London info

deborah64

Afternoon all, I am looking into going to london during the summer, am thinking it will be easier on the train, what I am trying to find out is what station I need to get into central london, near to the attractions etc,
Thanks in advance x

heart_free

It doesn't really matter which station in London you arrive into (for me it's Paddington as that's where the intercity from Cardiff goes to), the attractions in London are so widespread that you'll need to get yourself an Oyster card to get around. Or a day travel card. That way you just hop off and on trains and busses to get to the attractions you want to visit.

barbarawright

Where are you coming from? You don't really have much choice where you arrive if you're coming a long way but, as heart_free says, it doesn't matter that much as you'll be walking or bussing a fair distance anyway.

susancs

I just had a look at your previous posts to see where you are from and it seems Birmingham. It might be worth keeping an eye on London Standard offers as several times recently they have had a £2.50 each way London to Birmingham train offer. You have just missed this one for dates until near the end of July but may be another offer for August as there was one in April, May and June as well (you would just need to do 2 bookings one for Birmingham to london and the London to Birmingham).
http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/eveningstandard250offer

This train offer goes into Marylebone and you just get a daily travelcard for zones 1/2 to get a days unlimited travel on all buses and tubes. Like another poster has said attractions are spread out so you would need to travel and as there is so much to see and do, have a rough idea what you would like to do and plan a rough intinerary in advance. www.tfl.gov.uk has a journey planner on it.

Near Westminster and Waterloo stations you have The London Eye, House Of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. You can get a clipper boat from there to The Tower Of London (pay extra, but get a discount with Travelcard).


St James Park is the nearest tube station to Buckingham Palace if you want to see the changing of the Guard at 11.30am and Victoria is not too far away. Both involve a walk to the Palace.

The no 15 Bus has a route master older style bus on it (you can use Travelcard on it) and it goes past a some of the attractions.
http://www.insightguides.com/destinations/europe/england/london/cultural-features/old-london-bus-tour-routemaster-bus-no15

By South Kensington tube you have The Natural History, Science, and Victoria and albert Museums and 20 minutes walk bring you to Kensington Gardens which has the Peter Pan children's park, Elfin Oak, Kensington Palace and Gardens, Albert Memorial (opposite The Roayl Albert Hall) and you can walk from there into Hyde Park which has a boating lake, lido, horses and riders on rotten row, speakers corner (where people stand aring their views on life) Diana memorial, Boris bikes you can hire and ride around the park at Hyde Park corner. At the the bottom end of Hyde Park is Marble Arch which is beside Oxford Street for shopping.

At Trafalgar Square you have the old St Marys in the Field Church and the National Art Gallery. Easy 5 minute walk from there to Covent Garden which has lot of street entertainers and theatres nearby. You can walk down from Trafalgar square to Whitehall for close up pictures beside the mounted Queens guards.

The British Museum is near Tottenham Court tube station or not far from Euston train station. The Museum Of London is near St pauls or Barbican tube stations.



You can do a tour using travelcard on London buses details on this site.
http://www.londonforfree.net/outdoors/bustour/bustour.shtml

If you look on the megabus site they have some reasonable fares via both bus and train from Birmingham to London. e.g. randomly checked 20 August and the Virgin train from Birmingham New St to Euston is £5 each way and there are £1 coach fares for the return journey so may be £1 coach fares each way on other dates.
http://uk.megabus.com/

If you consider driving it you could park at a tube station off the M1 such as Stanmore for the day and get the tube in from there. £5 weekdays, £2 Sat and £1.50 for all day parking. An off peak Tc zones 1-6 (buy after 9.30am weekdays) for an adult is £8.90, children aged 10 and under travel free on all london tubes and buses and £3.40 for a children aged 11-15 for a daily off peak 1-6 TC.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/tubestationcarparks/

googler

The mainline station you arrive at will be determined by where you travel from, and which train co. you travel with.

I generally book a hotel close to my arrival & departure station so that I'm going the minimum distance with my luggage. Then, going from the hotel to the attractions is just me, and there's tube and buses on a regular basis to all the main points of interest.

Bailey12

Many London stations are closely connected with top tourist attractions. Susancs has given a detailed information. I will list some top attractions close to popular London stations below-

Paddington Station is close to Regents Canal, Serpentine and the famous Hyde Park.
Victoria Station is very nearer to St James's Park and Buckingham Palace.
Euston Station in central London is very close to Regent's Park and the British Library.
Waterloo Station in central London is very close to the County Hall and London.