Our Greater London Megathread

MissCC

Hi,

Thanks for this - just received an email this morning for a national express coach instead to Liverpool Street (which is not what I ordered!)
Does anyone know how long coach takes into city from Stansted?

thanks a mill,
CC

HodgeDog

Heathrow is definitely closer and in my opinion it is easier to move from there and I cant say that it is very expensive, considering that England is not very cheap country.

anne burnell

national express coach is 15 pounds sterling return.... used it bout 2 weeks ago... takes bout 50 mins from stanstead to Liverpool Street.

The Reader

Hi Folks

My wife and I propose to travel to London in November 2013 via Aer Lingus to Heathrow Airport for a few days. Would deeply appreciate advice how best to get fom Heathrow Airport to our Hotel in the centre of London in the most cost effective way.

Many thanks.

enda1

The Reader wrote: »

Hi Folks

My wife and I propose to travel to London in November 2013 via Aer Lingus to Heathrow Airport for a few days. Would deeply appreciate advice how best to get fom Heathrow Airport to our Hotel in the centre of London in the most cost effective way.

Many thanks.

Most cost effective is almost certainly getting the tube. Heathrow is in Zone 6 of the London Underground pricing system. When you arrive in the airport buy an oyster card each and load each with £20. Then do your weekend in London and when you arrive back in Heathrow cash-in the card and get back the card deposit too. (I think this can be done)

Try do it if possible by credit card so the refund goes back on the card too so you're not left with annoying sterling if that'd be an issue for you.

Lapin

Enda is spot on there.

There is a £5 deposit on Oyster Cards which is refunded when you don't need them anymore.

However, for such a small fee its worth holding on to your card as it will save you having to get a new one if you ever go back to London.

Furthermore, the cards are transferable, so if you know anyone going to London you can give them your card and they can use it and top it up while they are there.

The Reader

Many thanks for all the views. Can I please ask how/where do I get the Oyster Cards and can I obtain them with cash at the airport. Berlin have a similar type system and I remember losing out financially on all the trips I made on their underground system.

Grateful indeed

Fratton Fred

The Reader wrote: »

Many thanks for all the views. Can I please ask how/where do I get the Oyster Cards and can I obtain them with cash at the airport. Berlin have a similar type system and I remember losing out financially on all the trips I made on their underground system.

Grateful indeed

You can get one at the tube station Travel information Centre, or you can buy one in advance for a small postage fee

www.tfl.gov.uk

livEwirE

Hi all, I'm visiting London with my wife in a couple of weeks for a few days, I'd like to buy some tickets for a West End show - 'Les Miserables' - are there any recommended sites to buy from thanks? Is lastminute.com good for tickets?

athtrasna

livEwirE wrote: »

Hi all, I'm visiting London with my wife in a couple of weeks for a few days, I'd like to buy some tickets for a West End show - 'Les Miserables' - are there any recommended sites to buy from thanks? Is lastminute.com good for tickets?

In a word, no! Last minute tend to have the worst seats in each price category, even at top price they will have the borderline top price seats. Would not recommend them as you can't choose your seats and only find out where you're sitting when you collect the tickets at the box office. An awful experience.

Les Miserables still sells out and is not available at TKTS. If that's the show you want, you will need to pay full price, and booking direct with the theatre will probably get you the best seats. If using a third party, seetickets.com charge a lower booking fee than Ticketmaster. Use the seating charts on theatremonkey.co.uk to work out what seats to avoid.

livEwirE

Cheers for the info asthtrasna We'll probably just chance TKTS on the day and see what shows we can get!

Lapin

The TKTS booth in Leicester Square is the most reliable place to buy tickets for shows.

There are many other booths and shops all over the West End offering discount tickets but some are less trustworthy than others.

Only buy tickets where you see the STAR logo if not buying them direct from the theatre box office and never buy them off someone in the street or nearby the TKTS kiosk.

More here.


Enjoy the show

Mint_Julip

Thinking of booking a weekend break to London for next February (Valentine's weekend) or March (Paddy's Day weekend), but the prices of hotels seem to be yoyoing at the moment for that period of time.

When's the best time to book accommodation for London i.e. should I book it soon or wait til after the New Year?

brookers

Hi there, i got a lovely hotel recommended by a poster here, the k george in earls court, i phoned them up and they gave a good discount. If you are Irish they love to have you staying......

Milltown17

Hi all
Im looking for some help im looking to book a hotel in london on the 7th of feb next year for 3 nights.my budget is round 100euro a night I was wondering does anyone know of any good hotels I will get for that budget and also have to be close enough to city centre.im know im asking alot.

schemingbohemia

You should really post this in the London thread above, but Premier Inn have a few hotels for £89stg which is just over €100.

www.premierinn.com

Actually the Southwark TATE Modern one gets very good reviews and could be got for around €300 for the three nights.

diddlybit

My OH got an amazing bargain on hotwire.com for a hotel in London.

Of course, it's always a gamble not knowign what exact hotel you're getting, but there's a lot of website that are pretty good at guessing with the details given.

razorblunt

You'd find a suprisingly large amount of hotels around the City of London Area (Apex x2, Doubletree, Guoman etc) would offer decent rates through sites like hotwire or by ringing direct. The place is like a ghost town at weekends.

miamee

I have used Tune Hotels in Edinburgh before and it was great - they have 3 or 4 London hotels. From the type of hotel they are, they should all be the same http://www.tunehotels.com/my/en/our-hotels/united_kingdom/

diddlybit

razorblunt wrote: »

City of London Area

+1 This is where we got our last bargain, nothing open or anyone around at the weekend, but it had great transport links.

It was a five star hotel that cost the same amount of money as a poky room in Earl's Court that we stayed in on the Friday. Bathroom was so small that you had to back into it. We decided to forget the showers as we figured that the hotwire hotel couldn't be as bad. We arrived, stinking and desperately hungover in hoodies and ripped jeans to the hotel in london city, which had a red carpet and people in fur coats milling around the entrance. Took me ten minutes to face going in, I think the staff thought we were hobos!:o

HankScorpio1985

Hey,

I bought a return Stansted to Victoria coach ticket with my flight home for christmas a few months back. I went to check in online there but there is no option to print out the coach ticket. Where do I collect my coach tickets as my outward journey will be from London Victoria to Stansted?

Thanks,

H

chancer12

My son is travelling on Saturday sail and rail. He's booked on the 2.30 am ferry on Sunday morning and the train to meet that leaves Euston at 6pm. However, although Stena will guarantee his ticket for the ferry, his rail ticket isn't guaranteed. Its with National Rail. Does anyone know what the service is likely to be like on Saturday, would he be better getting an earlier train. Problem is that Holyhead is such a bleak place, there isn't much to do. However, I'm afraid if he doesn't get on the train then, he's 'goosed'. Anyone done this trip at Christmas before?

enda1

chancer12 wrote: »

My son is travelling on Saturday sail and rail. He's booked on the 2.30 am ferry on Sunday morning and the train to meet that leaves Euston at 6pm. However, although Stena will guarantee his ticket for the ferry, his rail ticket isn't guaranteed. Its with National Rail. Does anyone know what the service is likely to be like on Saturday, would he be better getting an earlier train. Problem is that Holyhead is such a bleak place, there isn't much to do. However, I'm afraid if he doesn't get on the train then, he's 'goosed'. Anyone done this trip at Christmas before?

There are talks of storms coming this friday so there could be problems over the weekend. They are usually quite quick at clearing these things up so I'd say there should be little to worry about really. Once he makes the train (to be honest any train even if it's delayed/cancelled) and gets to Holyhead eventually, he'll get on a ferry. Don't over worry it.

Becky89

Hi,

How easy is it to get to the centre of London from Gatwick? I usually go to Heathrow which is very direct is Gatwick much different?

Thanks

JenL

Becky89 wrote: »

Hi,

How easy is it to get to the centre of London from Gatwick? I usually go to Heathrow which is very direct is Gatwick much different?

Thanks

Gatwick express train from under ground the airport takes around 30 mins to get into london. It's very handy as a second choice to Heathrow.

jjbrien

JenL wrote: »

Gatwick express train from under ground the airport takes around 30 mins to get into london. It's very handy as a second choice to Heathrow.

Id get the soutern train and avoid the gatwick express takes 1 min longer than the express and its a third of the price

afatbollix

Trains go to Victoria, Take 45 minutes.

You can get a southern train that will stop at Croydon and Clapham Junction if you need to get a train to any where else.


The best thing about Heathrow is that it is hope of the tube and it can get you anywhere very easy. Where as at Gatwick you need to get the train first before connecting with the tube.

I usually fly Heathrow as it costs a 10er for the train to Gatwick and usually the Heathrow flight is only a 10er more so works out the same for me.

rainbow kirby

FCC trains go to St Pancras too, more convenient for some. About £1 more expensive than Southern. Feels like much less of a slog than the Piccadilly line from Heathrow.

flikflak

I always find it easier to fly to Gatwick and hop on a train. I paid £15 the other week for a return train journey which included a one day London travel card. Journey was about 30 mins. All very easy. Some of the trains go into London Bridge too.

chancer12

Tnx, am more worried about him getting the train than the boat because the seat isn't confirmed.