anz5708

Traveling GSO Aug 27, 2016 to AMS with 1-2 night stop in LHR on Aug 28 & 29. This is our first trip to Europe and will be traveling alone until we arrive AMS.
Sights hubby and I want to see most are Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, River Thames,St. Paul's Catherdal. Have I missed any "must see"? We are not interested in nightlife bars or shopping. Is 2 days enough time to take all this in? Should we engage a tour or self-directed foot tour? We will probably book through Hhonors using points or cash. Can you recommend which of the Hhonors hotels are centrally located to these sights?
If I've read correctly there is rail service on the Eurostar from London to AMS with change in Brussels. Are there other trains London-AMS non-stop?
Would love to see the english countryside from land rather than air. Is the train terminal close to London city center?
Thanks in advance for suggestions and any help.

Swanhunter

Sights? I think you have covered the key ones but are there others things you like? Museums, royal history, architecture? Maybe the London Eye? Personally I would recommend a decent guidebook, a map and lots of walking with a couple of bus rides to access St Paul's and the Tower.

There are not currently any direct London-Amsterdam trains though Eurostar are planning them for some time on 2016 but no indication exactly when. The change at Brussels is very straightforward between Eurostar and Thalys (the high speed service linking Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam). St Pancras is the London station and it is very close to the centre of London, stunning building. Book well in advance as you are travelling at super peak tourist period overlapping a key UK public holiday, everything will be open but very, very, very busy.

If ou really want to see some countryside you need a day trip from London which would be overkill on a 2 day visit. Save the train ride to somewhere like Bath, Arundel, Cambridge for another visit.

Suzzin

The Big Red Bus tours are another idea for your day. If I recall correctly, you can buy a ticket with on-off privileges good for 24 hours. On the first day, when you are tired and jet lagged, you can just ride around the circle, seeing everything and making notes of what you want to revisit. You can use the bus almost as public transportation to get you from place to place. There are also bikes you can rent, a ride through Hyde Park in August would be lovely! And although you said you're not interested in shopping, it's worth wandering past/through Harrod's just as a sight-seeing option.

UKtravelbear

You asked if you missed anything and IMHO the premier museums and galleries are the British Museum, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert. Try and include at least one.

All have free entry - other than special exhibitions - and excellent websites which you should look at before you go to see what parts you should visit.

You should note that the dates you are visiting are the Sunday and Monday over a bank holiday weekend and places are likely to busier than normal.


I did the Trains to AMS a few months ago and the change at Brussels is very smooth and Eurostar even send you an email with instructions on the easiest way to change platforms which are only a short walk away and can be done in minutes. If you book via Eurostar then they will protect your onward trip to Amsterdam should the Eurostar be late.

Once out of the central London tunnel you will see parts of the industrial Thames Corridor before crossing the Thames and passing through Kent which is known as the Garden of England so you will see the countryside wizzing past before you enter the tunnel proper.

Swiss Tony

It shouldn't have any real impact on what you're doing - i.e. nothing on the tourist trail will be closed but Monday 29th August is a public holiday in the UK so places are likely to be busy.

Here's what I would do....

Stay at the Trafalgar Hilton.

On Day 1 you can check in then take a walk down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. On the way back, walk up through St James Park to Horseguards Parade and exit onto Whitehall. Turn right and you can walk down past the end of Downing Street (where the PM lives) and on to the Palace of Westminster, which is what you're referring to as Big Ben.

On Day 2, walk down to Embankment and get on a Thames Clipper boat to Tower. You'll get another good view of the Palace of Westminster, the London Eye, the Globe Theatre, St Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge.

You can then get off, visit the Tower of London, then - if you're up for it - start walking towards Monument. There's a tower here that was built after the Great Fire of London. From there, walk North up Gracechurch Street to Leadenhall Market , then down Cornhill to The Bank of England and Royal Exchange. From here, keep walking along Cheapside and you get to St Paul's Cathedral.

One detour worth doing at this point might be to go up to the Museum of London which is a good insight into the history of the place.

After that point I would go to the South side of the Cathedral and get on a bus heading back to Trafalgar Square.

It would probably be too ambitious to then try to get to Amsterdam that night, but you could easily do it on the morning of day 3. It;s by no means a comprehensive plan for a trip to London, but would be one way of covering off the essentials.

bibbju

As an alternative to this (which is a bit architecture focussed so that may/may not be the OP's "thing"), after finishing at the Tower of London, I'd have a "refreshment stop" at St Katherine's Dock then walk across Tower Bridge and continue along the south bank of the Thames heading West. Passing City Hall, Hay's Galleria, London Bridge, Borough Market, Thameside, Shakespeare's Globe and on reaching Tate Modern, crossing the Millenium Bridge (footbridge) to St Paul's Cathedral. If the OP is still full of energy, I'd then cross back and have a look around Tate Modern (it's free!) and carry on as far as the South Bank, then back over the river to Embankment. On a bank holiday Sun/Mon, this whole walk will be busy with lots of street entertainers/stalls etc and give a really good feel for both old and new London whilst ticking off some of the OP's required tourist sites. Plenty of cafes/restaurants/pubs to stop off at on the way.

Ldnn1

I've not tried the Big Red buses but I can't see any real reason for using them here. Everywhere they go is also covered by multiple regular TfL double decker bus routes which cost a fraction of the price.

In any event you will in my view get far more out of walking around than sitting in traffic on a bus. Swiss Tony's suggestion of using the Clipper is also a good one. As is taking the Boris Bikes (Santander Cycles) for a whirl around Hyde Park - keeping to the permitted cycle areas of course

BearX220

Sure, but you have to invest at least a little in TfL bus consciousness (scope out routes, locate stops, etc.) and be willing to get a little bit lost for fun. For a newcomer with only two days in town I'd happily recommend the Big Bus or one of the other hop-on-hop-off rides, if only because there is no thinking / planning to do.

Angelnia

I have the impression that the hotel of London is expensive. Recommended budget hotel chain premier inn, where the room is simple but clean and comfortable.National Gallery paintings of London are fine, although I am not expert. Not to take pictures inside.Inside can see a lot of familiar paintings, I do not remember the name but I know painting. In addition.If the weather is good. Play along the Thames is a good choice. You can enjoy the many attractions along the way.

UKtravelbear

That is not correct. It is perfectly possible to take photographs in the National Gallery with some caveats - not to use flash or tripods and not in the special exhibitions.

sig05

I will definitely be monitoring this thread because I will be a first time visitor on my honeymoon next Oct. Plan is to stay in London for 5 days before moving on.

flatlander

London has enough things to do that it is useful to have some idea of what you want to do. For example "See the best known sights" is some idea, and a reasonable thing to do for a first-time visitor.
With only a few days in London, you won't have time to see even all of a subset, let alone all of London's tourist attractions. So it's better to choose things, and if you have no better idea just pick things at random from central London and if you don't like something, move along to the next idea.
Some sorts of choices might be "churches and good food", or "monuments and museums", or "art galleries and street markets", or so on. A couple of major topics, or things you definitely don't want to do, really helps with the quality of the advice.
It also helps to know when you are going, since the weather is worse in winter than in summer.

sig05

You're right, I wasn't being very helpful in my request. Here is a better effort.

As a first-timer, we want to see the most popular sights. What's important to us is seeing Big Ben, Parliament, changing of the guard, London Eye, a few museums, westminster, do some shopping.

If I had to pick three main points of high interest for us, they would be monuments, museums/galleries, and food.

What we don't care about are guided walking tours because we want to be flexible. A plan for allotted time at specific locations is nice, but we're the type of couple to bail on something very quickly if it doesn't excite us and spend a few more hours exploring something that does.

We do not plan on renting a car or taking a day trip out of the city if that's helpful.

I will be there the first week in Oct. 2016.

ajGoes

I think you mean Westminster Abbey. Westminster alone would most likely be understood to mean the City and Borough of Westminster, the part of London in which the Abbey and the Palace reside. The palace that houses Parliament is the Palace of Westminster, so stretching a point, your list could get a lot shorter: Big Ben is the common name for the bell tower on that palace, which houses the UK Parliament, thus reducing those three entries to ne.

sig05

Ha, you've figured out I have no idea what I'm doing.

Here are some things we really enjoy - museums related to war, natural history or science; visiting the must-sees like the changing of the guard, Parliament, London Eye, etc.; food (whether it is a michelin star or a local pub with the best fish and chips ever); she wants to do some shopping (I won't even attempt to define that).

Yes, I did mean Westminster Abbey. So beyond those three - now down to one - I think museums and food will be the big things for us. We definitely want to see the British and and Natural History museums. I think she would like to do some shopping and visit street markets.