London - what should we go to see and do?

Jo4

susancs wrote: »

If you want a cheap and basic London outskirts hotel them the Travelodge at Cricklewood (London NW2) £41 for 2/9, £62 for 3/9, £52 4/9 and £38 5/4 for a double room. Add the nights to your basket one at a time and then checkout because if you block book it charges the most expensive rate for all nights on the TL system. It seems to have chargeable parking and is outside the congestion zone. Cricklewood train station which is a few minutes walk away takes about 10 minutes into St Pancras. You have Kilburn tube station which is about a 20 minute walk away or a 5 minute bus journey. The jubillee train from there goes to Westminster direct and takes 15 minutes. There is the N16 night bus that runs to a stop across the road from the TL. You could get the 148 night bus from Parliament square near Westminster to Marble Arch to pick up the N16. You can use Oyster or a Travelcard on the night buses. The daytime no 16 bus runs from in front of the hotel to Marble Arch/Oxford Street.
http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/N016.htm

I would go on www.tfl.gov.uk journey planner to plan your trips for each of your days so you are not going backwards and forwards across London. Cricklwood is in zone 3 so if you got an Oyster card each (£5 deposit and top up as required) the Oyster would cap off peak (travel aft 9.30am) at £7.70 per day per person or if you want to use a Travelcard (purchse aft 9.30am from the Cricklewood rail station as it will have the British Rail logo on it that will make it eligible for the 2for 1 entry london offers, Kilburn tube will only have the London underground logo on it) for unlimited daily travel in zones 1-3 it would be £8 . Oyster card cannot be used for the 2for 1 offers.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14416.aspx

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

It seems as if your river trip is at night and if so you could drive and park up as the congestion charge ceases at 6pm at night and does not start until 7am. It is about a 7-8 mile trip To Westminster from Cricklewood which outside of the rush hour at night is not a bad journey but you are probably lookin at £5 an hour parking charges in the Qpark at Westminster but would be cheaper than the approx taxi fare of £35. Parking at St Thomas Hospital which is about 5 mins walk away from Westminster Pier at night would be cheaper if you could get a space as it is £1.50 an hour.

THANKS for all that information. We already have a hotel booked and we are hoping to get the train into London that night and back to the hotel after we disembark from the boat.

I need to plan what we are going to see and do while in London and we have decided on some things and we have worked out where they are however we have not worked out which we are going to see on which days as I have been unwell again.

Jo4

susancs wrote: »

Lol, I am like that and find it handy and no problems using it everyday in London. I like it for my bottle of water as it gets so hot this weather on the tubes.

I need the bag for the bottle of water, medication, monitors etc and that is before the kitchen sink goes into it, lol!! :eek:

TheatreDeals

I would definitely recommend visiting the West End... Her Majesty's Theatre for Phantom of the Opera is amazing..I've been to see the production twice and will most definitely go again! Enjoy your trip

susancs

OP, I would do a rough plan for each day so you get as much in as possible in your time. Go on www.tfl.gov.uk journey planner and googlemaps to plan travel.

You could go to South Kensington tube station one day and visit the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert (all beside each other) on whistle stop type quick visits (all are free). It is a 20 minute walk from there to Kensington Gardens and on the way you can see the Royal Albert Hall and visit the Albert memorial.

IMO the Tower Of london is worth a visit and from there you can get the no 15 old Red routmaster bus (wait for it as not every no 15 bus) is an older bus. The bus goes past a lot of attractions such as St Pauls, law courts etc. At Traflagar Square you have the the National Art Gallery. You also have St martins in the Field old church which has a nice crypt cafe area that does food and drink. Also if you walk down to Whitehall you can get photos beside the Queens Guards who are on Horseback. Walk from there to Covent Garden and watch the Street entertainers.

If you get in touch with your MP they can arrange a free tour of The Houses Of Parliament for you, which you could do before your boat trip. Near that area you also have the Imperial War Museum, London Eye and Westminster Abbey.

If you go to a theatre box office before opening time you can get cheap day seats for a lot of shows via this method. For example Wicked reserve the first two rows and only sell on the day at the box office. Once do the same and War Horse has cheap day seats. Have a look on the website of a show you want to see, to see if they do day seats at the box office. They usually do better value seats than any of the cut price ticket booths. Most of the schools will be back by the Wednesday or Thursday of your holiday so that would be probably a good time to try for day seats.

gamston

if you don't mind walking here are to routes to try
trafalger sq--mall--Buckingham palace for changing the guard (11am)--though the park (feed squarrils and birds)--into horse guards--passed downing st--Big Ben--Westminster abbey--back across the river to London eye, aquiaium etc
or
monument--tower of London--across tower bridge--HMS Belfast--globe theate--modern Tate--across bridge up to St pauls
not saying you need to visit/go into each location, but they are nice walks and you see a lot of the sites
we normally take a quick picnic &/or stop at Mcdonalds (on these to routes go to the Mcdonalds at London eye

Jo4

We had a brillant time and we are considering going back next year. Thanks to everyone for all the useful tips and suggestions they were very useful.

googler

You're welcome

Alva25

British museum
Bunckingham Palace
Westminister Abbey
Victoria and albert museum
National gallery
Imperial war museum
Tower bridge are a must see in London

Alva25

Some destinations are
British museum
Bunckingham Palace
Westminister Abbey
Victoria and albert museum
National gallery
Imperial war museum
Tower bridge are a must see in London.
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scrimpster

If you are going next year, you might consider trying the Museum of London Docklands by the waterfront. It's about a three minute walk from the Canary Wharf shops etc.