making the best out of 5 days in london

Get a copy of Let's Go: London to plan out your itinerary in London. Five full days there will at least give a chance to see your top priorities, the rest save for future trips to London.

Bath is a 1 1/2 hour train ride from London. You can do Bath in a day but you really must know what you want to see and do before you get there. If you go to Oxford you should plan to spend 2-3 hours at Blenheim Palace. It's a 15 minute bus ride from Oxford. I would suggest Hampton Court because it is close to London. You could do Hampton Court and then go back to London and go to St. Pauls and the Tower. If you haven't been to the Victoria and Albert Museum or the Britsh Museum I would recommend them also. Westminster Abbey is another place you can see in 2-3 hours. There is really so much to see in London you can literally throw a dart at the map and not go wrong. I can't over emphasize how important it is to plan if you don't have a lot of time. Study a good map of London and then see things that are close together. Leeds Castle is great, but you will use up a day to see it.

I would suggest you pick one place on your list to make a day trip and spend the rest of the time in London. There is so much to do there. From your list, I would select Bath, which offers old Roman baths and beautiful Georgian architecture. Oxford and Canterbury are also worthwhile, but not as appealing as Bath, IMHO. I have not been to Cambridge or Leeds Castle, and Stratford upon Avon doesn't thrill me.

Daughter and I spent 2 days in Stratford upon Avon and enjoyed it - BUT we are huge fans of Shakespeare and the theatre, so we saw 2 plays at the Royal Shakespeare Co, did a walking tour of the town and a backstage tour, visited Mary Arden's farm and Anne Hathaway's cottage, plus spent an afternoon with a friend in the area. Then we spent 7 days in London and still didn't see everything we wanted to... I would agree with other posters that Stratford upon Avon is probably not worth the time on this trip [particularly if you think about the travel time there and back] unless you are serious theater/Shakespeare fans. We have had very good experiences with the London Walks www.wwalks.com, and if you want a day trip you might look at their Explorer Days; click on the link "Cotwolds Stonehenge Oxford Cambridge etc." for descriptions of the trips and the 2010 dates for each. And have a wonderful time!

OP here...i should have mentioned that we are english teachers--thus the desire to see stratford (read--we are BIG nerds!) though to be honest, it is on the bottom of the list. thanks for all of your feedback!

Hi Tracy: we just did 3 days in London and tried to fit a lot in--as everyone has said, you could spend weeks and not see everything, but here are a few tips that helped us!

-Windsor is an EASY 1/2 day trip, get there when the castle opens in the morning, and you're back in London for a late lunch. (We did St. Paul's that afternoon)
- Some museums are open late -- we did British Museum "after hours" and it was a fantastic way to fit it in
- To get a good "feel" for London, I suggest combining attractions with neighborhoods..just set off and explore!
-A favorite free and easy activity was visiting Portobello Market and wandering from there to Bayswater. Lots of nice cute neighborhoods.
-One caution- Westminster has short hours some days, and only admits people 1 hour before closing, we arrived twice to find ourselves too late...so plan accordingly

Enjoy!

Tracy, I don't think you'll be as tired as you expect on the first "early" arrival day. We usually arrive around 8-9 am. We are at the hotel by 9-10 and we drop off our bags and hit the ground running. That is a good day to do either the hop on/off bus or an orinentation walk. I'd suggest you consider Windsor (good half day to whole day trip) and Stratford-upon-Avon (full day) and perhaps Canterbury (half or whole day). All have great sites and both Canterbury and Stratford have great "literary" connections (as does Bath, if you'd like to add to your list). I'd do my big day trip on day 3. Maybe something like this: arrival day- Hop on/off bus, walk Leciester Square/Covent Garden/Picadilly area. Day 2 Windsor returning around 2-3pm Camden Loch market, theatre in the evening. Day 3 Day trip (Stratford or Canterburry) returning just before supper or stay late and return around 10pm. Day 4 Westminster, Buckingham, Parliment, London Eye, possible concert or theatre that evening. Day 5 Tower of London, possibly Kew Gardens Final day- British Museum, personal perferences as to rest of day (alternative- Kew Gardens in morning, British Museum in afternoon).

Just wanted to add my two cents to some of what the other posters have said. I agree-try to group your London sightseeing into neighborhoods and include just walking around and stopping for tea in the itinerary. Also, the suggestion about going to Hampton Palace was a great one. And you can get their via a boat ride on the Thames!

I would limit myself to one day trip outside London. Would Shakespeare's Globe Theatre be an adequate substitution for Stratford-Upon-Avon? Book your tickets now: http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/ . I am not an English teacher or a Shakespeare buff, but The Merry Wives of Windsor was a magical experience at the Globe. A tour of the Globe should also be on your list. I think that Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace are two day trips that offer the biggest payback for the least amount of travel time. I second the recommendation of London Walks - www.walks.com .