would appreciate some help with a summer london trip

frisbee

susancs wrote: »

I did think you might be better off doing that price wise, but then considered that you would have to drag any lugguage around with you either in London or Legoland until you check into the next hotel usually after 3pm on the day.

I think you will struggle to get any cheap deals for family rooms in London this last minute in the school holidays, so may have to cosnider staying outside and travelling in.

Slough Holiday Inn has a family room including breakfast for the 2 nights you want on the 2 for 1 deal at £37.47 per room per night including breakfast. You can get the train in to London from Slough and if you google I seem to remember there was a bus that goes from there to Legoland.
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/6c/925/en/c/1/content/dec/teaser/6c/1/en/lp/emea/twofor.html?rateCode=IDEX1

Thank you for your help, i have trawled for hours and not found anything affordable, but when you don't know the area, you don't really know what you are looking for. Now I just need to figure out the public transport.

Does anybody know if they have luggage lockers at victoria station. We plan to do legoland on the monday and sightseeing sunday afternoon and tuesday. The children are 10 and 11.

Thanks everybody for your input, i really appreciate it.

susancs

Victoria Station has luggage storage at £8 per item for 24 hours. It is only about 5 minutes walk from the Coach station to there. Also just a word of warning if staying at Heathrow Travelodge, TLs do overbook, so don't leave it too late to book in. We personally always book in as soon as possible after 3pm, dump any lugguage and then go out afterwards.
http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php

If you are considering slough www.tfl.gov.uk., trains go from Paddington to Slough and take about 18 minutes on the fast train it seems. Put in your dates and a time in the advanced journey search and it will come up with times. Some of the tubes lines are down that weekend due to track works (Jubillee, Hammersmith and City, lot metropolitan, Waterloo and City) so check routes in advance for the Sunday. From Victoria to Paddington you can get the circle or district lines 8 stops or you could go to South kensington which is only 2 stop fot the Natural History and Science Museums, Paddington is 6 stops from there.
Bus service for Slough to Legoland. Seems to be a complicated fare system, so might be worth calling them to check fares.
http://www.rainbowfares.com/timetables/glmf.htm

Counting_Pennies_2

In terms of costs for getting to Legoland, I know it sounds crazy, but look into how much a taxi company will charge you to travel there and back from your hotel.

The cost of trains and buses for the four of you might end up costing more than the taxi.

Also past posts, on both this site and TripAdvisor have all suggested the bus transfers take longer and queues are dreadful at the end of the day often queues after the last bus has been advertised, so you might like the idea of a stress free option.

hth

susancs

I just had a look at the Paddington to Slough train fares and it works out £25 return for the 4 of you if you have a friends and family rail card, otherwise it is £44.40 return. As The slow train seems to stop at West Drayton and this is in London transport zone 6, I wonder if a 1-6 London travel card which you would use on tubes and buses in London would cover you to there (the 10 year old travels free on buses and tubes and the 11 year old needs a childs travel card) and then you could buy a ticket from West Drayton to Slough, as long as the train stops at West Drayton (fast train does not). You could just buy the travelcard and use it and then buy a ticket for the one stop before boarding the Paddington to Slough train and so the same on the way back i.e. Slough to West Drayton, plus a 1-6 TC. Buy after 9.30am on your return on Tuesday to get cheaper fares.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/lon_con.pdf

xfive71

Oh dear! You are in a pickle with this. Let me get this straight -

Sunday 1/8 Victoria Coach station at 1.30pm; catch a show?
Monday 2/8 Legoland
Tuesday 3/8 Victoria Coach station at 7pm

Personally, I would skip Legoland this time round because it would be such a hassle. There is a lot of free and cheapish things to do in London within the days you are here. Legoland is fun, a little expensive and would mean you need to travel out and back in again.

If you do intend to go to Legoland, the best bet is to find a hotel around Paddington/Sussex Gardens/Norfolk Square area so you could take the train out to Legoland. I have tried travelsupermarket.com for the dates and there are several 2-3 star hotels for about £100++ a night for four. The tripadvisor reviews are not so hot though.

On the other posters' suggestion of staying out of London near Legoland, what you could do stow the luggage at Victoria station on arrival and sightsee London. You probably won't have time to catch a show since you would have to travel to your hotel near Legoland on Sunday night. Legoland first thing Monday and then travel back to London on Tues AM + a little more sightseeing before taking the coach back.

If you opt to take out Legoland from the picture (which may disappoint the young ones), there are cheapish hotels around Victoria station as well. It is a convenient area for sightseeing.

Free/cheap things to do in London :
British Museum, National History Museum and Science Museum
Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace
Changing of the Horse Guards
Walk down the South Bank with the House of Parliament and London Eye.
A boat trip from Westminster Pier to go under the Tower Bridge (approx £9 adults)

For the theatre, please get tickets from the Half Price booth at Leicester Square. Some shows do have restricted view tickets which are cheaper but you do have to go down to the particular theatre to query this. A quick look at lastminute.com for tickets won't hurt

dawnteabag

have you considered stopping in a youth hostel. My son and I stopped at the one near Kings cross when we went down to London for a show. Room was basic but clean and there are kitchens you can use for cheap meals / making sandwiches.

https://www.yha.org.uk

frisbee

Thank you for everybodys help. This is our first trip to london and it seems to be a minefield. we have booked the holiday inn at slough. We plan to go straight to the hotel from victoria on the sunday but not sure of the best way to get there? On monday we are going to legoland and tuesday sight seeing in london. We will have to do the show next time. All we need now from all you lovely people in the know is any transport advice you can give us. Thanks again.

frisbee

We are getting tickets for the sight seeing bus from tesco clubcard deals.Any information about this would be good too.

susancs

frisbee wrote: »

We are getting tickets for the sight seeing bus from tesco clubcard deals.Any information about this would be good too.

If you are getting tour bus on the Tuesday, you can use this to get around London that day using the hop on and off tour buses, so no real need for a travelcard.

On your arrival it might be an idea just to get the same Greenline bus no 702 (that also goes from slough to Legoland) from Victoria to Slough. It goes from the Colonnades shopping centre which is in front of the Coach station. Fares start from £1 per adult (violet coloured times it seems) with children half price it says on the site. It takes about an hour it seems. You could get the bus back on the Tuesday to Victoria and pick up the tour bus from Victoria.
http://www.rainbowfares.com/timetables/glsun.htm

Another option as discussed previously is to get the tube to Paddington and then get the train from there to Slough, quicker but more costly option.