Our son has asked us to go with him on his paid R&R week. He wants to go to London because he’s always been interested and there’s also a Van Gogh exhibit.
We’ve never been. I just received my Rick Steve’s book.
Are there any particular tours you enjoyed? I know we will do a mix of that and just by ourselves.
I usually have more than 3 months to plan, I’m having him do leg work, too. (I’ve always been the cruise director). We’re staying close to Covent Garden area.
I love London - have visited many times. The only tour I have done was a bus trip to stratford and oxford (many years ago).
I will give you some of my favorites things which are a little off the beaten path -
Churchill War Rooms, London transport musuem (in Covent gardens), and Imperial War Museum.
Some sights require tours - you need one to get into all the places at the tower of london for example (tours led by beefeaters - well worth it).
I strongly recommend filling your nights with west end shows. They are cheaper than broadway and a huge variety to choose from.
My new favorite vacation tours are food tours. They are like a progressive dinner but with restaurants and a guide. We used Devour tours twice (although not in London), and they were excellent.
I just found out the taxi price from Heathrow to London is astronomical! My friend said their fee was $160. So now I’m looking into using public transport which I’m not happy about with luggage. Plus if it’s raining….
Oh very easy into the city from the airport. I have always used the train to get in. London public transportation is excellent and much of it is also walkable. We bought transit passes every time we visited. (I think you can get a transit pass that includes your airport trips).
Our D lives in London so we visit pretty frequently. We mainly take public transportation, although for an early morning flight we booked a car through Addison Lee to pick us up and take us to the airport.
I use a contactless credit card that has no international transaction fee for tapping in and out of the tube. Make sure each person has their own - you can’t have more than one person tap in and out using the same card.
The Points Guy has information about getting from Heathrow to central London:
Covent Garden is easy, just take the Piccadilly Line straight there for about 6 pounds per person. Ignore the Heathrow Express which is expensive and dumps you in Paddington. The Elizabeth Line has nice trains and is fast but not convenient for your hotel location.
Get a pay as you go Oyster card at Heathrow (5 pound refundable deposit) and you can add money as needed. It has automatic daily capping of fares which will probably be cheaper than the tourist pass.
Go to Greenwich and see the Royal Observatory. You can take the riverboat one way and come back on the Tube, I wouldn’t do both ways as it will be cold in January (downstream may be quicker).
email the hotel or Airbnb you’ve booked and asked them the best way to get from Heathrow.
I have used public transportation from the airport for destinations all around London (even switching Tube lines multiple times) and even with luggage it is not hard. But a local can likely tell you the best way to minimize the walking/shlepping. There are a couple of stations where switching lines is a matter of walking 20 feet down a corridor- and others where there’s a huge escalator and a long walk to switch. A local can give you your best option.
So jealous-- London is my absolute favorite place!
Covent Garden tube station (or Leicester Square might be closer depending on which hotel). It has elevators as does Heathrow (though if you are arriving in T3 it is a bit of a trek to the tube station, albeit mostly with moving walkways - the tube station in T5 is much closer to the terminal).
Take the train from the airport into the city (it’s indoors so no rain to contend with) and Uber from the train to where you’ll stay - look up Heathrow Express -
Try to book a tour of Sir John Soane’s Museum – it’s unlike any museum in the world and the tour deepened my appreciation of this eccentric genius.
Borough Market is a lot of fun if you’re a foodie. I think it’s closed on Sundays.
Check websites for up-to-date hours for all attractions. IME, many museums and attractions close earlier in the winter which isn’t always mentioned in guidebooks.
We really enjoyed his self-guided audio walking tours (Barcelona and Amsterdam). I think he has London too. We saw some things we wouldn’t have otherwise.
On that topic, we really like walking tours early in our visits. It is a great way to get grounded in a new place and get some tips from locals. Sometimes we opt for a food tour. Its a fun way to see a neighborhood.
Keep in mind how short the days are when planning your outings. Do parks and outdoor activities in the morning.
I used to live there 20+ years ago. I would always tell people to buy a “hop on, hop off” bus pass, which goes to all the main sights. That way you can see 2 or 3 easily. That is, assuming that this hasn’t changed in 20 years . . .
And forget lunches. Eat a big breakfast but don’t waste daylight hours sitting in a restaurant… plenty of time for dinner once it gets dark!!! There is so much to do!
But note that the Elizabeth Line goes from the same platform and is half the price (14 pounds pp) for an extra 10 minutes on the journey to Paddington. If you are determined to take the Heathrow Express (there’s almost no reason to do so anymore, its mostly tourists who take it because they don’t know any better and get a hard sell from the reps on arrival at Heathrow) then book well in advance to get discounted tickets.
Winter in London is a trip, for sure. I layered a lot in the morning, stripped down to sweater and down vest by 11, then by 3ish was putting it all back on! But I never really got cold as I kept my ears and my tush covered.