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Going to London in September

A

AndyfromVA

Member
My first trip to Europe. I'll be in London for a week. I want to see the Tower of London, the Old Bailey and go on the Jack the Ripper tour, but other than that I'm undecided.

Any sightseeing recommendations?
How about restaurants?

Thanks.
 
All depends on what you fancy fella.

There's all the usual stuff, I can recommend the duck tour (amphibious vehicle - drives around the city then takes you on the themes) the tower of London is probably half a day or so.

If money is an issue, it's much much cheaper to find a hotel about 10 miles out and get yourself an oyster card, load it with cash (available from most corner shops / news agent's) and just tube into london centre (20-35 mins approx)

Don't forget to take a stroll down the mall and see Buckingham Palace, watch the changing of the guard while your there (11 or 11:30 iirc) there's also tower bridge, not far from the ToL, Big Ben at the houses of parliament (Big Ben is actually the bell, so few actually 'see' it but the tower it's housed in is still impressive. Parliament square is just over the bridge, as is MI5 HQ and down the themes a short way is MI6 HQ.

If you want shopping, check out Bond Street, or anywhere near Trafalgar Square (close to BP/The Mall) you'll find a ton of pub's and restaurants all over the place, can't really name any but it's easy enough to Google for traditional stops to eat if you want good old school grub.

Also try to pay Harrods a visit, big department store, very expensive, nice chocolate restaurant in there, if you can find it, and another more regular restaurant near the top floor.

Biggest tip would be to get the oyster car. d, unless you fancy paying stupid high prices for a city centre hotel. ;)

Check the site for more ideas, museums are a good visit: www.lonelyplanet.com/england/london/sights
 
go on the london eye, that's pretty good.

also, check out camden. Always a cool place to go.

one tip when you're on the underground, stand on the right when going up or down an escalator!

oh and bring as much money as possible. London, and the UK in general is expensive.
 
Re the Oyster card - if you're in london for a week, it would be cheaper to buy a weekly ticket rather than pay for each trip. I think they charge a deposit for the Oyster card, but you get it back when you hand the card back. If you're going to travel further out than your hotel a few times, might be worth calculating if it's cheaper to buy the weekly for all the required zones.

Re places to see, the suggestions above are all good. We just had the in-laws over and they really enjoyed Marylebone High Street which is very central and lots of lots of nice shops and places to eat - very yummy mummy, so think arty/organic.

If you're a bit of a culture vulture, you should check out the V&A and the Natural History Museum (next to each other in Knightsbridge) and the British Museum (near Tottenham Court Road) - they're all free entry and you could spend a week in each. The National Portrait Gallery is also worth a look. If you're into things military you could be really brave and head south of the river to check out the Imperial War Museum.

The South Bank Centre could also be worth a look - there's usually (free) things happening around there, plus there's a very pleasant walk along the river bank.

If you're up for going a little further afield, Eton and Windsor are very pretty and not too far from the centre of town.

I keep thinking of more and more stuff - I'm going to stop now ..

Re food: kinda depends on what you like and your budget. You have to try our national dish, which is I believe is now officially Chicken Tikka Massala :D If you're going to be near Kingston or Ealing, find Monty's and order the Butter Chicken - to die for.

I would check out TripAdvisor (and similar) for specific resto / hotel recommendations. We used it in Spain recently and - sticking to the top 10 most recommended - it did a real good job.

Finally, if you're into salsa you have to go to SOS .. but if you're into salsa, you know that already :D
 
Iirc the oyster card deducts trip by trip but has a limit, as in, you can make unlimited trips any day, but you'll only be charged upto 5, so make more than 5 trips and your saving cash. Just throwing it out there. Btw it's easy to get over 5-6 trips in a day on the tube/bus/train etc. ;)
 
AndyfromVA said:
My first trip to Europe. I'll be in London for a week. I want to see the Tower of London, the Old Bailey and go on the Jack the Ripper tour, but other than that I'm undecided.

Any sightseeing recommendations?
How about restaurants?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The Tian Tsin Chinese Takeaway, Ramsden Road, Balham is quite good. Had the Peking Spare Ribs a couple of nights ago. If Chinese is not your thing, there's plenty of McDonald's and KFCs in London. ;)
 
Thanks for the info. Our travel agent already booked us in one of those central city overpriced hotels - unfortunately. I would have liked to have saved money by staying in the suburbs but it's tough if you're completely ignorant about the area.

Your sightseeing and restaurant suggestions are very much appreciated.
 
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