Our Greater London Megathread

cson wrote: »

Right looking for a little help nailing the specifics of a trip down but here is the story; flying into Stansted on Tuesday morning, should be in London Liverpool St by 10am and then the short tube hop to London Bridge where we're staying at the Hilton Tower Bridge for too nights back on Thursday flying mid afternoon from Gatwick so should have the morning free up to 12pm. It gives us pretty much all day Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday morning.

What I'm asking here is what/how much should I try to fit in? It's the Gf's first time there and I've a few idea's already; Grease at the West End, Tower of London and basically the bus tour for the rest. She wants to go shopping too so I'm guessing Oxford St will have to hit at some stage. Any other idea's?

And lastly; we're students so cash will be tight'ish - any good cheapie eats in the city?

Cheers!

You seem to have things well covered but will throw out a few suggestions of things you could do if you have the time.

I think your hotel is at Tower Bridge, so weather depending you could take a boat trip from here down to Westminster, good way to see some of the sights along the river.

London Eye: Has become a huge tourist attraction with spectacular views of the city and is well worth doing imo. Particularly romantic in the evening/night imo, since you are bringing the gf. Tube Station is Westminster
or Embankment

http://www.londoneye.com/

Covent Garden: Always worth a visit for the street entertainment imo, plenty of restaurants and the Punch and Judy serve a nice pint, you can drink on the balcony and watch the street entertainment below. Covent Garden also has a number of quaint shops and other well known high street shops in the area. Tube Station is Covent Garden.

http://www.coventgardenlife.com/info/covent_garden.htm


From Covent Garden I would personally walk through Leicester Square into Piccadilly Circus and into Regent Street(plenty of shops on Regent Street, off Regent Street is Carnaby Street, couple of nice coffee shops which also do a reasonable lunch.

http://www.carnaby.co.uk/news/index.cfm

From Carnaby Street go back into Regent Street, continue walking to Oxford Circus, turn left into Oxford Street. The main store worth visiting in Oxford Street is Selfridges. Plenty of restaurants in Selfridges also.

If You are not walking, then tube station for Selfridges is Bond Street.

Harrods: Even if it is only for a look around, Harrods is a must imo, and at least have a coffee in one of the restaurants. Tube Station Knightsbridge

Kensington Palace: is in the grounds of Kensington Gardens(really nice park) and is where Princess Diana used to live. Tube Station High Street Kensington, leave by main tube entrance turn right 5-7 min walk you will see Kensington Gardens on your left.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/kensingtonPalace/

Link below shows some free things to do.

http://golondon.about.com/od/thingst...ree_London.htm

You already have some good things lined up and I suppose a lot will also depend on the weather, the bus tour will enable you to take in a good bit of stuff considering you are only there for 2.5 days, you don't want to overdo things or you will be shattered in the evening.

And of course don't forget The Emirates tour;)

Any tips for places to go in London on New Years Eve ?
Restaurant/late bar kinda thing is what we're after.

Esmeralda34 wrote: »

Hi
Was planning to treat my other half to three nights in London from 30 December as a Christmas/birthday pressie in one.
We have sworn never to fly with Ryanair again after a really bad experience with them.

However, looking at flying at normal hours with Aer Lingus and taking accommodation into account, it's looking at costing me over €900 before we do anything!

Does anyone know of anywhere reputable that offers good city breaks or can give advice, please?
Thanks

For flights check out www.flybmi.com, bmi fly into Heathrow. If not afraid you are stuck with Ryanair or you could try City Jet into London city airport.

For accomodation see my post below (post no93). Hope this helps.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=60745677&highlight=kensington#post60745677

OPENROAD wrote: »

For flights check out www.flybmi.com, bmi fly into Heathrow. If not afraid you are stuck with Ryanair or you could try City Jet into London city airport.

For accomodation see my post below (post no93). Hope this helps.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=60745677&highlight=kensington#post60745677

Thanks Openroad - it would seem that trying to find a reasonably priced hotel in the west end is pointless on New Year's Eve night at this stage though!

I'm sure you are pulling your hair out.

Some hints might help - what time to be in Covent Garden, staying there or just visiting something, how many days, etc . . . all can have an impact.

z

In_tuition wrote: »

Fly to Stansted and take the Stansted Express to Liverpool Street then you walk about 40 yards to the underground station, take the central line (4 stops) to Holborn

Might be a good bet, to OP, both Stanstead and Gatwick are just as convenient, as In_tution says above, your only change here will be at Liverpool st, so one less change than Gatwick.

cson wrote: »

Anyone know of any reasonable place online that will do tickets for next week for a musical? Anything sub £50 per person would be fantastic.

There's the booths in the West End that sell tickets wit up to 50% off for shows that day, i can't remember exactly what they're called but they're dotted all around the West End, there's 2 on Leicester Square

I'm looking at booking a flight from London Gatwick to Toulouse. But the flight is at 6"30 AM with Easy Jet- Does anyone know how I'd get to the airport from central London to catch that flight? Thanks

Train from Victoria to Gatwick. Either Southern Trains (much cheaper and only a couple of minutes longer) or the overpriced Gatwick Express which I would avoid unless there is no alternative.

appleb wrote: »

Hi. Not sure this is in the right section. I am travelling by Ryan Air to Stanstead and am just wondering what is the cheapest (without it taking 10 hours) from Stanstead to city centre. Thanks in advance

There's a train from Stansted Airport straight to London City Centre, feckin expensive though, that's why it may be cheaper to look at Aer Lingus to Heathrow and get the tube

done this trip in november, took the train from Stansted. Had taken into account the advantage of flying with Aer Lingus to Heathrow but the differance in flight ticket price didn't outway the differance in train / tube fare. travel time is a bit less on the tube bit on the Stansted Express train, you travel in much better comfort and trains run every 15 minutes to/from Liverpool Street Station. Buy a return ticket when you arrive and its cheaper. Also, if its one way, you can buy the train ticket on board your ryanair flight, which is even cheaper again.