One Night In London

If you buy or borrow Rick Steves' London guidebook (I'm looking at the regular size, not pocket), a few different pages give a day-by-day rundown of which sites are open late; there's something every day until about 22:00. The London Eye and London by Night Sightseeing bus tours run late every day. Some walking tours depart around 19:00. Of course, theater is a popular evening option. Pubs close around 23:00. After midnight, I don't know, but you could check Time Out.

Thanks,

Ya, I have a few of his books and will use those as a guide. Just seems like such an overwhelming city so 1 night is so little time to do much of it.

Take the tube ( Piccadilly Line) to Green Park. If u can buy the 1day travel card at Heathrow do it, if not do it at Green Park. Depending what you see you can exit at green park and walk up Piccadilly to Trafalgar Square. Or change to the District line and take a 4 stop 10 minute ride to Westminster station. Get out and start your quick visit of the sites there. Parliament, Big Ben, westminster Abbey, river Thames and then walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. Once in Trafalgar Square you can make you way to SoHo where you'll find a nightlife of pubs and clubs. Use the fancy a pint website to locate a pub. Be certain to give yourself proper time to return to Heathrow and your flight home. Minimum 2 hours ahead to play it safe. Use the google maps satellite view to get a birds eye view of what is where and plot your route with it. Not sure where your back packs can be stored though. You need to investigate that. Have fun.

Yes, storage of backpacks might be a question that the traveler wants to contemplate, especially the closing time, and opening time, of the bag storage facility.

Bag storage at Heathrow is open roughly 6:00 - 23:00, see www.left-baggage.co.uk.

Thanks. Ya, we plan on leaving our bags at Heathrow. A lot of good stuff to work from, much appreciated!

I would consider doing a double decker bus tour around the city in which you would see the Tower of London, Big Ben, go across the bridges etc. Many buses leave from the Victoria station area. Also a fun activity is the London Eye. If you arrive at 3 and pay more money to get into the city then you could also hit one site either Westminster or a museum. The Tower of London is open until 5:30 if you head right there. Also, Covent gardens is a fun area to walk around.

Hi. As Laura mentioned, there are some evening guided walks. Here is a link to London Walks that might appeal:

http://www.walks.com/london_walks_home/london_walks_by_date/default.aspx

D

"planning on staying up all night and sleeping on our long trek home."
Keep your eyes open and be aware of your surroundings, as in any very large city. I personally think you'd have a lot more fun sightseeing the first afternoon you're there, hitting some pubs and a nightclub, and then hitting the bed at a hostel or hotel. Up in the morning to see some more sights. Walking around in London in the middle of the night, in my opinion, will not be much fun after several hours.

All I'm saying is, have a back-up plan, in case you get tired/bored and want to go lie down in a hostel for a couple of hours before dawn. There are lots of inexpensive YHA hostels around London. Have a great trip.