A trip in early may to London,Advice needed

Hi,

We are looking for our first vacation in London at the start of may.

We are currently debating on how long should the trip be, and what should we expect the daily expenses to be about (so we can see how much the trip will approximately cost us).

Currently, the flight will cost about 1500$ - 1700$ (i need extra room for my legs).

The hotel is about 255$ per night (it's near the London bridge area and has an 8.8 booking rating), and that was the cheapest i found for may that is in the city and has good reviews.

The trip is somewhere between 3.5 to 7 full days (excluding flights).

Our main concern is the price and length of the trip. We would like the trip to be:
a. not running around all day long.
b. to get a good feel of London. (i.e. we would like to walk in the parks, weather permitting, go to 1 or 2 theater plays and we like some culture and museums but not artsy fartsy ones)
c. not go overboard spending-wise. (yet not skimp on essential parts of the experience).
d. hopefully enjoy just the right amount of time :)

Would love to hear your input.

Thanks.

b. Check out the Natural History Museum and the Biritsh National History Museum. London Dungeons is also great or do the Jack the Ripper walk. All great things for England's history. I have a England destination guide you can check out for any more ideas I may have missed. It also has some money savings tips:
http://readysteadytravel.co.uk/destinations/europe/england/

Hope this has helped some what! Feel free to send a message my way if you have any other questions. :)

Welcome to TT.

You should probably, IMO, target 5 days in London. I'm not sure what 'artsy fartsy' means but if you are talking about modern art galleries then that really only crosses the Tate Modern off your list (but if you are near I'd still stick your heads in, the turbine hall exhibitions are often innovative).

To save money, look at 2-4-1 ticket deals to some attractions. Google away but they require you to purchase a travelcard for public transport (which you will probably need anyway) from a National Rail, also known as mainline, railway ticket office. Not a tube office.

Alot of London's stuff is free (most museums and most galleries although both type often have particular paid for exhibitions).

There are deals to be had on theatre, check out the half price ticket box in Leicester Square.

You should target about GBP5-10 per day for public transport and,depending on where and what you eat and drink, GBP15-30 per person for meals and drinks. If you are not getting breakfast at your hotel, a very cheap option can be got at Subway restaurants where you get a breakfast roll and a coffee for GBP2.

I see you haven't yet booked your flight - so perhaps you haven't yet booked your hotel, either?
For sure there are a lot cheaper, but it depends on your level of comfort.

Are you happy with that budget, and is there some reason you want to be in the 'city', because in London that means the financial sector which is well away from most of the sights a tourist would want to see in London.

If you want the most central location, that's Westminster. Other nearby areas are Victoria (by and larger not as swanky) or, a mile further west, South Kensington or Sloane Square. Knightsbridge is more expensive but Bayswater, immediately to the north of Hyde Park, is worth a look also.

Worth noting that Mon 5th May is a Bank Holiday, so that affects where people will be on that day. It's not part of a school holiday week, though.

If you do stay near London Bridge, then there's lots within a couple of miles walking: heading east along south side of River Thames: Southwark Cathedral, HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge, north on Tower of London, west to St Paul's Cathedral, south on Millennium Bridge, all of South Bank, with replica ships, lots of cafes (a bit expensive, but nice location) etc.

Hello,

These are just suggestions, feel free to cut, paste and discard as you wish. This was actually a suggested itinerary I gave for a different couple so you probably wont be keen on all of it (and I understand its a bit longer than 5 days!)

I live on the South East Coast of England & I have of course been to London many times and have always found these activities very enjoyable. I am unsure what your personal interests are but hopefully the below info will be useful.

Day 7 – You don’t specify what time you will arrive in London but I will assume midday (11am) for reasons I can’t explain! Settle into your accommodation, I would suggest staying in Zone 1 unless you don’t plan on being out late during your stay (there are night buses & taxis once the underground stops though).

First day, just get your bearings and relax mostly.

Covent Garden for Lunch (depends on your price range but if you want a cheap eat in an interesting atmosphere, Covent Garden usually has a giant communal wok of Paella for 5 quid at its centre). Lunch time is busy but it’s nice to see it then because all the street performers are out entertaining. Walk around the little shopping areas.

Wander from here to the British Museum, spend the afternoon here.

Continue to Piccadilly Circus for dinner.

Go to Kings Cross Station to take the underground back to your accommodation (after admiring the station itself of course!)

Day 8 – London West End Trip- All of these sights are surprisingly close together and you can walk to each quite comfortably. I would recommend looking at Trafalgar Square and wandering into the National Gallery (09:00-10:30) go through the Arch about 10:45am in the morning, pop round the corner at 11am to Horse Guards Parade and watch the Changing of the Guard. Wander through St James Park (try not to get mugged by the squirrels! Take a lunch with you or buy lunch in the park and relax) When ready, continue walking through the park until you reach Buckingham Palace. Continue from there to 10 Downing Street, continue walking and you will reach Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster (take a wander inside as it is impressive and there are many famous figures buried here).

Walk over the bridge and along the Thames to Borough Market and have a scrummy late lunch, just eat in the market itself and wander around tasting! (It’s open until 5pm) Wander back towards the bridge and jump on the London Eye for a view of London at sunset. Catch an early evening show at the Shakespeare’s Globe.

Day 9 - London South End Trip – Stroll along Kensington High-Street and take a peep in Harrods grand and ridiculously expensive window displays.

Just off the high-street take a look at the Natural History Museum (this is a must see for me, more so even than the British Museum, it’s just beautiful & interesting). You can easily spend an hour or two here.
Buy something to eat and take it with you (pre-planned) or, stop somewhere, bearing in mind that Kensington is an expensive place for food.

Continue down the road to Kensington Palace; eat your lunch in the Kensington Palace Gardens. If you want to go inside, perhaps spend an hour or so max).

You are now practically in Hyde Park, take a stroll to Speakers Corner to see if there is anything happening and then catch a River Boat from Hyde Park to Camden Loch (this is much more unique & enjoyable than a Thames Cruise).

Take in the eccentricity of Camden Town, wander through the markets and people watch  this is a unique part of London you should not miss. Have lunch here from the many stalls (I have eaten here many times and never been sick so do not worry!)
If you are into music, see if there are any live shows that evening in Camden or spend the evening as you choose on the day.

Day 10- Spend the morning at the Sherlock Holmes Museum.
Have lunch in Regents Park, hire some stripy deck chairs and chill.

Afternoon Free – Go souvenir shopping –Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street, or, go to the Charles Dickens Museum.

Go to an afternoon Matinee of The Phantom of the Opera at her Majesty’s theatre. Get there a bit early to soak up the atmosphere. Have a few drinks afterwards.

Day 11 - A Spooky Day! Go to St Pauls Cathedral in the morning and before departing have a late breakfast in the Crypt.

Walk to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and wander the dungeons & take in the history – see if you can spot Anne Boleyn!

Grab a bite for a late lunch.

Go to the London Dungeons – it sounds cheesy, but it really is great fun after taking in dry facts all day. It is very refreshing and different. It is by no means just for children!

Go to an early evening of acting (not musicals or Shakespeare) of one of the oldest showing plays, the Woman in Black.

Try and get some sleep!

Day 12 – Windsor Castle dedicated to an entire day would be a bit boring after a while…I could spend half a day there and be happy. It’s further away too. Possibly spend this day seeing other things on London’s perimeters such as Hampton Court Palace (morning) and Kew Gardens (afternoon).

D13- Last Day in London
We will take the airplane at 6:00PM to back home. Free day.

Good grief, Louise - you must walk / look at 100 mph +. I couldn't do more than one-third of the activities that you cram into one day - and I'm a Londoner, and very fast walker. The British Museum alone would take more than one full day to walk around. (My current student lodger is trying to see all of it . so far she's aggregated about 6 days' worth of visits, and she hasn't finished yet.)
It's a great list, though...

Haha, yeah, I am a fast walker :)

Of course I most definitely agree, it would take a long time to see all of the museums/historical sites etc. But i wouldn't do that unless I was a really really keen. I should have been clearer, i only intended a visit of 1-2 hours at the museums etc as a taster.

thank you all for your time and help here.