London - 5 day itinerary recommendations please

[notatree]

Hi! 

I'm going to London in March for a week (arrive on a Sun AM, leave on a Sat PM - giving me 5 full days).  I have never been to London, and I'll be touring alone while my bf is there for work.  We're staying at a hotel just north of the Marble Arch Tube.  I do photography for a hobby so I'll have my big camera with me every day. 

Please recommend your 
1. Must see places
2. Restaurants
3. Shopping
4. Tips/gems
5. overrated things/places to skip, any unsafe areas

Here's a draft itinerary: 

Sunday - Kensington Palace/Hyde park/Princess Diana Fountain
Monday - London bus tour - yellow route (theoriginaltour.com), shop and eat in between the HOHO...I'll still be jetlagged, but maybe I should skip the bus tour and just take the tube - that's what Fodor forums suggest...I'm still unsure.  
Tuesday - Westminster Abby / The National Gallery or British Museum
Wednesday - 1100 Tower of London walk (walks.com) and tour / St. Paul’s Cathedral tour
Thursday - 10:30 Royal London and Changing of the Guard walk (walks.com) & Borough's Market
Friday - Shopping 
Saturday - leave

Are the walks (walks.com) worth it, too cold in March? 
Should I get the 7 day pass on the oyster card? 

TIA!

[alleinesein]

Honestly dont plan a ton of stuff for your first day there especially if you have a long flight.

Things that I like to do in London:

-Tower of London. You can purchase your ticket online to save $$. Get there when they open and definitely do the Yeoman warder tour. Allow for a few hours to explore the tower; we spent 3 hours there and still didnt see everything.  They also have a free 'event' called the Ceremony of the Keys and you have to request tickets in advance.  You get to meet at the tower at night and see how they lock it up at night.  If you will be in London over March 19th they have a Tower Twilight Tour

-Borough Market. This is a great place to grab lunch on friday or saturday. Lots of great little food stalls.

-Afternoon Tea at The Orangery @ Kensington Palace. Cheaper than some of the other places in town for afternoon tea (about GBP $20). You can pair this with a visit to Kensington Palace and Hyde Park.

-Victoria and Albert Museum. So much stuff to see; we barely scratched the surface and some of the stuff I wanted to see was closed (The Jewelry area was closed when I was last there)

-British Musem.  Allow for at least a full day if you wan to see everything.  I spent 4 hours there and didnt even make it through an entire floor (but I also like to read all the signs)

-Lunch or Dinner at Nandos. Its a chain restaurant but if you like spicy food they make Peri Peri chicken.

-Shopping. I love window shopping in Burlington Arcade; it has a ton of estate jewelers with absolutely stunning pieces. Harrods is always an experience. Love their food halls and I like to stop at Laduree for Macarons. Fortnum and Mason is great if you like tea; half of the first floor is tea. Camden Markets- you can find all sorts of fun stuff (clothes, tacky souvenirs, shoes, etc) or people watch.

If you get a chance to see something at Royal Albert Hall, DO IT! It is my favorite concert venue.

Get an oyster card and just load it up with $. Once you hit the daily max it will stop deducting funds from your card and its great if you plan on taking the tube all over town.

Some of the museums have extended hours a few times a month.  Check on their websites for more info.

[travelingturtle]

We're going in April for a few days. I've been before, but I'm taking a friend who's never been. We aren't doing any museums. We're doing:

- A stonehenge/oxford day trip
- An East London Eating Tour
- A Jack the Ripper Tour (I've done these before and I love them)
- The tower of London tour
- Westminster Abbey Tour
- Either the Shard or the London Eye

And we're eating at one Jamie Oliver's restaurants (I think it's Barbacoa) and eating at the Shake Shack (because we're expats in need of a good burger).

[Deleted]

I agree with Tate Modern and Tower of London.

As for eating if you want a quick bite M&S have little kiosk all over the city with premade meals to go. They are very good value. Sitting down for a meal can get $$$$ pretty quickly. The cafe at Tate Modern is reasonably priced and quite good.

I would get the Oyster card 7 day pass

Also by the time you get through immigration etc, it will be closer to 11am and you'll be tired that first day.

On Saturday when you leave you'll need to be at the airport by about 1-2pm. GIve yourself plenty of time for traffic if you are taking a car.

If you are hiring a car we've had good luck with Addison Lee and you can book online. London cabs are expensive

[frlcb]

Definitely get the Oyster card. I would do the bus tour because you won't see as much on the tube as you will on the bus. The weather could be nice, could be rainy, could be cold. I would do a walk anyway.

Borough Market is one of my favorite places in London, only open for lunch M/T, then open W-Sunday for the full market. Get the chorizo sandwich, it is amazing.

Greenwich is nice to see, so is Kew Gardens. Richmond is lovely.

[osumelissa]

Ditto the others - definitely get the Oyster card. If you are planning to take the Tube from Heathrow, you can get it there from either a machine or the ticket window.

Borough Market is definitely a must and is great for lunch. One of my days in London in December was actually: AM Tower of London (I got there when it opened and did the first Yeoman Warder tour), walk across Tower Bridge and then walked to Borough Market, Borough Market for lunch and eating samples, drink at Globe pub which is outside the market, walked to St Paul's and visited there. That was a full day and actually quite lovely. For the Tower, I recommend buying tickets ahead of time.

If you are interested, I highly recommend seeing a show in the West End.

I have heard the Tate Modern is really good - I am planning to go there when I go back in June.

[osumelissa]

Oh for shopping, Chelsea and Knightsbridge are good areas to go. For a quick lunch or snack, Pret A Manager is a good option. If you go to Chelsea, right across from the Chelsea FC stadium (Stamford Bridge) there is a really cute little cafe that has really good pastries and paninis. My friend and I had breakfast there two mornings.

Most of my days in London went like this: sightseeing, stop in a pub for a pint, sightseeing, stop for a pint, sightseeing, stop for a pint

[valetgirl]

Your itinerary looks great. My only suggestion is to do the bus tour on your first day becuase it will give you a sense of the city's layout and make getting around for the remainder of the trip a little easier. Also, I would not dedicate a day for shopping because there is amazing shopping everywhere and you might want to do a little bit here and there throughout the trip. One of my favorite places to eat cheaply and healthfully in London is Pret a Manger. It's a chain all over the city and has excellent quality convenience food. Fresh salads and sandwiches and stuff like that - often made with local ingredients not common outside of the UK.

[notatree]

You guys are awesome! I really appreciate all of your responses! Keep 'em coming!

[Champagne Supernova]

Are you interested in seeing the countryside at all?

The last time I was there, I booked a bus trip to see Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. I was a bit jet-lagged but I slept on the bus during the drive in between places so overall, it wasn't so bad.

But your itinerary looks good to me. I love London.

[mbcdefg]

We had four nights in London in 2010:

Day 1: landed at Heathrow, took Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station, walked a few minutes to London Hilton Metropole Hotel, had to wait a while to check in. Walked to tourism office to get the London Pass. Dinner in King's Head Pub on Stafford Street.

Day 2: all-day bus tour to Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge. Bus did pickup and dropoff at our hotel: www.evanevanstours.co.uk/ Neat to see all these things, but we didn't have a lot of time at Windsor or Bath (most of the time is eaten up by bus travel between locations) so I would skip this. I believe you can take a train to Windsor and maybe Bath on your own if you wish?

Day 3: went across the street to the Edgware Road subway station, took Tube to Westminster, got off directly under Big Ben. Looked at Parliament and toured Westminster Abbey, Churchill War Rooms. Walked to Kensington Palace and had a tea lunch at The Orangery (£20pp with London Pass). Took the Tube to St. John's Wood station and walked up the hill to see Abbey Road. Dinner was takeaway fish and chips from Seashell Restaurant near our hotel.

Day 4: took the Tube to the Tower of London for the guided tour. Lunch at Wagamama's. Took the Tube to Saint Paul's Cathedral and climbed to the top. Took a guided boat tour up the River Thames (included in London Pass) and got off in Greenwich. Walked up the hill to the Royal Observatory/Prime Meridian. Beers at Meantime Pub on the bottom of the hill. We missed the last guide boat back into London so we caught a commuter clipper ferry.

Day 5: checked out of hotel, walked to Paddington Station, took Heathrow Express back to airport.

If we hadn't done the all-day bus tour, or if we weren't so jet-lagged on Day 1, we would've gone to Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and Harrod's. I also wish we'd done more research into places to eat.

[Deleted]

I've been to a dozen or so different afternoon teas and IMHO the best one is the Wolsley. You need to pre-book though.

www.thewolseley.com/afternoon-tea

Down the road from there (literally like 1/2 a block away) is the queen's grocer, Fortunum and Mason.

www.fortnumandmason.com/

I've done the Ripping Yarns Jack the Ripper Tour and the Sandeman's Grim Reaper Tour. I preferred the Grim Reaper one because it went through the whole history of the terrible things that have happened in London vs. just JtR.

www.newlondon-tours.com/our-guides.html

When my parents came to visit the London City pass was a good deal for what they were trying to do. I figured out if you did 2-3 things from the pass a day then it makes it worth it to buy, but you have to really want to do the touristy things. It includes St. Pauls, Westminster Abbey, Churchill War Rooms, etc...

www.londonpass.com/

I'm not a history buff, but I really, really enjoyed the Churchill War Rooms. The whole thing was really interesting and since they literally just shut the door once the war ended it was like going back into time.

If you're going to the Tate Modern I would also spend some time walking along South Bank. If it's nice out then it's really pretty.

From where you're staying it's really easy to get to a huge mall and that might be easier if it's pouring down rain when you wanted to shop: uk.westfield.com/london/

If you go to the British Museum swing by the British Library which is just a short walk away. www.bl.uk/ As you walk in, on the left, there's a special collections room and that's where they have Beatles lyrics on a napkin, old Bibles and other cool things like that. The library is next to St. Pancras station and the building is beautiful. If you're a Harry Potter fan, platform 9 3/4 is at Kings Cross (newly renovated) which is attached to St. Pancras.

If you're looking for markets Spitalfields is really cute. It's all clothes, home goods and kick knacks. www.spitalfields.co.uk/

Really close to there is Brick Lane. It's about a mile long and it's jam packed with Indian food places. It's really an experience to walk down it because there are people on the street trying to talk you into going in to their restaurant. Of all of the places that we've tried, this Muhib is my favorite. Trip Advisory is being all funky with the link, but it's on there. 

And the tube can be a really efficient way to get around (check here to make sure there won't be any line closures on the weekends: www.tfl.gov.uk/), but I think that you get a better sense of the city staying above ground and taking the bus. The bus is half the cost of the tube and is less hot and crowded. Avoid traveling during rush hour if you can help it. Especially being on the central line, and if you're heading into the city during rush hour, it can be an absolute nightmare. If I leave too late in the morning then I start missing trains because it's too crowded.

When you fly back home you can get a refund on your oyster card. Just stop off at any counter, tell them you're a tourist and heading home(they may ask to see your passport) and they'll give you the money on the spot. It's a £5 to get the card and you can get that £5 back plus the balance on your card. I believe you have to have less than £5 or £7 to get the money back on the spot (not including the value of the card). More info here: www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14631.aspx

Most of the theater productions will release a limited number of day seats for half price, £20 or way less than buying in advance. The only problem is that you need to go and wait at the theater for the box office to open. There's usually a line. I would highly recommend seeing Matilda. It was such a fantastic production. If I'm remembering right the day seats are £40, but it's in the first 3 or 5 rows. The whole theater is small, so it's not a problem if you have to buy a regular ticket. uk.matildathemusical.com/

And right in the west end is 7 Dials. There are lots of cute boutiques in that area.

[Deleted]

FYI for anyone going Heathrow to Paddington, take the Heathrow Connect. It's 10 minutes longer (30 vs. 20 min) than the Express and half the cost. The only downside is the Connect doesn't have free wifi.

www.heathrowconnect.com/tickets

[valetgirl]

One thing that I loved was Portobello Road - the famous stretch of antique shops, boutiques and cute cafes. It was mind blowingly awesome. It's part of the Notting Hill area, which is super charming. If you follow Portobello to Golborne Road, you'll get to Little Morocco. I had one of the most amazing tagine meals there from a street vendor. To die for!

[mrsd2006]

We did the bus tour, it was the tan and brown one, not the red one, but they have pretty much the same routes. It also included a river cruise on the Thames and a changing of the guard walk. It was also good for two days

[stever]

I actually really like your itinerary - and I don't say that often.

I'd suggest doing a bit of shopping along Oxford Street and Regents Street. Also maybe hitting up the Tate Modern when you're down by Borough Market. There are a ton of pubs and restaurants along the Thames between BM and the Tate that would be good for eating with a view.

Have fun!

[Vespasia]

The two museums I enjoyed that didn't see mentioned yet are the Tate gallery and the Museum of London. The Tate has all the Pre-Raphaelite paintings that i love and the Museum of London had exhibits of every day life through London's history.

If you go to Tate Modern you may want to check out the Globe Theater. There's also a tasty Anatolian restaurant across the street.

[alleinesein]

Feb 28, 2014 9:37:01 GMT -5 jamaicam said:

I'd say do at least one day on a hop-on-hop-off bus. While the tube gives you a definite taste of the 'real' London, it's nice to see it from above ground too.

As a photographer, you should probably consider doing at least one trip on the Thames - either one of the tourist boats or you could get the Canary Wharf ferry.

For the OP

You can use your Oyster card on the Thames Clipper and it gives you a 10% discount.  It will take you up and down the Thames and its cheaper than one of the river cruises.  If you just want to take photos its a good way to see the city from the water.  The only thing you wont get is the narration of what everything is but most of it is self explanatory. 

You can also take it out to Greenwich to check out the Prime Meridian.

[lolo]

Feb 28, 2014 15:43:26 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Feb 28, 2014 9:37:01 GMT -5 jamaicam said:

I'd say do at least one day on a hop-on-hop-off bus. While the tube gives you a definite taste of the 'real' London, it's nice to see it from above ground too.

As a photographer, you should probably consider doing at least one trip on the Thames - either one of the tourist boats or you could get the Canary Wharf ferry.

For the OP

You can use your Oyster card on the Thames Clipper and it gives you a 10% discount.  It will take you up and down the Thames and its cheaper than one of the river cruises.  If you just want to take photos its a good way to see the city from the water.  The only thing you wont get is the narration of what everything is but most of it is self explanatory. 

You can also take it out to Greenwich to check out the Prime Meridian.

Also in greenwich: the second largest painted ceiling in Europe, a decent market (good for food, the goods rotate by day, and great views over the city).

OP, I used to live really near where you'll be staying. I suggest checking out Marylebone high street. Lots of cute shops but way less frenetic than Oxford street. Also great dining--several cute pubs, the providores (loved it for breakfast), a pret, etc.

There's also a famous fish and chips place just off the high street--I'll think of the name but it's BYOB and delicious delicious fish. Yum.

Nearer marble Arch is zanya's, which is great northern Indian and Pakistani food.

My favorite place to eat in London though, and it is a splurge, is at the gilbert Scott in kings cross/st pancras station.
They have live piano music, a stunningly restored setting, and a delightful british menu. We had our last dinner in London there before moving back, and they gave us homemade truffles with 'bon voyage' written in chocolate on the player. Free. So sweet of them.

If you can't afford the dinner, go to the bar for drinks and dessert. Great, innovative drinks and often freebies. Lovely views of the station's exterior too.

I may come back with more recommendations.

[mrsukyankee]

YES YES YES to the walks. I do them all year round and they are fabulous. I have yet to find a bad walk (and I've done at least 15).

For dinner reservations, I can suggestion: toptable.co.uk. You can check out restaurants by type, location, cost...and get recommendations as well.