Traveling to london May 2010. Planning 10 day trip and wondering what to see and do. Is 10 days too long to spend just in London?? Prefer hotels or bed and breakfast accomodations? Any other suggestions would be great!
Hello! First overseas trip planning in the process with my sister and boyfriend. We were planning on a ten day trip to London with a day trip to stonehenge, bath, and windsor, but otherwise no other definates. We'll see all the obvious sights just looking for insight on whether 9 days is too long to spend exploring london. We would consider taking another day trip elsewhere but trying to keep costs down some obviously!
Also interested in other suggestions regarding accomodations and what things are worth paying for. Should I get the london pass and the oyster card?? Should I look for B&B or just basic cheaper hotels. The three of us would prefer to just stay in one room to keep costs down but not really interested in the hostel scene...
Thanks and I appreciate any input!
Reply to this Hello Samantha 😊
I spent a year in London, so I dont think 10 days is too long. But how much is too long depends on what you want to do. If you just want to see the sights then you dont need 10 days. If you want to hang out, absorb the atmosphere and chat with and meet locals then the longer the better.
For London, I would just get a Bus and Underground Pass that covers zone one. Most of what you will go to, except the airport is in zone one. You could get a week pass if you are going to be there that long. On the other hand, you could just get accomodation in the centre and get a map and walk around.
Mel
Reply to this Hi,
i would DEFO suggest getting the Oyster Card.. whatever you plan to do in London you'll doubtless be hopping on and off the Tube. You pay a £3 deposit for the card and top it up with whatever amount you want and whatever you don't use you can get refunded(!) before you leave and even get the £3 pounds back when you hand in the card. With the Oyster they will only ever charge you the CHEAPEST fair per 24hr period. so one day you might use the tube 10 times and it'll charge you the cheapest to cover the area you've travelled in and another day you might only use one or two and will only charge you for a single journey.. etc etc...
i only live two hours from London and visit very often, i love it 😊
my favorite areas in LDN are:
Covent Garden - always something going on (street performers etc) and the market is brilliant (not sure which days, a google search will sort that out)
Camden - lovely chilled out area of London. lots of pubs and bars and again, lovely little shops down by Camden Locks. You can sit by the Lock and watch canal boats go by or even go on a boat trip yourself.
Leicester Square - BRILLIANT at night time. If you're lucky you'll catch a few celebs at a movie premiere!! this is where most of the major movie premieres are heald in the UK.
Traffalgar Square - Nelson's Column is pretty impressive, towering over the National Gallery and St. Martins.
Hope that helps a bit.
Ps, if you have time/funds i suggest exploring other areas/major cities of UK. Especially Edinburgh, its beautiful. 4 hours on train from LDN or v.short plane trip.
Reply to this London is wonderful and indeed 10 days is not a lot. Remember it is a big city and transport (underground, train, bus) can take a long time so don't try to do plan too many things in one day, if you have to travel between them. For your stay I would suggest bed and breakfast (check the net), can be very nice if you get a room in a family home and thus you get friendly advice and some knowledge of local life. Do get an oyster card, as you will travel round so much and use the travel planner to check your routes to avoid unpleasant surprises like trains not running on Sundays or something like that.
In addition to the above I would like to mention Hampton Court, the palace of Henry VIII, wonderful building and lovely park for picnic. Another place for picnics and walks are Kingston and Richmond, truly fantastic getaways on a sunny day (well at least if it is not raining). Hampstead Heath is a place for rambling - can be combined with Camden, which also has an exotic Sunday market). Other day excursions worth the trip are Oxford or Cambridge, the old colleges are very interesting and there are nice parks along the rivers. You can also do a river cruise which should be very nice. There are also foot paths along the Thames (check the web), if you like walking it would be advisable to get one of the books on walking trails in London, there are a number of them, and that way you will get some guidance of very interesting and attractive, but less well known, places.
For indoors there are all the museums (British Museum, National Gallery, Tate etc etc) and there are also old buildings kept by the National Trust which can make for an interesting history lesson. Kew garden is the big botanical garden which is worth visiting for anyone with the slightest interest in flowers or trees (the atmosphere in the greenhouses from the Victorian era are just beyond description). And the best thing is that London is full of pubs, coffee places and fairly cheap restaurants which makes your trip even more enjoyable.
Reply to this Thanks for the great advice! I was worried that we would run out of stuff to do but it sounds like we should have plenty to fill our time!! I also read that tipping is not really customary in the pubs and stuff. Sit down restaurants, yes, but at other times it is not necessary. Is this correct?
Reply to this Is this correct?
It is correct. And in sit down restaruants tipping is not as customery as it is in N. America. 10%!o(MISSING)f the bill is a generous tip. Though, if you are from N. America the waiting staff may hope for more, because they are used to it from N. Americans.
Reply to this For London, I would just get a Bus and Underground Pass that covers zone one. Most of what you will go to, except the airport is in zone one. You could get a week pass if you are going to be there that long.
(sorry Mell) can I just add that travelcards for just zone 1 don't exist anymore. Your cheapest option for transport nowadays is definitely an oyster card using prepay. If you're going to be travelling around on the tube a lot or not staying in the centre, you can get a week pass on your oyster card that covers zones 1 and 2.
I also read that tipping is not really customary in the pubs and stuff. Sit down restaurants, yes, but at other times it is not necessary. Is this correct?
Very correct. In pubs it's only customary if you're a desperate old man falling for a pretty young barmaid 😊 In restaurants it's still completely optional, and so can be a gesture to say "this food was really really good". However I have had experiences with tourist trap restaurants like Chiquito on Leicester Square where they do expect everyone to give them a 10%!t(MISSING)ip... personally I think thats a reason alone not to give one.
Reply to this (sorry Mell) can I just add that travelcards for just zone 1 don't exist anymore.
It has been a while since I was last in London..... 😊
However I have had experiences with tourist trap restaurants like Chiquito on Leicester Square where they do expect everyone to give them a 10%!t(MISSING)ip... personally I think thats a reason alone not to give one.
I find it a reason not to go to those restaruants at all. There are lots of those in the center of Muinich(I live in Munich). I dont go to them anymore, because the attitude of the staff is so off putting. But, they probably dont want me as a customer anyway, when they can get so many tourists who give 25%!t(MISSING)ips.
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