January 2025 Itinerary

If you're planning Hampstead Heath and you like pubs, I would suggest The Spaniards (https://www.thespaniardshampstead.co.uk/) it's nicer in summer, but would still be a good place to stop for lunch. It's near Kenwood House, a great art gallery that's also worth visiting.

Thank you! I appreciate the recommendations. I do hope to go to that area, and I am saving it for a day with the best weather prospects. The place for lunch and the art gallery sound great.

The temperatures in London for January are 37 degrees F. nights and 47 degrees F days.
They have precipitation 12 days out of the month and the weather's often cloudy as the sun averages 2 hours per day.

The weather is essentially cloudy and somewhat dreary in the month of January. And as a traveler, you need to be prepared for cold and rain. It appears you've already studied the itinerary very well.

Yes, we will be prepared for rain and cold. Even though we live where we get very little rain, we do have raingear and warmer coats. I have just ordered a new rain hat too, and have cold weather hats. We mainly just use the cold weather stuff we have for when we travel. The one thing I am hoping for is just one day where we don't get rain which I am saving for our Highgate Cemetery day.....and maybe no rain on the night we do the holiday tour to see the lights, though that bus is covered on top. Otherwise we are figuring on gloomy days with rain...will be a change from sunshine all of the time here.

On 11 January there will be no trains at all from Cambridge to London by any route due to construction work on the new Cambridge South station.
It will be bus replacements to Royston (for trains to St Pancras or Kings Cross) or Audley End for Liverpool Street.

Whether you want to do that or just take the National Express bus to Victoria is your choice.

Outward to Cambridge unless you are taking the (very) cheap route from Liverpool Street there is no benefit to buying train tickets ahead of time.

I'm amused as always at anyone who can give you an exact weather forecast as above a month out. I live here and can't do that.
And the Met Office certainly can't.
For all anyone knows we could have a blocking high pressure system with cold temperatures and wall to wall sunshine each day. Totally anything could happen. Looking at the web for averages is basically meaningless, especially with a rapidly changing climate.

The area around Waterloo Station is not where I would choose to do most of my eating and drinking. It’s a transport hub and not that conducive to nice, independent, atmospheric restaurants and pubs. There are various chain restaurants and quicker options. If I have to eat around there before going to the National Theatre or Old Vic, I usually opt for Meson Don Felipe. Perhaps some of the forum members who have stayed in the area will have additional options.

I gather from your itinerary that you are staying near Waterloo so I assume that’s why you are asking. If it were me, I’d plan to eat most dinners wherever you finish your day’s activities before heading back to the hotel. You’ll get more variety that way. Happy to recommend places for specific areas. For instance you mention Greenwich; I like the Cutty Sark pub on Ballast Quay.

Thanks very much for the info about the Cambridge train, and the alternatives we will need to use. I will figure out what we want to do. The good thing is that we have don't have specific plans for the day we return to London, so It will all work out making our way back. I do very much appreciate it you letting me know about the trains. And yes, it is possible that we could bring our sunny Southern CA weather with us to London and the rainy, kind of gloomy trip we have planned will be very different!

Thank you Margaret for the pub/restaurant suggestions. Your idea of us having dinner in the areas where we wrap up our activities sounds good. We would be fine with some chain/fast food options near Waterloo part of the time and then some places with more atmosphere on other nights. We will be near the Parliament Building for our 4:00pm tour near the start of our trip, so if there is someplace near there you would suggest after our tour ends and before we head back to the hotel near the Waterloo station let me know. We are rather casual eaters, not fine dining so much, so any cute, fun, casual place is good with us.

For dinner convenient to Parliament, the immediate surrounding area is a bit of a dead zone, so I’d probably walk or catch a bus to Bancone on the southern edge of Covent Garden. Alternatively, get the Tube west to Sloane Square and walk to The Thomas Cubitt or La Poule Au Pot.

A couple other thoughts on dining convenient to Waterloo - you could take a short bus ride to Mercato Metropolitano if you enjoy markets/food trucks. You can also easily hop on the Jubilee line to London Bridge where the multitude of restaurants around Borough Market are. Two of my favourites there are Padella and Elliot’s.

For everything other than Padella (walk up only, you add yourself to the queue using a qr code at the door) and Mercato Metropolitano, you must make advance bookings.

Thank you Margaret for all the suggestions. I will look up your specific suggestions for places and areas and plan accordingly. Much appreciated.