Trip to London

[RedNightmare]

Ok, seeing as people always ask around a bit for things to do when visiting foreign cities, I figured I would too.

I'll be visiting London for a week this Tuesday. Does anyone have any good tips? I'm doing all the big tourist traps, but is there anything else I should really visit while I'm there (Aside from GP London)?

[Garwulf]

The Tower of London is amazing - but you'll want to budget at least an afternoon to see it. And, make sure you go through the White Tower...you don't want to miss the random dragon (assuming it is still there). St. Paul's Cathedral is also quite amazing, and can be done in under a couple of hours. The top is spectacular, but there's a lot of stairs.

Oh yes...you may be tempted (as I was) to locate 221B Baker St. Important point: that address involves a LOT of transfers from downtown London, and it's actually a bit stupidly hard to get to. And, on a related note, get an Oyster card - it's the easiest way to use the Tubes.

The big question for me is if you're originally from North America - the reason I ask that is because there's a big difference in how the UK handles sales taxes and the like and how North America does. So, if you're visiting from Canada or the United States, you're going to be pleasantly surprised when things cost exactly what the price tag says.

Also, bank cards can be a bit hit-or-miss. We did, however, find that HSBC tends to be really good about pulling money out of Canadian accounts when you're in London.

And that's what comes to mind off the top of my head...

[AlexanderDitto]

I just got back from there so I have some opinions! I mostly did touristy stuff... but I was also staying with friends in the suburbs so I got a little taste of London Residential Life.

Touristy things: The Natural History museum was great. The Science Museum was alright, but nothing amazing. The National Gallery has a lot of art, but only a few major things that I really got a kick out of. I echo Tower of London; it was much bigger than I thought it would be.

Stonehenge was touristy but worth seeing, in my opinion.

If you can make a day trip to Oxford, do. It's worth it for the Pitt Rivers museum (which is inside the Oxford Museum of Natural History) and Punting, which you should totally do (it's scary but fun to punt yourself around).

See a play at the Globe, if you can. Standing tickets are only a fiver and it's definitely worth it.

Eat scones with clotted cream. Seriously. The BESSSTTTTTTTTTT. Also: Jaffa Cakes. Buy some. Eat them. DELICIOUS.

[Lord Chrusher]

The British Museum is immense. Even with a day there, you could not see everything. If you have an interest in crafts, the Victoria & Albert Museum.

If you like modern art, the Tate Modern is worth a visit. The building, an old power plant, is quite interesting.

I quite like history, particularly of the military sort, so I enjoyed the Imperial War Museum. I also liked the Cabinet War Rooms, the bunkers out of some of which the Second World War was run.

I think you have to book tours in advance and that they only occur at certain times a year but if you like politics, touring the Palace of Westminster is quite interesting. Besides St Paul's, there is Westminster Abbey on the large church front. Even if you don't go in any the sights, it is worth wondering around Westminster and seeing the outsides of the House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Number 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, the Mall, Horse Guards Parade ....

I was underwhelmed by Stonehenge. Remember that it is a couple hours outside of London. For a day trip from London I think Oxford is a better bet - it is an hour away by train.

London is a big city and there is a lot to see - you can expect to see everything in one visit.

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

I was underwhelmed by Stonehenge. Remember that it is a couple hours outside of London. For a day trip from London I think Oxford is a better bet - it is an hour away by train.

If you can make a day trip to Oxford, do. It's worth it for the Pitt Rivers museum (which is inside the Oxford Museum of Natural History) and Punting, which you should totally do (it's scary but fun to punt yourself around).

Oxford is fantastic.

Although I may be slightly biased. : P


As for London, I think the above suggestions are pretty good to start with.

[RedNightmare]

@Garwulf I'm coming in from the Netherlands, so not that big a difference in sales taxes I expect (hope?).

Wasn't gonna do the Tower this time, but I might have to bump it up. Also, War museums sound really interesting. Thanks so far everyone!

[Papperslappen]

I was in London a couple of weeks ago with my wife.
If you're going on some kind of tour I can recommend London Walks (http://www.walks.com) we've been on two of them and their guides are really good, the groups were small and you don't need to book in advance. We went to the Museum of London, which is a nice history museum about London (suprise) but nothing special. Just by Museum of London is Barbican, a utopic (almost retro futurist) brutalist complex if you're into that kind of things. There was a very cool art event at the Barbican Culture Center that might be still ongoing.
You can take the boat from central London down stream to for example Greenwich and get a quick sightseeing of most standard sights of London. If you're to cool for Greenwich (or you hate science and/or history) you can take the boat all the way to Thamesmead and sightsee another beautiful (but poorly maintained) brutalist estate (around the artificial Southmere Lake) where they recorded most of the exterior scenes from Misfits and also that scene in A Clockwork Orange where Alex kicks his droogs into the water.
My best tips four touristing in any western city is to go on Yelp and find the highest rated vegan restaurant and go there, not for the vegan food but for that for some reason good vegan restaurants are always situated in cool but hard to find neighbourhoods.

[Elomin Sha]

Imperial War Museum and the Maritime Museum in Greenwich are good. I'd recommend taking a tourist boat on the Thames. By London Bridge is also HMS Belfast.