London Stays

Nate, I was wondering if you could give a little more detail specific to your itinerary. The reason is that I was wondering if you could skip the rental car while visiting London and stay a bit closer in, and then rent the car when you are headed out to the Cotswolds. You really don't want a car in London......

If may be helpful if you can tell us the time of year that you plan on coming and the number of days for London, number of days for Cotswolds, etc.

Is this tying in with your other thread about Cotswolds Inns and pubs? If your plan is to have just one place from which to visit both the Cotswolds AND London, I'd reconsider. You definitely don't want to be saddled with a car in London, nor do you want to be located so far out that your commute time to and from each day eats into your sightseeing time. Nor, I suspect would you want the longer drive each day just to get to your Cotswolds destinations. It might be preferable to rent your car and stay in one of the Cotswolds towns, then return the car and stay in London for the remainder of the trip. There are numerous threads already on recommended London accommodations

are you aware of the London Congestion Charge (£15 per day payable online in advance or £17.50 within 3 days) in place every day of the year, and the plans to extend it all the way to M25 and all London Boroughs?

And the ULEZ (in case you get a clunker)?

You can't just drive into any part of London and just park. Parking costs are astronomical. I know of one lot where the first hour is £50.

I would have suggested Earls Court but you sure don't want to drive or park a car there.

I'm stymied.

Would love to know your exact itinerary and in what order, yet Richmond might fit for you. 7 miles from LHR, charming, train access to London. Also close to Kew Gardens and Hampton Court.

Having a car to go to the Cotswolds is a sensible idea (although the Cotswolds in March isn’t a good idea). Having a car in London isn’t - most places have residents parking only or expensive and limited non-residents parking. Plus the Congestion Charge as mentioned above. Parking on a street is likely to get the car pranged.

Take the train or tube from Heathrow into London for a far less stressful stay. In the central zone, Pimlico, Marylebone and Fitzrovia would be my choices. If you want to be further out, Putney, Chiswick and Ealing are options.

As stated, and can't be stated enough, not only don't you need a car in London, you don't WANT a car in London. It will cost you more to park the thing than the actual cost of the rental.

Ditch the car at the airport and take public transport around London. Or, if you hate that idea, get a cab. But driving is just.........nuts.

How old are your kids?

Hi Carol,

Thank you for the reply.

I have not been to long in over a decade and wish to see again and Show our kids the sights London such as Westminster (Abby, parliament, and Big Ben), London Eye, British museum, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar square, Buckingham palace, Harrods, and maybe take in a show at the theatre.

My thoughts were two days for this.

4 days in the Cotswolds as we have not been to the area and a day in Oxford on the way back to Heathrow for the night, (early morning flight the following day).

Thanks for the reply,

Nate

Hi CJean,

Thanks for the advice.

My plan is to stay in London using public transit and than drive in a rental and stay a while in the Cotswolds.

Thanks,

Nate

Nate, it is great that you will spend 2 days in London. Your list of sites is a bit long for that amount of time. You will want to get together as a family and discuss what your top sight-seeing priorities are. If you plan about two major sites a day (okay to add the theater in for the evening), you will find that your pacing will be just about right.

I am going to suggest that you consider either a serviced apartment or a family room for your stay in London. It can be a challenge to find one hotel room for 4 people. I really like Premier Inns, but I think you would need two hotel rooms to stay there.

I did stay in this VRBO last spring for a week.
https://www.vrbo.com/439545ha?adultsCount=4&noDates=true&unitId=1065757
It is not fancy, but does provide two bedrooms (one with twin beds) a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The owner was responsive and excellent with communication. The location was great. Easy to walk to Westminster, 1 block from Lambeth Palace, and on three bus lines that come frequently. It was a 10 minute walk to a grocery store. The price is very reasonable for this central location.

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for the advice. I will grab my rental when I finish my time in London.

Nate

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for the advice.

Why is March not a good time to visit the Cotswolds?

Is it the weather or do the pub, shops, etc shut down in the off season?

Thanks,

Nate

Hi Frank,

I really appreciate the warnings, and changed my rental dates.

My kids are 7 and 8 years.

Nate

Hi Laurel,

My thoughts are London 2, possibly 3 days.

Cotswolds 3 to 4 days.

And final day in Oxford on our way back to Heathrow airport to stay the night for a early morning flight the following day.

Thanks,

Nate

The worst weather of the year is often in February, and there is often plenty left in March. Your experience may vary of course.

The Cotswolds is an outdoor area to visit. If you want to be inside pubs they are everywhere in the rest of the country and you can be somewhere with museums and other indoor activities. There aren't a lot of indoor activities in the Cotswold area, especially when you are in the real Cotswolds, not the periphery. People go to the Cotswolds, an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to see the scenery and architecture. That's less fun on a cold, windy, wet, muddy day. The days are still relatively short. Gardens are closed as well as having nothing to show, the trees are still all barren, the golden Cotswold stone buildings look much better in sunshine or at least dry. The walking paths which show off the beauty will be muddy and possibly slippery.

Now that's all based on my experiences living there. I know you asked Jennifer and I expect she'll chip in from her experiences visiting there.

Go there if you want - I'm sure the pubs will be glad of your trade - just she and I want you to understand what it is very likely to be like - forewarned is forearmed.

I did ask a number of questions up in my first response to your Cotswold thread, asking you what you hoped to find there. I'm sorry you didn't reply because they were to help focus on where to suggest to you and what to do. I've had to just paint the negatives of March - I'd like to tell you the positives of what you are after but I don't know.

At that time of year, there is much to keep your children amused in London if (when) the weather is inclement. You can’t see all on your list in 2 days.

This year has been very dry - we are facing hose pipe bans due to the drought - so if next year is the same, you will be ok weather wise. If it’s a typical year and it’s grey and it rains most days, how are you going to keep your children busy and happy? There’s little indoor activity in the Cotswolds.

Some pubs have minimum age restrictions, so check their policy online before you head somewhere.

I have not been to long in over a decade and wish to see again and Show our kids the sights London such as Westminster (Abby, parliament, and Big Ben), London Eye, British museum, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar square, Buckingham palace, Harrods, and maybe take in a show at the theatre.

Not in two days you won't. You can drive by all of them but you can't visit them all in two days. And not with a 7 and 8 year old. If you tried to rush, rush, rush the above and then took them to the theater, they'd be asleep before the second act.

There is more of interest in London to kids than in the Cotswolds. If it was me, I'd spend an extra day in London and reward the kids for rushing them to see the historic sites by taking them to Hamleys on Piccadilly. And don't forget the Tower of London. That's probably top of the list of kid-interested historical sites.

I would reduce the Cotswolds trip to 2 nights and add them to your London portion. Far more to see in the capital. Trudging round the English countryside in March with probably grey skies, muddy paths, rain and bare trees is not doing it justice. November to April is city breaks with excursions to the country if the weather permits.

All,

Thank you so much for the great advice.

Nate

Bribe them with a trip to Hadley's toy store in London. We took our kids to London when they were six and ten. We did a lot of pre-trip education and let them have a say in what we saw. We did parent's choice in the morning and then kid's choice in the afternoon. Sometimes one parent would stay with the kids for the afternoon activity while the other parent got more museum time. My kids loved the British Museum and the Tower of London. They also liked the British Library because they could see original items like Beatles lyrics and books. Always get them the audio guide for every site-at the very least they can play with the buttons. They did love the theatre in the West End but we picked a more child friendly play (Lion Kind and Mary Poppins). Give them some down time to just play which we did at the wonderful play ground near Kensignton Palace-I can't remember the name but I think it had a Princess Diana connection. See if you can do a double-decker bus tour or hop on-hop off tour. You have to remember they may have jet lag. My kids took benadryl and I took tylenol pm so we all could sleep on the plane.

For the Cotswolds, we picked one garden and I educated them a lot about it. We stayed in Chipping Camden at the Cotswold House which I recommend. They had croquet set up which my kids loved and with the sheep bleating on the hillside, it was a classic Cotswold scene. We also did a tea at the hotel which they got into.

For Oxford, show them a Harry Potter museum and then go visit the dining room at I think it was Kings College where the moving was filmed. My kids loved punting on the Thames in Oxford. If you can, try to stop at Stonehedge. My kids loved it because it was so different from anything they had seen before.

Do the research to find kid friendly aspects of every site. Many places have a kids tour version which helped my children like the site better. Give each of them a set amount for items they can buy-it helped reduce fighting and tears. They loved the board games the British Museum sold that had a historical significance.

Hi itsv,

Wonderful, thank you so much of the advice.

Have a great day,

Nate

Just one small correction...it's Hamleys Toys on Regent Street. It's the largest and oldest toy store in the world. A five minute walk north of Piccadilly Circus.

Nate - I'm staying in London for 5 nights this month, with a family of four, and found airbnb was the best option for us. My daughter's are a bit older, 17 & 13, and we prioritized having a second bathroom. I was actually a bit overwhelmed initially because there were an immense number of options, but once we narrowed our search, we found an amazing flat a short walk from Earl's Court Tube station. Obviously the amenities with an apartment are different from a hotel, but decide what your priorities are and go from there. Good luck!