The London Travel post

[mrsukyankee]

TR asked for suggestions for London and the surrounding area, so I thought it would be great to put something together. As someone who lives here, I don't actually have all the info about great hotels or AirBnBs, or even some of the things that you might see as a must see. So please add to this thread!

Some areas to stay:

1. You want to be in a 'posh' part of town: Kensington (near lots of museums & shopping), Chelsea (a bit quieter), Hampstead or Highgate (a bit more 'village-like')

2. You want to be in the thick of things: Mayfair (fabulous restaurants, a bit more posh), SOHO (really in the midst of central London - like staying in midtown Manhattan, sorta), Marylebone (right next to Regents Park)

3. Easy to get to all the places but not quite right in there, but still nice enough: St John's Wood, West Hampstead, Belsize Park, Islington/Angel, Borough

4. A bit further out, so may not cost quite as much, still safe: Battersea Park, Clapham, Fulham, Shephard's Bush, Maida Vale.

5. Gritty and funky but safe (possibly a bit further out but with good transport links): Camden, Archway, Finsbury Park, Hackney, Bermondsey

6. You've visited a ton, don't need to stay so close to central, want more of a village/pretty feel: Kew, Richmond, Twickenham, Teddington, Mill Hill

More to come later, will add as I have time.

[mrsukyankee]

My favourite easy places & drink to eat in touristy areas(there are so many):

A take out sandwich - either Marks & Spencer or Pret are the easiest. You can find them on any High Street (a Main Street of an area).

Coffee - there are Starbucks and Costa Coffees all over. They are fine. AND London has some amazing small coffee shops that are worth going if you are into coffee. Here are the ones I've been to & loved: Monmouth Coffee (Covent Garden & Borough), Bar Italia (SOHO), Kiss the Hippo (multiple), Coffee Plant (Notting Hill), Notes Coffee Roasters (near Warren St/Tottencourt Tube stations). Good chain - Black Sheep.

The best chain restaurants - easy to find, easy to get into, kids will find something they love: Burger & Lobster, Chicken Shop & Dirty Burger, Paul (French), Franco Manca (good pizza!).

[mrsukyankee]

Transport

Do I need an Oyster card for public transport? No, as long as you have a phone with Apple Pay or the like (I use Google Pay). You can also use a credit card with chip & pin. Each person going through has to have their own mode of payment. Children under 11 can travel free - they must walk through with someone who is paying (use the turnstile for entering that is used by people with big luggage). Unless you are going to be travelling a LOT on the tube, it's not worth getting a travel card for a week or longer. Each day will be capped at a certain amount. If you go on two buses within 1 hour, you will only get charged for one.

What is considered public transport in London? Buses, trams, tube, water taxi (some), overground.

How to use your oyster card/phone/credit card? On tubes/trams/overground/water taxi - tap in upon entering and tap out when leaving. On buses, you only need to tap in. You tap the yellow oyster card sign.

Tips from a Londoner - get your mode of payment out well before you hit the turnstile/gate. We'll yell at you if you stand in front of it while searching. You don't have to wait for the gate to close before tapping on the yellow oyster card - look for a light on it. If it is orange, you can tap on it. When it turns green, the gate will open for you to go through. Go through quickly!

Best apps for transport? Citymapper (gives you walking and public transport directions), London Bus Times (can find any bus stop and the times the buses are arriving), Tube assistant (where to stand on the tube to get most quickly to the exits/next tube), London Transport (all things transport, including what is closed down or having bad service).

[mrsukyankee]

Where to go outside of London for day or short-trips?

Bath - one of my favourite small cities, is stunning, has great food/pubs and easy to get to via train

Oxford - it's so pretty and the uni is fun to visit, again, easy to get to - can use coach (bus) or train


Small towns for a short day trip - Berkhamstead, Amersham.

Fun beach towns that are reasonably easy to get to for the day: Hastings, Eastbourne, and my favourite, Brighton.


A bit further out and worth a few days if you want to stay in England?
York - great historic and cool looking city
The Lake District - lots of small lakes with great walks/hikes

[mrsukyankee]

My favourite London museums - all are free!

National Gallery - art
British Museum - everything we stole from other countries
Science Museum (fabulous for kids)
Victoria & Albert - see how the rich collected art
Tate Modern - modern art    
Tate Britain - British art
Sir John Sloane - it's his house and his collection, smaller and easier to get through (less people usually too)

There are SO MANY MUSEUMS!

[mrsukyankee]

Some of the things I do with my family/friends when they visit and what I prefer never to see again (and don't recommend).
- Regents Park near the Bakers Street tube station (in the spring/summer due to flowers and birds)
- Go on a walking tour with Walks.com (every one is fabulous)
- Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace along the Mall 
- Markets - Borough Market (great for lunch), Camden (people watching, stuff, some food, drink), Columbia Road Flower Market (if I'm in the area anyway), Covent Garden Market (just lovely to see what it was like, a bit over-priced stuff around there but close to some theatre).
- Theatre shows - I either go to TKTS (Leicester Square) or go on the app, TodayTix, to buy tickets.
- Walk along the Southbank
- Views from One New Change (free) near St Pauls Cathedral (which is also gorgeous)

There's so much you can do and it would be a huge long list. The 2 hour tour with Walks.com is probably everyone's favourite (bolded) as you learn more than you would with a tour book and it's just the right amount of time.

Not recommended (but it's my taste):
- Sherlock Holmes Museum
- Madame Tussauds

[mrsukyankee]

Pubs I like in Central London for drinking pints:
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - it takes you back centuries
Ye Olde Mitre - it's so tiny and cute
The Blues Post - British craft beer
The Princess Louise - reasonably priced, looks cool
The Lamb - old, cool, love it

Good pub grub pubs:
The Cadogan Arms (Chelsea)
The Eagle (Farringdon)
The George (Fitzrovia)
The Compton Arms (Islington)
The Cleveland Arms (Paddington)
There are a ton further out (not that far) so if you want other suggestions and are willing to travel a bit more outside central-ish London, let me know.

[picksthemusic]

Thank you! DD is obsessed with going to London, so I will be referencing this post often as we plan - probably in the next 3 or so years.

[mrsukyankee]

Food - this one is tough as there are SO many places I go. It's very particular to people. But I'll share a few ideas that are in central or close to central London.

Indian food - go to Drummond Street near Euston Station. There are great vegetarian and non-veg restaurants there.

Italian - easy to find really good stuff. In central London? Ciao Bella and 40 Dean Street are two I love for different reasons. Others that are great: Padella, Flour & Grape. Cheap but good - Pizza Union (several locations).

British - 40 Maltby Street, Blacklock Shoreditch, Pie & Mash Holloway Rd, M Manze (Tower Bridge)

[RockNVoll]

I'll add some of my personal favorites from my time living there.  Will edit if I think of more.

Day trip

• Hampton Court Palace: I've been there probably half a dozen times and would still keep going. They're always doing some kind of new programming and it's so easy to get there on the train (~1 hour)

Museums

• Kew Gardens: Really lovely, and on the weekends (or maybe just one of either Saturday or Sunday, I can't remember) there are food stalls set up right outside the tube station
  
• British Library: There's a room just to the left after you enter that houses all kinds of literary, musical, and general historical artifacts that are just fascinating. Think Jane Austen's laptop desk, original Beatles lyrics scribbled on cards and napkins, Anne Boleyn & Henry VIII letters, original Chopin scores, and the Magna Carta.
  
• Churchill War Rooms
• Imperial War Museum: Did not think I'd have any interest in this but it was actually fascinating and really well done

Apps

• City Mapper: Could not agree more with this one. I used this almost every day I lived there to figure out the best way to get from A to B and let it guide me through every bus or tube stop so I wouldn't get lost or miss my stop. Also covers other big cities and I've used and loved it in many.
  
• Rick Steve's Audio Europe: Great for audio tours through all the big, overwhelming museums in London (and other major European cities too, such as Paris and Munich). He curates each museum for some of the most important/popular things to see there and tells you how to walk to each one through the museum then tells you a bit about each piece. It's effectively him reading what's written out in his guides, but it's so much easier to put in your headphones and listen rather than lug the guide around.
  

Fancy Food

• The Five Fields: I don't think they had any Michelin stars yet when I went but I'm not surprised they do now. So excellent.
  
• Dinner by Heston Blumenthal: Yes, the triple-cooked chips are everything people say they are. Everything else is also delicious and so creatively presented.
  
• The Ledbury: Worth the splurge
• [did not enjoy] Alain Ducasse: Just so you don't think I like every Michelin-starred place in London (we've actually stopped going to fancy meals for the most part because we've been disappointed by so many places), AD is one we just weren't impressed by. We're definitely outliers on this as many people adore the restaurant but we wouldn't bother going back given all the other excellent options in London.

Casual Food

• Lobos Tapas: Sooo good, and has the advantage of accepting reservations
• Barrafina: Another tapas place, casual counter seating, multiple locations. They didn't used to take reservations (and the wait was always over an hour) but I think some of the locations do now. Between Barrafina and Lobos, Barrafina pulls slightly ahead on food but Lobos has more of a sit-around-the-table-and-hang atmosphere.
  
• Timmy Green: I've only ever had breakfast/brunch there, which was excellent
  
• Maltby Street Market: Much smaller group of food stalls, but tasty and cute
• Spitalfields Market: They have some really good food vendors there too and it's less crazy than Borough Market. No idea if they're still there, but there used to be an Indian stall that served things like chicken tikka masala in a naan wrap. I still drool over that naan, which they'd hand out samples of--best I've ever had. Wish I could remember the name of the place.
  

[pumpkin]

You’re making want to revisit London! I spent a semester too long ago now living in a suburb(?) and loved my time in London. Such a great city

[mrsukyankee]

There are so many places to find street stalls with fabulous food! Here's a few places where there are collections of stalls -

- Mercado Metropolitano has brilliant food 'stalls' as well as great cocktail/beer/wine stalls (Borough)
- Spitafields is filled with lunch offerings
- Kerb has a few locations such as Kings Cross (worth looking it up)

[mrsukyankee]

Places to get bandaids (called plasters) or OTC medications: we call them chemists. Most high streets will have independent ones, but the bigger ones are Boots and Superdrug. The very large versions of them have other items such as a big selection of makeup.

If you get very ill, don't be afraid to go to the closest Chemist and talk to them about your problem. They are authorised to sort out a lot of stuff and if they can't help you, they will refer you on to the A&E (emergency room) or somewhere else that can help. You won't have to pay for this service, but will have to pay for anything they might give you.

[dutchgirl678]

We loved London. Before we moved back to the US from the Netherlands, we visited with our kids for several days. You have already highlighted some of the great activities but we also enjoyed going in the London Eye and taking the River boat to Greenwich and visiting the Greenwich observatory, visiting the Tower of London and Tower bridge.

[turkletsmom]

Thank you so much for all the info! We are planning our first trip to London for June and I'm overwhelmed (in a good way) with all the options. I can't wait!!!

[mrsukyankee]

Nov 16, 2023 8:00:05 GMT -5 turkletsmom said:

Thank you so much for all the info! We are planning our first trip to London for June and I'm overwhelmed (in a good way) with all the options. I can't wait!!!

If there is anything else you want to know, just post below whenever!

[jamaicam]

If you want to go on the river, use the Uber Boat - it is way cheaper than any of the tour boats and you see the same things!

At a lot of the London museums, they have special activity packs for kids (free!) with things they can look for like a treasure hunt. My boys have always enjoyed those.

Giraffe is a chain of restaurants which are super kid friendly and also have decent food.

You can do some good sightseeing from the regular buses, which are a lot cheaper than the tourist ones. I think it was the 11 bus route that we used to get us around a lot of the main sites recently.

[osumelissa]

We were in London this past spring and did the Along the Thames pub walk with London Walks - it was excellent!! I will definitely do another walk with them on a future visit.

I agree with RockNVoll, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is delicious! My friend and I had dinner there in March 2019 and it was a fantastic dinner.

I will add that I have ate twice at The Clove Club - both dinners were so good and would recommend it.

[gardengal]

Adding onto the “bit further out & worth a few days to explore”: Cotswolds (charming little towns, easy walks/hiking, pubs), Lyme Regis (fossil hunting, beachcombing, day trips to Portsmouth, castle ruins, etc) &, if you like moorland, Exmoor & Dartmoor (great walks, lots of Historic sites to visit—join Royal Oak if you’ll do several, pubs, charming towns)

Further away but AWESOME is Cornwall.

[lightbulbsun]

If you want to see a west end show, TKTS in Leister Square sells extra tickets the morning of the shows, usually for a good price. If you want to see something specific you might not get it, but if you go with an open mind it's a great option!

[mrsukyankee]

Dec 6, 2023 10:49:12 GMT -5 lightbulbsun said:

If you want to see a west end show, TKTS in Leister Square sells extra tickets the morning of the shows, usually for a good price. If you want to see something specific you might not get it, but if you go with an open mind it's a great option!

And an alternative is to download the Today Tix app and you can get good stuff through them. Thanks for that reminder!

[mrsukyankee]

Other apps that are helpful:
Citymapper - you can use while in a wifi zone to make a plan for how to get from point A to point B
London Bus Times - find out when a bus is arriving
Tube Assistant - if like me, you want to know the best place to get a tube for the exit or your next tube.
London Transport - handy maps and whatnot
Free Now - if you don't like Uber
Deliveroo or Just Eat- if you just want to order food in for the night
OpenTable and Resy - good for dining reservations

[mrsukyankee]

If you've travelled to London at least once and want something different to do than the more typical stuff to do (because there is SO MUCH you can do - I'm still doing new things and I live here):

Visit some of the outer bits - you can do organised walks or you can grab a book with info. Examples would be Hampstead & Highgate with a walk around Hampstead Heath; go for a day of really good Indian food in Southall; check out Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park;Greenwich is very cool, with a little market and the meridian; Richmond is worth heading to for a lovely village like feel.

Good day trips: Bath (though also fine to stay for a night or two, especially if you want to go to the spa, which I love); Oxford or Cambridge to get that university town feel; Canterbury if you want to step back in time and see a lovely Cathedral; Whitstable - for a bit of seaside and some great oysters or Rye/Camber Sands or Brighton as well for the seaside.

[mrsukyankee]

Some more transportation stuff:

For those coming during holiday periods - 

Public transportation is closed down on Christmas and highly reduced on New Years day. On Christmas Eve, there are no night buses or night tubes. On New Year's Eve, there are some services, but it's worth checking ahead of time. Boxing Day brings reduced services.

For Easter, there are reduced services, which also happens during Bank Holidays (random Mondays through the year).



Whenever you want to take the tube, do check whether it's running on TFL's website:https://tfl.gov.uk/.  Tube lines have regular issues and sometimes close down on weekends to work on the service.

There isn't a night time service on most tube lines past around midnight. The Tubes that do have all night service are only on weekends (Fri/Sat evenings). Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines are the ones that do run the weekend 24 hour service (it's not great but it does run). You can also catch the Overground all night between New Cross Gate and Highbury & Islington.

There are also night buses. A good PDF of it here: link


Rush Hour: 7.30am to 9.30am, 4pm to 7pm. I would NOT travel during those times unless you have to. It's miserable even for us Londoners who have to travel during those times. If you have to, try to go close to the start/end times of rush hour. Buses will get packed in the mornings before 8am and around 4ish by students (under 16s ride free) - this is mainly outside very central London. 

My favourite tube line so far (based on living in London - so haven't had to take them all) is the Victoria line. There's a tube almost every minute for much of the day, so even during the busiest times, if you wait for a few trains to pass, you'll get to one that isn't stupidly crammed with people. My least favourite is the Central line during rush hour in the summer. Gross and seems to always have issues. When looking at places to stay, definitely consider whether you have multiple options of transportation to get places!

[RockNVoll]

mrsukyankee, it's so funny you mention your preference for the Victoria line because I was just looking at hotels for my mom for an upcoming trip to London and was interested in a specific one because the closest Tube stop was one on the Victoria line I was thinking I might be biased because that's the line I lived on in my short time there and maybe I just didn't experience the others enough but you've confirmed I had the right instinct, LOL.

[mrsukyankee]

Good apps or websites for restaurant reservations: Resy and Opentable.

[fryjack2]

My kids loved the London Transport Museum (you get to ride the underground mail rail).

We liked the Design Museum.

We enjoyed walking around Portobella Market and grabbing lunch and hot chocolate.

[frlcb]

Jan 26, 2024 9:04:10 GMT -5 fryjack2 said:

My kids loved the London Transport Museum (you get to ride the underground mail rail).

We liked the Design Museum.

We enjoyed walking around Portobella Market and grabbing lunch and hot chocolate.

Is it the London transport museum or the Postal Museum? We did the postal museum last spring and it is where you ride the underground mail train. 

[RockNVoll]

Jan 26, 2024 11:34:02 GMT -5 frlcb said:

Jan 26, 2024 9:04:10 GMT -5 fryjack2 said:

My kids loved the London Transport Museum (you get to ride the underground mail rail).

We liked the Design Museum.

We enjoyed walking around Portobella Market and grabbing lunch and hot chocolate.

Is it the London transport museum or the Postal Museum? We did the postal museum last spring and it is where you ride the underground mail train. 

Must be the Postal Museum because we've been to the Transport Museum and there no train to ride there. One of my friend's kids did love the Transport Museum, but I thought it was meh.

[RockNVoll]

mrsukyankee (or anyone else), do you know of any private tour services in London that would cater to a group of 6 older adults? My mom is headed to London in May with five friends and they need their hands held. None of them are tech-savvy or will know how to even connect to the Internet while there. They need a service that will pick them up at their hotel (in Kensington), take them around to a few tourist spots, and bring them back to the hotel. They'll have probably two full days to explore. I'm not convinced they could even figure out how the HOHO bus works or where to pick it up at various points, but I've never tried them so maybe those are easier than I think?