road and see that there is one that is associated with the London Eye (which we plan to do on a clear evening). Does anyone have a favorite boat ride (appx. 1 hour - round trip / with or without commentary)
Thanks for all you have done to help us plan our trip so far! Terry
Terry - I can't help you with the Hop on/hop off assessment because I have never done it in London but I have found these types of buses wonderful in other cities in Europe for getting the overall view of the place.
However, there are any number of 'normal' bus routes that will take you past sites of interest. If you go Here and type in some numbers e.g. RV1 - this will take you from Covent Garden to the Tower of London - a nice bit along the river bank. You might like to combine this with one of your walks?
15 - this is called the Heritage Route and probably the one that you had heard about. It goes from one side of central London to the other and also takes you to the Tower.
9 - this one goes past places like the Albert Hall, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square.
Of course, you can do it the other way round and click on, for example, the area around Greenwich and it puts up all the routes that operate from there.
Don't forget to book your tickets for the London Eye in advance, online as it can get very busy there and you don't want to waste your sightseeing time in a queue.
We didn't do a bus tour, though we had thought to. It just didn't seem worth the $200+ for the family, and after a couple of days of walking and taking buses and tubes around we were pretty well oriented. We didn't take a boat ride either, but most London evenings found us walking along the Thames.
We did do several of the Walks, and would recommend them, though I will caution that some might get a bit esoteric for children. The 'Haunted London' walk with Sean was particularly good, and I have a vivid memory of our two youngest (11 and 13) right at Sean's heels as he stalked about Leadenhall Market in the dusk--they were fascinated.
I don't think I put this into that earlier post, but I'm turning it into a Trip Report and will add it there: the Cabinet War Rooms are very worth seeing. It's the underground command center where Mr Churchill and the political and military leaders sheltered during the blitz. After the war it was shut and apparently undisturbed until being reopened and turned into a museum during the 1980s. You can combine a ticket to it with the Imperial War Museum, another worthwhile visit, particularly if your family includes boys.
I don't think I put this into that earlier post, but I'm turning it into a Trip Report and will add it there: the Cabinet War Rooms are very worth seeing. It's the underground command center where Mr Churchill and the political and military leaders sheltered during the blitz. After the war it was shut and apparently undisturbed until being reopened and turned into a museum during the 1980s. You can combine a ticket to it with the Imperial War Museum, another worthwhile visit, particularly if your family includes boys.
I went on London Walk's Old Westminster Walk in February, which was great. It ends at the Cabinet War Rooms and you can get a discounted ticket then. It is definitely worth a visit.
Joan
Posts: 469 | Location: Chicago | Registered: 25 April 2006
For evening trips, you can do dinner cruises, or take the ordinary commuter boat, which has no commentary but takes you past everything - sometimes rather fast - a bit cheaper than the cruise boats.
Originally posted by Iwannagotoo: Thanks Alan & Joan! Joan, do you buy the discounted ticket from London Walks? How does that work?
I've been on at least 3 London Walks and just shown up at the appointed Tube stop and paid 6 pounds (this is one of the best deals in London). I'm not aware of any discounted tickets.
Posts: 469 | Location: Chicago | Registered: 25 April 2006
I think iwannago was asking about discounted tickets from the Walks people to other attractions. I don't know about the Cabinet War Rooms but we did go to the Old Operating Theater after the Southwark Walk. We just said we'd been on the Walk, don't think we had to show anything, and we got a modest discount. There are lots of discounts on attractions, your hotel lobby will probably have literature and maps with coupons attached.
The Walks are VERY casual. You show up, a small crowd assembles, you hand over some cash, and off you go. We had one guide twice, a tiny ****ney* woman with charming stories, but her voice sometimes disappeared in the crowd, especially in areas where there was nearby construction (which is basically all of London). As I recall there was either a discount for children or the guide just waived admission for one or more of the three when we asked about family pricing.
In fact unless you're a hedge fund manager, I'd suggest looking and asking for family pricing everywhere. I can hardly believe that the currency situation is even more lopsided now than last summer. We never quite got to busking in the tube for fare home, but this summer might have had to consider it!
BTW: when I was on my own in London in 2006, I did the Original Bus Tour, the one with the live guide. It was a fine first glimpse of the city and I was glad of the orientation. But on the first loop, I got off at the Tower, took the boat ride (free) up the Thames to the Houses of Embankment, then started walking along the river and never followed up on the rest of the ride. The guide wasn't saying much beyond what was in the initial pages of any guidebook, and a good map combined with some reading--and the Walks---will set you up well.
*this is hilarious--censorship by groupee evidently. What have they got against those born within the sound of Bow Bells?
Patrick - Thanks for the great intel on transportation!
Alan - Thanks for deciphering the code from my question on discounts.... We are 5 adults and yes, the value of the $ (or lack there of) has certainly got us looking for ways to compensate. I'm beginning to wonder about something.... it sounds like most of the London Walks tours are just to the outside of famous places, so we need to plan extra time if we want to go inside the Cabinet Rooms, Westminster Cathedral, etc. Is that right?
We didn't do the walks to the destinations you named, but that was our experience, we'd go by someplace, maybe stop outside it, but not go in. You can write to them via the website for specifics; they were very quick and cordial about replies when I did.
Five adults probably won't look as sympathetic as our little urchins..I mean angels did when asking for a family price. Good luck with that!
Terry, sorry to go off at a tangent but, Chicago Alan,
I am positively doubled up laughing at the censorship - the removal of that person who no doubt does ******* rhyming slang so well. Is Groupee a computer automated thing? What if we want to talk about the husbands of hens?
I, for one, think that the person or 'bot removing innocuous four-letter combinations (like Mr Rooster's nickname) is a right banker.
Back to Iwanna's situation...if you have not already planned on it, I strongly suggest you go to the Globe Theater. Yes it's a reproduction, a bit Ye Olde, and yes, it's touristy. But it's also great live theater in a venue that may actually give you an idea of what it was like in Shakespeare's time. Tickets may (or may not) be available day of show, depending on how the reviews have been. They usually have two shows alternating during the week, but you're at the beginning of the season so only 'Lear' is up. I bet it will be great! See a show there and have a nice walk along the Thames and you've had a heck of an evening.
We took several London Walks when we visited London in 2006. There's a set price for the walk but if you think you will take several, you pay for a walkabout card and then the following ones are a pound less.
You get a good orientation from the tours and the guides are very entertaining.
Enjoy London. It's a great city.
Posts: 407 | Location: Watertown, New York, USA | Registered: 22 August 2003
Cabinate War rooms are definately worth the visit. We took a party of our American Frineds on a London Tour back in 2003. Used the Big Red Bus I think. Talked them into a "discount" when we bought the tickets at the stop at Victoria. Don't forget to go to the top of St Pauls Cathedral...right to the top if you can walk! Fabulous. London Eye is good, but yes, you will need to book. You could also try "Tea at The Ritz". Full "Englsih Tea"... went down great with our US friends! (nedd to dress smartish thoiugh, but well worth it! We "did" Harrods the same day. Try to get to Buckingham Palace at around 10:30 for the 11:00 changing of the guard. If you want to go further afield, don't miss the Imperial War Museum, a few miles south of Waterloo St. You can also visit Tower Bridge and walk over the top. Great fun!
Enjoy the trip!
Red Dwarf Sarthe, France
Posts: 3 | Location: Vallee du Le Loir, Sarthe, France. Nr La Chartre s/l Loir | Registered: 21 April 2008
Yesterday's NY Times Travel section (4/20) had a single-page article on 36 hours in London, with a literary bent, places that evoke the atmosphere of Dickens, Sherlock Holmes, etc. Among their suggestions were the Globe Theater and The George, a late 1700s 'galleried' coaching inn, the last one in London, which is down Borough High Street and not a far walk from the Globe. The George is now just a very interesting pub--good food too. We also visited Dr Johnson's house, mentioned in the article, a quite modest survival near Fleet Street, in the midst of furious new construction.
Zadie Smith's novel 'White Teeth' is about today's multicultural London, and you can get a strong taste of that with a walk down Brick Lane in the East End, particularly on a Sunday morning.
What if we want to talk about the husbands of hens?
LOL, oops, sorry about that - we were playing with the filters b/c someone used a, well, let's say a not so pleasant derviation of the word, and it snagged cockney too. Let's see if it flies now.
That's exactly the kind of information I needed.
