London Break (inc. West End Wicked Tickets)

brownaldinho

I'm looking to take my girlfriend to London for a couple nights (arriving 28th Dec - departing 30th) for her 30th and to take her to see Wicked on the evening of the 28th (as I can't seem to find any other dates for it).

I've looked online at the theatre break websites but they all seem to be coming in about £250 minimum and then looking on the trainline I'm going to be the same again for my tickets from Glasgow to London.

Flights start at around £75 per person but then by the time I factor in transport to and from the airport I think it'd probably work out not too different to the train fair - but at least the train would be a lot more straightforward.

I was hoping someone has some experience with taking short breaks for West End shows and could point me in the right direction?

Many thanks

googler

Take the train. Factor in time to and from the airport, and it basically takes the same time as the plane. No security checks on the train, you can take your own drinks in quantities you want, you can carry stuff with you on the train that you can't on the plane, the trains now have free WiFi, and you don't have to wait to get your luggage at the destination.

Train gets you straight into centre of London, where you want to be.

Have you tried booking train & hotel separately, rather than as a 'theatre break'?

brownaldinho

googler wrote: »

Have you tried booking train & hotel separately, rather than as a 'theatre break'?

Yeah I'm looking at doing them separately - the combo I was looking at was hotel & tickets though as I thought 1) this might work out cheaper and 2) the hotel will likely be near the theatre?

If I were to look at booking it all separately where should I look for hotels to stay considering the train looks like it gets in to Euston station and that we'll be going to the Apollo Victoria Theatre as well as doing all the touristy stuff (London Eye, Buckingham Palace etc)?

googler

brownaldinho wrote: »

If I were to look at booking it all separately where should I look for hotels to stay considering the train looks like it gets in to Euston station and that we'll be going to the Apollo Victoria Theatre as well as doing all the touristy stuff (London Eye, Buckingham Palace etc)?

Around Euston and King's Cross. That way, you tumble off the train and into your hotel room, and you don't need to schlepp your bags across town. On departure day, you have a leisurely breakfast and tumble into the train.

You don't need a hotel near the attractions or the theatre, as there's buses, tubes and taxis to get you there (without your luggage)

Victoria Line from Euston to Victoria will get you to and from the theatre with no change, and Northern Line from Euston connects to Leicester Square, Charing Cross and Waterloo (next to London Eye). A brace of other lines criss-cross these two for any other central place you want to get to.

p00hsticks

In this instance I'd agree with googler - travelling that distance on the train, I assume you're not going to arrive until after you can check in, and will probably go straight from the hotel to train statino afte checkout, so get one where you can quickly dump and pick up your luggage.

For a train journey of that length I'd suggest looking to see if you can get first class tickets cheaply but I suspect you may not be able to that weekend as it's likely to be busy /expensive.

My personal opinion is that Glasgow -> London is a long way to travel and expensive for just what is probably going to be basically a show and a single full day out signseeing - have you considered making the trip at a different time when you could perhpas spend a bit longer ?

susancs

As I persume you plan to be out all day and late into the night when on a birthday trip, I would just look for a cheap clean basic hotel. There are some good deals for the Travelodge for your dates currently. Vauxhall is a new TL, beside the train/tube station of the same name and pretty easy to get to most attractions from there.£59 for the Sat and £52 for the other nights per double room. 2 stops from there to Victoria on the tube to the Theatre for Wicked (5 min journey). 6 stops on the tube to Euston direct. 10 minute tube journey involving one change at Victoria to Westminster for the Houses Of parliament, Big Ben, London Eye. 5-7 min journey on the tube direct to Green Park for Buckingham Palace. 20 minute Journey time from Vauxhall with one change at Victoria to Tower Hill tube station for the Tower Of London. You can use www.tfl.gov.uk to plan your journeys and you can either buy a daily travelcard for unlimited travel on buses and tubes or get an oyster card you pay £5 deposit for and top up for travel as you go. The TC may be better as you can use it with the 2for1 days out offer. You also have several night buses that stop just beside Vauxhall train station if you plan to be out until the early hours.
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

Eastcoast trains haven't released the train fares for the 30th yet, but for the 28th the cheapest I can see is £34 for the two of you in total from Glasgow to London on that date. Again although not yet released you could look at Megabus gold service as they do overnight journeys with beds on board and they can be reasonable fares.

When booking tickets use the Theatre Monkey website to help you choose the best seats. The front two rows for Wicked are only sold at the box office on the day of the show and cost about £27.50 each, but if a saturday you would need to get in the queue a good while before the box office opens to get these seats. It is a brillant show by the way which I am sure your girlfriend and you will enjoy. By the way Wicked is coming to Glasgow in May if you would rather wait and book tickets for then.

googler

p00hsticks wrote: »

My personal opinion is that Glasgow -> London is a long way to travel and expensive for just what is probably going to be basically a show and a single full day out signseeing - have you considered making the trip at a different time when you could perhpas spend a bit longer ?

It's necessary to travel to London because Wicked isn't showing in Glasgow.

I have, and will continue to, travel down Scotland->London one day, go to a concert, and travel back to Scotland the following morning, because the only place many of my favoured concert artists play is London.

p00hsticks

googler wrote: »

It's necessary to travel to London because Wicked isn't showing in Glasgow.

It is in May next year

http://www.wickedtour.co.uk/

and I wasnt suggesting that the OP not go at all , simply to perhaps pick a time where they coudl spend more time than just a quick stopover

cswales

Hi
I have stayed in the Doubletree Victoria which is pretty much next to the theatre, but this will cost at least £100 a night. I would recommend the Travelodge in Covent Garden, we waited for the deals and had a family room for 3 nights for £100.
Thanks

*manda*

Work out how much tickets and travel will be then post back your preferred hotel budget and i'm sure plenty of us will be able go advise on options.

For tickets, try lastminute.com they often have offers, or discount theatre. I find the combined deals are not as good value as they appear.