Christmas itinerary, Bath vs. palaces

Actually, I'd probably do the Imperial War Museum on Day 8 before your tickets to Kew. It seems rushed to me to get out to either Windsor or Hampton Court and see either before you need to get to Kew. Do either of them on Day 7 so you have time to enjoy whichever one you choose.

I love Bath but you can easily spend all your time in London with the one day for a closer in day trip.

Note that on 27 December no trains will be running from Paddington due to engineering work.

You either use South Western trains to Reading from Waterloo (a very slow route), or tube to Ealing Broadway, Elizabeth Line Ealing Broadway to Reading, then main line train forward.

The same applies on 24 December.

National Express are running from London Victoria to Bath every day, including Christmas Day- although the Christmas Day fares are eye-watering.

I doubt very much that the HOHO buses will be running on Christmas Day.

We love Bath. A day trip from London can be done, but it will be rushed. And considering the limited daylight hours that time of the year, there'll only be enough time to scratch the surface. If your daughter is only "loosely" interested, saving Bath for another trip makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, an unhappy teenage daughter.....

I would save Bath for another time when you have better weather and more Daylight to go on walks to view the architecture for which it is famous. Also you would want to go to the Cotswolds, etc. when you are that far West. Also both Windsor and Hampton Court are doable day return trips by themselves. Stay in London and enjoy.

Pam, thanks for your thoughts, I can see that feeling a little compressed.

Isn31c, really appreciate the closure info. I looked around a little, but not looking in the right place apparently! A Paddington closure definitely makes Bath less feasible. And Golden tours does actually run Christmas Day hoho, more expensive than other days, of course :)
https://www.goldentours.com/festive-period-christmas/1-day-hop-on-hop-off-tour-christmas-day

Haha TC, indeed. I have put a lot of attention towards how to keep the teenagers in good spirits! And great point about the daylight...seems best to wait til we have more time/daylight to enjoy Bath.

Kathleen, agree that would make a lovely week to do Bath, Cotswolds and surrounding area. I think I will save Bath for next time.

Isn32c - I too was surprised to find there were HoHo tours on Christmas Day but apparently there are. It’s probably the only day of the year when the HoHo bus makes sense in London. The lack of traffic will mean it will work as it’s meant to do. But the one I looked at was £59pp and at that price still not worth it in my view.

"Pam, thanks for your thoughts, I can see that feeling a little compressed."

One thing I tend to overthink is how long it will take for transport from one location to another. I have never lived where there was public transit so it makes me a little anxious to figure those timings out. It looks like you can take South Western Railway from Windsor and Eton station to near Kew Gardens with the journey taking an hour or so. It also looks like you could take South Western Railway from near Hampton Court Palace to Kew Gardens with about an hour's journey. I HAVE gone from Victoria Station to Kew Gardens via the Underground and that felt pretty easy to me, lol.

The interesting thing about the Christmas Day HoHo is that you can add on a Christmas Day Lunch for an additional £55. And that is quite a reasonable price for a Christmas Meal, especially in London.

Yes, Pam's right. Personally I would rather do Kew from Windsor, as it's one change at Richmond to Kew Gardens at Richmond onto the other end of the tube line that Pam used (or onto the overground train which goes all the way round North London to Stratford in East London).
From Hampton Court it is either two changes to Kew Gardens via Richmond, or one change at Clapham Junction to Kew Bridge (on the opposite side of the Thames, a short walk).
It is not that the Kew Bridge route is hard- just that coming from Windsor and Eton Riverside is easier.

If you ended up going to Kew Bridge there is a very interesting museum there- the London Museum of Water and Steam- at the former Kew Bridge Waterworks.

I'm not sure how often that has featured on this forum!!

And at Brentford (the next stop down the line from Kew Bridge) there is the Musical Museum (home to theatre organs and much else in the field of mechanical music)

Yeah, I was trying to sort out the possible routes and it seemed like Windsor to Kew was slightly easier. That's probably what I'd lean towards since seeing the town of Windsor might satisfy my daughter if we skip Bath (I know they're not alike! But seeing a town that isn't London was part of the appeal...). Thanks both of you for the extra tips on the logistics, I'll look more closely into your suggestions.

Isn31c I noticed that about dinner...quite reasonable compared to others I have seen. One of the reasons I'm contemplating the hoho is because we were not planning to eat out on Christmas Day so I was kind of mentally applying that money to the bus tour instead.

surely the concept of HoHo (hop on - hop off) bus tours is to hop off at things you want to visit and then hop back on (when it comes around) until you see another something, and so on. With everything buttoned up tight I don't see the attraction...

I have been to the London Museum of Water and Steam at the Kew Bridge, and when it was in steam a few years ago. The time to see it is when it is in steam so you can really understand the huge beam engines. Is it open that day? Is it in steam?

That’s right Nigel, but plenty of people like to stay on for the full circuit just to see places and get the lay of the land. That’s a painfully slow choice on most days but I assume not on Christmas Day. Also, because there is no public transport it will a way of moving around town and could help to make up some interesting walks. But it’s still expensive.

We will be in Central City London during Christmas as well; where would you recommend Christmas day dining (mid-range) if possible.

Johnew52 yes that's exactly why I'm looking at hoho...hoping Christmas Day is the one time you can actually make it around the route without long traffic delays. It depends on weather, but as we have no real plans that day, seeing parts of the city we won't otherwise get to feels like a perfectly fine way to spend a few hours and $ (which many others will be spending on Christmas dinner).

where would you recommend Christmas day dining (mid-range) if possible.

Chinatown? Many of the restaurants there will be open as they're not necessarily working to a Christian calendar.

By this time (November) there's not going to be lots of availability in the mid-priced range to be honest, unless you broaden your search out of central London.

Some pubs may open specifically to serve Christmas dinners but the majority of pubs will be closed all day. Central London restaurants will be pricey and probably sold out.

I'm not sure what the OP is doing for dinner on Christmas day, but it might be a good time to hit the food delivery apps and eat in your hotel room or apartment. There's going to be a wide choice of Indian, Turkish, Chinese etc. places open for delivery if you're not after turkey and stuffing.

So glad you found time to see a panto! So much fun! For other Christmas things in London the online magazine Time Out is a good resource. https://www.timeout.com/london/christmas including these further pages on Christmas Day and Boxing Day activities. https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/things-to-do-on-christmas-day-in-london and https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/things-to-do-on-boxing-day-in-london

By the way, if you’ve never seen a panto, it’s worth reading up on what to suggest. Also: throw yourselves into it. Join in all the shouts and chants with the rest of the audience. Pretty soon you’ll be shouting out “it’s behind you!” or “oh no it isn’t” with thousands of other people.

Here’s a good guide to the main traditions. https://www.alexjacksonpantomimes.com/a-beginners-guide-to-british-pantomime-traditions/

Thanks Goldengirl and Laurieann for the links. My daughters are very skeptical about the panto :). A few weeks ago my youngest daughter and I went to see RS speak locally and he was talking about diving into whatever the local traditions are, so now at least she's looking forward to it for the cultural exploration though she still doesn't think she'll find it funny. I hope she'll be pleasantly surprised!

My daughters are very skeptical about the panto :).

Yes, they are at that age when they might be most likely to cringe. But honestly - you’ll see whole families including adult children all just throwing themselves into it. And if they hate it, they could always leave at the interval and go to the pub instead…

if the family want to get their teeth into what virtually all British (certainly English) are brought up on, and understand the culture of the common person, a good panto is the way to do it. Many have celebrities as part of the cast who mould their leading characters around their stage persona. A good afternoon investment.

And from a purely selfish point of view, every additional bum on seats helps keep my friends in employment

"Many have celebrities as part of the cast who mould their leading characters around their stage persona."

My first panto was either Treasure Island or Kidnapped with the lead character played by Tom Baker of Dr Who fame. He came out in his trademark long striped scarf which of course didn't really fit with the pirate-y theme, lol. My then-husband and I could NOT figure out what was going on! The audience roared when he came on stage and it went on from there. Very fun once we got in to it but this was WAY before the internet and we just did not understand the concept of pantos!

You KNOW we are going to want a TR!

Ha Pam, what a surprise that must have been! We have tickets to Peter Pan, motivated in part by Jennifer Saunders playing Captain Hook. I will report back about our experience!

I note that Julian Clary is playing “Seaman Smee” so you’ve already got high camp innuendo right there.

Pam, Nigel, Laurie Ann, Golden Girl - just wanted to report back that I and my two (highly skeptical) teenage daughters all loved the panto!! I'm sure we missed some of the jokes, but much of the humor was universal. Julian Clary was brilliant, the costumes were amazing, and while I have no other panto experience to compare it to, I would highly recommend Peter Pan to anyone visiting London before it ends on Jan 14th.

Thanks to all of you for the itinerary feedback! I'll post a report, but in sum we had a wonderful experience despite a trip to an urgent care clinic towards the end - which I again found useful info about on this forum (all is now well!).

Thanks for reporting back. I’m so glad you all enjoyed the panto. It’s such a specific British cultural institution and so difficult to explain to anyone who’s not been.

Oh what fun! Oh yes, mostly the political jokes go sailing over my head, too.

Happy the girls had a great time and yes, do a TR when you have time!