London - 2 days - timings & tips?

lea2012

Afternoon all.

We're hoping to have a 2 day / 1 night stay in London early next year.

The plan is to get the train down and hopefully get into London Euston for around 11am on a Sunday. We plan on staying at the Travelodge Covent Garden (booking early check in from 12noon).

The plan at the minute is to watch the 3pm Matilda musical at cambridge theatre, but I just wondered if anyone had any ideas of what we could fit in the gaps around this show? There's two adults and a 7 year old. The show should finish, I imagine, at about 5.30pm but by that point in March I think it will be too dark to make the London Eye worthwhile,especially if it's poor weather, so the evening would probably be spent having a nice dinner and an early night.

At some point before our return on Monday evening we want to fit in the London Eye and our daughter really wants to see Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately it looks like on our dates we will maybe miss the changing of the guards, and I think at the age of 7 the tour of the inside of the palace wouldn't hold much interest so we wouldn't need to be there for very long really.

Would it be worth dropping our bags off at 12 at the hotel and making our way to Buckingham Palace before the 3pm show? Would we have time to get there and back to the theatre in time?

That way we could do London Eye early Monday morning, say 10am, leaving us with most of the day to visit somewhere else?

Any ideas or comments please?

gacallaghan

Hi,

I'd suggest getting the tube (Piccadilly line) from Covent Garden to Green Park (3 stops = 3 mins) and walking to Buckingham Palace from there.

Including the 6 minute walk from your hotel to the tube,
the tube = 3 mins,
and the walk from Green park tube to Buckingham Palace = 8 mins (plus extra time allowance just in case)
it should take you around 20 minutes door to door.

Providing you are checked in and on your way to Buckingham Palace by 12:30 then leave Buckingham Palace by 1:45pm to head back towards the tube to get back to Covent Garden you have lots of time.

Will thank about the Monday. I just did the Shard on Friday last week. Was amazing! Much better views than the London Eye.

carlislelass

Are there performances on a Sunday?

martindow

gacallaghan wrote: »

Will thank about the Monday. I just did the Shard on Friday last week. Was amazing! Much better views than the London Eye.

Isn't it eye-wateringly expensive - or are there cheap deals?

p00hsticks

carlislelass wrote: »

Are there performances on a Sunday?

Yes, at 3pm as the OP says (I agree that it's unusual for a theatre to have performances on aSunay, as many don't)

lea2012

Thank you all. Yes there is definitely a performance, I presume because it's Matilda it's aimed more at families and children so a weekend matinee would be popular.

I was told that we could get to Buck Palace in about 30 mins if we walked, do you think that's right? And about the same distance back to the Cambridge Theatre? I was hoping to be at the palace for no later than 1pm, and have half hour or so there before walking back to the theatre, getting there for 2.30 at the latest?

After a bit more looking and researching I was thinking of doing the following on Monday:
10am - London Eye (pre-booked tickets)
11am - Clipper to Tower of London
11:30-2:30 - Tower of London
3ish - Clipper back to London Eye with free time then for lunch and wandering until we get the train at about 7ish. This should then allow us more time in the tower if we want and adequate time for lunch / dinner too.

p00hsticks

lea2012 wrote: »

After a bit more looking and researching I was thinking of doing the following on Monday:
10am - London Eye (pre-booked tickets)
11am - Clipper to Tower of London
11:30-2:30 - Tower of London
3ish - Clipper back to London Eye with free time then for lunch and wandering until we get the train at about 7ish. This should then allow us more time in the tower if we want and adequate time for lunch / dinner too.

As you're travelling by train, you can make use of the 2-4-1 offer to get both entry to the Tower of London and river Roamer tickets on the Clippers, which will be cheaper than returns

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/tower-of-london
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/thames-clippers

So perhaps rather than just go back to the Eye, from the Tower you could get get a clipper up to the 02 (ex-Millenium dome) - it's a fun journey (you'll get to go under tower Bridge, see Greenwich, and Canary Wharf and go faster on the river). You can either just stay on the boat and come straight back, or get off at the dome for something to eat - there are a lot of restaurants there that should be open for a late lunch.

And check a bit nearer the time to see if the bridge is lifting any time you are nearby....http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN/BridgeLiftTimes/

p00hsticks

lea2012 wrote: »

I was told that we could get to Buck Palace in about 30 mins if we walked, do you think that's right? And about the same distance back to the Cambridge Theatre? I was hoping to be at the palace for no later than 1pm, and have half hour or so there before walking back to the theatre, getting there for 2.30 at the latest?

I think you'd struggle to walk from the Covent Garden Travelodge to Buckingham Palace in 30 minutes - the TFL site says it takes 35 minutes at average adult walking speed, and if you aren't familiar with the route or get side tracked you're best allowing a bit longer

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/results?IsAsync=true&JpType=publictransport&From=covent+garden+travelodge&FromGeolocation=&ToGeolocation=&ViaGeolocation=&To=City+of+Westminster%2C+Buckingham+Palace&TimeIs=departing&Date=20141019&Time=1245&Via=&NationalSearch=false&JourneyPreference=leasttime&Mode=tube&Mode=bus&Mode=dlr&Mode=river-bus&Mode=tram&Mode=cable-car&Mode=overground&Mode=national-rail&Mode=coach&AccessibilityPreference=norequirements&WalkingSpeed=average&MaxWalkingMinutes=40&CyclePreference=AllTheWay&SavePreferences=false&ToId=-0.14195553599%2C51.50152734008

(taking the tube doesn't save much time).

Armorica

Your hotel is just a little closer to holborn tube than covent garden (H is a better station). Unless you know where you are going, probably better not to walk before Matilda - increases risk of getting lost Temple Station to St James Park may be a little quicker (and St James’ is more interesting than Green Park)

You should also check ahead for tube engineering - it’s common for part of lines to be out of action at the weekends.

If you did walk (on the sunday or monday) then you could take in the guards on Whitehall outside horse guards parade and then down the mall to see the ones outside the palace too.

A good place to eat near your hotel is Old Dutch; not entirely sure it’s a balanced meal lol but kid may like http://www.myolddutch.com/ Depending on taste, you may also want to eat Chinese in China Town and/or Planet Hollywood (worth booking ahead).

Going back to London Eye may not be necessary. The clipper is a river bus, you don’t need a return.

Instead of getting a clipper back from the Tower, you could get the no 15 bus - double decker through the city and along fleet street so you get to take in a lot of London. Or the tube to Westminster then walk past big ben, whitehall, then along the mall via trafalgar square; which is then walking distance to planet hollywood for an earlyish dinner?

lea2012

Thanks for your further replies
I think we'll be better sticking to the tube then rather than walking

Having looked again the travelodge at waterloo is coming up £15 cheaper for the night than Covent Garden, would this perhaps be a better option

From what I can see the tube runs direct from Euston to waterloo and takes just 10minutes. We could then hop on the tube to green park to get to the palace, and then go from there to the theatre.

It seems close to the London Eye too? Or is this a false economy and whilst saving £15 I'll spend more on tube fares and waste time getting to places?

Armorica

The waterloo one is closer to what you'd like to see - apart from the theatre I've found the southwark one good in the past - often cheaper and close to southwark station/jubilee line. From waterloo, the palace etc. is walkable (and interesting stuff to see on route).

If you are doing more than a couple of journeys, you're best off getting a travelcard which caps the amount spent on tube fares. Should be able to get your train ticket to include at least one day travelcard; may need to pay for the second.