Taxi or Tube to return to hotel after evening at theatre; changing of guard question

Take the tube. It is very safe and there will be thousands of people leaving the theatre district after the show and riding the tube. It will be much easier than getting a taxi. The Wyndham theatre is about 20 feet from one of the entrances to the Leicester Square tube station.

Nothing better than theatre in London.

Word to the wise, use the restroom before the play begins. Enjoy ice cream at intermission.

Don’t be fearful of the tube. I’ve been using it on my London visits since Nixon was in office. Stayed often in Bayswater neighborhood. It’s well signed and a very helpful staff.

Easy straight shot on the Circle Line from Bayswater station to Embankment and 10 minute walk to the theatre.

Or if closer to Queensway station another straight shot to Leicester Square on the Central line. 3-5 minute walk to the theatre.

A taxi ride will be costly.

By all means take a taxi if you feel more comfortable doing so, but I encourage you to try taking the Tube while you’re in London, it’s part of the experience.. You don’t say where in Bayswater your hotel is, but you can take the Circle (yellow) line from Bayswater station to Embankment station and change there to the Northern line (black) and get off at Leicester Square station. There are signs in the station telling you which exit to use - you need the Charing Cross Road exit, and the theatre is right there.

Every station and every platform has a graphic of the line and the stops to help you work out the direction you need to go. Have fun!

We took the Tube everywhere day and night and never felt uncomfortable. The Tube is very easy to figure out.

On changing of the guard, I think you're confusing two different ceremonies. Changing of the guard takes place at Buckingham Palace. A detachment marches from St James' Palace (Friary Court) up the Mall to Buckingham Palace, and the new guard marches from Wellington Barracks. The ceremony itself then takes place at the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.

The changing of the King's Life Guard is conducted by the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (coming from Hyde Park Barracks) and is conducted at Horse Guards Parade. There is also an afternoon dismounted inspection in front of the Hose Guards building.

In general the King's Life Guard is easier to see, and the dismounted inspection is particularly accessible. But it is the cavalry - the Buckingham Palace foot guard is normally drawn from the Household Division regiments of foot (occasionally other regiments such as the Gurkhas or Commonwealth armies such as Australia or Canada).

There is also a guard mounted at the King's residence at Clarence House, but no ceremony there.

Everything you need to know is on the Household Division web site: https://www.householddivision.org.uk/

Melissa, if you haven’t already, consider putting the tfl (travel for London) app on your phone. You get notifications about any changes and alerts. It really helped us. You can put your intended journey in the trip planner as well. When we went to see Les Mis last summer it was Pride weekend and there were throngs of people in the theater district when we let out. So much so that for safety they closed a couple of the stations to keep everyone from entering and exiting at one. Having the app let us know where we could catch the tube and gave us updates. It really was a helpful tool.

Enjoy your show and time there!

Hi! I came here to say what Mustlovedogs said!

I have NO SENSE OF DIRECTION. Zero. My husband jokes that I could get lost going from the kitchen to the bathroom in my own house. :-)

So when I say the TFL app is very helpful - it is very helpful. It has a trip planning feature (“get directions”) that gives you routes, prices, length of journey in minutes, as well as information about which train (or bus) is arriving first at your location, the number of minutes you will need to walk to get to and from the starting and end points of your journey, and whether or not there is a step free option.

It’s free. It’s excellent. Download it - and enjoy the show!

Nothing against TFL app, but CityMapper is my go to app for transportation in London.

Easy straight shot on the Circle Line from Bayswater station to Charing Cross and 10 minute walk to the theatre

Claudia, I think you mean Embankment. Charing Cross is not on the circle line.

Have corrected directions

Or if closer to Queensway station another straight shot to Leicester Square on the Central line. 3-5 minute walk to the theatre.

The Central Line takes you to Tottenham Court Road, from whence it is one stop south on the Northern Line to Leicester Square.

It'll only be a 10 to 15 minute walk down from Tottenham Court Road down Charing Cross Road.

Guess I should let isn31c provide all tube directions from now on. Wonder if bus routes should be included?

OP unsure if they are still printed but there used to be pocket sized tube maps available at stations. Good reference.

The pocket tube maps are still printed.

I'm very old school, and only use the printed tube map, the printed all railways map, and the printed bus maps- not journey planning websites. Looking at the bus map there actually is a bus #94 from Queensway to Piccadilly Circus (5 minutes or so walk from the theatre)- every 8 1/2 minutes, timetabled to take 25 minutes for the journey. It actually runs 24/7. Going back to Queensway it has a final destination of Acton Green.

TfL and Citymapper apps should tell you the same thing.

Thank you all for the great information and resources! I appreciate your encouragement .

I am a solo traveler and have taken the bus home after the theatre and recently took the Tube from Covent Garden after seeing "Six." I loved Six by the way. I have never felt uncomfortable coming back to the hotel later in the evening by public transportation.