Our must sees are: Tower of London, Hampton Court, British Museum, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Westminster's Abby,and to see a play some evening.
I have no idea yet how far apart these sight are or how long we should stay to see them. With your experience, how many days in London should we plan to stay to see these sights?
Thank you!
Google or use Bing and go to a map of London. The Bing map I know has all the major sites marked.
Hampton Court ~ haven't been yet, but personally, I'm planning to set aside a day for that to tour the palace and gardens. It might take less time, but I'm not sure.
British Museum ~ depends on how much of it you want to see. I used the museum to combat jetlag. I was there for about 4 hours and saw nearly everything. I skipped over the Native American exhibits. It's not far from the British Library which is worth seeing. It's also not far from Covent Garden market.
Buckingham Palace ~ Unless you're going in August and take the tour (book ahead by phone because the line was horrid when I went about 10 years ago) or watching the Changing of the Guard, looking at it and taking a picture takes all of 5 minutes.
Kensington Palace ~ haven't been here yet either, but it's close to Buckingham Palace (K is on the west end of Hyde Park, B is on the east end). I don't know if there is any kind of tour or not. You'll want to visit them on the same day.
Westminster Abbey ~ I'd say give it a good 2 hours, depending on if you do a guided tour. If you're only going to take pictures of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, visit the gardens, stroll through Hyde Park, etc., then you could probably walk the 20 minutes to Westminster Abbey that same day. Other sights near Westminster Abbey are the Houses of Parliament with the clock tower that houses Big Ben. The War Rooms (Churchill Museum). The London Eye is just across the river. The Abbey is a 15 minute walk to Trafalgar Square.
Tower of London ~ at the east end of the city. You'll probably want at least 2 hours for this, maybe more. The crown jewels are kept here and even if the line looks long, it moves along pretty quick. Tower Bridge is nearby and you can go to the top of one of the towers. St. Paul's Cathedral and Tate Museum are not far from the Tower.
Three days would give you enough time to see everything on your list at a relaxed pace with time for a little wandering. Two days would be doable, but you'd be rushing around. A key variable is how long you would spend in the British Museum. I spent an entire day there (actually two half days) my first visit to London and 2 or 3 hours the second time (almost 20 years later).
I'd aim for 3 or 4 days. With 4 you could add a 1/2 to 3/4 day trip to Windsor (easy by train). We often do that on the day we have theatre planned for the evening. It would also allow you to pace yourselves and have some "discovery" time. There are lots of wonderful places- Kew Gardens, Greenwich, etc.- that you haven't included.
I agree with Carroll...three days would be good. We did RS Westminster Walk, stopping to tour Westminster Abbey and watch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (did not tour inside) one morning, had lunch and a short nap, then the British Museum that afternoon/evening (it was open late)...think it was a Thursday or Friday. We also did Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace in one day. We tried to squeeze in the Tower of London that day, but only ended up with one hour til it closed...definitely shortchanged that site. We loved Hampton Court Palace, although we could not find our way out of the maze for a long time (why we were late getting to the Tower). We actually have a 'Blair Witch' like video of us running through the maze like idiots...very funny.
Anyway, this trip (in 9 days) we are giving the Tower of London its due and planning a half day for it.
Never been to Kensington Palace, so can't comment on that.
I agree that three full days will cover the main sights. Start one day with Westminster Abbey, another day with the Tower of London---that way you will not waste too much time on queues. Sometimes Westminster is closed--check before you go and don't drink a lot of coffee for breakfast that day. ;)
I don't know where your hotel is or your budget, but we find the best use of our time is to take a cab to our first destination, then walk back, seeing all the other sights as we pass them.
We haven't been to Hampton Court yet, but I believe you get there by boat. In the opposite direction, Greenwich is also a nice boat trip.
If you want to see Kensington Palace, it combines nicely with Hyde Park and the Victoria and Albert.
The British Museum I believe, is one mile from Westminster Abbey. You will pass the National Gallery and St. Martin's in the Field--the crypt has an excellent souvenir shop and a good little cafe. That area is not far from the West End Theatres. We enjoyed the nearby Sherlock Holmes pub for a light pre-theatre supper.
Thanks for all the help. Right now we are trying to figure out if we will do the UK next summer, or do Italy, Bavaria, and some of Austria and then adding maybe 6-7 nights in England (probably 30 days total). If we do, then I was trying to decide how many days for London to see my daughters requested sights. I was thinking 4-5 nights which would leave 3-4 full days, so it sounds like it may ok. I was also hoping to add Bath or York or the Cottswalds so we don't just do London alone. Not sure if a quick England trip is worth the time or if we should wait until we do the whole UK.
Life is rough when you can't decide where in Europe you want to go :)
Kensington Palace took a couple of hours at most. We went there after having afternoon tea at the Orangery. They are right next to each other and it was a nice way to take an afternoon break. We were at the Tower of London about 3 hours. It sounds like most of the things on your wish list are daytime activities, so should not interfere with an evening play. Will you purchase the theater tickets in advance or were you planning to go to the TKTS booth for half-price tickets?
try not to miss St. Paul's Cathedral as well
5 nights in London would be a great way to get a taste of the UK. With that time you could include Windsor (1/2 or full day- we like to do it on days when we'll be going to the theatre at night) and one other day trip- York is one of my favorites and Bath is nice. The Cotswolds are hard to do without a car, and we prefer to use trains and buses in the UK. Cardiff Wales, Brighton, Stratford-upon-Avon, Canterbury, Dover all make nice day trips, too. We also enjoy Kew Gardens and Greenwich.
