NFT: Sights to see in London

a hat like that?

If you're into that sort of thing.

Also - Tower of London is a must

Churchill War Rooms - if you’re into WW2 history, very cool
British Museum - Loot the Brits stole from around the world
Fortnum & Mason Afternoon Tea - if it’s something you’re into
British Library - lots of interesting historical documents from the Magna Carta to handwritten Beatles lyrics

Also Rick Steves has some good audio tours you can download free. Here’s a link to his site, but you can also find them in whatever podcast app you use:



Rick Steves - ( New Window )

Tower of London
The Eye
Westminster Abby, the Tower of Big Ben, the rosy red cheeks of the little children.

Take the walk to the top too.

...Mary fucking poppins....LONDON!

getting a London Pass. If you see 2-3 attractions per day it pays for itself.
London Pass - ( New Window )

In comment 16509876 Jolly Blue Giant said:

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getting a London Pass. If you see 2-3 attractions per day it pays for itself. London Pass - ( New Window )

Thanks! This is a great idea.

Also, great suggestions by Jim in Fairfax

is to take a London guided tour bus the first morning.That will identify most of the highlights and YOU can choose those that interests you.
It also gives you a good feel for how far away each site is from the others.
Learn how to use the Underground.
And MIND THE GAP!

In comment 16509856 Eli Wilson said:

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If you're into that sort of thing. Also - Tower of London is a must

Lived there for three years and had lots of visitors. These two were always fan favorites. I'd also encourage you to just wander through either Hyde Park, or Regents Park and also walk through the street of Soho (maybe even find a place called Lee Ho Fook's and get a big dish of beef chow mein).

In comment 16509902 rebel yell said:

Quote:

In comment 16509856 Eli Wilson said: Quote: If you're into that sort of thing. Also - Tower of London is a must Lived there for three years and had lots of visitors. These two were always fan favorites. I'd also encourage you to just wander through either Hyde Park, or Regents Park and also walk through the street of Soho (maybe even find a place called Lee Ho Fook's and get a big dish of beef chow mein).

Ah-hoo

There are different routes so you can see different parts of London. By all means do a pub crawl!

.

with a ride on the thames

Tate modern, a walk through Kensington garden and Hyde Park, Ronnie Scott’s jazz club if that is your thing, any of the markets.

Surprise surprise there is good food in London. I really like some of the traditional items: full English breakfast, jacket potatoes, tea and crumpets, abd a Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding. Great Indian food as well.

Tate modern, a walk through Kensington garden and Hyde Park, Ronnie Scott’s jazz club if that is your thing, any of the markets.

Surprise surprise there is good food in London. I really like some of the traditional items: full English breakfast, jacket potatoes, tea and crumpets, abd a Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding. Great Indian food as well.

I would take the London Double Decker Tour bus the first day. It will spend a few hours taking you around central London so you can see the main sights and get your bearings. You can get off and on as you want. Definitely get out at the Tower of London and take the tour, the Beefeaters are hysterical. They also give you a fare to take the ferry down the Thames from London Tower to Westminster.

Day 2 you can just walk. From where you are you can go straight over to the Parliament and Big Ben, then to Westminster Abbey, up to Buckingham Palace, then Trafalgar Sq. I'd go up to Piccadilly Circus and shoot over to Covent Garden from there. Covent Garden is a great outside shopping area. Back over to Tower Bridge and back to Southwark. IF at any time its too tiring just jump into the Tube (Subway) and go where you want.

Day 3 would be ideal if you can go to a soccer match (Crystal Palace is near you and there are 5 other London teams). Also check out the War Museum and other museums, Harry Potter tours, etc (whatever you are in to).

Also make sure you take in a play (West London is like off Broadway). There are 80 playhouses showing everything. Also every corner has 4 pubs, knock yourself out. In fact I have found that the "nice" pubs have some of the best English food around (Fish and Chips, Steak and Ale pie, Shepards Pie, bangers and Mash, etc).

In addition the Indian food is great, England used to own India. If you want Chinese, Chinatown is a block behind Leicester Sq, with is right behind Trafalgar Sq.

In comment 16509854 BobR in Durham said:

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a hat like that?

Ha! Yes, yes you do. In addition to the Churchill war room (a must) you should definitely go to the Imperial War Museum on the south side of the Thames if you are into WWII history. I got there an hour before closing and could have spent a day.

Also Tower of London of course. And Hampton Court Palace (aka Henry VIII's palace).

And Westminster Abby. So much amazing history.

there. Probably the best outside of India.

Their local food as someone else said earlier isn't very good.

Cornish pastries & fish and chips are pretty much your only options.

In comment 16509883 BobR in Durham said:

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In comment 16509876 Jolly Blue Giant said: Quote: getting a London Pass. If you see 2-3 attractions per day it pays for itself. London Pass - ( New Window ) Thanks! This is a great idea. Also, great suggestions by Jim in Fairfax

We went last Summer. The London Pass is a must. It also allows you to use the water shuttle which is cool. If you're into theater at all the Shakespeare theater tour is fun. Westminster was great. I agree the Tower of London is great.

Science museum and the Natural history museum - free entrance just book in advance to skip the queue.

The Churchil war rooms are super nice and its a short walking distance from Buckingham palace

Covent garden area is super nice, same goes for Camden Market.

The tube is easy enough to handle, plus there is a great app called TfL Go, basically tells you which line to take

But for Big Ben area its Jubilee line,
Camden its the Northren, and for the Covent garden best is Piccadilly but can also take either Elizabeth or Central and then walk for 5-10min

I had the same thought.
Yeah. Don't go to England!
In comment 16509865 djm said:

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...Mary fucking poppins....LONDON!

Harrods is worth the trip to throw a cookie to her. It's a huge dept store, but the food market area is a sight to behold and nice diversion.

In comment 16510334 gfinop said:

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there. Probably the best outside of India. Their local food as someone else said earlier isn't very good. Cornish pastries & fish and chips are pretty much your only options.

I liked a place called Dishoom

for the suggestions. My DW likes Indian food, so we'll check out Dishoon. We'll likely walk through some of the neighborhoods mentioned here, the Tate Modern and British Museum, but keep the rest of our time in London to just a few historical institutions. Not in a rush to see it all this time.

I recommend visiting Harrod’s. It’s a show. Petrodollars.

so we'll pass on Harrods, although I'm sure it's a spectacle. I'm an old fart and this trip is about relaxation in new environments, so we're slow travelling Ireland and the UK for 13 weeks. London is the last stop in the UK before a month in Madeira, so we'll maintain an easy schedule there, too.

In comment 16509856 Eli Wilson said:

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If you're into that sort of thing. Also - Tower of London is a must

These are the first two things I was going to suggest. Also, sign up on line for major attractions so you have a specific time and don't have to wait on a line (or a queue). this includes the Tower of London, the London Eye and the Churchill War Rooms (which are amazing). You'll save a lot of time and it works well.

If you like art, go to the British National Museum.

Another cool experience is the Thames Rib Boat. They put you on the river in a rigid inflatable boat and you fly around real fast while they blast James Bond music. if you have kids they will love this.

In comment 16510334 gfinop said:

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there. Probably the best outside of India. Their local food as someone else said earlier isn't very good. Cornish pastries & fish and chips are pretty much your only options.

The Indian food in India is very good. But over there they just call it food.

I also recommend the Churchill War Rooms, but my only add-on advice is to watch "The Darkest Hour" before you go (maybe on the plane) - that is what I did and for me at least, it made the War Rooms so much more meaningful in that I got a better sense of what happened in each of them beyond what you will learn in the museum itself.

and I also recommend hitting Brick Lane for some Indian food. It is a scene.

touristy if you ask me. The landmarks/sites I understand you have to go to if it's your first time, but I would not recommend going to Harrod's or Borough Market.

In comment 16510386 Danny L said:

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Covent garden area is super nice, same goes for Camden Market.

I loved Camden Market, and pretty much all of Camden itself. When I took a left turn in the Market and found myself, completely by mistake, where the Clash recorded their first album, I was in my own rock and roll heaven. That album is in my top 5 all time.

In comment 16510845 cosmicj said:

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I recommend visiting Harrod’s. It’s a show. Petrodollars.

Spot on. I just went a few months ago with the wife and kids for 8 days an that was my take on Harrod's. We literally had pizza for the four of us and it was over 200 American Dollars. They had iphones that were made of diamonds, a million dollar rolex, racing simulators that were like 100K. It is not for shopping, just kind of like seeing how the .000000000001% live and having a good laugh.

As other have said, Churchill's War Room was a must and Tower of London was pretty cool. We went to a PL game at Tottenham, that was awesome but not sure if they will be playing when you get there (it is over next weekend). I also liked the Salted Beef sandwich at Borough Market.
I thought the London Eye was a waste and Westminster Abby was just basically walking on dead king's graves (crowded and creepy). Instead of the London Eye, consider getting a meal at Sky Garden.

but I would recommend a boat trip from where you will be in Central London out to Greenwich.

https://www.thamesclippers.com/plan-your-journey/route-map

Actually, you could go in the other direction to Putney, a really nice place to walk along the Thames.

The best museum in London is probably the Victoria and Albert Museum, affectionately known as the V&A. Walking distance from South Kensington tube, and right next to the Natural History and Natural Science museums if you want to look at some dinosaurs.

Tower of London tour, and eat at The Mineries a short walk from there. Cool restaurant under that rail yard. It’s also the sight of the last Jack the
Ripper murder. Skip Buckingham and take a bus out to Windsor Castle. THAT is impressive. It’s about a 30 minute trip outside of London. Far superior to wasting you time at Buckingham. Enjoy.