Where to Stay in London
 

My husband and I are going to London next month. It will be the first time either of us has been to Europe, so I am looking for advice on where to stay, as well as things to do, places to eat...

When I was there a couple years ago, we stayed at the Radisson Edwardian Kenilworth hotel. (link goes to the Radisson Edwardian general site, there are several in London) I liked it. The room wasn't gigantic but three of us fit in it, it was in a great location next to the British Museum and a block away from the Tottenham Court Road tube station.

I would advise that if you can, take the tube from the airport into the city rather than a taxi. It's very convenient and you'll save a bunch of money.

I love London. :)

My parents used to live in London proper and I visited them. I've also been there twice since then with a third time this summer....there's so much to see and do!! I love this city!!! You can go to www.londonpass.com, which will give you an opportunity to see what you can do and the costs. Depending on how long you'll be there, the pass may be beneficial for you...

If you want more specific information, PM me!

Co-sign!!!

Depending on what part of the city you'd like to stay, then that could be ideal too...

There is an exquisite hotel in Kensington, but they charge an arm and a leg--because they are royalty!!!

However, I would suggest staying where you will think you will be the most--like Piccadilly Circus/Trafalgar [sp?] Square? All the doubledeckers right around there...

And MAKE SURE you purchase the TUBE pass--a definite to be in London as a visitor...

The London's Visitor's Bureau is also helpful...

We stayed in Euston when my family and me went back in December. I think the name of the hotel was called Thistle Euston. It's pretty nice although the rooms are tiny compared to American hotel rooms; you only get a twin bed or a double bed! It's within walking distance from the tube/train station which was really convenient.

When you're there, you'll want to see the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, Harrod's (the store is AMAZING!), Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London and Madam Tussuad's (which is a lot of fun).

I can't remember the names of the restaurants we went to but if you walk around Piccadilly Circus/Trafalgar, you'll find a bunch of restaurants. The English certainly aren't known for their food but there a bunch of great Indian restaurants there if you like that type of food.

ETA: Be prepared to spend a lot of money. The dollar isn't doing so hot right now so it's really expensive there. For a family of 4 to go to a casual restaurant, it cost us about $80!

All of the major -- and some of the minor chains have properties in London as well. Check their websites.

I stayed at the London Hilton once on business in Knightbridge -- but it was VERY expensive.

We're going to be there in May and are staying at a Comfort Inn because Mrs. DA won some free nights there.

The trick is to find a hotel close to a tube station and you'll be able to get just about anywhere.

First off, who is paying for this trip?

If you, then check Bed and Breakfast, make sure it is next to a Underground. The Tube. You will learn it quick, it is simple!:)


What ZTAngle said. Those are really great sites to see and walk to!

Take a Red Bus Tour to get an idea of where everything is. Get an easy Map of the Underground is Free. Get a Pass, is a lot cheaper than getting daily ride rates.:)

Take the Tube/Undergraound from the Airport, Taxis or expensive.

PUBs, Sherlock Holmes, on N. Umberland a favorite, British Museum, Pub across the street from it.

Watch Breakfast, fried eggs over pork and beans, gag. Try the Plowman Speciell, bland as hell! Dont do the fish and chips diners, sucks. Yes, wrapped in newspaper!:eek:

Read The Times, the best Newspaper.

Do not go to regular Resturants, expensive. Go to Pubs, all have a deli type bar. Locals eat at them. The rest are for Tourists.

Men drink Full Pints, women drink Alf Pints until they find out your are Americans. Get Lagar, lighter beer. :) With bitters is a touch of lemon.? Dont ask me.

Take a Tube and a short bus to Windsor Castle, great pub there also!:)

God, can go on and on!!! Good times!!!! Take a lot of Pictures!:cool:

Check with navane, she lived there for a while!!!!!:cool:

I've stayed at the Lime Tree in Belgravia, which was alright. It was a little more of a hike to the nearest tube station (Victoria Station) than we would have liked. Overpriced for the size and amenities

The Thistle near Hyde Park was much better, and a good value for the money. It's not as cosy as the Lime Tree, and our room didn't come with breakfast. I think next time we go, we'll try to stay somewhere near Picadilly - these two hotels were slightly off the beaten path.

By the way, there have been several London threads that have some good suggesions:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/se...der=descending

Thanks for the replies, they have all been helpful - keep em coming :D

DA - We are leaning toward sticking with a chain, so far the Hilton Hotels are winning.

I have no idea what area we are wanting to stay in. Since we've never been there I have a short list of what I want to do... Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Tower of London, Harrods, High Tea somewhere, see a Show, my husband wants to go to the history museum and see Churchill's war room (not sure if it's the same place)... I'm sure these are all spread out, but if their not let me know.

I believe you're actually thinking of "Afternoon Tea" which is fancier than "High Tea". Here's an article which explains the difference:

http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/culture/a/aftervshigh.htm

Most of what you want to do is in London proper. Taking a tube ride away can zip you from one place to another with only a few stops in between. When you see a show, unless it's one of their newer ones, you can go to there TIX booth and see shows for VERY cheap prices! The seats are normally phenomenal as well and they're tickets for that day/evening's show!

Thats not expensive.....thats kind of normal here after you leave a tip.

Um, where do you eat?

If you go to a casual, small mom-and-pop type restaurant, you'll pay about $10 per person. Add tip and you walk out paying $50. Sometimes $40 if you go to one of the chain restaurants like Friday's or Chili's

The London Hilton is a very nice (quick) walk across Green Park to Buckingham Palace -- but there are probably Hilton's closer to some of the other sites.

The Hilton's are all fairly pricey, though, I think.

The comments about being close to a tube station are exactly right, though. It's great.

We're staying a lot farther out with our free rooms than I would have liked. There's a Comfort Inn about .5 miles from Buckingham Palace and one at Victoria Station (the one I really wanted), but I guess they weren't available the weekend we'll be there.

ETA

Some people think this is lame, but I took the double decker red bus sightseeing tour and it was just great. There's one where you can get off at the Tower, do that tour, grab a boat ride on the Thames and catch another bus farther along -- like at Parliament if I recall.

I had tickets to a show that evening, and the bus happened to pass the theatre -- so after a day of touring (the tickets are good for 24 hours, I think), I just jumped back on that route and got off at the theatre. You can always get off the bus at any stop and catch a later bus with no charge. Being a child of the 60's I had to get off at Carnaby Street and buy Mrs. DA something from where the Beatles used to hang out.

Our tour guide was a stitch. Really funny.

Casual to me isnt mom-and-pop, its places like Chi Chi's or PF Chang's or Melting Pot Fondue or Hibachi's. Mom and Pop is considered country places....like down home cooking.

Thanks for the replies...

Don't worry about the money, we are fully prepared for that (and $80 is kinda normal for us) ;)

Has anyone ever heard of a hotel called The Connaught? It's in Mayfair, reasonable by what we are looking at, and expedia rates it 5 stars (I am aware the standards are different there).

The Red Bus tour sounds kinda fun for a first timer, we'll probably try that, and the Tix booth sounds like the way to go for the show!

Hey, I'm going to London next month too!! My band, Southern Brew, and I will be over there touring. PM me for details if you wanna check us out!!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AOIIBrandi

Has anyone ever heard of a hotel called The Connaught? It's in Mayfair, reasonable by what we are looking at, and expedia rates it 5 stars (I am aware the standards are different there).

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The Connaught is one of the grand old London hotels and one of the most expensive. Double check prices as you might be in for a surprise. It is really excellent but very pricy.
You should have dinner at Rules Restaurant for traditional and great English cooking. I generally get the smoked pheasant with pear chutney followed by vennison with a port glaze, then one of their traditional steamed puddings. Afterwards walk over to Covent Garden (one block away) and go to the Crusting Pipe for stilton and vintage port. As a seafood alternative Rules does excellent Irish oysters and fillet of wild Salmon. They have a very reasonable pre theatre dinner if you order by NLT six PM and afterwards they do regular dinners at full price. This is one of the very best English restaurants. You might also consider Simpsons in the Strand. Fantastic English roast beef carved from the trolly at tableside.
I would suggest lunch at The Old Bank Ale and Pie Shop right next to the Royal Courts of Justice. Around the corner on Chancery Lane there are two or three very good restaurants.
Afternoon tea is great fun for a visitor and most of the major hotels and Harrod's restaurant do these daily. Check ahead to see if reservations are needed.
In Mayfair you might check out The Red Lion Pub or the Audley, both good pubs and serve good lunches.
If your schedule permits take a day trip to Oxford. Do the walking tour (rent a student guide outside the University Church of St Mary's on the High street).
Pick up a good Guide Book to England and perhaps a London specific one as well. Fodor's is good and there are a bunch of others.
Depending on how much time you have you might want to hit the Selfriges food hall (or Harrod's) and pack a gourmet picknic lunch, a bottle of Champagne, and kick back in Hyde Park, Green Park, the Embankment, or any of the many other places. When you take the tour bus (highly recommended) you can pick out the places you want to concentrate on including where an al fresco or riparian lunch might be fun.
I went to school in the UK and got an MA there while on active duty right out of college. Please PM me if I can be of help in planning this trip.

In the Stuart Woods novels Reckless Abandon and Short Forever (I think those are the two), the hero, lawyer/investigator Stone Barrington, stays at the Connaught.

Take them along for the flight over and back. Pretty easy reads and total escapism.

I was just looking on Playbill.com and was disappointed at the shows playing in London because we've seen all of them I've even heard of. Guess we'll have to take a chance.

For lunch, I don't recommend McDonalds. The Big Mac I had in London was the worst I've ever had. Maybe you should listen to Dekeguy for that.

If you can, see "A Woman in Black." It's in one of the smaller theatres and you even can get same day tix at the discount box offices. My DH and I saw it a few years ago. It's been running in the West End for about 15 years and if it's still playing...YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!!

It's a thriller play with 2 actors...it's really spine-tingling and we left with goosebumps!! It was great!! You can't go wrong with English theatre!

I'm actually interested in seeing Mary Poppins if it's not sold out. I don't know why - just trying to re-live my childhood?

Thanks for the tip on McDonalds, I'll try to stay away :D


Dekeguy - Thanks for the tips, I will definitely keep them in mind!

If you like the music of Queen at all, you have to see "We Will Rock You." It's fantastic! Plus the theater is right at the Tottenham Court Road stop.

I did eat McDonalds in London and it was all right. They have some things there that they don't sell in the US. I had a pasta salad that was really good. The drink sizes are the old drink sizes from back when...a small there is a child-size here, medium is the size of a small, large is the equivalent of our medium.

If you're interested in Mary Poppins, you'll want to see if you can get tickets NOW as it is selling out fast! I just bought tix for August and most of the shows had very limited seats....can't wait to see it too!

Really, stay colse to the Tube or Undergound. Buy a pass get all over town. Fast and Cheap!:)

No Mom and Pops, they are called Pubs, and there are the many Pubs. Most have food and reasonable.:cool:

Take The Red Bus Tour to see and get an Idea where your berings are.

You can walk on most things or take The Tube to get to quick. Very well coded for Dummies!:D

Set out an agenda, and go like hell, there is so much to see and fun.

Take something to drink for when you get back to room and kick back!!! You will need it.:D

Oh, you can take a Ferry up The Thames to Greenwich and see the Clock where time is set in all of the world along with The Cutty Sark which is very near! Oh, a Whisky Named after it!:cool:

It is all History and a lot of it!

Tour and all of the Armour, at the Tower of London Henry The 8th, Wax Museum, British Museum, Buckingham, go to Windsor, it is Awesome.

God, I wish I was going with you!:D

This play scared the CRAP out of me when I saw it! But it is a great play if you're into suspense :)

The Half-Price Ticket Booth (which is what I think many have been referring to) is located in Leicester Square, which also has a number of restaurants around there (plus movie theaters, including the one where they hold the London premieres for movies). I highly recommend using the Half Price Ticket Booth - it was a student's favorite friend when going to London! :)

Now, I can't really recommend any hotels (as I was in college and studying for a semester in Cambridge when I was there), but one of the hostels that we stayed in was REALLY nice...I can't remember the name of it right now, but it was located in one of the parks, and within a short walk of a couple of tube stations (one had the yellow/green lines, the other had the - I think - red line)

The Big Bus tour is excellent - it's a hop on/hop off tour with three lines (red, blue, and green) that take you all around London and includes a boat ride on the Thames. I used the bus tour a few times when I'd go into London for a weekend to get pictures of all the great sites! :)

I don't know if the History museum and Churchill's War Room are the same place, but I definitely recommend the War Room - I went and saw it the first weekend I was there with a number of the other students in my group, and we all enjoyed it!

Man, I wish I was going back to London!!! :D

Thanks for all the replies. I think we have narrowed our search for a hotel to the following:

The Savoy
The Howard (Swissotel)
The Sheraton Park Lane

Any input would be great. The only downfall I can see to the Savoy is that it would be a Queen sized bed, and not a King (I am into being comfortable).

King sized beds (along with ice in drinks, air-conditioning, and cold beer) are not the norm in Europe. I'm sure you'll be fine. :)

Got some good news on our trip yesterday. Since Mrs. DA won it, we really don't have much input into arrangements, but the travel agency originally had us on United from Denver with a stop at Dulles and only about 45 minutes turn-around between flights.

Any of you who have flown through those two airports know that delays (particularly in the evenings when a lot of trans-Atlantic flights leave the East Coast) are not uncommon. Previous experience told me that the turn-around was dangerous.

Anyway, after we talked to them, they changed us to the non-stop British Air flights from Denver to Heathrow and back.

Much happier now.