<p>I did not mention the Ceremony of the Keys, because I believe - but not sure - that it’s too late to get tickets, if you are going for spring break. I did this once, and got them 6 months in advance. It was one of the highlights of all my visits to London. It’s just hard to describe, but I highly, highly recommend it. For tickets, you can get the address from most guidebooks, but I just wrote to the Queen!! And it got referred to the right people, which is amazing.</p>
<p>For anyone interested in music/choral performances, I also recommend finding out when the boys’ chorus of St. Paul’s rehearses. I don’t remember when it was, but I wandered into St. Paul’s, and they boys came in, in full dress, and sang for an hour or so. It was awe-inspiring.</p>
<p>We visited London for a week last summer and I can’t wait to go back. You won’t need, or want, a car if you’re in the city. The tube is fine and London has the best taxi system of any city I’ve ever been in. Everyone should take at least one ride in a London cab!</p>
<p>We stayed at Piccadilly Circus at Le Meridien Piccadilly and it was a perfect location. We walked everywhere. You’re close to theatres, Buckingham Palace, St James Park, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, the British Museum, Trafalgar Square, Harrod’s, Hyde Park, etc. etc. The only time we took a taxi was to the Tower of London and then we took the Thames ferry back to Westminster.</p>
<p>If you’re going to want theatre tickets, order them now. I highly recommend Billy Elliot. It’s one of my favorite theatre experiences and I’ve seen hundreds of Broadway shows.</p>
<p>I’d recommend you buy one of the Eyewitness LONDON travel books. We bought several travel guides before our trip and found the Eyewitness one the best one by far. Please feel free to PM or email me if you want more detail about our trip. :)</p>
<p>You don’t mention your budget, but one of my favorite hotels in the entire world is the Connaught, which is in London’s Mayfair district. Convenient location, small rooms, expensive food–but gorgeous, a hundred years old, amazing service, and the best sheets ever (I bought a set when we stayed there, and still sleep on them every night). Sometimes they have a special deal–which is the only way we choose to afford them, and even them, it’s the two luxurious nights of a two-week trip, staying mostly at two-star hotels. <a href=“http://www.theconnaughthotellondon.com/connaught/[/url]”>http://www.theconnaughthotellondon.com/connaught/</a></p>
<p>London Walks - “Jack the Ripper” tour remains my DS’s favorite memory of London! The Tower of London is well worth the visit, and I second the National Portrait Gallery. It is a very easy city to navigate, the tube is easy to travel on, and many things are within walking distance of each other. We stayed at super economy “Regents Palace” at Picadilly Circus (very clean shared bathrooms…sounds weird to North Americans…but the place was filled with school groups, teams, and families taking in the big city…depends how tight the $$$ is )
Best Wishes! I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time…and remember when you travel the best plans and expectations can all go wrong, but be adaptable & you can turn anything into an adventure with the right frame of mind!</p>
<p>Another suggestion if you are thinking about venturing into the countryside…</p>
<p>Stratford-upon-Avon: the birthplace of Shakespeare as well as a lovely pseudo-touristy town. Everyone there (from my experience) was friendly, quick to provide recommendations, and well-informed as to the historical aspects of the town. As you’d imagine from the name, you have a (rather small!) river running through the town. The houseboats are such a cute little quirk! If you have the time, Stratford is definitely worth seeing.</p>
<p>If you decide to visit and need somewhere to stay, I’d recommend the White Swan- not sure if they have a website- it was one of the most quaint hotels I have ever had the pleasure to visiting. Our room overlooked the courtyard. It was spacious (very un-European!), clean, adorably furnished, historical (try 400+ years old), and centrally located. </p>
<p>We are big fans of London. Our son, 17 years old, lives at the British Museum when we visit London. Our daughter, 14 years old, could hang out all day at the Hard Rock Cafe Museum and oogle Eric Clapton’s and Peter Townsend’s guitars and other rock paraphernalia. We enjoy the plays, expecially musicals, in the West End. We stay at St. Margaret’s Hotel (<a href=“http://www.stmargaretshotel.com.uk%5B/url%5D”>www.stmargaretshotel.com.uk</a>) near the British Museum and a couple of Tube stations. The hotel is clean, good location, and relatively inexpensive (I say relatively because London redefined expensive for us). Don’t miss a shopping excursion to Fortnum and Mason’s and to Floris (where the Queen buys her perfume, lotion, and bath/shower gel, at least that’s what we were told ).</p>
<p>If you hire a car you will have to pay £8 per day congestion charge and £££££s to park it (assuming you can ever find a parking space ). I have been a student in the UK for 7 years and never needed a car really. Taxis are very expensive but every taxi driver has to pass an incredibly difficult test called “The Knowledge” where they have to memorise all the streets of London. I have heard it can take leaners 7 years or more to pass. But they do know their way around everywhere.</p>
<p>If you want to visit Cambridge it takes about 45 minutes on the train from Kings Cross station. In true Harry Potter style, this train goes from platforms 9 or 10. Sadly it is not a bright red steam engine, but there is a sign on the wall between the platforms which says “9 and 3/4”. Be warned that when you get to Cambridge, the station is miles away from the town centre. You are in the right place, but it doesn’t look like it.</p>
<p>If you want to got to Oxford this takes about 1 hour from Paddington station. (There are lots of big stations in London and you have to choose the right one.). It is acutally much cheaper to take the bus which costs £12 return from Hyde park corner (number X90 or the big red one with OXFORD TUBE painted on it. Can’t miss it) I suspect if you wanted to travel to Bath by train, Paddington station is also the place to go. Bath is really nice, especially if you like Jane Austen. there is a Jane Austen museum there. Plus the Roman baths of course. it’s about 2 hours from London at least though. If you want to go to Paris/anywhere in France the international trains go from Waterloo station (I love it that the British make the French trains go from a station named after a battle where they beat the French. How great for international relations!). You could combine a day in Bath with a visit to stonehence since the stones are about 45mins away and there are (obvious, bright red with yellow lettering) buses going there every few minutes(don’t know about in April though).</p>
<p>No-one has mentioend that most of the museums in London, such as the British museum and Portrait gallery, are free of charge. A good place to go to get a birds eye view of London is the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel. It is right next to the parliament buildings in Westminister so you can’t miss it.</p>
<p>Do you like tennis? Outside the tournament days, Wimbledon is open all year round for visitors to have a tour of centre court and visit the lawn tennis museum. It is next to the tube station called Southfields, which is actually much closer than the station called Wimbledon (if you got off at Wimbledon station, you would have to clumb a very steep hill to get to the tennis club)</p>
<p>I also recommend Brighton for a day trip. This is a small seaside town south of London. It is where British people go on holiday, get sunburnt and eat fish and chips.</p>
<p>We stayed here several years ago, and it was both clean and reasonably priced. One advantage is that it allowed 4 people to a room. Our kids were 10 and 13 at the time, and we didn’t want to have two rooms.</p>
<p>I’m here now. I travel to England several times a year for business and pleasure. Drop me an email. Many of the suggestions already made are excellent. I can add a few of my favorites including resturants and some cheaper accomodations.</p>
<p>Definitely take in a show or two in the West End. My bf and I are planning a trip this summer just for that
Harrods seems to be on most female London itineraries
The bus tours are quite a nice thing to do especially early on in your trip - you usually pay one fee and hop on and off the same kind of buses all day, so you can get off and see the attractions they show you
The Houses of Parliament are cool, though I don’t know how much they let normal tourists see
Plenty of places to shop</p>
<p>Other places that come to mind: London Zoo, Madame Tussauds, Natural History Museum, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London</p>
<p>If you venture out of London, Cambridge is lovely!</p>
You won’t need, or want, a car if you’re in the city. The tube is fine and London has the best taxi system of any city I’ve ever been in. Everyone should take at least one ride in a London cab!</p>
but be adaptable & you can turn anything into an adventure with the right frame of mind!</p>