MSPeconomist

For the other four nights, I'd suggest taking the train somewhere for three nights (Edinburgh, Oxford, Stratford, Bath,.....of these, I think my choice would be Bath) and spending the last night at an airport hotel, assuming that your return flight leaves fairly early in the day.

iflyjetz

Park Lane Hotel's an excellent location. Within walking distance of Marble Arch, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Buckingham and Kensington Palaces.

Oyster card can be bought at Gatwick airport. Put 25 Pounds on it (~$40). You can get a refund for unused money at the end of your trip. Oyster card is a MUST; you can use it on all tube (subways) and buses in London.

Getting to/from Gatwick, take the Gatwick Express to Victoria station. Separate charge; doesn't accept Oyster card. Buy tickets in advance online to save money. Link: http://www.gatwickexpress.com/ I recommend anytime return to pay for the round trip.

Getting to your hotel, you'll take Gatwick Express to Victoria Station. From there, you can catch the tube one stop to Green Park and walk a couple of blocks to the hotel.

British Museum (free) - a must see. Less than 30 min from your hotel by bus or tube.

Tower of London (buy tickets here: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/ ) You want to buy the tickets from the website, as it's 1) cheaper and 2) lines are very long at the Tower. You'll go a separate, shorter line with your voucher. Make sure you get in the correct line.
From Park Lane, take the tube from Green Park to London Bridge station. short walk.

I'd also recommend a music tour if you like the Beatles or Rock and Roll history. I took both the Beatles tour and a rock and roll tour; enjoyed both.

Many other things to do; I'm sure others will make recommendations of things to see.

iflyjetz

If you want, I'm sure many of us would be happy to build a very rough itinerary/suggestions for you for your vacation. Don't need to know the arrival/departing flights, but time of day would be a help, and of course the dates of the trip.

If you include other hotels that you've got points with, we can make recommendations for those to help save money.

If you decide on Paris, my recommendation is spending the night in Versailles before going to the Palace, as the lines get very, very long there; best to arrive before 9AM. The hotels and food are less expensive in Versailles than in Paris, another bonus. Note: the Palace is closed on Mondays.

Melodsal

Depending on how much you are going to be using the public transport I would look at getting a one week pass for zones 1 and 2.

Also don't forget uber: much cheaper than black cabs; I used them all the time when I was living in London.

Allie Abby

tks for all the info I'm getting , will deff use those sites to buy tixs from ,we want to do the tourist things in London ,so any info be great , like I said were from Canada and I coulnt belive when starwood agent said the room at park lane was $649 Canadian a night that we got on points , I'm sure u may get it cheaper , but I'm not rich so any advice to save money on stuff I will really be thankful for , not a huge beatles fan but did think about going to Liverpool .

iflyjetz

As far as Beatles tour, I was referring to something like this: http://www.beatlesinlondon.com/

For a rock and roll tour, something like this: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...n_England.html

I don't believe that you have to spend a fortune to have a great experience. The Park Lane hotel, at 48K points for 5 nights, looks like a great bargain.

I've never been to Liverpool so I have no suggestions for there.

geo1005

FWIW, I'm headed to London next month for five days with some friends and will also stay at the Sheraton Park Lane - if only for its great location. If you don't want to deal with getting the highly-recommended Oyster Card upon arrival at LGW (when sleepy after the overnight flight) I'd suggest ordering the the Visitor card online in advance. They mail it to you so you'll have it in your pocket when you reach Victoria Station (see the earlier mention that the Gatwick Express trains are not on the oyster system, but just about everything else you'd possibly want is: Tube, bus etc.). I just received mine in the mail last week. The good thing about the Oyster Card is it has a daily cap on fares - once you reach that cap you're no longer charged. This can be a real savings if you're running around to/from tourist spots for four days.

http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/lo...r-oyster-card/

skye1

Once in the thick of Zone 1 and central London, much of the typical tourist attractions are within walking distance. There's even a couple of interesting tube maps on line that compare walking times between stations with times on the tube. And if you're in to walking about the city, and discovering some of its hidden gems on foot, check out "London Walks" - lots of great themes, ideas, great guides.

You certainly can use your Oyster Card on the tube, local buses, the DLR, and national rail routes within London. You can also use them for a discount on the Thames Clippers (which not only get you from, say, Westminster to Greenwich, but with a cool riverview of the city along the way).

The Sheraton Park Lane is fine for location, literally just down the road from the Green Park tube station, with the Jubilee, Picadilly, and Victoria lines.

The Aloft would be cheaper in terms of cash, cash & points, or points, and whilst not as central as the Park Lane, isn't "that" far, and literally next to a DLR station.

Some might say 9 days isn't enough for a grand city like London, YMMV.
I'd consider day trips or days out to cities like Oxford or Bath.

h2d

I would not choose the Aloft, convenient for London City Airport, The O2 and thats about it. Great Northern at Kings Cross seems like the best option, although rooms are apparently on the small side it is much closer to the action.

No need for an oyster card now - any contactless card will work at every terminal and charges the same amount as the oyster cards plus you won't have to spend the £5 deposit on the oyster in the first place and end up with any left over money on the card. (May still be worth it if you get hit with a big FX charge for foreign transactions)

geo1005

Finding a N. American issue credit card that is BOTH "contact-less" and charges no foreign exchange fee is tough. (I'd love a rec if anyone has one?!?).

Also, does the the contactless card use have the same daily cap as the oyster? That could be an issue for a tourist.

davidw70

It does indeed. The card gets charged at the end of the day so it knows whether to cap the fare based on all trips taken that day.

Apple Pay can also be used with the same cap applying.

Allie Abby

again tks for the great advice , been thinking me and my wife may like to go to paris for day or 2 ,would like some input on best and cheapest way of doing this , see some packages on train and 1 or 2 nights in paris , am I better off with a package or trying to get hotel in paris on points and just buying train ticket ,if anyone know of any good packages I be interested or best way to get to paris ,

Melodsal

Take the Gatwick Express to Victoria and get your Oyster cards there. You can then take the Piccadilly to the hotel.

Melodsal

If you are budget contrained and don't mind tracking back to Gatwick or to Stansted easyjet or ryanair would have the cheapest fares.

The more convenient would be to take the Eurostar. If you book early enough tickets are decently priced.

Allie Abby

bit confused on the oyster card cap , u mean ur only charged so much per day on the card ?what if u don't use card at all some day ? my wife and I will be in London at least 6 or 7 days if we decide to go some where else for few days , do we need 1 each or both can go on same card ? from what I'm being told on here our hotel we can walk to lot of stuff ,so we may not use the card every day ,so what is the best oyster card to get ,see diff prices on the card ,again we need 6,7 days , 2 people ,