On our first full day, on a Monday, I want to take the hop on-off bus to get an overall of everything so plan on staying on bus. will get on around notting hill. does the bus go clockwise or counter clock wise around the city. After the bus, we to go to Churchill War museum and Westminister Abbey for tour and evensong at 17:00
does this seem reasonable or too much to do in one day?
I've never done the hop on hop off bus tour but I would imagine it would take two or three hours especially given traffic. Then the Churchhill war rooms would take another two hours or so and you could easily spend two hours or more touring the Abbey. So a bit rushed, but doable before 5 PM evensong?
Do you have the option to do the hop on hop off hop off bus tour in the evening since if you're going in the summer it will still be daylight? Then you could see the Abbey in the morning, have lunch, see Churchill war rooms in the afternoon and then walk the couple of blocks back to the Abbey for evensong.
I did one of the HOHO buses in London and it was a colossal disappointment. Because of traffic and road construction (ALWAYS going on), the bus took strange routes to get around. I, personally, would not bother. You can get a much better idea of things by buying a good tourist map. If you insist on a HOHO bus tour, their maps are posted online - just be prepared for the bus to deviate from the route.
A much better way of going about things is to list your sightseeing stops and use the Transport For London journey planner web site to plan routes between activities. This will give you an idea how long and complicated the trips between sites are. It will also give you step by step instructions and list which tube lines/buses to take. This strategy should result in logically grouping your sights for ease transport. By the way, I highly recommend you purchase a data plan for your trip so you can use this website in real time so you can move around the city quickly and efficiently. I recommend purchasing a local pay-as-you-go SIM card for an unlocked smartphone...
hmm, thank you for info about the hop on-off bus and such. I have AT&T and need to figure out the data plan situation.
good advice
We have AT&T and their overseas data plan is the worst of any of the wireless companies. The last time we went to Europe we bought a SIM card there (my phone is unlocked).
Even if you have to rearrange your schedule, evensong is not to be missed. Very moving -- very glad we attended.
I agree the evensong is lovely. Get there about half an hour early if you can as there will probably be a queue and you have to go through a security check. (I'm not sure of their security policies, but would advise not carrying large backpacks or shopping bags -- this has been standard operating procedure in Britain going back to the 1970s with concern about IRA bombings.)
You are probably trying to squeeze too much in before that evensong at 5 o'clock. The very first time I went to London I took the HOHO bus to get a general view of the city and like Work2travel I was very disappointed because we were caught in traffic and moved very slowly. If I remember correctly there are different companies offering this kind of service and different routes. So if you start your day off with the bus tour of several hours and then go over to the Churchill War Rooms and fit in lunch and then tour Westminster Abbey you may be past your time deadline to hear evensong. I'd say skip the bus tour and concentrate that first day on attractions in the general area of your other two destinations. There's lots to see and do in that area and it's all very walkable.
I took a young relative on a HoHo bus in London. Traffic was so bad we spent three hours simply going from Westminster to South Kensington and back, so we jumped off, and I took him by tube to Tower Bridge.
