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London In One Day?

Posted by (Houaton, Texas, USA) on

Would you do this? DBF and I are flying into Heathrow and plan to take the Dutch Flyer service to The Netherlands. We plan to spend 4 days in Amsterdam, 2 in Cologne, and 4 in Paris. He wants to sightsee in London, but not stay the night, but we have the wiggle room in our itinerary to do so. In the end, it would look like this:

9:30 a.m. Arrive in London, go through customs, retrieve luggage
10:30 a.m. Pick up taxi, train or subway into London and get to Liverpool station. Store luggage.
12:00 p.m. Grab sightseeing bus and tour around for a few hours
6:00 p.m. Grab dinner, make our way back to Liverpool station, and retrieve luggage
8:30 p.m. Depart on train to Harwich port
10:00 p.m. Arrive at Harwich and check in for ferry
11:45 p.m. Ferry departs

I really think it is too much, especially coming off the flight and battling jet lag. I would rather tour London on Day 1 until we are tired, then crash in our hotel, sightsee a bit more on Day 2 and then head out.

What do y'all think?

Posted by
19 posts

We looked into Eurostar, but we really want to go overnight, plus the Dutch Flyer is cheaper.

Posted by
307 posts

Lisa,
Last September I did what you and your partner propose to do. I landed at Heathrow around 8:00 am and had tickets booked to depart Liverpool Street for Harwich, ferry to Hook van Holland, train to Amsterdam( Stena Lines Rail and Sail package )....so after customs I took the tube to Liverpool Street, stashed my main bag( Rick's Convertible Carry On of course...lol) at the Left Luggage office, took my Civita day pack and hit the Town for the day. Obviously you aren't going to see all of London, but you can certainly take in a lot of the sites that are relatively close....Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, House of Parliment/Big Ben, London Eye, etc, etc.
As long as you try to get a couple of hours sleep on the flight over, you should be okay. I was "on the go" in London all day with just 3-4 hours sleep but never felt wiped out or anything( had a good nights sleep on the ferry that night thought!...lol)

Posted by
970 posts

I wouldn't do it. But, add in a fudge factor to account for things go wrong, and the plan is workable.

That said, I'm on your side. Planes can be late. People can get sick. People can decide they'd rather sleep than sightsee.

Vacations are supposed to be enjoyable and relaxing. Take it easy. London isn't going anywhere, and no one gives out prizes for seeing the most sites in one day. Better to really visit a few sites than look at them as you ride by on a bus. Tell the DBF to take a deep breath.

Assuming the plane is on time etc., here's an ideas: Take the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and then a cab to LIverpool Sation. Park the luggage. Via the Tube, go to Westminster Station. (Note how much time that takes.) You'll come out of the Tube a few feet from Big Ben and Parliament. Gawk at Parliament and Big Ben. Westminster Abbey is very close. Buy a ticket and take the tour. Then walk across Westminster bridge to the south side of the Thames. Turn left and walk by the London Eye (hard to miss). Take a ride on the Eye, if you want to. (Beware: the lines can be long.) Walk for a mile or so along the South Bank of the Thames. Turn around. Grab something to eat on the way back to Westminster and get back to Liverpool station by 8:30pm.

You will only see a tiny bit of London, and you will be walking around very much jetlagged.

Posted by
881 posts

I've done it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. in 6hrs in London, you can see almost everything and go inside 1-2 places. That's just me though! :)

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