Budgeting time between sights in London

Both Windsor castle and Hampton Court are reachable by easy traiin rides. Neither are on any Tube line. Windsor Castle and town, should take at least half a day- train from Waterloo or Paddington with a change at Slough. Hampton Court- train from Waterloo. Should take most of a day. There is so much to see. You will be short changing yourself trying to do both in one day. I dont know if there is any convenient interchange between the train services to these two towns. maybe all the way back to Clapham Westminster Abbey, a couple of hours; St Pauls the same. Parliament- walk past it in 5 minutes on your way to Westminster Abbey. British Museum- should be all day at least, but probably get by with half a day. Tower- you can see it and Tower Bridge in an hour from outside (no visit) if you are pushed for time i think you are trying to do too many "big sights" in a short visit. Possibly doable, but you wont get to see and experience "London". London needs walking around to absorb the feel of it

I just cheked. Train between Hampton Court and Windsor- you need to go all the way back to Clapham and change trains. I checked Hamton Court to Windosr, and its quoting about an hour and a half journey. So seems like it includes waiting at Clapham. may as well do them both on separate days from Waterloo.

Suggest you get RS London book as it will give advice on transport, etc. You also want to group things that are in the same area so you are not going back and forth from one end of London to another. i seem to remember that the Abbey, Parliament and the Tower are all in the same area so you can do that in one day. Windsor is easy day trip by train for a half day. Buckingham Palace if you see the changing of the Guard is almost the whole morning by the time you get there and leave as I think the ceremony is about 11 or 11:30AM. St. Paul's you can in several hours. Also suggest you look into London Walks, we took several evening ones and they were great. Enjoy.

Westminster Abbey and Parliament are very close to each other. The Abbey would take perhaps two hours or so. As for Parliament, you can only look from the outside, so it will not take much of your time. You could probably also group St Paul's and The Tower of London, since they are not too far apart though there is a lot to see at the latter, and you might end up spending most of the day there.

Here are some thoughts. First use the Google Maps satellite view on you computer. Type in Big Ben London and click on the satellite view when the map appears. The satellite image will show you how close many of the sites are in London. Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey are all close to one another. The London Eye is just across the Thames. You could start your day by taking a tube to Westminster tube station, exit, cross the bridge and get on the Eye. Walk back over the bridge to snap pics of Big Ben and Parliament, cross the street and take a tour of Westminster Abbey. You could then walk a few blocks to St James Park.From there it's a nice stroll along the birdcage walk to Buckingham Palace. After taking photos have lunch at the nearby Adam and Eve pub before you head back out.Find the St. James Park tube station and take the either the District or Circle line to Tower Hill and visit the Tower of London. Take the tube back to where ever you are staying and explore that neighborhood and have dinner. On day two get up early and take the first train out to Hampton Court or Windsor Castle. If you get back in time try to attend the evensong at St. Paul's. It's free Day 3 see the British Library and British Museum. By mid afternoon you should be free to explore more of London on foot. BTW, f Parliament is in session you can sit in the gallery and attend debates. Day 4 add such fun places as the Bourough Market and Camden Lock. A bit of a ways from one another but via the tube maybe a 30 minute ride. Remember to visit Leicester Square Half Price ticket booth and enjoy some London theatre in the evening. Day 5 another train trip out of town to whichever castle you didn't explore on Day 2. Great city. Have fun.

Attempting to do Windsor Castle and Hampton Court in the same day would be short changing yourself. If you can only do one, I would suggest Hampton Court. Hampton Court was one of the highlights of our trip. Check out the key ceremony at the Tower of London - where the Tower is closed each night. Loads of fun. http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/whatson/ceremonyofthekeys.aspx And don't miss out on Buckingham Palace... In order, I would pick Hampton Court, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. The food court at Harrod's is another "don't miss" little side trip.

Erin, If you just want to see the outside of Parliament, then you could easily combine Westminster Abbey, Parliament and the London Eye (just over Westminster Bridge) in one day. We visited both St. Paul's and the Tower of London in one day without feeling rushed, though we didn't see quite as much as we'd planned the Tower since it was very windy and rainy that day. We also visited both the British Library and British Museum in one day, BUT we planned ahead of time to see only the "highlights" in the British Museum. (For us: the mummies/Rosetta Stoneone son was very into ancient Egypt; Sutton Hoo treasures; and the Elgin Marbles.) I'd advise looking into what's on exhibit or you could find yourself spending hours and not really seeing what would most interest you. This time we're going back for a longer look at a clock exhibit we took a wrong turn into last time. Though we didn't spend all day at Hampton Court, we did spent an entire afternoon (3-4 hours?), so I don't see how you could visit both that and Windsor Castle in one day and still have it be fun. Rick's book on England mentions cruising the Thames either to or from Hampton Court, so that might be a possible combo for you. He said the trip takes 3-4 hours one way (vs. about 35 minutes on the train from Waterloo). I haven't been on that part of the river, so I can't speak for how interesting it might be. That would leave you one day for Windsor Castle, or Buckingham Palace, or something else. Reading Rick's London book and some others (I'm enjoying the British version of the DK London guide.) will help you see what's available and how much time you might want to spend in each place. Happy planning!

Erin,
You've gotten a lot of good advise already. I spent 5 days in London myself if 2007 and had a marvelous time. I found that part of the experience is to spend time just milling about and enjoying the surroundings. As I tired (feet were killing me) I did change my itinerary as I tired but did see most of what I had intended. Some of my favorite memories were sitting in pubs and feeling like a local. The Adam and Eve pub has very good food and I would recommend trying to get to Gordon's Wine Bar at 47 Villers Street just to the side of Charing Cross if you enjoy wine, cheese and port. Enjoy your trip.

Hello, Erin. Nice to see a fellow Washingtonian on these boards! With five days and some advanced planning, you should be able to see very much if you group your sites by location. Do you have five full days or are you including the arrival and departure days? I recommend marking must-sees and maybes on a map and grouping sites by area and noting their opening times each day you are there. As someone else said, you can do the Tower in the morning (a few hours) and St. Paul's afterward (perhaps a nice lunch in between). The British Museum (3-4 hrs) and the British Library (1 hr +) can be seen on the same day with a nice walk around the area, too. Parliament is a good walk-by and photo opportunity (30 min) both during the day (on the way to Westminster Abbey) or at night (going to the Eye). Personally I would recommend only one day trip, either Windsor or Hampton Court, but if both are important to you, perhaps it can be done. In my four trips I still haven't made it to Hampton Ct, though I wanted to. Lastly, look for things you can do in off hours. The Eye is open late, so don't use up valuable site seeing time during the day. Some places (Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum) have evening hours on certain nights and make for fine extras during free time. Happy planning! EDIT: The time spent at Westminster Abbey really depends on your interest. 1-2 hours if you are just interested in the architecture, but I spent much longer looking at the memorials of all the famous historical figures because I love British imperial history.

Thank you for posting this. I finally got some time to plan our trip that begins in less than a week.

Erin, the British Museum is very large. You could easily spend two entire days there. If you want to confine yourself to the striking first floor and one or two exhibits, I'd give it a few hours. BTW, you can catch a decent meal at the museum. Snacks or a cafeteria line or a decent little restaurant. Might save time looking around the neighborhood.

Matt has given you good suggestions. Do Westminster Abbey first thing one day early in your trip. The lines there get very long and sometimes it closes on short notice. Avoid coffee that morning-as far as I know there are no public restrooms at the Abbey! .......After you walk by Parliament, don't miss the huge statue of Boadicea across the street......Cross the Thames and walk on the south bank, passing the London Eye, Globe Theatre, Tate Modern. At the Globe there's a foot bridge heading straight to St. Paul's. If you are a good walker, return to the South Bank and keep walking until you get to the Tower of London. You can return on the North Bank, passing the London Monument and the Museum of the City of London.

Hi, Erin. You've received lots of good suggestions so I'll just add what I can. When I am planning a trip, I plan on seeing 1-2 major sites in a day, so, if you have five full days in London, you can fit most everything on your list. Note that: if you are there on a Saturday you can take the 75 min. tour of Parliament, Buckingham Palace itself is not open in May and if you go to Windsor Castle you can see the changing of the Guard there, you can relax by taking a river cruise out to Hampton Court Palace, certain galleries at the British Museum are open late on Friday evenings, and the London Eye is open late every evening. I suggest also that you record the hours that the sights on your wish list are open, group them by days, and be prepared to cross something off of the list if you get too tired or if something better comes along. You will enjoy whatever you do in London, and, as Rick says, plan to return.

Erin, having just returned from a 2 week trip to the UK, 6 nights of which were spent in London, I agree with many of the other posters. I was able to visit Westminster, Parliament, and the Tower into one day without feeling rushed and even had time to visit the Eye after dinner. If you decide to do Westminster and the Tower in one day, I would recommend taking a cruise on the Thames. You hop on right at the base of Westminster Bridge and get off a 2 minute walk away from the ticket counter at the Tower. It takes about 30 minutes, and you can go roundtrip or just one way. One suggestion at Westminster is to take the 90 minute tour led by docents. It contains lots of really interesting information and makes the Abbey a little less overwhelming, considering how much there is to see inside. Hope this helps! Annaliese