Hello Everyone,
We will be arriving in London Heathrow from Santorini at 7pm. We want to visit central London once we land, is it doable and would the underground be running those hours for us to come back to Heathrow as our hotel is at. We are flying out the next morning. Is London safe those late hours? While I have been to London before, we really never stayed out that late. Please give us as much detail info as you can. My plan is to visit Buckingham Palace, The London Bridge/Big Ben. Please advice.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16247 posts
London Bridge is nothing special. I believe you mean Tower Bridge.
http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/plan/
Unless your flight is quite early the next morning, you would do better to stay at a hotel in London. This would give you more time for dinner and sightseeing. And depending on your airport hotel location, it can take longer to get to the terminal from there than from a hotel near Paddington Station on the Heathrow Express.
I would not put Buckingham Palace high on my list for a night view. The Parliament Buildings and Big Ben, on the other hand, are stunning at night, especially when viewed from across the river. You could then walk from there along the south bank path to Tower Bridge, cross the bridge ( the traffic level, for free, not the elevated walkway) and catch the Tube back to your hotel from the Tower Hill station.
Note that you will not hear Big Ben strike the hour or the quarters. It will be silent for renovations.
Posted by
OP
175 posts
thank you for the reply. we must stay at the Hilton at Heathrow as we have massive amounts of luggage. We will drop it off and leave the hotel immideatly to see the sights. my concern will be are restaurants in central London open late for dinning and is it safe with small children.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4850 posts
You shouldn't have a problem finding a restaurant to eat at in the busier areas. But set reasonable time lines. If you have luggage to drop, you're unlikely to arrive in London before 10:00 pm. (Immigration, baggage pickup, hotel check in, travel into the city). Unless you are there on a Friday or Saturday, the Tubes will stop running at midnight. But you could still get back by bus (use the tfl.gov. uk journey planner) or taxi.
Posted by
Leeds, Yorks & Scranton, PA
72 posts
Note that you will not hear Big Ben strike the hour or the quarters. It will be silent for renovations.
The Elizabeth Tower (remember, Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the tower) is also covered in scaffolding right now. There's a picture of the scaffolding on the recent news story...
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-43868925
...on the picture titled "Members of the public also attended the ceremony". You can see the clock face, and it's illuminated at night, but it's undergoing a much-needed checkup.