London travel suggestions

[Naught-Nole-Buc]

We're planning a trip to England this November and are planning on staying in London and and traveling around to different cities in England here and there.

We're staying for a week and I'm looking for suggestions on the best/safest areas to stay for the best value. I've never been so the area is literally foreign to me. Any other suggestions of eats, sights (aside from the obvious), etc are more than welcome! Thanks!

 

[Lemon Thrower]

London is expensive, like NYC or worse. Hotel rooms tend to be small. In addition to the U.S. chains, consider some European chains like Forte Posthouse, about on the level of a doubletree or lower end hilton or mattiott.

you can take daytrips from london to Stonehenge, Bath, etc.

 

[FSUTribe76]

We're planning a trip to England this November and are planning on staying in London and and traveling around to different cities in England here and there.

We're staying for a week and I'm looking for suggestions on the best/safest areas to stay for the best value. I've never been so the area is literally foreign to me. Any other suggestions of eats, sights (aside from the obvious), etc are more than welcome! Thanks!

To be honest I would not make London the focus of your trip. It's not that it's a bad city, it's just a lesser NYC without much unique to make it worth the trip. Most of the city was destroyed in WW2, so with few exceptions you're not seeing an old European city, it's mostly quickly thrown up ugly 40s and 50s building with a few newer buildings thrown in. Compared to mostly intact old cities like Edinburgh and Conwy, London is completely uninteresting.

That's not to say it's not worth a day or two, but that's about it. The only things worth your limited time in Europe is 1) musicals at the West End, especially the original set of Phantom of the Opera and the Londoncentric version of Spamalot, 2) The Tower of London, in particular the Crown Jewels of England which will have an hour plus wait but WELL worth it, you might say who wants to see a couple gemstones until you see a perfect diamond bigger than softball at the end of giant gold scepter. The Crown Jewels make the Hope Diamond look small and dingy. 3) Westminster Abbey as it's the nicest cathedral I've been in. Even eclipsing the Notre Dame in Paris. Well worth the trip just be aware they will not let you take pictures and will steal your camera if you try. And 4) The British Museum for a quick run through. If you've only been to lesser museums throughout the US you will be impressed, if you've been to the Louvre, Vatican and even NYC Metropolitan museum you will be underwhelmed. I made the mistake of seeing the Brit the week after we went to the Louvre and it was a waste of my time.

 

[LesClaypool]

London is a fantastic city. I've been 4x and can't wait to go back for a 5th. Here are some very basic suggestions:

In London all of the museums are free, so visit all of the big ones:

Natural History Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
British Museum

...In that order

All of the churches charge admission… So see none of them, IMO.

Take a day trip to Windsor Castle. Yes, it's touristy, but it is worth it. The chapel at the castle is incredible. I forget its name but it is as impressive as St. Paul's Cathedral or Westminster Abbey…just smaller. You can go in the morning and be back to London, by early afternoon. It's close...like 40 minutes away or so.

The "Tube" is the cleanest, easiest, and best public transportation I've ever been on. Buy a weeklong pass if you're going to be there for the week because you will be riding it constantly, everywhere. Go to all of the "big" Tube stops at night for dinner and just walk around: Covent Garden, Oxford Circus, Picadilly Circus... They do have sort of a Times Square feel, but in a good way. Depending on when you go in November, they MIGHT be decorated for Christmas too. If so, you will be very lucky because they look AWESOME when they are all lit up.

Hotels are very expensive. I can't give you much advice here as I always redeem Marriott points and stay at places that are way nicer than I should be staying at, for free. What sort of budget do you have for the week? How much of it are you willing to spend on a hotel?

Eat Indian food. Maybe that's an obvious suggestion b/c In London, Indian food is their version of our Mexican food. It's everywhere. And it's excellent. Incidentally, you won't find any Mexican food (for good reason). And if you DO, don't eat it!

Drink Guinness. It's not as good as it is in Dublin, but it's way better than it is in the US. Don't ask me why, but it is. There's no disputing it. Don't drink most of the other beer though… Surprisingly, at least to me, and contrary to popular opinion, British beer sucks compared to all of the great microbrewing that is taking place in America. Really. You will be disappointed. Yeah yeah yeah I know Harp and Bass...blah blah blah. Trust me on this.

Do you like soccer at all...even a little bit? There are like a dozen teams that play in London and you can take the tube to any of their stadiums. Go see a match! If you're not a fan of any team in particular, go take a tour of Emirates Stadium (Arsenal FC's Stadium) in North London on a non-game day. North London has a cool vibe. Full disclosure that IS my favorite team, but the stadium is magnificent. State of the art, brand-new, they let you get out onto the field, into the locker rooms, into the board room and VIP areas, etc.

...Oh yeah, Bring an umbrella and a raincoat. It rains all the effing time.

 

[Naught-Nole-Buc]

Thanks for all of the input and insight, you guys are awesome! What have you guy typically paid on average per night for hotels? I'm thinking about trying AirBNB to find a flat or house and I've seen prices as low as $150 per night during the week we're going.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Thanks for all of the input and insight, you guys are awesome! What have you guy typically paid on average per night for hotels? I'm thinking about trying AirBNB to find a flat or house and I've seen prices as low as $150 per night during the week we're going.

I can't help you with London housing because I was VERY underwhelmed with where we stayed. I don't recall off the top of my head and it's not worth going through Facebook or my mail to find it as it was neither good enough to recommend nor bad enough warn away.

Depending upon where you go though, there's some other places I would recommend around the UK. We stayed at a Tudor era Hunting Lodge in Wales that was amazing but under $200 and even though it was expensive my favorite stay of anywhere on the planet was in the queens room in the tower at Dalhousie Castle just outside of Edinburgh. Dalhousie had absolutely amazing food plus mews to take falconry lessons (or rent Falcons and Hawks for hunting if you're credentialed).

You didn't say how long you would be in the area and where else you were planning on going, but I took 2 weeks about two years ago and used two days to pop over to Paris, spent a fair amount of time in Scotland and Wales and spent a few days around other parts of England. My favorite days of the trip were in Paris, Edinburgh, the highlands North of Edinburgh and Conwy and if I were redoing it I would have trimmed my time in England to just a few hours in Cheddar and Stonehenge and maybe a day and a half in London.

Even if you're only there a week, I would HIGHLY suggest taking the Flying Scotsman (high speed rail) from London to Edinburgh and spend at least a couple of days in Edinburgh and the surrounds, it is a substantially more interesting and entertaining city.

 

[Lemon Thrower]

checkout vrbo also. priceline is an idea; websites like biddingfortravel and betterbidding will give you an idea of what to expect. most sites are north of the river, west of the Tower, and not too far west of Hyde Park.

 

[Dr. Nole]

Look into a hotel chain called "Premier Inns"
Not extravagant but consistent in each one we stayed in while in Europe...and not too expensive.

http://www.premierinn.com/en/london-hotels.html

 

[Dr. Nole]

...I would also listen to what FSUTribe 76 says...he gave us great info on Scotland...spot on!

 

[LesClaypool]

The one time I stayed at a non-Marriott property was at a Premier Inns hotel. Rooms are very basic but they have a full restaurant onsite. They'll get the job done. Comparable to a Courtyard Marriott, though the room was a little less than that caliber I'd say.

It's most important, no matter where you stay, that you stay near a Tube stop. Can't stress that enough. You shouldn't be more than 5-10 minutes walk from the nearest Tube stop or you picked the wrong place. That's my $.02

 

[QuaZ2002]

I'm glad the OP posted this. I'm going to London for 2.5 days next week and was going to ask you guys where to go. A Scottish friend of mine suggest Camden Town, The London Eye, and Leicester Square to go out and get drinks. We're staying at a hotel in Kensington, that was only like $150/night. I know the rooms will be tiny, but I'm ok with that.

In true tourist fashion we're doing an on and off bus tour one of the days just to see as much as possible. I figured at worst it's a ride around town that will stop at all the major spots and it was relatively cheap.

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

Love London. Do the touristy stuff...Tower of London, etc.
It is very fun. I like to take people to see The Mousetrap, running continuously since 1952. But I also like to make people watch Hot Fuzz whenever they come with us on vacation to the keys house.

 

[tommynole3476]

Agree with most everything LesClaypool mentioned, especially Windsor Castle, that's very easy to do in a day. Love London, wish I had four trips under my belt, but I have just the one, so far.

One eating suggestion, assuming you won't always be able to sit down and have a full on meal. I've always said the best burger I've ever had is from a GBK in London. They have this tomato relish (at least that's what they call it, I'd say it's more of a jam) that is absolutely ridiculous on a burger.

My trip was back in 09, we did Priceline for the hotel and air, and I want to say it was somewhere around 2800ish for 13/14 nights. And we stayed at what I considered to be a pretty nice hotel for London. The rooms are half the size of a regular hotel in the states, but that's to be expected, as everything is smaller there.

Also, we got soaked one night in London, and it was dry as a bell the other 13. We also saw several West End shows, wife and I enjoy a musical from time to time, and their productions are on par with Broadway, so if you like that sort of thing, definitely check it out.

 

[tolkien1]

Visiting for 2..5 weeks in October with a side trip to the Cotswolds and Normandy. Luckily, my wife went to grad school at Oxford for a couple of semesters as part of an exchange program and then worked in London for awhile. So, we have free lodging at her friend's house in London!

 

[Lemon Thrower]

the tube can be convenient if you are close to it, where you are going is close, and you don't have to transfer. otherwise, a taxi can be better, especially if there are a couple of you. the taxis in london and very cool and the unlike the u.s. the drivers speak english.

paris is worth a week; i wouldn't try to combine them. if you do combine, then just fly home from paris.

4 or 5 nights in london is plenty.

 

[FSUTribe76]

the tube can be convenient if you are close to it, where you are going is close, and you don't have to transfer. otherwise, a taxi can be better, especially if there are a couple of you. the taxis in london and very cool and the unlike the u.s. the drivers speak english.

paris is worth a week; i wouldn't try to combine them. if you do combine, then just fly home from paris.

4 or 5 nights in london is plenty.

I agree with you about Paris being worth a week, my wife and I only spent 2 days last time and left a LOT to do. That's why we're heading back soon.

4 or 5 days in London is WAY too much. Again, 2 days is plenty especially if you've ever been to NYC. The plays are good, the Tower is good, Westminster is good, the Brit is good if you've never spent time at the Louvre, Vatican or Met, the rest is just not worth the plane flight when there's infinitely better stuff to do by a short high speed rail trip or car rental. I would definitely lop off two of those days and take a condensed trip to Paris care of the Chunnel or Edinburgh care of the Flying Scotsman.

 

[FSUTribe76]

The other thing is that a short trip to Paris will make you want to come back and a lot of Americans (including myself) are negative about Paris before going with the "they're all rude and stuffy" reputation. Once there I found nothing but warm, welcoming people who were always helpful even with my limited 3 years of HS French from 20 years ago (well those and the gypsy con artists but that's an easy to avoid trap if you read up about their practices ahead of times, they only take advantage of the uninformed). I definitely had a 1000000x more fun and enjoyment at Paris over London. Edinburgh was in the middle but closer to Paris than London. Cardiff was also in the middle but closer to London than Paris.

 

[FSUTribe76]

And I got a giggle out of the London tubes were sparkly clean comment. The last time I used it, there was a very obviously human not dog turd squarely in the middle of the walkway and they always smelled of urine. Tokyo it is NOT. I found the Tube to be about on par with NYC's subway, more convenient because of the circular loop but dirtier and less timely. I'd put the Paris Metro well ahead of the Tube, then NYC and London in a tie but both slightly ahead of Boston.

 

[LesClaypool]

If you'd put the Paris metro over the London Tube, I'd venture to say you've never been on the London Tube. That's how silly your statement is.

Paris is a dump. Dirty as hell. It IS full of unfriendly Frenchies. No one smiles anywhere. Everyone frowning all the time. The stereotypes are right on. Graffiti EVERYWHERE. Most overrated big city I've ever visited and it's not close. Really a dump.

I would never go back. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

 

[tommynole3476]

If you'd put the Paris metro over the London Tube, I'd venture to say you've never been on the London Tube. That's how silly your statement is.

Paris is a dump. Dirty as hell. It IS full of unfriendly Frenchies. No one smiles anywhere. Everyone frowning all the time. The stereotypes are right on. Graffiti EVERYWHERE. Most overrated big city I've ever visited and it's not close. Really a dump.

I would never go back. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

Fully support this as well. When we went in 09, we took the Eurostar over to Paris for a night, and I was worried we would regret not spending more time there, but it was just the opposite.

We did the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, which was about all we could do in the 24 hours plus we were there. But the Paris subway is like the worst gas station bathroom you can think of, maybe worse, only bigger.

I distinctly remember two scents in my entire life, other than your usual everyday odors; one is a pair of shoes someone tried to return once that smelled like they'd spent a few days in low tide, the other is the Paris Subway. Wife and I got on the subway from the Eurostar station, got going, everything was fine, wind was blowing (as the windows of the train are open), and as it made its first stop, the air stops and the stench hits you like a Tyson body blow. My wife and I looked at each other immediately with horror in our eyes. It was like the worst BO you've ever smelled had sex with raw sewage, and aborted the resulting pregnancy, but it survived and was living in the Paris subway. And every time the train stopped it hit you in the gut.

 

[kooterridesagain]

Tommy
Good stuff.

If you like food i enjoy the markets like Camden and Greenwich, tremendous selection to walk around and munch on euro food and plenty of Indian styles too.

 

[tommynole3476]

Neal's Yard Dairy was a place we visited too. Never been to anything like that in the states, every cheese you could imagine, was interesting to me.

 

[Lemon Thrower]

I really enjoy subways, have been on them in about 10 cities - London, Rome, Paris, Prague, Munich, NYC, Chicago, DC, ATL. I prize convenience the most (how well the lines cover the city), and you can't get more convenient than NYC. London is decent, but often you'll find the lines travel on a diaganol path to where you want to go, and you have to transfer. nothing wrong with that except its time consuming to have to transfer to get to where you want to go. London is on par with Washington DC imho in terms of convenience. i thought Paris had a better system, best next to NYC. i didn't notice a smell in Paris but i was there in the spring. in summer, you'll smell BO on any subway, especially at rush hour. if that bothers you, take a cab. the cabs in london and paris are great. the london subway is relatively expensive, so in comparison a cab ride is often a good deal. of course, at rush hour, the tube may be quicker. also, there are always the double decker busses which are good for shorter commutes.

 

[QuaZ2002]

Haha, i love the differences of opinion regarding Paris and London. My friend and I are doing ~3 days in each (a little more in Paris) and also doing 3 days in Naples, Italy (i have a friend living there). Will be packing a lot into one trip, but i'm ok with that. I'm not really one for stopping to smell the roses, I like to move and there's only two of us so won't be anyone slowing us down. The 8hour flight from Tampa to London is what i'm dreading more than anything.

 

[Naught-Nole-Buc]

London is a fantastic city. I've been 4x and can't wait to go back for a 5th. Here are some very basic suggestions:

In London all of the museums are free, so visit all of the big ones:

Natural History Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
British Museum

...In that order

All of the churches charge admission… So see none of them, IMO.

Take a day trip to Windsor Castle. Yes, it's touristy, but it is worth it. The chapel at the castle is incredible. I forget its name but it is as impressive as St. Paul's Cathedral or Westminster Abbey…just smaller. You can go in the morning and be back to London, by early afternoon. It's close...like 40 minutes away or so.

The "Tube" is the cleanest, easiest, and best public transportation I've ever been on. Buy a weeklong pass if you're going to be there for the week because you will be riding it constantly, everywhere. Go to all of the "big" Tube stops at night for dinner and just walk around: Covent Garden, Oxford Circus, Picadilly Circus... They do have sort of a Times Square feel, but in a good way. Depending on when you go in November, they MIGHT be decorated for Christmas too. If so, you will be very lucky because they look AWESOME when they are all lit up.

Hotels are very expensive. I can't give you much advice here as I always redeem Marriott points and stay at places that are way nicer than I should be staying at, for free. What sort of budget do you have for the week? How much of it are you willing to spend on a hotel?

Eat Indian food. Maybe that's an obvious suggestion b/c In London, Indian food is their version of our Mexican food. It's everywhere. And it's excellent. Incidentally, you won't find any Mexican food (for good reason). And if you DO, don't eat it!

Drink Guinness. It's not as good as it is in Dublin, but it's way better than it is in the US. Don't ask me why, but it is. There's no disputing it. Don't drink most of the other beer though… Surprisingly, at least to me, and contrary to popular opinion, British beer sucks compared to all of the great microbrewing that is taking place in America. Really. You will be disappointed. Yeah yeah yeah I know Harp and Bass...blah blah blah. Trust me on this.

Do you like soccer at all...even a little bit? There are like a dozen teams that play in London and you can take the tube to any of their stadiums. Go see a match! If you're not a fan of any team in particular, go take a tour of Emirates Stadium (Arsenal FC's Stadium) in North London on a non-game day. North London has a cool vibe. Full disclosure that IS my favorite team, but the stadium is magnificent. State of the art, brand-new, they let you get out onto the field, into the locker rooms, into the board room and VIP areas, etc.

...Oh yeah, Bring an umbrella and a raincoat. It rains all the effing time.

Thanks, Les! Between yours and everyone else's suggestions, we're getting a good start to our planning. I'm an avid BPL fan and post on the PGSF footy threads wth you guys. I'm a Manchester United fan so I won't really want to visit Emirates or Stamford Bridge. I'm kind of pissed that United doesn't host a match either weekend that we'll be in England so I'll just have to catch their match either at Watford or at Leicester (which seems MUCH easier of a commute than Manchester). I really do want to get to Manchester though to see Old Trafford and the museum.