Is three weeks to long?

allybee101 · 28 November 2016 at 9:03PM

So many different things to do in London - do they have any particular interests or hobbies? That might influence where they focus their attention i.e Design Museum near Holland Park or Victoria and Albert Museum for art and design enthusiasts, British Museum for all sorts of exhibits, Kew Gardens has seasonal Christmas displays, Natural History Museum and Science Museum for science-lovers.

Might be worth checking out the Hop-on-hop-off bus tours. Generally a reasonable price to get around the major hot spots pretty efficiently, commentary in multiple languages and you can get a real flavour of a place.
I did one in San Francisco and it was great.

macman · 29 November 2016 at 1:46PM

allybee101 wrote: »

So many different things to do in London - do they have any particular interests or hobbies? That might influence where they focus their attention i.e Design Museum near Holland Park or Victoria and Albert Museum for art and design enthusiasts, British Museum for all sorts of exhibits, Kew Gardens has seasonal Christmas displays, Natural History Museum and Science Museum for science-lovers.

Might be worth checking out the Hop-on-hop-off bus tours. Generally a reasonable price to get around the major hot spots pretty efficiently, commentary in multiple languages and you can get a real flavour of a place.
I did one in San Francisco and it was great.

The smart alternative to this is to use the no. 15 bus route, which passes many of the classic heritage sites, and uses the original Routemasters. Much cheaper, and you can change buses within the hour for no extra cost. OP, remember that to use the buses you must have a contactless debit card or an Oystercard-no cash fares anywhere on London buses.

susancs · 2 December 2016 at 2:20PM

If they want to see the Queens guards close up and have photos beside the mounted guards, Whitehall is great for that (5 mins walk from Charing Cross station). The national art gallery is in Trafalgar square and the old church of St Martins is ther and has a reasonably priced cafe in the crypt. They could also get the no 15 old routemaster bus nearby (avoid the newer buses on the route) as it goes past a lot of the London attractions such as the Law Courts, St pauls etc on its way to the Tower of London. The Tower is well worth a visit in my opinion.

If they are coming from the airport via train they can use the train tickets with vouchers on the link below site to get 2 for 1 entry to places like the Tower.
https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london/london-attractions#/

They can use contactless bank card for travel or if they cannot use their cards without bank charges in the UK then they coudl get an oyster card on arrival (they will pay a refundable deposit for the card and need to add funds to it). If they hand it back in an undrground station office before heading home they will get the deposit and nay small amount left refunded.

The Natural History, Science and V&a are all beside each other by South Kensington tube station and are free entry. A short wald from there brings you to Kensington Gardens and the Albert Memorial and palace.

if they go to Waterloo or Westminster stations the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben are all there. River boats go from there to the Tower.

Get into London theatre sale will be opening up soon (already si if you have a mastercard) and they ahve cheap theatre seats for a lot of shows in January and February.

zagubov · 8 December 2016 at 11:01PM

macman wrote: »

The smart alternative to this is to use the no. 15 bus route, which passes many of the classic heritage sites, and uses the original Routemasters. Much cheaper, and you can change buses within the hour for no extra cost. OP, remember that to use the buses you must have a contactless debit card or an Oystercard-no cash fares anywhere on London buses.

Macman makes a good point. These are some of the ones that show you the touristy bits (they're just ordinary buses so you use your Oyster card), and maybe use this website to find stuff to do.
Plus, If you take the underground, it's easy to lose your bearings when you resurface (many major London streets took their signs down as a wartime anti-spy measure and never returned them). An A-Z or map is a must (also remember to get your bearings by looking for satellite dishes which always point south).
For cheap dining in the evening try 5pm.co.uk ( I know it's a Scottish site but it does cover London) The Stockpot restaurant chain runs cosy restaurants in Chelsea and the West End, and do good cheap basic meals at normal prices, unlike almost everywhere else in the centre (or even outskirts) of London - their addresses are on the internet.
The underground maps miss out overground lines so for example if you need to get from Trafalgar Square to London Bridge/ Tower of London area get any overground train from Charing Cross and you're there in a couple of minutes. Maybe a third of London is off the tube map especially most of the SW and all of the SE, although most of the touristy areas are north of the river anyway.
Enjoy your visit- the natives are friendly!

macman · 10 December 2016 at 5:42PM

London Overground lines are now all included on the tube map. What are not included are the National Rail lines, many of which serve the South London suburbs.

Is three weeks to long?

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