London visit in February -- a few questions

For theatre, my go-to website is theatremonkey.com, you can get a full list of what's on, advice on the best (and worst) seats in each theatre, reviews, bargains, etc. Some of the best theatre I've seen in London has been largely "unheralded" productions.

London Walks are excellent. There's one to the Cotswolds.

Buses and taxis . . . sometimes the best option is the tube because city traffic can be excruciatingly slow, which is also why the HOHO bus can be a drag. For that, choose a time other than rush hour and hope for the best.

The V&A has some lovely Turners and Constables and I always enjoy the costume section (just imagine yourselves trying to wear the stuff). I was rather let down by the Imperial War Museum after the renovations. OTOH the City of London Museum is always a good choice. It's easy to pop in to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery - free and central - when you are in the area.

It sounds like you'll be near Kensington Palace. It's said to do a very nice afternoon tea.

From the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square, take the Number 15 bus traveling eastward. It will take you past St. Paul's and onward to the Tower of London.

You can also take the Number 15 going in the opposite direction. You may want to start at the Tower of London early in the morning, finish that, then ride the Number 15 bus going west to St Paul's, get off to walk around the exterior and take photos. Then get back on the Number 15, travel west to Trafalgar Square for the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.

If you do this, you could, as one option, when you get off to see St Paul's, then walk north about six blocks. This will get you to The Museum of London, which is excellent.

As another option after seeing the Tower of London, from Tower Hill take the Number RV1 bus. It will travel southward over Tower Bridge and then turn and travel west along the South Bank area. Not literally on the edge of the river, but a couple of streets south of the river. You can get off this bus and go to Borough Market for food stalls, or to go to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, or farther along, the Tate Modern.

RV1 will take you all the way to the base of the London Eye. Then you can walk across the bridge to Parliament buildings, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.

For walks around London, with many different themes to choose from, look at the London Walks Company website.
www.walks.com
They also have many day trips out of London, including to the Cotswolds:
http://www.walks.com/other-tours/day-trips-from-london/

We love the Imperial War Museum.. so much we returned again this year.. its so informative, especially the Holocaust section and the section on how people lived in London during WWII. Its a bit out of the way , but worth the trip. This year we took our 20 something kids with us.. and they are NOT museum people, and they loved it too!

Second favorite was the Victoria and Albert Museum.. been four times now!

I would skip the Cotswolds in Feb.. weather etc.

We loved using the regular buses.. you sit up top , in front if lucky and get the best views of city as you drive through..

We did a ho ho bus tour and did not like it at all. Its useless to use as transport between sites.. you waste so much time going in convoluted routes. Take the tube for speed, and the buses for views.

Thank you for the speedy replies!
Emma, to answer your question, I am certainly not opposed to the Tube. I got the sense that people were suggesting the bus because it would be more scenic and avoid some of the rush hour congestion on the underground.

You could do the Cotswolds yourself if you wanted. The the train from Paddington Station in London to Moreton-in-Marsh, there is a 7:50am train arriving 9:36am or a 8:21am arriving 9:59am. From Moretom in Marsh you could either take the bus or taxi (8 miles) to Bourton-on-the-Water visit there then you could take bus/taxi to (4 miles) Stow-on-the-Wold After that go back to Moreton-Marsh to get train back into London, there are trains leaving 4:24,arriving 5:59pm, 4:45pm arriving 6:29pm, 5:32 arriving 6:59pm and there are later ones. That would give you a whole day to see at least two villages at your own pace.

More about London buses.

The RV1 bus--if you do NOT get off at the London Eye on the South Bank--continues (north) across Waterloo Bridge, and the line ends in Covent Garden.
Covent Garden has quite a few good restaurants.

If you have taken the Number 15 bus from Tower of London to Trafalgar Square,
you can then take the Number 9 bus from Trafalgar Square back to the area of your hotel in Kensington.
On the bus map below, the Number 9 is a dark blue color (almost looks purple).

From the area of your hotel, Kensington, take the Number 10 bus eastward (then it turns northward) to get to the British Museum. On the bus map below, the Number 10 is a canary yellow color.

From the front door of Harrods, you can get on the Number 14 bus (charcoal gray line on the map) to get to the British Museum.

Here is a London bus map. Print this on a color printer, turning the page setup on your computer to a landscape view, to get a horizontal print:
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/key-bus-routes-in-central-london.pdf
You can pick up a better printed map after you get to London.

Some tube stations will have a printed copy of this map on a rack on the wall.
One such station is Tower Hill tube station, just across the road north of the Tower of London.
Go down the stairs past the statue of Caesar, enter the tube station. Look left. There will be an attended small booth with a tube employee in it. To the left of that, up on the wall, will be a rack of maps and pamphlets about the tube and bus system. Pick up a bus map and a tube map here, for free.

All the bus routes I have mentioned are useful for getting around London, and also scenic.

A good map of London is essential. Most maps within guidebooks are not detailed enough to find every street.
I take this map with me. It is on coated paper and is pretty much indestructible.
(Borch) ISBN Number 978-3-86609-30-2
Enter this number into Amazon to have a look.

Emma - thank you for citymapper. I just downloaded it for my trip to Rome, where I get lost more than in London!