We are planning a trip with our newly graduated son to England in early May. Want to take a few days in London, but wondering about other places to go. Quaint little villages probably not as appealing as places with history or good for outdoors activity like hiking. Would consider renting a car for a few days. Son’s top priority is seeing a Premier League match so have to fit that in. Thoughts on best area of London to stay? Any and all suggestions welcome! Thanks in advance.
Be warned that Brexit is occurring, perhaps, sometime around then. There may be problems due to that. That said, you can easily find more than a week’s worth to do in London. We were there last August for the second time- first when now adult son was nine. I would not bother trying to leave the greater London area with less than a week’s visit.
Both times we had hotels in the Kensington area. Walking distance to so many places. Many free museums. Get Rick Steve’s London book- excellent info, maps. So many great places I won’t list them all here for fear of missing some and too much typing. Visit Steve’s website and others.
Tower of London- hours to see. Boat cruise to Greenwich- prime meridian. London Museum. various cathedrals. We got the oyster card for using the bus and subway system. Be warned- many not handicapped accessible (discovered with luggage to our hotel). Pay toilets- no frequent restrooms like in US. Plan on walking a lot.
Bring an extension cord (or two) plus British outlet adapters. Hotels there lack many amenities we take for granted. Figure out if your credit card charges fees for foreign transactions- get one that does not. Visa or Mastercard- some places do not accept Discover. Check your cell phone plan, get one for overseas to avid expensive charges. Pay attention to open/closed days for museums- such as Mondays. Make individual lists of priorities for things to do/see. Sometimes divide and see different things.
Repeat- get Rick Steve’s London book. Feel free to PM me with questions.
Brexit was why we planned to stay just in England to avoid additional border crossings. I had thought things would not be so different in England itself. May be a bit less crowded?? And now seems like it may be postponed.
Thanks!
Following this thread as I will be there in late May, early June. I booked a hotel in Kensington near the Earl’s Court tube station which I’m told is an easy tube ride from Heathrow. The George - recommended by both Rick Steves and Tripadvisor.
Be aware the Premier Leagues last matches for the season are on Sunday May 12th and these could be packed. If you could go the previous weekend on Saturday May 4th that might be easier. Also May 4th has a few more matches in London…Arsenal (North London), Chelsea (South West London) and West Ham (East London at he old Olympic stadium) are all good options. The following weekend only Tottenham are playing in London at their new stadium in North London which is a little further out)
I am originally from London so my advice would be to stay somewhere like Kensington (as wis75 suggested) or Lancaster Gate, Regents Park if you can get a good deal.
PM me if you would like any other info.
There are many guide books about England and Britain, as well as travel shows such as “Rick Steves Europe” and “Smarttravels” with Rudy Maxa. You can stream them from their websites, youtube in some cases, or watch as they come on. Rick Steves website also has travel talks where he interviews his tour guides. Another thing you can do is “piggyback” on tours; go to some websites such as Rick Steves and see where their tours go. Figure they’ve had lots of experience showing people around and they’re going for a reason, you might want to use their itinerary to narrow down your choices.
Many medium and larger cities are well served by trains. Given you are not that interested in quaint small towns this may work for you. I would never drive in England, figuring my instincts from many years of driving on the right would get me killed in a roundabout or just general driving.
One classic English destination for hiking is the Lake District. But much of England is rural, you can probably hike from just about anywhere. One city we particularly enjoyed was York, hope to go back someday. It is true you can spend weeks in London and never exhaust the place, but you could say the same about Paris, NYC, etc. If it was me I’d plan for 3-5 days in London, then on to some other destinations.
How long is your trip? If this is a first trip to London, I would stay there (no car) and do day trips to appealing areas outside the city . Much more flexibility than a set agenda with car involved (especially if Brexit woes come to pass) and you can decide spur of the moment what to see/ where to go. London and surrounds have so many options that a traveler is spoiled for choice.
The National Rail has a great deal. If you arrive at a venue by National Rail and have downloaded their 2 for 1 voucher, you can get 2 for 1 admission at a number of places. https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london I have used these vouchers to visit the Brighton Pavilion and Bletchley. There are also numerous coach day tours to various locations. I’m a DIY traveler so don’t have recommendations for particulars.
You will find history any place you want to visit in England! Hubby and I have devised our own itineraries to see Thomas Hardy country, hike Hadrian’s Wall, and hunted down numerous less popular tourist venues to satisfy personal interests. Hiking is great in the Scottish Isles, Cornwall, Lake District and many other areas but this may be a separate trip depending on how many days total you have available. Perhaps start by defining personal interests.
London has been discussed in several CC past posts with good info. I’ve always stayed in the areas recommended by @arabellacat except once when we ended up in Bloomsbury due to no availability elsewhere. Found that less convenient as we had small kids with us, but the public transport is good in London for getting around from and to most areas.
@TatinG last trip to London we stayed at that hotel - great location- highly recommend it. You must go to the Nandos a few blocks away. There was just a thread about London over Christmas and lots of that advice will hold for May http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/2126315-london-during-christmas-need-some-advice-p1.html.
If you like history make sure you go to the Imperial war museum and Churchills cabinet rooms. There are lots of historic towns with castles a quick train ride away - I have been to Leeds, Rochester, Warwick,Stratford, Greenwich, & Windsor. I have been to Cambridge and Oxford which are also fun - schools instead of castles. This is a great year to visit Kew Gardens as they will be having a Chihuly exhibit.
Living in England I’d say London is great in May. Brexit will not affect Americans coming or going and you may even get a fantastic rate on your dollar!!
If you have only a week you may want to stay, as other posters have suggested, just in the London area. So much to see. You can even go hiking in London! Hampstead Heath, Greenwich, Crystal Palace. Hope on a commuter train and go to the Sussex Downs, or the seaside: Hastings, Brighton, Whitstable for a day too.
However, if you are planning on leaving London and heading to York, the Lake District,or my area Sheffield and the Peak District (lots of history and hiking), and you are going to go by train, buy your ticket online up to 10 weeks in advance for the best deals. Turning up at a train station and buying a ticket to anywhere will be VERY expensive. Even the commuter trains to Brighton etc will be cheaper if you pre-purchase on line.
Also with @arabellacat Premier League matches need to be researched. Beware, very expensive and you may not even get one, especially the Chelsea and Arsenal and Tottenham matches. You will have more luck on a Championship one - our second division.
Message me if you want any more info.
Thanks all!
It is my first trip to London although DH has been there. Sounds like there will be enough to do to stay in London and even perhaps a hike. I got the Rick Steves book and will check others (and websites).
TatinG is that the K&K George? Looks like decent prices and location.
Would be seeing a match on May 4. From stubhub looks like the Chelsea-Watford game has some not too ridiculously expensive tickets. OTOH the Liverpool game has very high prices (my DS says that is because it is an important match since Liverpool is just behind Man City in the rankings). Will be a splurge even for the Chelsea game.
Checking the other thread form Feburary as well (not sure how I missed that!). The OP there got a great deal on the apt as it is much pricier for the beginning of May. I have such mixed feelings on the AirB&B vs hotel but will check out both. Not sure we would cook but it would be nice to spread out a bit rather than crowd three in a hotel room. Yet hotel is more of a known quantity.
And thanks Whistlingal was getting a bit concerned about the possible effects of Brexit, but seems like even if it happens should be OK.
Many day trips out of London like Windsor, Canterbury, Oxford, Cambridge are very doable. Previous posters are correct that you will not run out of things to see in London. My fave is still the Burrough Market. Yum, yum
We prefer to rent our cars a bit out of the city for ease of driving.
Our D lives in London and we had a nice visit in September. Some of many places we enjoyed: the Warner Bros Harry Potter studio tour, Hampton Court Palace, a tour of Wimbledon, the Churchill War Rooms, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, Blenheim Palace, the Globe Theatre, and Kenwood House.
We found we did many miles walking to/from/in museums each day- H’s Fitbit proved it. The Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park is something we did nearly twenty years ago. This trip we visited Cambridge for a day but we had already seen so many sites the last trip- and those old buildings don’t change!
While you won’t run out of things to do in London, sometimes it’s nice to get out of the City. You can do a day trip to Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge. Bath is a little further away, but great for Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer fans. Hampton Court has beautiful gardens that should be stunning in May. I love walking around Oxford and nearby Blenheim Castle has gorgeous gardens designed by Capability Brown. It’s lovely for walking. I am told Cambridge is even prettier than Oxford, but have yet to get there. Cornwall is another place that has appeared in so many books and legends and looks gorgeous in photos.
London Walks http://www.walks.com/ has several themed walking tours plus a few day trips.
I wrote this on another post so sorry if you have read it there.
My favourite place of all in London is the Whispering Gallery in St Paul’s Cathedral. You have to pay but well worth it and much better value than the London Eye.
Also check out all the museums. Everyone is free - all the big ones. Great small ones that you do pay for but well worth a visit if it happens to be raining - very likely - are the Cartoon Museum and the Garden Museum if your tastes are that way inclined. But unless they are big art galleries/museums a lot of the exhibits have a British slant.
Yes @mathmom Cambridge is prettier than Oxford - IMHO - and not as crowded.
The Chelsea/Watford game could be a good one as Watford are not so many points behind them. Check where the seats are. You might be in the Watford end. Not a bad thing but in the away team’s end while you buy a seat no-one sits in it except of the 15 minutes half time. Watford is north London so it would be a good turn out. So maybe you will be in the Chelsea seats. Make sure you are not ‘up with the Gods’ as it can be a long way from the pitch and there is no screen except for stopped time when they replay the goal.
Good- we chose Cambridge over Oxford for our day trip. Boring but nice train ride. H is the Anglophile, I’m done with it for a long time. I like new. Cambridge is a nice college town.
I like Oxford because of Gaudy Night and His Dark Materials. 
You can easily spend several weeks in London and find interesting things to see and do and some of the really interesting places to visit are easy day trips. Hampton Court is if I recall on a commuter train, we did a boat ride down the Thames and spent almost a day seeing the sites in Greenwich plus we saw all the great architecture that was developed along the Thames. We did a full-day tour that took us to Stonehenge and to Bath. The visitor center at Stonehenge has since been expanded and redone because it was pretty limited when we were there about 12 years ago. Bath was a treat and you can easily get there by train if you didn’t want to take a tour.