I will visit Royal Albert Hall Concert and booked one night for 100 Queen Gardens Hotel. Next morning I will move to the Montegue Gardens Hotel and than I want to visit the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. You know, I don‘t like to travel by Central, Elizabeth…Line. Google show me Bus 55 and moving to train Thameslink (Rainham to Maze Hill).
Question
Thameslink - do I need to buy tickets or is it possible to tap with creditcard?
You can tap for journeys on Thameslink in central London like the tubes and buses.
You could also take a bus down to an appropriate pier on the Thames and then take a scenic boat ride out to Greenwich.
Is the correct name of your hotel The Montague on the Gardens Hotel? If so, and you prefer not to use the Tube, there is a bus option that also avoids the steep up hill climb to the Observatory. Tfl says take the 68 bus from Southampton Row to the Elephant and Castle/London Rd stop. Change to the 53 bus to Greenwich Park, then walk to the Observatory
@cjean Yes, it is.
Thanks very much for your help, again. This forum is so nice and helpful!!
If you don't like deep underground trains I would suggest taking Thameslink from City Thameslink to London Bridge and then train to Maze Hill station, which is the closest to the Observatory.
If you don't like tunnels in general you should understand that most of London was built before the Victorians put in the mass transit trains and main line railways.
They couldn't go at road level and mostly didn't go above ground in the centre so all the tube lines, not just the very deep lines, were put in tunnels below. Even the sub-surface lines of Metropolitan, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and the Drain are in tunnels, mostly cut and cover on those lines. Thameslink and other train lines use tunnels too.
If you want to completely avoid tunnels you'll need buses and taxis in the centre of town.
Even the DLR - Docklands Light Railway - starts in a tunnel at Bank before it goes above ground.
If there is a different reason to avoid the Central Line and the Elizabeth Line, please say so we can get you the best advice.
What markcw said.
The boat ride from central London to Greenwich was one of the highlights of our last trip to London.
There are two stations called Rainham- Rainham (London) which is in Essex on the way to Southend and Rainham (Kent).
The Essex station is the wrong one, and the Kent one is far beyond Greenwich and is not served by bus 55'which is Walthamstow to Oxford Circus, so those instructions are ambiguous.
Our daughter lives in Greenwich and we use the Maize Hill stop quite often but when we are being tourists, we love to use the Uber boats as others have said. They've never been too crowded and easy to get on and off. Best of all, there is so much to see as you travel down the Thames.
While in Greenwich, I hope you allow enough time to see all of the sights, not just the observatory. The history of Greenwich is fascinating so while at the observatory, take in all of Greenwich Park and then travel down to the Queen's House, The Old Royal Naval College including the Painted Hall and Chapel of St. Peter and Paul, the National Maritime Museum, The Cutty Sark museum (dry docked historic tea ship), and many fun pubs and parks.
there is a bus option that also avoids the steep up hill climb to the
Observatory.
I wish I had known that when I visited the observatory. I had to stop twice on the climb :-(
Our last two trips to/from Greenwich were by boat - look into the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers. There are also other boat companies, some of which have verbal commentary pointing out sights along the way. London has several docks along the river, and the Greenwich pier is steps from the Cutty Sark. The Royal Observatory is on the hill, beyond the collection of museums and other amazing buildings.
One thing to be aware of: the Observatory has a big red ball on a pole, and it’s visible from much of Greenwich. We were positioned outside, just behind the Maritime Museum, three minutes before 1:00 P.M. for a view of the ball from a little distance. At precisely 1:00, the ball drops down the pole, as it has for centuries. Back before widespread pocket or wristwatches, when a ship needed to synchronize its clock, sailors would look to the ball, to know when it was exactly 1:00, and that’s where “Keep your eye on the ball,” originated. Time your visit accordingly.
So helpful. Got tickets for my date, too. Thanks!
You might also be interested in a Mirror Moon, a new geographically accurate sculpture of the Moon, which has just been installed in the courtyard of the Royal Observatory. We saw it by chance when visiting there last week for the first time ( despite having a son who studied at the University there, lived there for two years and now many years later is working at a school in Blackheath about 10 minutes walk away). We listened to a fascinating free talk on the development of time and calendars based on the lunar cycle whilst there.
https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory/attractions/mirror-moon
