We'll be arriving @ Heathrow around 11:30 am and making our way through Passport control and then to our flat near Elephant & Castle. We've booked a 24 hour pass for the hop on/hop off bus through big bus tours. I'm a bit worried about the timing and getting our moneys worth for our tickets. Here's our plan: Thursday: Travel through customs/from Heathrow to arrive at our flat around 2:30 (14:30) . Get ourselves settled a bit and make it for the boat version of our tickets no later than 4 (16:00). Make it back to our flat after that for a take away dinner or (I hope to convince my travel mates) for dinner at a Polish restaurant I found near our flat. Friday:
Visit the Tower of London (hopefully getting there at opening) then catching the hop on/hop off bus portion of our tour. Here are my questions: Is this plan doable? How much time should we devote to The Tower to ensure we still have enough time to devote to the bus portion of our tour? If I had my way, I'd hop off at every stop available to us to walk around a bit an get some great pics, but I know that's not feasible. What are some stops we definitely shouldn't miss? What time should we aim for starting our bus tour after visiting The Tower to ensure we see everything? What are the best places for us to "hop off" and walk around a bit? I want to see as much as possible in the short amount of time allotted to us!
Posted by
Tampa, FL, USA
70 posts
I think you can spend 2-1/2 to 4 hours at the Tower pretty easy depending on the crowds. I was just at Elephant and Castle give yourself extra time to get around from there. We saw Titanic at the Southwark Theatre near there for 10GDP and it was excellent.
Posted by
Tampa, FL, USA
70 posts
I think you can spend 2-1/2 to 4 hours at the Tower pretty easy depending on the crowds. I was just at Elephant and Castle give yourself extra time to get around from there. We saw Titanic at the Southwark Theatre near there for 10GDP and it was excellent.
Posted by
Dunwoody, Georgia
338 posts
Your plan is doable and you have several options. However, you will not have time to hop off at many stops. Plan on one or two and use the tour mainly to get a feel for the city and its sites. The bus tours run early and late compared to many tourist sites. If you rode one of the main routes (i.e. one with a live guide) your first afternoon without getting off, it would take you about 2.5 hours and would give you a good overview. You could then see the Tower the next morning then take the boat up river to the docks near Wesminster Abbey, Big Ben and the London Eye and see something there. You could take the river tour the first afternoon, as you have planned, and then use use the Hop on bus to get to the Tower the next morning. You'll have to check schedules relative to stops near your apartment, but the bus tour will start before the Tower opens. Plan on 3-4 hours at the Tower depending on how much you want to see and if you plan to eat lunch there. I encourage you to see the Tower early. The line for the crown jewels gets much longer after about 10:00. You could then use the hop-on to get to another site. If you have not been to London before, pick one of the other marquee sites to see in the afternoon. My recommendation is either Westminster Abbey or the British Museum, but pick based on your interests. If you're planning to turbo tourist, you could see some of the sites early or late(e.g. Trafalger Square early and Covent Garden area for dinner). Some attractions are also open late (e.g. London Eye) and others have late hours one day each week (e.g. the Victoria and Albert Museum on Fridays). If you like music, Westminster Abbey has a late afternoon evensong service. St. Martins frequently has evening concernts and there are plenty of musicals and shows to pick. Good luck!
Posted by
sarasota, fl, usa
48 posts
Good idea about Hop On Off-we did that the 2nd day in London. I figured it would give you a good idea of the city, and if not much time-you can take pictures of big sites in town. The Tower was my one BIG place I really wanted to see-I could have stayed all day, but ran thru it in 3 hours(and still missed lots). There is a great Fish and Chip place right outside the Tower, ice cream to. Remember, the Bus tours end by about 6 or 7 so you have to make sure you are by your hotel when ending.