top things to do in London

cottager83

Folks, will only be there on a short visit but would like to cover some of the main attractions, will def go to see the London eye and some shopping on Oxford street, any other recommendations? thanks

grimm2005

I was there in September for 5 days, managed to cover a lot. One of the highlights was the open top bus tour (it was with the Original London Tour company). As cheesy and touristy as it sounds, it was actually great as it was a 24hour hop-on/off service which stops at most of the main attractions, so you could get off and get a better look before getting on the next one (they were every 20mins). One of the best things about it though was the thames river cruise that was included (also hop-on/off) which was pretty relaxing. also included were 3 walking tours that started at various times throughout the day.

Another day, we bought a joint ticket for the london eye, the aquarium nearby and maddame tussauds. we got through them all in one day with time to spare to go to one of the free museums dotted around the place. maddame tussauds was probably the best of them. they're expensive attractions but if you buy combination tickets for all of em online it's cheaper.

If museums are your thing, there are plenty of free ones dotted around the place. my favourite was probably the natural history museum, particularly the dinosaur exhibit. I'd also recommend the british meseum (it's huge and free).

If movies are your thing, there's a gigantic IMAX (the biggest in the UK, its called the BFI IMAX) near the london eye. its expensive but worth it imo as the screen is just massive.

Another thing you could do is catch one of the many west end shows that are on. I went to see Rock of Ages, a comedy musical based on 80's hair metal and general cheesy rock music, definitely recommend it if your into that sort of thing and tickets weren't too expensive either (provided you get ones in the upper tiers).

There's bound to be plenty of other stuff we didn't get around to. For example you can get tours of the olympic stadium currently being built for the 2012 olympics, or you could take a trip to thorpe park for the day if thats your sort of thing.

The great thing about london is that you can get a lot done in a day thanks to the underground. the city is very well connected by it and you're never waiting more than a couple of minutes for one.

cooperguy

You should try catch a show. I saw The Lion King a couple of months ago, brilliant.

Also check out Camden Market for some interesting stalls - the liquid nitrogen ice cream is a must !

cottager83

Cheers, think will def do the bus trip, any idea if you can get tickets for this online? thanks

grimm2005

cottager83 wrote: »

Cheers, think will def do the bus trip, any idea if you can get tickets for this online? thanks

indeed you can: http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

also, use code MSM2011 to get a 20% discount also. By buying online and using the code you get around £5/6 off rather then buying on the bus. Also just noticed that the tickets are valid for 48 hours atm rather than 24.

edit: +1 on camden town, huge market there with lots of interesting stalls, and loads of places to eat. you wouldn't spend all day there but it's worth checking out for a couple of hours.

Joe10000

Sorry to be cynical but the thing I most like to do in London is leave.