<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I’m a student who will be studying abroad in the Middle East this summer and I will have a 12 hour layover in London during the daytime. I thought it would be a shame to spend this time in the airport so I was wondering if anyone here had any suggestions on how to best an abbreviated, i.e. 9-10 hours, day in London. I’ve lurked travel posts on this board before and you guys always seem to be a great resource for this kind of thing!</p>
<p>FYI, you won’t have a full 9-10 hours in London. None of the London airports are actually in London but are a train journey or tube journey out. Make sure you allow plenty of time for going through immigration (make sure you have whatever you need to actually be able to get through immigration - I don’t think you need a visa or anything), traveling into London and especially for traveling back and getting through the generally fairly tortuously slow security lines at London airports (Heathrow is worse in my opinion and very slow I almost missed my flight last summer despite being at the airport 3 hours in advance - but of course that included ticket and bag check).</p>
<p>So I would be thinking along the lines of maybe 6-7 hours in London. As to what to see - it depends what interests you the most. If you are coming from Gatwick you come in at Victoria station which is walking distance to Buckingham palace, Houses of parliament, Big Ben and that area. That might be a good bet if that is what interests you. Get a good map and plan out a circular route and walk. London is very walkable.</p>
<p>Also be warned that on weekends there are often works on train and tube lines.</p>
<p>Windsor Castle is pretty close to Heathrow airport so if you decide not to go into London proper you might want to visit it - it’s an interesting castle to see.
[Windsor</a> Castle](<a href=“http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/WindsorCastle/WindsorCastle.aspx]Windsor”>http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/WindsorCastle/WindsorCastle.aspx)</p>
<p>There’s a fast train from Heathrow that takes 15 minutes to get to the center of London so you s/b able to head there and back with adequate time. It’s not the least expensive way to get to London but it’s fast. The Tower of London is my top recommended destination in London but of course, it all depends on what you like. There’s a lot you can see in the center part of London which really isn’t that large of an area. Another thought would be to do a city tour.
[Heathrow</a> Airport Trains | Heathrow Trains | Heathrow Express](<a href=“http://www.heathrowexpress.com/Home]Heathrow”>Train to Heathrow | London To Heathrow | Heathrow Express to London)
[Welcome</a> to the Tower of London](<a href=“http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/]Welcome”>Tower of London | Historic Royal Palaces)</p>
<p>Try to get back to the airport around 3 hours before departure to be safe - no later than 2 hours before.</p>
<p>This was a long time ago, but in 1986 my H and I had a long layover in London. We had flown all night from San Francisco, and then had an evening flight to the middle east. So long ago that I don’t remember all the details, but we stored our luggage somewhere (airport locker? with the airline?) and took the train into London. We were able to do quite a bit of sight-seeing, and then returned to the airport for our next flight. We were very, very tired when we got to our final destination, but enjoyed our excursion!</p>
<p>I suggest:</p>
<p>!. Spend most of your available time in the British Museum - see the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and all that stuff.</p>
<ol>
<li> For lunch have some real fish and chips.</li>
</ol>
<p>I know this is very touristy and cliche thing to do, but buy a ticket to one of the double-decker buses and see the city that way. Perhaps you’d have time to pick one place to get off and explore more at depth. </p>
<p>I’ve been to London twice, and did not do the double-decker tour until the end of the first visit and sort of wished I’d done it at the beginning. I had a few hours to kill while D1 was in class and my flight left. When I returned to London the second time, I felt like I had a better grasp of the geography, etc. because of the double-decker tour I’d taken.</p>
<p>^Yes, I agree, teriwitt. Embrace your status as a tourist & start with the double-decker bus tour. If the weather is nice, I’d suggest the Beefeater’s tour of the Tower of London. If weather is bad, the National Portrait Gallery is fascinating (it is adjacent to Trafalgar Square). The fast train is a good way to get from Heathrow into the city.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>The problem with the Heathrow Express train (assuming the OP is actually flying into Heathrow) is that, apart from being the most expensive train journey per mile in the world, it ends up at Paddington. That is not near any tourist attractions so you will have to get on the tube at that point anyway. It is therefore unlikely to make your journey quicker, just more expensive. </p>
<p>There is luggage storage (if your luggage is not checked all the way through) at Heathrow. It costs something like £8 per day. It’s not lockers. It’s a secure storage place (they x-ray your bags etc). I don’t know about Gatwick but I expect there is something similar there.</p>
<p>I like the Windsor idea. Windsor is really close to Heathrow. If you land at terminal 4 you will see it from the plane.</p>
<p>If you arrive at Heathrow, you can take the Picadilly line all the way to the city center. Spend a good 6 hours or so looking around at the sights, then get back to Heathrow.</p>
<p>Take the Heathrow Express to Paddington (15 minutes ride vs. 40 by the Piccadilly tube line; time is money in your case). Just across the street and around the corner is the stop for one of the hop on/hop off bus services (I think the “Original” tour company), which you can ride around and see everything there is to see in a couple of hours. Store your luggage at the airport and enjoy!</p>
<p>Hopefully the luggage will be booked all the way through to the final destination, so no need for storage. I know when I fly internationally my bags are always checked through, and only when I first arrive in the US do I see them again because of having to go through customs.</p>
<p>Stradmom and Teriwtt got it spot-on. Take the Heathrow Xp to Paddington and get on the Hop-on/Hop-off bus. Also, buy a guidebook (Fodors or Rough Guide) beforehand so you can figure out where you might want to get off and look around (British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, Tower, etc.)</p>
<p>The double decker bus tour is a good idea. I’ve been to the Tower of London twice and I’ll go a third time if I get the chance.</p>