We have our flight tickets and hotels reserved for a mid-June trip to London and Edinburgh. As I'm looking on the internet at the sites we're interested in seeing, most of them say to make a reservation ahead of time because they are still limiting numbers - pandemic related. It concerns me because I'm counting on the pandemic being better in June so we can make our trip. Our flight can be pushed out and hotel rooms cancelled with no fees. But, how to handle entry tickets ahead of time. If I wait, perhaps we won't be able to see what we want to because all will be full, or if we book we'll lose our money if we can't make our trip (because of pandemic). I'm wondering how others are handling this. Thanks so much!
Posted by
Washington DC
28249 posts
I would not be buying most sightseeing tickets this far ahead for a June trip for the reason you mention. There are a few exceptional situations for which you may need to make a decision sooner than you'd like: really popular plays that are selling out weeks ahead (most should be available two weeks beforehand, though the best seats may be long gone), special museum exhibitions that are selling out weeks ahead (as can happen with popular-culture-related exhibitions, things related to the royals, impressionist art, etc.), or the few special sights that are known to have inadequate capacity. I believe the latter include the Harry Potter studio tour and the tour of the stately home where Downton Abbey was filmed (Highclere).
You should also consider how important a sight is to your travel party. If for some odd reason you can't get tickets to one art museum, would it be so awful to go to a different one? There are lots of places to have afternoon tea; is it a disaster if your first choice is booked up? And so on.
Off the top of my head, I don't remember hearing about anything that needed really early prebooking in Edinburgh except the tattoo, and that's in August.
If you list the places you might like to see in this thread, folks can probably tell you whether there are any you need to worry about. The more scheduling flexibility you have, the less you need to be concerned. If you're trying to cram London into two days or something like that, you may need to nail down some tickets ahead of time just because if a place is sold out for a few key time-blocks, if could leave you with an awkward, unusable hole in a day.
The Churchill War Rooms often have a long line, and you may find no tickets available if you show up in the afternoon, so that's one to take care of before the day you want to go there, but I think tickets should be readily available a few days or a week ahead of time.
This online article might be somewhat helpful, but it predates the pandemic: https://katsgoneglobal.com/do-you-need-to-book-ahead-to-enjoy-london/
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34010 posts
yes, booking entrance times is now a fact of life in many places. A day or two ahead is usually fine except as acraven says for blockbusters which was always the case...
relax and let the stress dissipate
Posted by
OP
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
1446 posts
Thank you both! "Relax and let the stress dissipate". You are so right Nigel. This will be our 28th trip to the UK!! Our son has never been. We'd like to see some of the usual places that I believe are popular. the National Art Gallery and Courtald (impressionist paintings), Tower of London, British Museum, Windsor Castle Museum of London, Imperial War Museum. Definitely Westminster! We will be doing everything by tube and train to Edinburgh. I'll buy an Oyster card when I get there and get train tickets - what is said? One month before? Have to work to understand that. As many times as we've been it seems more complex to me this time. Perhaps it's an aging issue? Not sure. Thanks.
Posted by
Lincolnshire, UK
2321 posts
You may also find that prebooked tickets are slightly cheaper than buying on the day.
Posted by
Washington DC
28249 posts
You might want to consider getting the London-Edinburgh train tickets earlier than that. There's a wide price swing there--maybe enough to be worth the risk that the trip won't happen as currently scheduled.
The National Gallery, British Museum and Imperial War Museum are all free/donation requested (and they are getting pushier about that "request", I think). That doesn't mean they are requiring timed tickets; I haven't checked since 2019. Of the three only the British Museum has had entry back-ups in my experience. It was truly packed, at least on the ground floor, on both of my recent visits. Unless capacity controls are in place, I'm afraid you can expect more of the same. A guide from London Walks told us the Egyptian Gallery (one of several on the ground floor) is the worst, and the museum is most crowded on rainy days. I'd guess weekends might be worse than weekdays because you'd have more locals on weekends.
Check each website to see whether the museum has one night a week when it's open late. That can give you some extra sightseeing time. However, be sure to ask at the information desk whether the whole museum will be open late or just part of it.
My tip for the Imperial War Museum: The audio guide (for which there is a fee) is good, but it basically repeats the information posted in the galleries, so there's no need to both read and listen; that will substantially increase the time you need in the museum.
All three of those museums are huge. I'm not sure any could be covered in one day, so you'll probably need to pick and choose. All have information about their collections online. It's worth the time to review that and decide on your priorities rather than wandering aimlessly.
The IWM has a top-floor exhibition (the Lord Ashcroft Gallery) with human-interest information about folks who won medals for valor during WWI. I found those stories wonderful, but for a traveler with limited time, this might not be a top priority. (In checking the name of that gallery online, I discovered that at the moment the museum is only partially open.)