London Sightseeing

JoshRedford

Hi, i'm new - sorry if i've put this in the wrong section. Please be gentle! :eek:

Well i've been looking around this site for a bit and i've got to say, I don't know how I managed without it! Thank you - but now i've decided to pluck up the courage to register and ask for some help myself!:j

I'm going to London with a few family members at the end of July but we will only be there for 2 days so we don't want to spend too long sightseeing because that will mean we don't have much time for attractions. I'd like to know if you would recommend the sightseeing bus tours that I have seen advertised, such as 'The Original Sightseeing Tour'? I think that one costs around £20 per person, which does seem a bit too much to spend just to sit on a bus for an hour! But do you think it is worth it?

I also had another idea - in London I would think that there are normal public transport buses everywhere - surely some of these normal bus routes must pass quite a few sights, so does anyone know of any bus routes which do? I think this might work out much better, as we will be getting travelcards for the underground, which I think would mean that we wouldn't have to pay anything for the buses - is that true?

Thank you very much to anyone who can help me! :beer:

Josh

gner_ex

Josh,

Sorry your message hasn't been answered.

Yes, if you buy a travelcard you can use the bus anywhere in Greater London. Do you have a railcard (young person/senior citizen/network railcard) or if you are travelling with children do you have a family railcard?

Have you booked your train travel to London yet - if not, what is the station you are travelling from; we may be able to suggest something.

In general, I agree about avoiding the sightseeing buses. Any double decker will give good views, depends what you want to see really. I can perhaps recommend routes 9 and 15, which have AEC Routemasters operating on their central section - see http://www.geocities.com/routemasterheritageroute/ for more info.

DevonBoy_2

Travelling around London isnt cheap at the best of times especially if you want to see a lot in a day, if you want to see a lot of london in a day then my advice is to make the investment. This site does the london sightseeing tour with a discount for children so their ticket is £12 each. It may not be as cheap as you wish, but it takes out all the hassle of tackling the tube, getting lost, trying to work out which buildings are which. They recorded guides are also very informative. Personally, I wouldnt even attempt trying to see london by london bus and I have spent 8 years of my life working in london.

gner_ex

Devon Boy - I disagree. Travelling around London _is_ cheap. 90p for a single bus journey (capped at £3 for a day) and £4.80 for buses/tubes/trains/tram in what must be a 15 mile radius from central London.... train/tube you can go as far out as Epping, Harold Wood, Rainham, St. Mary Cray, Ewell, Surbiton, Feltham, Heathrow, Amersham, Elstree, etc etc - in many places, you can go even further on the bus, i.e. Potters Bar etc.

The trick with buses in London is getting on buses that are half empty. JohnRetford I imagine will arrive at Kings Cross, so board one of the buses that start there http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaround/maps/buses/pdf/kingscross-2150.pdf

boombap

Hello,

I'm looking at booking a ticket online for the Original London Sightseeing Tour (theoriginaltour.com) and noticed on the booking page there was a field to enter promotion codes.

Me being me I googled for some codes and have found a couple - the main one of interest being £5 off which is an affiliation with Arriva. I've put the code and it has been honoured online but I'm guessing that the tour company will want to see an Arriva staff card once I try to board a bus? I've not actually booked yet, just tinkered about on the booking page.

Many thanks,

Squee