24 hours in London at the end of Sept, I have a few questions:
1. best way to get from Terminal 2 or 3 at LHR to City Center?
a. the Express to Paddington and transfer train to city centre from there? or
b. the Underground for a longer ride that goes to city centre.
2. best way to see (in an afternoon and evening) some of the highlights:
Tower of London
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
St Paul’s Cathedral
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
3. is it best to take a hop on hop off bus tour? Or other ideas for seeing the most in one day?
Posted by
Lake District, England
7326 posts
What is the "best" method of transportation depends on your budget and also on where in London you are staying that evening.
Your problem is that all those places close for the day in the early afternoon-
Buckingham Palace- open Thursday to Monday- last admission at 1615. Close at 1830-https://www.rct.uk/visit/buckingham-palace
(you can of course see the outside from the street 24 hours a day)
St Paul's- last admission at 1600 to close at 1630 (for evensong)
Westminster Abbey- last admission at 1530 to close at 1630 (for evensong)
Tower of London-closes at 1730
Globe Theatre- last tour at 1600. If you intend to attend an evening play you need to book as soon as possible.
There are multiple HoHo bus services (half a dozen, maybe more), most (maybe all) of whom run well into the evening, at least 9pm, possibly later. If you do a site in the afternoon the traffic will really have lessened if you opt for a HoHo bus in the evening.
Thus of the listed sites, if you only have an afternoon and evening you can only really get to one of them, then the Globe in the evening. So whichever is most important to you.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8791 posts
I would strongly discourage you from the hop on hop off bus. The combination of London traffic and routes that can take 10 minutes to make a loop around a square makes this a very inefficient mode of transport. I took it it a few years ago and greatly regretted it!
The tube and bus can get you pretty much anywhere you want to go. I have found the CityMapper app especially useful in London.
Posted by
Land of La
9079 posts
OP….
Take a moment to use the Birds Eye View of London via Google maps. Buckingham Palace, Parliament and Westminster Abbey are within walking distance of one another.
I’d use the Elizabeth Line to Paddington. Disembark, use your tap credit or debit card and board a Circle Line Underground train for the 20 minute ride to Westminster. Exit and explore Parliament Square on foot. The start walking across Westminster bridge to grab the iconic POV of Parliament.
Use the tube to get yourself about. Easy to figure out.
Great city. Too bad you have such short period of time to enjoy it.
https://bridgesandballoons.com/video-24-hours-in-london-as-a-londoner/
https://www.foratravel.com/guides/YEE6AD/24-hour-itinerary-in-london-rachel-kantrowitz
https://www.travelingmitch.com/mostrecent/one-day-in-london-england
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thank you so much for your responses! I definitely need to download the apps, and I don't mind walking at all, so I'll get to Westminster Abbey and walk to the other areas, and then I suppose bus or tube to the London Tower and Tower Bridge. Very helpful. Thanks!
Posted by
Buckinghamshire
128 posts
Suggested modification to Claudia's idea : get the Bakerloo Line underground (subway) from Paddington to Charing Cross. Take the exit marked to Trafalgar Sq and look at that. Walk under Admiralty Arch and look at Buckingham Palace along the Mall. Return through the arch and walk down Whitehall to Parliament Sq past Downing St (you can see number 10 through the security gates).