Which are the top 10 places in London that first-time visitors MUST see?

[Fabiola Jacob]

Which are the top 10 places in London that first-time visitors MUST see - especially when on a week long or 10 day visit?

[Allan Lynch]

1. The Tower of London and Crown Jewels
2. London Eye
3. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich (take a ferry down the Thames)
4. Westminster Abbey
5. St. Paul's Cathedral
6. Shopping on Regent and Oxford Streets
7. Gotta do a pub lunch. Look at some of the pubs along The Strand (over by the Savoy) or behind St. James' Palace.
8. Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (walk through Admiralty Arch and walk up the Mall. St. James' Palace will be on your right, then Clarence House, where HRH the Prince of Wales lives, it was his gran's old place)
9. The British Museum - it's huge so think about a few things you'd like to focus on, I pick the Elgin Marbles and Egyptian Rooms.
10. Sunday in Hyde Park, go to Speaker's Corner and hear all strange opinions. It's truly free speech.

[Fabiola Jacob]

Thanks!!! Hope I get to do this soon ;)



Allan Lynch said:

1. The Tower of London and Crown Jewels
2. London Eye
3. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich (take a ferry down the Thames)
4. Westminster Abbey
5. St. Paul's Cathedral
6. Shopping on Regent and Oxford Streets
7. Gotta do a pub lunch. Look at some of the pubs along The Strand (over by the Savoy) or behind St. James' Palace.
8. Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (walk through Admiralty Arch and walk up the Mall. St. James' Palace will be on your right, then Clarence House, where HRH the Prince of Wales lives, it was his gran's old place)
9. The British Museum - it's huge so think about a few things you'd like to focus on, I pick the Elgin Marbles and Egyptian Rooms.
10. Sunday in Hyde Park, go to Speaker's Corner and hear all strange opinions. It's truly free speech.

[Darryl Musick]

In addition to Allan's excellent list, here are a few more things to see or do while there. You can get a lot in 10 days...

1. A Jack the Ripper tour with Ripper expert Donald Rumbelow.

2. Take a 90 minute train ride for a day trip to Bath

3. See Churchill's war headquarters in the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum

4. Walk across the zebra crossing in front of the Abbey Road Studios and check out all the Beatle fan grafitti

5. Kew Gardens

6. Imperial War Museum

7. Spend time looking at the very expensive merchandise at Harrod's...have lunch in the food hall, then do your actual buying at Marks & Spencer

8. See a play. Just as good as Broadway but much easier on the pocketbook

9. After riding the Eye, stroll east along the Thames for a bit and see Shakespeare's Old Globe Theatre

10. If you have a day left, take the Eurostar from Waterloo Station for a day trip to Paris

More here: http://wheelstraveler.blogspot.com/search?q=london+england

-Darryl

[Allan Lynch]

Eurostar has moved from Waterloo and now leaves from the refurbished St. Pancras Station.

Allan

Darryl Musick said:

In addition to Allan's excellent list, here are a few more things to see or do while there. You can get a lot in 10 days...

1. A Jack the Ripper tour with Ripper expert Donald Rumbelow.

2. Take a 90 minute train ride for a day trip to Bath

3. See Churchill's war headquarters in the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum

4. Walk across the zebra crossing in front of the Abbey Road Studios and check out all the Beatle fan grafitti

5. Kew Gardens

6. Imperial War Museum

7. Spend time looking at the very expensive merchandise at Harrod's...have lunch in the food hall, then do your actual buying at Marks & Spencer

8. See a play. Just as good as Broadway but much easier on the pocketbook

9. After riding the Eye, stroll east along the Thames for a bit and see Shakespeare's Old Globe Theatre

10. If you have a day left, take the Eurostar from Waterloo Station for a day trip to Paris

More here: http://wheelstraveler.blogspot.com/search?q=london+england

-Darryl

[Darryl Musick]

Even better!

Allan Lynch said:

Eurostar has moved from Waterloo and now leaves from the refurbished St. Pancras Station.

Allan

Darryl Musick said:

In addition to Allan's excellent list, here are a few more things to see or do while there. You can get a lot in 10 days...

1. A Jack the Ripper tour with Ripper expert Donald Rumbelow.

2. Take a 90 minute train ride for a day trip to Bath

3. See Churchill's war headquarters in the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum

4. Walk across the zebra crossing in front of the Abbey Road Studios and check out all the Beatle fan grafitti

5. Kew Gardens

6. Imperial War Museum

7. Spend time looking at the very expensive merchandise at Harrod's...have lunch in the food hall, then do your actual buying at Marks & Spencer

8. See a play. Just as good as Broadway but much easier on the pocketbook

9. After riding the Eye, stroll east along the Thames for a bit and see Shakespeare's Old Globe Theatre

10. If you have a day left, take the Eurostar from Waterloo Station for a day trip to Paris

More here: http://wheelstraveler.blogspot.com/search?q=london+england

-Darryl

[Anil]

I had sent an email to a first timer who was planning to do both London and Paris. Here is my short version of it.


LONDON:
Day 0: Leave JFK and arrive at LHR from US. Head to your hotel.

Day 1: Noon-night: Depending on where you are staying, visit Oxford St,Harrods,Bond etc and get it out of your/her system. End the day with a bite at the local independent pub (if you can find one )

Day 2: Take the hop-on=hop off bus, and get a sense as to where you want to focus on Day 3 & Day 4. The multiple buses will hit on some major & minor spots. As dusk approaches (weather permitting), Do the Millinium Eye a.k.a London Eye (you can buy the ticket online)

Walk across the river, take a boat and get off at Tower of London/Tower Bridge. See that if you may.

Day 3: You have St. Pauls, Tate Modern, British Museum, Buckingham Palace,British Library,National Gallery, Hyde Park, Kensington Garden. Take the tube to Borough Market or Camden Yards Flea Market. Each of the above museums can suck the whole day up. Evening do the Soho plays if you so choose. Avoid the musicals, they will come to New York/Broadway or they have gone from Broadway there. British Plays on the other hand.

Day 4: Pick whatever you have missed from the above. Try a hearty lunch at an indian/ethopian/iranian/srilankan/greek restaurant - Probably the best this side of Gibralter.

Day 5/Day 1: Take the morning Eurostar from St.Pancras to arrive in Paris around 11ish. Check-in you hotel by noon, get out to take the day pass for metro and cover the nearest museum to you. Get a bottle of wine, and some fresh bread, cheese, mustards and make a light dinner.

[Maureen Blevins]

Any suggestions for 24 hours? Just a stopover but I want to see anything I can!

[Allan Lynch]

Yikes! Wear comfortable shoes. Given the short time, I would skip a number of things where you have to line up.

Head to Covent Garden. Plan to have a quick, early lunch there. Then hoof it over to Trafalgar Square. Maybe a quick visit to the National Gallery and/or National Portrait Gallery. Then walk across the Square though Admiralty Arch and walk up The Mall to Buckingham Palace. At the Palace, depending on day, time of day, you might consider a tour of the Royal Mews or the Queen's Gallery (old chapel that was bombed and now has various pieces from the Royal Collection - but if there's a ling up, skip it and leave it for another visit). When you're facing the Palace on your right is Green Park. Hoof it through there, along the Queen's Walk. You'll come out by The Ritz. Turn right on Piccadilly and walk towards Piccadilly Circus. This will take you past Fortnum and Mason and my favourite book store, Thatcher's, which is the Queen's bookstore. Allow yourself to linger some and maybe pop into some shops either here or Regent Street.

In the evening, consider a turn on the London Eye and a dinner reservation on a river boat. You'll have a decent meal, music and see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London illuminated.

If you're seriously into bling and history, focus just on heading to the Tower of London. In high season it can be a one-to-two hour wait to get in and then an hour or two to tour it, so it will eat up a lot of your day.

Just consider the 24-hours as a sampler for what you will do when you come back.


Maureen Blevins said:

Any suggestions for 24 hours? Just a stopover but I want to see anything I can!

[Maureen Blevins]

Thanks Allan! Will be there on a weekday, so I'm hoping for shorter lines. And I am definately just considering this as sort of a tease for a future trip! Would love to just see Big Ben, Wesminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. Very touristy of me but I want to ride a big red double-decker bus! Good idea or not?

Allan Lynch said:

Yikes! Wear comfortable shoes. Given the short time, I would skip a number of things where you have to line up.

Head to Covent Garden. Plan to have a quick, early lunch there. Then hoof it over to Trafalgar Square. Maybe a quick visit to the National Gallery and/or National Portrait Gallery. Then walk across the Square though Admiralty Arch and walk up The Mall to Buckingham Palace. At the Palace, depending on day, time of day, you might consider a tour of the Royal Mews or the Queen's Gallery (old chapel that was bombed and now has various pieces from the Royal Collection - but if there's a ling up, skip it and leave it for another visit). When you're facing the Palace on your right is Green Park. Hoof it through there, along the Queen's Walk. You'll come out by The Ritz. Turn right on Piccadilly and walk towards Piccadilly Circus. This will take you past Fortnum and Mason and my favourite book store, Thatcher's, which is the Queen's bookstore. Allow yourself to linger some and maybe pop into some shops either here or Regent Street.

In the evening, consider a turn on the London Eye and a dinner reservation on a river boat. You'll have a decent meal, music and see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London illuminated.

If you're seriously into bling and history, focus just on heading to the Tower of London. In high season it can be a one-to-two hour wait to get in and then an hour or two to tour it, so it will eat up a lot of your day.

Just consider the 24-hours as a sampler for what you will do when you come back.


Maureen Blevins said:

Any suggestions for 24 hours? Just a stopover but I want to see anything I can!

[Allan Lynch]

Maureen,

London is a world capital, so weekday/weekend there's not much difference in the line ups. There's the theory of go early and get to the head of the line, which is probably best. Then you can walk over to the Tower Hill Tube Station and take either the Circle or District lines to the Westminster Tube Station. You have Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey all together. So you can do that pretty efficiently. THEN you're not that far from the Palace, so you could look for a double-decker going towards the Palace and you've knocked off all your must dos.

Double decker buses are being replaced by articulated coaches. However, they are kept in service in the centre of the city for the benefit of visitors.

As for things being 'a bit touristy', so what. If it's what you want to do, do it. We're all tourists at some point in our travels. When I first went to London I had tourist stamped all over me. It's only because I've been 30 or so times that I spend a little less time at the main visitor venues.

Go, pig out on history and pageantry and anything else you enjoy. It's your life, your time, your money. Enjoy it any old way you want.

Maureen Blevins said:

Thanks Allan! Will be there on a weekday, so I'm hoping for shorter lines. And I am definately just considering this as sort of a tease for a future trip! Would love to just see Big Ben, Wesminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. Very touristy of me but I want to ride a big red double-decker bus! Good idea or not?

Allan Lynch said:

Yikes! Wear comfortable shoes. Given the short time, I would skip a number of things where you have to line up.

Head to Covent Garden. Plan to have a quick, early lunch there. Then hoof it over to Trafalgar Square. Maybe a quick visit to the National Gallery and/or National Portrait Gallery. Then walk across the Square though Admiralty Arch and walk up The Mall to Buckingham Palace. At the Palace, depending on day, time of day, you might consider a tour of the Royal Mews or the Queen's Gallery (old chapel that was bombed and now has various pieces from the Royal Collection - but if there's a ling up, skip it and leave it for another visit). When you're facing the Palace on your right is Green Park. Hoof it through there, along the Queen's Walk. You'll come out by The Ritz. Turn right on Piccadilly and walk towards Piccadilly Circus. This will take you past Fortnum and Mason and my favourite book store, Thatcher's, which is the Queen's bookstore. Allow yourself to linger some and maybe pop into some shops either here or Regent Street.

In the evening, consider a turn on the London Eye and a dinner reservation on a river boat. You'll have a decent meal, music and see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London illuminated.

If you're seriously into bling and history, focus just on heading to the Tower of London. In high season it can be a one-to-two hour wait to get in and then an hour or two to tour it, so it will eat up a lot of your day.

Just consider the 24-hours as a sampler for what you will do when you come back.


Maureen Blevins said:

Any suggestions for 24 hours? Just a stopover but I want to see anything I can!

[Martin Soler]

Thames River banks
Westminster
Camden Town
Tower Bridge
London City Hall
Experience a Pub
Experience a musical
some of my preferences

[Velimira Velikova]

I would recommend to consult with this guide: http://www.timeout.com/london/aroundtown/