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2/3 day London area layover

I want to break up the long plane ride from Boston with a 2/3 day layover in London in each direction.

On the way we’ll probably want to do a bit of touristy stuff right in the city, mid May (a week before "THE" wedding), and on the way back, we’ll probably just want to relax. We've been to London, and know what we'd want to see there, but coming back, we’d just like to go to some picturesque town or even a London neighborhood, not too far from the airport, where we can just chill and recover from almost 3 weeks of intense sightseeing . A place where there are nice shops, restaurants, etc. Nothing rural or suburban though. We want to relax, but we don't want to be bored.

We’re thinking maybe Windsor, Oxford or even Greenwich.

Any other thoughts?

Posted by
6113 posts

Which airport? Presumably Heathrow?

I would recommend the pretty west London area of Chiswick. Walk along the Thames there, visit Chiswick House or people watch at one of the many cafes. Kew Gardens is nearby. An ideal place to chill, but being on a direct tube line into central London.

Brighton would be a vibrant costal base with plenty of cafes and restaurants combined with plenty of history and quirky shopping.

Posted by
401 posts

You could try outer south west London - Richmond is classy, Kingston has loads of shops, Hampton Court for the Palace, Kew for Kew Gardens. All of these are along the river Thames which you take a boat ride on or simply walk along the footpath. Also close to some great parks - Richmond Park and Bushy Park. Really handy for Heathrow airport.

Posted by
137 posts

Many thanks to all! For this trip, I think we'll do our layovers in Amsterdam, and save all these great places for a longer trip to England next year!

Posted by
4088 posts

Fly into London, fly home from Amsterdam (or vice versa) using a multi-destination search function. It will save time and won't cost much more than a London round-trip even adding in the cost of getting to Amsterdam if rail or plane ticket is bought far in advance.