OK, I think some of you are from the UK and a few of you from London. I will be there for 4-5 days and want to know what I should see and do! Lets hear some suggestions!
hey Fly, well.. I do enjoy history and anything off the beaten track I try to stay away from tourist traps.
Unfortunately London is one giant tourist trap but you cant say you have seen London until you have visited the main sights like Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Regent Street, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, The Houses Of Parlaiment, the Tower of London, HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge. As for the museums you cant really go wrong if you visit at least The Natural History Museum (free entry), the Science Museum (free entry), The Victoria and Albert Museum (free entry), British Museum (free entry) and I wouldn't survive unless I mentioned the RAF Museum (also free entry) and The Imperial War Museum. All of these are going to be pretty busy whatever time of year you go but as long as you avoid the height of summer and the skool holidays you should be able to enjoy them nevertheless. If you are interested in a bit of chilling and watching the world go by you could try getting a One Day Travelcard for about five pound sterling and get on whatever Train/Tube or Bus takes your fancy and getting off wherever looks interesting... one place that is quite an experience is Camden with it's markets and unique subculture and while you are at it you could visit Chinatown (which basically consists of a road behind Leicester Square) and have a really cheap but nice chinese meal as late as 3 am. Unfurtunately Chinatown is next to the seedier part of london, and unless it is for "the experience" I wouldn't bother with visiting Soho, Compton Street however is the the centre of the Gay/Lesbian community in London and is quite a laugh if you are not Homophobic. These are just a few places I can suggest off the top of my head, if I think of any others I'll just post some more. Hope You have fun whatever you do and enjoy London before the Mayor makes us pay to walk into the city centre... As you can guess I like London... I was born here and dont think I could leave the place... where else can you leave your house on a friday morning and not leave a pub/club until monday morning??? Now that's a weekend!!!
Apart from all those mentioned above, if you can stand tourists for a little while, you should visit the London Eye. Looks amazing from up there if it around sunset time.
i love london too. anyhow i disagree with Fly and say, go visit Soho, its not all just seedy clubs with naked women, there are some excellent shops.
Jaz is right there are some interesting shops... Just kidding m8, I know what u mean tho. Oh, I forgot Carnaby Street, pick the right day and you might be lucky to see a mod/punk/rocker reunion at the top end of it... some pretty crazy scooters those mods drive (if you are wondering, I dont mean that you are likely to see a BiT Mod on a Vespa riding around look mod scene and watch quadrophenia ).
I would say the london aqurium, bad spelling its on the embankment as the london eye it has some class fish and sharks in it!!!
Got some quality vinyl in Soho dirt cheap :thumbsup: Would also reccommend the Eye. I went up early evening (just getting dark) and it was bloody beautiful! (Not a bad reccommendation considering I'm a ***** little wimp who's none too fond of heights!)
Just get a travel card an go anywhere the tube takes you... Camden is cool.. the Tocodero on picadilly circus is no where near as good as it once was but still worth a look if you never been before Harrods is worth a half hour just to have a look round... The angel tube station as the longest escalater on the tube... Hamley's toy shop rocks I dunno I guess if you've never been it's worth walking past houses of parlyment buckingham palace etc etc...
I'd recommend going down kings road, and sloane street, if you are after shopping, they got some great shops down kings road especially, and sloane street is designer clothing heaven Also the science museum in south kensington, great visit in all honesty. For a trip on a nice day, take a trip down to Embankment Station and walk along the south bank of the Thames to London Bridge, good few pubs down there, and at London Bridge there is a starbucks for a quick brew Used to do that on a sunday afternoon after a saturday night on the razz such a great hangover cure Other interesting places to go see, National Gallery in Trafalgar Square (Picadilly/Leicester Sq are the closest tube stations), Camden Market is good fun on a sunday too (Zone 2, Camden Town) Dog Racing at Wimbledon, great laugh, would have to do some ringing around for that though more than likely, to find out when the next meeting is. Harrods/Kinghtsbridge is another nice area to go and see, and the westend for plays/stage shows is fun too. Soho is a nice place too, yeah there's the sleazy joints, but as mentioned there are some nice shops down there too, and a couple of nice restaurants. So much to do there, its whatever floats your boat I suppose edit: Covent Garden Market is good too, lots of street entertainers down there too, as well as some nice pubs/restaurants
If you are a history nerd you'll love the British Museum. My wife and I spent a whole day in there and maybe saw 1/3 of what they have to offer. It's touristy, but you should check out the Crown Jewels (in the Tower) too, very, very impressive.
I know it's cheesy, but if you get a nice day the open top double decker bus tours are quite fun. I remember them being about £12-15 and with some you can get on and off the bus as it goes around the route. Gives you a good idea of the scale of London. If you use the tube too much you can end up knowing lots of little areas, but not how they fit together. Also Regents Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, St James Park, Green Park are all good for a picnic. How you dress is your own business MrDT.
