<p>I’m heading to the UK later this month to visit our son, who is taking a semester in London. I will be there for 1 week. </p>
<p>For you world travelers, what should we do when we are together in the afternoon/evening? What should I make sure I do not miss when I am on my own during the day?</p>
<p>Finances matter. The exchange rate is not my friend. I’d love to take S to a play, but probably cannot afford more than one.</p>
<p>I’ll be staying in Bloomsbury; son is in the East End, if that helps.</p>
<p>Ideas, advice? I’ll grab a travel book before I leave, but I’m sure that the advice I get here will be invaluable.</p>
<p>Only one play? I’d take Spamalot. If you’re not that particular, I’d get the tickets at the same day window for cheaper.</p>
<p>In London the whole week? I’d take a tour on a London Bus one of the first days and then go to the places that interest you. Changing of the guard, Buckingham palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Harrods. Basically, all the places you’ve read about and also wanted to see. Don’t eat in nice restaurants, buy pie meat pies in a bakery. Buy a pass for the subway system at the begining and get to see the whole city. Take a raincaot.</p>
<p>The Tower of London is one of my favorite attractions in London. You can walk from your hotel to many of the places along the Thames. </p>
<p>If you’ve never been to the UK before it’s nice to get out of London to see a bit of the countryside. You can take a bus trip from London to Stonehenge, Bath, and Stratford-upon-Avon and then back to London I think.</p>
<p>I’d second the idea of doing a double-decker bus tour very early in the week, to orient yourself. </p>
<p>Don’t miss the Imperial War Museum/Cabinet War Rooms - the underground headquarters from which Churchill directed the war. The center was closed down on August 16, 1945 and has remained unchanged since then. I could have stayed in the Map Room for hours. Apparently all of the books, maps, charts, pins and notices are in the same position now that they occupied then. It’s amazingly moving.</p>
<p>Yep, I figure I will hit many museums during the day while son is in class. Any I should make sure not to miss?</p>
<p>I said one play only because of cost. If any know of lower cost alternatives, by all means, please share! I love theater, but–you know, playing tuition, cost of airfare and hotel, not independently wealthy…any way, I appreciate any advice.</p>
<p>tnu245- please help to orient me. As it happens, I’ve been swamped and travelling for work and haven’t done my normal research. What is on the south bank that I should make sure to see?</p>
<p>In the South Bank/Bankside area (all within walking distance) there’s Shakespeare’s Globe, the london eye, tate modern, the national theatre, borough market, and lots of cool restaurants, shops, and bars. There is also the “wobbly bridge”. This area is great for views of the houses of parliament.</p>
<p>We visited our son in London when he was there. We did all of the above mentioned “touristy” things. Don’t forget Westminster Abbey. It’s beautiful.</p>
<p>Re: the bus…we did the double decker bus ride the first full day we were there. We were so tired from traveling that anything else would have stressed us. It was nice and relaxing plus you can get on and off the bus and walk around.</p>
<p>Go to Harrods. Even if you don’t buy anything (we didn’t) it’s an amazing department store. We were (luckily) there the week of Thanksgiving so we went to see Father Christmas and had pics taken of the kids on his lap (at my insistence). Worth doing if you happen to be there that week.</p>
<p>I agree about the food. Find a good pub and have fish and chips. We did take our son out to eat to a nice restaurant one night. He happened to choose an Italian place, but there are a lot of Indian restaurants too if you like that sort of cuisine.</p>
<p>The one thing we spent money on that we would spend money on again is a ride on the London Eye. It’s a huge ferris wheel on the Thames river. Actually it’s sort of like an enclosed tram type of ferris wheel. We went first thing in the morning and our family was the only occupent of our “pod”. We waited for a clear day and the view was sensational from the top. </p>
<p>DS wanted to go to the London Museum (I think that’s the name…it’s free) but we didn’t have time. We went to Trafalger Square and Piccadilly Circus…just fun. </p>
<p>Get a week card for the Tube. It’s just so easy to use, and convenient.</p>
<p>We didn’t see a play but we did go to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall (seats 5000 people…and it was full). It was terrific. </p>
<p>Have a great trip. Take comfortable shoes and plan to do a lot of walking. It’s a great city.</p>
<p>Agree about the museums, most are free to all. I would do Churchill’s War rooms (not free) and the British library, the National Gallery, National Portrait, Tate National, the V&A, and the British museum - all of which are free. Go to Trafalgar Square and watch the pigeons. Visit the parks - Greens Park is my favorite. Go to Waterstones, a 5 story bookstore at Picadilly Circus.</p>
<p>London, too, has its own version of TKTS in Leicester Square where they sell same day tickets at 50% discount. I vote for the museums. And the Tube is so easy to navigate. We did a day trip to Paris (advanced purchase of the cheapest Eurostar tickets) and we had a blast. Here’s a link to London’s TKTS and you can check out what tickets were available last week:</p>
<p>If you will be in Bloomsbury, then you’ll have the British Museum at your doorstep. Besides the places already mentioned, I’d suggest St Paul’s and Covent Garden as well as Sir John Soanes Museum. It’s small an quirky. I used to like the V&A in Kensington.
If you don’t want to spend a ton of money on eating, try the ethnic restaurants in Soho (and look for the plaque that says Mozart lived there). There should be plenty of plays in the West End (the Soho area). The theatre is comparatively cheaper than in the US. So are concerts and the opera.
This may not be the best time to go out to Kew Gardens, but we loved going there. You can go there on the tube.
London is a really walkable city–a set of “villages” each with its distinct characteristics. Have fun!</p>
<p>I second the suggestion to get the week-long tube ticket. I may be wrong, but I think they are good on buses also.</p>
<p>All the museums are wonderful. After the Elgin marbles and the rest of the British Museum, my favorite is the British Library annex, which if memory serves is somewhere close to Kings Cross or Euston train station. If you want to see original scores of Handel, or other major first editions and writings in the authors’ own hands, that’s the place to do it. </p>
<p>You might want to check out London Walks on the net, and see if any of their walks suit your interests. I love them. 90 minutes of guided walks by very knowledgeable and interesting guides. </p>
<p>I love the Portobello Road market! It’s a huge flea market–block after block of antiques, produce, and just about everything else. The antiques vendors are there only on Saturdays, I think. It’s just a short walk from the Notting Hill Gate tube stop. And if you’ve seen the film Notting Hill, with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, then you’ll have an idea what it’s like. You don’t have to buy anything to have a good time–it’s so much fun to people-watch and check out all the merchandise.</p>
<p>If you can make it, definitely go to Borough Market. It’s just fantastic - especially the cakes and pastries </p>
<p>Also, if the weather is good it’s nice just to walk around the parks - St James’s Park is especially lovely right now.</p>
<p>Of the museums, I feel that the really unmissable one is the British Museum, although I also love the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum.</p>
<p>Bloomsbury is a fantastic place to be based, by the way - one of the largest universities in the UK, University College London, is based in Bloomsbury so the whole area is stuffed full of cheap restaurants and cafes, museums, libraries etc. </p>
<p>If you have time and are interested in Egyptian archaeology, the Petrie Museum at UCL is meant to be top-notch, although I haven’t been there myself.</p>
<p>Forget bakeries and buy sandwiches from M&S Food, Boots or Tesco metro. This what people in England do. They like their sandwiches. The other cheap option is pasties, which are flakey pastry with a savory filling (which cost about £2). There are hundreds of places selling stuff like this. </p>
<p>I think this is the web-site for London walks. ITA agree with the poster above. They are great, and a bargain. </p>
<p>Tube travel - there is a great deal on at the moment where if you use a paper travelcard (which is an all day travel card which allows use of tube and bus) you can print out a voucher from the sight below and get into many attractions 2 tickets for the price of one. This includes Hampton Court Palace, Kew gardens, the zoo etc. It is to encourage people to use public transport I think. It doesn’t work if you have an oyster card, which is a pay as you go magic card thing which you load money on to, and then wave at a scanner to get on to the tube. So to use this offer you need a travel card, not oyster. </p>
Go to Trafalgar Square and watch the pigeons. Visit the parks - Greens Park is my favorite. Go to Waterstones, a 5 story bookstore at Picadilly Circus.</p>