<p>The Thistle Trafanger to stay, but don’t eat their breakfast–too expensive. Out of town, I’d go to Warwick Castle. You can get a train to Warwick yourself and avoid big costs. It is wonderful.</p>
<p>Erins Mom – You’re right about Hampton Court. We took the train, not the Tube. </p>
<p>A good website for some of the ‘major sites’ is <a href=“http://www.hrp.org.uk%5B/url%5D”>www.hrp.org.uk</a> – run by the people who run the buildings. Will tell you the hows, whats and wherefores of the Tower, Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace.</p>
<p>I second the trip to Bath - amazing, and you have to sample the waters.</p>
<p>When my daughters were there in March, they got to see Equus, with Daniel Radcliffe. They are huge Harry Potter geeks and said the play was amazing, but I think it was very awkward - D1, who bought the tickets, wouldn’t get them up close because she just didn’t ‘need to see certain things that close’.</p>
<p>I saw Mary Poppins when over there in April, and it is a phenomenal production, if your son appreciates performing arts.</p>
<p>I stayed in the Marylebone area - an easy Tube ride away from most things, but I think I got what might be considered a reasonable price on a hotel. February will also get you off-season rates. I believe the name of the place I stayed at was the Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes. It was quite roomy by European standards. It was an easy walk to Regent’s Park (probably not so great in February), Hyde Park, and less than five minutes to two different Tube stations. And as the name suggests, Sherlock Holmes touristy kind of stuff around, if you’re into that (I wasn’t).</p>
<p>I would also recommend getting out of London for a day (or even more, but it really depends how long you are here for). All the suggestions for outside London are good. I’d also recommend Winchester which was the capital city of England in Saxon times. It’s got a splendid cathedral, King Arthur’s round table (fake, though still mediaeval) in the Castle, the bones of various Saxon kings, Jane Austen’s grave, and it was one of the obvious models for Barchester.</p>
<p>You might also think about the two parts of the Tate Gallery - Tate Britain (Gainsborough, Constable, Turner etc) and Tate Modern in a converted power station by the river opposite St Paul’s, which is worth seeing just for the building. The Tate operates a shuttle riverbus between the two sites which is another good way of seeing London; after all the Thames is why the city is here. You have to pay for the shuttle, but on the other hand the galleries are free.</p>
<p>Avoid trying to pack too many sight seeing things into one day, not least because even in late February it will be dark by 5.30.</p>
<p>If your S is leaving from Paris, the Eurostar through the channel tunnel is the way to go. From Provence, it’s easiest and most cost effective to fly; Marseilles and Nice are airport options. When we stayed in London with our 18 year old this summer, we had a room at the Grand at Trafalgar, great location just off Trafalgar Square.</p>
<p>Have a wonderful trip.</p>
<p>IMO, the most important part of your plan is to get a hotel that is in a good location. That may mean a central location, or an area that is close to the majority of your destination points, or a place within 4 blocks of a tube station. So, get a rough list together of your, and son’s, “must-sees” and look carefully at maps of the streets and subways.</p>
<p>Also, note whether a hotel offers free breakfast; this can be a big time and money saver.</p>
<p>For a central location, look at Trafalgar Square. There is a reasonably priced apartment/hotel chain called Citadines that might work well for a mom and son.</p>
<p>Booking.com has a lot of resources for getting your bearings and finding a decent place to stay.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of good suggestions here, and – as has also been said a couple of times – it all depends on what you want. London is one of the world’s biggest and most interesting cities and you can probably find something no matter what interests you. The absolute “must see” for everyone is the British Museum. Those fun-loving Brits snagged some of the coolest stuff from all over the world and stashed it here. It’s mandatory.</p>
<p>As for where to stay, I’ve always stayed in Knightsbridge. There is no such thing as a “cheap” hotel in London (anywhere tourists want to stay, anyway), and I agree with the advice to stay some place central. The Claverly Hotel isn’t big or fancy, but it is a couple of blocks from Harrod’s and isn’t as expensive as some others. I’ve also stayed at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, but I suppose it is now fabulously expensive. I happened to book there on a business trip when it had just reopened after a multi-year remodel and hardly anyone knew they were open yet.</p>
<p>If you have time, take a train up to Edinburgh. It might still be dark and rainy that time of year, but WashMom and I really enjoyed our visit there. There used to be a high-speed train to Cardiff in Wales, too, that made it a day trip from London. I don’t know if that train runs any more, but it a nice trip. </p>
<p>People from the west coast are frequently surprised how close together everything is in the northeastern US. That’s nothing compared to the UK – it’s tiny (by US standards). An hour outside London is way outside London and is a totally different experience. Our experience is that the people in London are big city people, but that the farther you get away from London the more personable the folks you’ll meet. We thought we were going to get invited home by shopkeepers in places like Inverness.</p>
<p>Have fun.</p>
<p>yes it would be great</p>
<p>Yes, he’s leaving from Provence (near Avignon). I am having his director look into flying vs. chunnel train for me. I agree that flying out of Marseilles might be the best option.</p>
<p>I stayed at the Royal Garden once upon a time myself … way before kidlets. I think I am leaning towards a hotel in the Hyde Park area, just because it’s more familiar to me. (Yeah right … one week on a biz trip in the mid-80s – but I can still visualize the park and what was around it, so it feels more comfortable.)</p>
<p>I didn’t get to see much when I was there – Hyde Park, the Tower, Harrods, and the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, along with a bunch of business worthy restaurants/dinner clubs. I’m looking forward to having a week as a tourist. And it’s just me and my French student – the rest of the family is either visiting Mickey or at college!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info! It is appreciated.</p>
<p>Well, there you go cnp55 – both hotels I recommended are an easy few blocks to Hyde Park! Of course, bring lots of money…</p>
<p>By the way, if you haven’t been there since the 80s, you’ll be shocked. London is way nicer now than it was then. The depressed quasi-Soviet feeling of the mid-80s is long gone. It’s like the difference between New York in 1985 and now (except London started from a slightly higher level).</p>
<p>You forget that some things will be closed in February, especially outdoor experiences (eg the Globe). It does get dark by 5pm, maybe 4… But it’s not really like night. Things and still open and busy. Not that great for taking photographs. You will at least be alone without crowds.</p>
<p>Get a map. So many tourists spend money on the underground when many sights are within walking distance, and walking is free (so far. I can envisage a walking congestion charge though! You know you have to pay £8 a day to drive into the city? Just don’t). If you are going to use public transport a lot, even for 1 week, I strongly recommend you go to any station and request an oyster card. This is the little card that all Londoners carry and wave in front of entry/exit barriers on the train. There is a £3 deposit for the card and then you top it up with money (you can even do this onlibe I think). A bus journey, for example costs £2, but only 90p if you use an oyster. It will save you a lot. You never pay more than for a 1 day travel card, however much you use it.
<a href=“Oyster online - Transport for London - Contactless and Oyster”>Oyster online - Transport for London - Contactless and Oyster;
<p>For theatre tickets you can try <a href=“http://www.lastminute.com%5B/url%5D”>www.lastminute.com</a> of the ticket booth in Leicester square (pronounced Less-ter)</p>
<p>London is so NOT England. It’s hugely atypical. The population of London is over 7 million. The next biggest city (which is Birmingham, which none of you have heard of) has only about 1 million. Posters above have given many good suggestions of other places to try. Cambridge will be very quiet in February. Oxford is always a bit busy. To get to Cambridge take the train from Kings Cross (yes, on Platform 9, so you can pay homage to Harry Potter). To get to Oxford the train goes from Paddington, but the “Oxford Tube” bus from Victoria or Hyde Park is much cheaper and runs 24 hours. </p>
<p>If you’re going to Bath you can now actually swim in the spa. It costs £20 for 2 hours but it’s soooo worth it! Not in the Roman bit, it’s a new pool on 4 floors (open air pool on the roof)
<a href=“Oyster online - Transport for London - Contactless and Oyster”>Oyster online - Transport for London - Contactless and Oyster;