Need help with London trip

[DaveNV]

We're giving strong thought to making a trip to London, and seeing a bit of the country. I realize it's a big place, with a huge amount of history. We're interested in seeing the "name" sites, but also to try and experience some of the local culture and ambience. How do we even begin to figure out a trip like this? Are there timeshares located in reasonable areas to make it worthwhile, or are they too remote? Is a hotel stay a better option? Are there threads on Tug, or websites elsewhere that talk about visiting England for a newbie? Not interested in a hostel kind of thing, nor do we need five-star accommodations. I think we just need a little push in the right direction. Thanks!

Dave

 

[DeniseM]

Dave - I am no expert, but I found this tour company to be very helpful for excellent and inexpensive guided walks: https://www.walks.com

A lot of the tours start in London, and you just take the Tube to your meeting place, meet your group & guide at the Tube station, and begin your walking tour. Some are out of town - we did Stonehenge and a couple of others, and you meet your group at the train station in London, take the train to your destination, and they provide a chartered bus to take you around the destination, along with guided walks.

We did one of their tours nearly every day - since you are traveling on the Tube on the London tours, if you found something really interesting, you could just stay longer and spend more time there at the end of the guided tour.

 

[DaveNV]

Dave - I am no expert, but I found this tour company to be very helpful for excellent and inexpensive guided walks: https://www.walks.com

A lot of the walks are in London, and you just take the Tube to your meeting place, meet your group & guide at the Tube station, and begin your walking tour. Some are out of town - we did Stonehenge and a couple of others, and you meet your group at the train station in London, take the train to your destination, and they provide a chartered bus to take you around the destination, along with guided walks.

Thank you! This is very helpful, and sounds like the way we'd want to experience things. How did you approach accommodations?

Dave

 

[DeniseM]

Both times I rented from a private condo owner. One was good, because it was a full-time vacation rental, but the other was someone's personal home with all their stuff in it, and that was awkward. In the future, I would compare the price of a hotel vs a vacation condo. Let me ask my daughter what their big rental website is there - I don't remember.

 

[Luanne]

@DaveNV Steve and I did a trip to London a few years back. It was in conjunction with him receiving his Master's from the University of Liverpool. We stayed in London for most of the trip, took the train to Liverpool, spent the night, took a Beatles tours sponsored by the school, went to his graduation ceremony and took the train back to London the next day. We didn't do any formal tours of any kind. We spent the time we had in London, used the hop on hop off bus a few times, walked, took the tube and just enjoyed ourselves. The most touristy thing we did was the London Eye. We also visited the British Museum and the Albert and Victoria museum. We stayed in a bed and breakfast that was close to the British Museum and also to the train station we needed for our trip to Liverpool.

 

[DeniseM]

My daughter doesn't remember the site we used before, but suggested VRBO London:

London Vacation Rentals, England: house rentals & more | Vrbo

Explore an array of London vacation rentals, all bookable online. Choose from tons of properties, ideal house rentals for families, groups and couples. Rent a whole home in London, United Kingdom for your next weekend or vacation.

www.vrbo.com

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We usually stay in a hotel in London using hotel points or certificates. I want to try the HGVC Scotland properties on a future trip.

 

[Passepartout]

Dave, we stayed in London a few days pre- a T/A cruise from Southampton. We hotel'ed it near Buckingham Palace, across from the Royal Muse (where the royal carriages and limo's live) a traditional neighborhood pub a half block away, easy distance to Victoria & Albert Museum, bus terminal & Tube. I'll ask Paula to send you details if you wish.

She reminds me that it was also near a hop-on-hop-off bus stop (Buckingham) that we were able to use to get to the Tower, the Wheel, Westminster Abbey and other sites we wanted to see without learning the Tube.

 

[DaveNV]

Thanks to all of you! This kind of thing is really helpful.

Dave

 

[geist1223]

Timeshares tend not to be where you want in Great Britain. I would suggest you look up B&B'S if you are staying an area for only a day or two. For longer stays you want to look up self-catering Cottages. On the National Tourist Site there should be a link for both.

We have stayed in self-catering cottages both in Ireland (Portmagee) and Scotland (Inverness). Before Patti and I met she and her Girlfriends traveled all,over Scotland, England, and Ireland in B&B's.

 

[Limace]

Rick Steves is my favorite for European travel-I’d order his guide to Great Britain then go spend some time on his forums-folks are very helpful there. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england


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[clifffaith]

I can highly recommend Rick Steves’s website ricksteves.com . We follow his tips, buy his books and participate on his forums every time we go to Europe. Used the info multiple times for London and Paris.

 

[clifffaith]

Rick Steves is my favorite for European travel-I’d order his guide to Great Britain then go spend some time on his forums-folks are very helpful there. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england


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Jinx, coke!

 

[stmartinfan]

For London, we've used an apartment rental service called Ivy Lettings. We were usually traveling with our 2 daughters, so we got more space, a kitchen and 2 bedrooms for about the same as a 2 rooms in a nice hotel I know VRBO and other services have lots of choices, but for overseas rentals, we've preferred working via a rental agency that's been in business for a while and has vetted the places they list. We also know they will be available if there's a problem, vs. the individual renting an apartment directly. We look for a place within a couple of blocks of a Tube stop and in a neighborhood with grocery stores and restaurants. After staying in timeshares, we really like having the space to relax and eat some meals in, beyond just a hotel room.

In advance of a trip like this, I usually review the Rick Steves book, because he does a good overview of the top sites in an area. Then I'll read through Frommers or Fodor, because they go much deeper and may have other sights that appeal to our personal interests, like a toy museum near our apartment when our kits were younger.

There's so much to do in London and surrounding areas, it really depends on your personal interests. We loved the London Eye, British Museum, Churchill War Rooms, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, visiting some of the market areas like Burough Market, checking out the food displays in Harrods, and just walking around some of the different neighborhoods. We usually like to do 1 or 2 major sites in a day, then use the rest of the time to just take in the local color around the area. If you want to venture out from London, Bath is an interesting city and would also give you a chance to see Stonehenge.

I've always found the research and planning to be part of the fun of taking a trip somewhere new!

 

[stmartinfan]

Looks like 3 votes for starting with Rick Steves. I also endorse the idea of doing one of the hop on/hop off bus tours on the first day in a new city, You get a great overview of the city layout, it’s architecture and major sites plus a quick summary from the guide. In London, it's easier to travel to destinations you want to spend time at by Tube, so you can miss out on seeing the broader city style that you get on the bus tour,

 

[Luanne]

Oh yes, we did the Tower of London and Harrods as well. Would have liked to have seen the inside of Buckingham Palace, but on the day we were in that area the Queen was having tea with 300 or so of her closest friends. It was fun seeing them all lined up outside the palace. The women in their hats and the men all dressed up, some in kilts.

 

[justnosy]

Dave - I am no expert, but I found this tour company to be very helpful for excellent and inexpensive guided walks: https://www.walks.com

A lot of the walks are in London, and you just take the Tube to your meeting place, meet your group & guide at the Tube station, and begin your walking tour. Some are out of town - we did Stonehenge and a couple of others, and you meet your group at the train station in London, take the train to your destination, and they provide a chartered bus to take you around the destination, along with guided walks.

We did one of their tours nearly every day - since you are traveling on the Tube on the London tours, if you found something really interesting, you could just stay longer and spend more time there at the end of the guided tour.

We (family) used the above-mentioned tour company!!! We're a family of 5 and I splurged by booking a place through Marriott Home & Villas. The place we got was a 3 bedroom apartment in the Pimlico (?) area. We were in London and came back just as the world shut down (March 2020). We did a lot of things we wanted but the last two days most of London was shut down and I spent about 3 hours on my phone - mostly waiting for a rep - to re-schedule our flight back home (because of course our flight was cancelled - not the ones before and after ours!) Take the British Museum walk to get the highlights. That place is HUGE and overwhelming! We booked a Stonehenge/Bath tour using a Groupon. It was our first time in London. I did the planning by using Google (things to do in London, must do things in london, what to eat in london, etc. ) and then following links and also searching other travel forums. Of course I also got input from my kids of what they wanted to do/eat.

 

[SmithOp]

We rented a flat through Homeaway, which is VRBO, in the Southwark / Bermondsey area, just southeast of Tower Bridge. It was very easy to get around usind the double decker busses, and a great way to see sights, we got Oyster Card before leaving.

Its very easy to do day trips from London, the train system hub, with various lines branching out like spokes on a wheel. We went out to Hampton Court with a stop at Wmbledon, and a day trip to Bath.

You can find a lot of information on visit britain dot com.


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[ScoopKona]

I've been traveling to the UK regularly since I was 9-years old. Usually once every other year. I have more close friends in the UK than I do in the US.

Here's the skinny:

1) You can't see London in one trip. Not even just the big-name attractions. Can't be done. Don't even try. London is big, chock full of history, and chock full of tourists -- all year long.

2) London is expensive. Roughly double the price of the rest of the UK.

3) Unless you're a checklist traveler, the best bet is to visit London with some sort of cultural agenda. I schedule trips around rock concerts at the Albert Hall. I'll go see Mark Knopfler or Roger Hodgson. And then do a few other things before getting out of London for someplace which isn't so hard on my credit card.

4) I've never had a bad meal in the whole of the UK. But I also stick with the dishes they're good at -- curries, fried fish, savory meat pies, full breakfast and similar. I've also never had a bad pint -- because I stick mostly with CAMRA pubs and drink local. My four favorite pubs are the Gypsy Moth, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, The Porcupine, and Brew Dog (which is near the Porcupine). But I'll pop into any place with Doom Bar or Fuller's on draught.

5) It is worth the bad weather to avoid the UK in the summer. I dislike hordes of tourists more than rain. So I tend to visit any time besides summer. My favorite trips to the UK are in Winter. You never really "have the place to yourself." But you can at least enjoy things on your time without being surrounded by selfie-happy tour groups. That's worth a few rain days. The pubs are more comfortable, anyway, when the weather is best described as "woolly."

6) Learn the Tube. And the hop-on hop-off bus is FAR less expensive than cabs/uber. Most of the sights tend to be clustered in spots around the City. So you can hop off and see them. And then hop to another section. If traffic is bad, just take the Underground.

 

[nerodog]

Thank you! This is very helpful, and sounds like the way we'd want to experience things. How did you approach accommodations?

Dave

Do you like bed and breakfasts ? England is famous for the English breakfast and uts a great way to meet local people. I would base myself in London for 5 days at a central locale. I like the Victoria Station area as it's walkable to alot of sights and you can get a tube oyster card. The train station is right there to perhaps hop out to the countryside. If you aren't afraid of driving I'd recommend driving to the Cotswold area and up thru the Lake district . In the southern parts of England you have beautiful Canterbury, Rye, all available by train and then you can visit Cambridge or Oxford. I'd get an itinerary of where you want to go, how many days and figure out your transportation. Then you can find central bed and breakfasts! CIE also offers escorted tours.

 

[clifffaith]

One of our favorite small museums is in London — the Sir John Soane’s Museum. As someone who loves cluttered decor, this home is awesome! Soane was an architect and collector and crammed his home full of his finds, as well as numerous Hogarth, Turner and Canaletto paintings. He donated his home as a museum with the understanding it would be left as he had it in the early 1800s. It is truly fabulous!

 

[nerodog]

One of our favorite small museums is in London — the Sir John Soane’s Museum. As someone who loves cluttered decor, this home is awesome! Soane was an architect and collector and crammed his home full of his finds, as well as numerous Hogarth, Turner and Canaletto paintings. He donated his home as a museum with the understanding it would be left as he had it in the early 1800s. It is truly fabulous!

Courtald Galleries were also great. Live the Tate too and Victoria and Albert. So much in London and let's not forget the theatre !! Big red bus is a good way to get around hop on and off.

 

[DaveNV]

Excellent ideas. Thanks everyone!

Dave

 

[Luanne]

We have what Steve calls a "Monty Python" story about the hop on hop off bus. We arrived VERY early into London. We were able to get to the B&B, leave our bags there, and even have breakfast (a wonderful full English breakfast). Then we headed off for the hop on hop off bus, with the closest stop being at the British Museum. We opted not to hop off as we were pretty tired and just wanted to get the lay of the land. What amused me is that is seemed we kept coming back to Trafalgar Square. We must have seen it from every angle possible. We did finally hop off to get some lunch. Once we'd eaten we headed back to the stop where we'd gotten off to head back to the B&B. We were told at that stop that the bus didn't go to the British Museum and were pointed down the street to where another stop was. Walked down there, and were told that wasn't where the bus to the British Museum was, and were sent back to the stop we'd just left. As we're waiting at the original stop the bus that is there suddenly announces "This bus doesn't go to Harrod's". At this point we don't really care where the bus goes, we figure at some point we'll get where we need to go. So we board. And guess where the first stop is........................yep, the British Museum.

 

[Jodyv]

Visiting London was one of my favorite trips ever. I stayed at an Airbnb. It was a little attic room and a little far from the action, but close to Notting Hill. I took a walking tour booked also on Airbnb. The tour guide was a college professor and fun. (and it was CHEAP......maybe 15.00 or so......) I took a day trip to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge I found on Get Your Guide. (was REALLY cool......) I did a couple of London Walks (There is a website called London Walks that gives you a calendar of their walks.) One was touring the downtown area and included St Paul's Cathedral, and the British Museum where I saw Cleopatra's mummy! One was on Nov. 11, also a special war remembrance day there, and our guide positioned us to see the Royal Family as they returned to the castle after the ceremonies. We saw the queen! I saw four or five Broadway plays including Hamilton (when a ticket to Hamilton in Los Angeles was $200.00 and my London ticket was 65.00.....). I got lots of ideas from Rick Steves. I usually buy a book of his and tear out the pages as I go....He's a really valuable resource! His website, and his books, give itinerary ideas including how important he feels a certain site would be. His suggestions have worked well for me. It was an action-packed week.....but so much fun!!!