Please sign in to post.

London & Bath September, 2023

London & Bath

September, 2023
Pre-departure
I have been to London twice before, but long ago and very brief. My husband had never been. This time I wanted not to move around too much, but to immerse ourselves in one of the great cities of the world. Since my husband tends to like smaller towns/villages, I added in Bath to give us a break from the big city. Plus, Bath is one of only two places in Europe where the whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage site (the other place is Venice, next on our list).
We watched several lectures on England on the Great Courses. We always want to know a bit of the history of a place before we go. We watched The Cathedrals and Medieval England and 1066 The Norman Conquest.

I will cover the following in this trip report; Sites and Activities, Accommodations, Food, Final Thoughts, Costs
Sites and Activities
Westminster Abbey-I had originally booked a morning time slot. However, several weeks before our departure, I received an email saying that we could not come at that time as the abbey had a private event going on. We could come at 1:30pm or any other day at a time of our convenience. We chose to go at 1:30 even though we knew it would be crowded. And boy, was it ever. When we got there, I asked several staff about the Verger tour, which I had planned to do. No one knew if the tour was being offered that day. Finally, the third staff person was the head of security and he helped. He said not to worry, there was a Verger tour the following morning at 11am that we could come back, at no additional charge for entry to the abbey. Thankfully, we did not have a scheduled/pre-purchased ticket to anything the following am, so we paid for the Verger tour and were good to go. We went through the abbey, including the Queens gallery. The following day we webt back to the abbey and took the Verger tour and were so glad we did. Tons of great information and you get to go where the rest of the touring public does not, like Edward The Confessors tomb. The abbey was still insanely crowded. It ended up being the attraction of our whole trip that won the prize for most crowded.
Churchill War Rooms-A fantastic museum, very well done. We love Winston, watched the movie the Darkest Hour. If you have any interest in the man or WW2, it's a must. The part I remember the most was when he said that when the United States was bombed by Japan, he slept so well that night because he knew that now Britain would win the war. I loved learning more about his private life etc. This museum was also crowded, but not insanely so.
Hampton Court Palace-This was one of the highlights of our trip. Huge palace, loved walking in the footsteps of the Tudor's. There is an excellent audio guide that comes with your entry. Loved the garden's as well and we even did the maze. Spent all day here and had lunch in the cafe. Did not feel crowded at all because of it's size. Wished we had time to explore the town of Richmond a bit, but too tired and you can't do it all in one trip.
SIX (The musical)-We had pre-purchased tickets to this musical and I think the place was sold out. At the Vaudeville theater in Covent Garden area. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we enjoyed it. The audience was very enthusiastic!
Kew Gardens-A UNESCO World Heritage site. If you love gardens, and we do, don't miss it. My favorite part was the Princess Diana conservatory. I have a special love of cacti and this is where they are housed. It did not feel crowded at all. We spent about 4-5 hours here including lunch in the cafe.
Bath Walking Tour-On our arrival day in Bath, we did the Mayor of Corps free 2 hour walking tour. Excellent, but we had a large group.
Thermae Baths-We were not impressed with this at all. Way over-priced for a dip in the rooftop pool, a steam and sauna. Many things were broken, like the elevator and dressing rooms.

Posted by
3566 posts

Roman Baths-Huge and fascinating. It took us 3 hours to go through. The audio guide is very good as well. Glad we went first thing in the am, as it got more crowded throughout our time there.
Royal Crescent #1-We paid the 15GDP price to go through this authentic recreation of a Georgian household. I thought it was just ok. I got tired of the women talking about making a good marriage match, even though I'm sure that is what women of that era spoke of a lot. It was over priced IMHO.
Herschel Museum of Astronomy-Wonderful little museum. My husband is a huge astronomy buff, so it was a must, but I enjoyed it too. Learned so much about the time period and the man, William Herschel who discovered Uranus and his wife Caroline. Not crowded at all.

Walk to BathHampton-Our last day in Bath, we took a lovely walk along the canal towpath to the next town over, BathHampton. The path is actually 84.7 miles long, you can walk all the way to Reading. Ha, but our 5 miles round trip was enough for us. We had lunch in BathHampton and then walked back. One of the houses along the way, had duck food for sale. There were some ducks and swans that I enjoyed feeding.
Borough Market-We got to the market right when it was opening, as we had read in our research how crowded it can get. We had breakfast at Bread Ahead and then wandered around looking at the different stalls. After a while we left and walked around the South Bank and over the Millennium Bridge or as the Brits like to call it, the Wibbly Wobbly. We had seen an Engineering Catastrophe show on this bridge, so it was a must for us to walk across it. Later, we went back to Borough Market for lunch. It was crazy, insanely crowded. Although I wanted one of their famous cheese toasties, the line was too long, so we settled for a sit down restaurant nearby and it was excellent. Being from Seattle, the market reminded me of Pike Place Market.

Sir John Soane Museum-Kind of a fail for me. Crowded and claustrophobic. Glad it was free.

British Museum-We chose to go to the museum on a Friday night, when it is open later, hoping to avoid the worst of the crowds. Success on that front, but our energy level lags in the evening hours after a full day, so we just did the highlights. The Rosetta Stone, The Parthenon marbles, the Moai statue, the Holy Roman Reliquary. I would definitely like to go back.
London Walks (Hampstead Heath) We ventured out into zone 3 on the tube and did a London Walks tour of Hampstead Heath. We enjoyed it, our guide was great. The group was very large. Learned a lot about this area of London and who lives there.
Highgate Cemetery- I had then booked us on a tour of Highgate Cemetery, but didn't realize quite how far that was from where we were. With not much time, we had to take an Uber to the cemetery and only missed about 10 minutes of the tour we had signed up for. The tour was a highlights tour and covered some of the notables buried in the West side of the cemetery. I love cemeteries. Who knew, this is where George Michael is buried! So this was a full and busy day and we didn't get lunch, so we were starving after our tour. We found the nearest pub for drink and refreshment.

Thames River Sightseeing Cruise with Greenwich- Many of the forum posts suggested the Uber boat. I heartily disagree. The Uber boats go way too fast and there is no upper deck. We paid more and did the sightseeing cruise. This was one of the highlights of our trip to see the iconic buildings from the river. Plus, the narration was great and entertaining. The only negative was the asking for tips. We got off the boat for an hour in Greenwich and hiked up to the observatory. We both really enjoyed our cruise and the stop in Greenwich.
St. Paul's Cathedral-We used the Rick Steves audio guide to go through the Cathedral.

Posted by
3566 posts

Tower of London-A UNESCO World Heritage site. We spent about 5 hours at the tower, including our lunch in the cafe. It was a highlight of our trip. See the crown jewels first. No line. Later, the line gets very, very long. We loved our Yeoman Warder tour. Yes, a big group, but he was funny and entertaining. Let's be heading this way!! Ha, ha, get it? We have watched all the Lucy Wolsley stuff on the tower. It was a thrill to be here. We did everything, including walking the walls.
Hyde Park-Our last day in London, was low key. We wanted to see some of the parks and this one was closest to our hotel. It was also close to Harrod's and the food courts there are too die for. I remembered them from my last trip to London and wanted my husband to see it too. However, he is more crowd adverse than I am, so we didn't stay too long as it was very, very crowded. We just wandered and enjoyed the lovely day.

Accomodations
London
Lime Tree Hotel-We stayed 11 nights here and splurged for one of the larger rooms, which we loved. High ceilings and huge windows. This is a smaller, boutique hotel located in the lovely neighborhood of Belgravia. 10 min walk to Buckingham Palace. There were two negatives for us.

Number one was the lack of a good public area to have our nightly happy hour. We thought we could go to the nice garden area in the back of the hotel, but found out when we got there, that only wine the hotel sold could be drunk there. We like to get our own bottle at a local shop, so this was a big negative for us. Plus, the bar at the hotel closed at 4pm. Too early! What kind of a bar closes that early?? We ended up with happy hour, alone in our hotel room. Very sad.
Number two breakfast was not included. I realize this is probably the norm for London, but we get tired of croissants for breakfast. There was an attached restaurant for dining, which we did dine at once or twice, but we like breakfast included. I learn something on every trip. For these reasons, we would not stay here again, but this is obviously a personal thing as not everyone needs or wants a happy hour or breakfast and some might not even mind it in their room! lol
Bath
Eight (Used to be Three Bath Abbey)-We stayed 3 nights here and were upgraded to a larger room. Wow, it was huge. We loved, loved this hotel. Great location around the corner from the abbey. It had a self serve bar area in the basement, that was just so atmospheric. A perfect place for our happy hour. This hotel used to be a house for the monks and just had a wonderful, historic atmosphere to it. We got the included breakfat too, which my husband said was the best Eggs Benedict he had ever had. Another personal thing, we sleep with our windows open because we need fresh air. This did open us up to having to listen to the late night partiers. Oh well. We highly recommend this hotel.
Food
London has come a long way in this regard. I don't understand how you could say, we didn't eat well in London. I won't go into detail about every restaurant or meal, but some of the highlights were;
Rules (oldest restaurant in London located in Covent Garden and my english friend's favorite place to eat when he returns)-this restaurant is a wow. Loved our meal, the service, the atmosphere and history. Go upstairs.
Dishoom in Covent Garden-excellent Indian restaurant
Fenchurch (walkie talkie building)-For a special night out, we had an anniversary dinner here with the tasting menu. It was excellent.
Scallop Shell in Bath-as noted on the forum, excellent fish & chips.
Thomas Cubitt pub (near our hotel)-excellent fish & chips
Surprise pub (in Chelsea)-great meal with live music. Loved the band.
Woods in Bath-Wonderful and romantic. Loved the horse theme.

Posted by
3566 posts

Old Chesire Cheese- We had lunch here. Food was decent, but you come here for the atmosphere and history.
We love food and with just a couple of nights exception, we had reservations every night for dinner.
Final Thoughts
We love London! We had a marvelous time in London & Bath. Anytime we have great weather, are not the victims of a crime or have an injury, we consider it a successful trip!
We had great weather and our rain jackets were only used one time. It was in the low 70's for most of our visit, this is perfect temps for us Alaskans. Loved using the tube and it seemed we never had to walk far to our destination if we didn't want to. Love seeing the old with the modern. We hope to return to the UK for more time in London and to get to some other areas. A meet up or two would have been nice, but we were so busy. Next time! The Brits were always polite and helpful.

Costs

It does live up to being one of the most expensive cities in the world, but hey, you only live once! Great that many of the museums are free, but with such nice weather, we didn't go to as many as we would have had the weather been different.
We flew Iceland air and got a sale. Tickets were $750 each in economy.

Hotels-Approximately $4,300 for 14 nights.
I had pre-purchased tickets for our attractions before we left, but my rule is only one pre-purchased attraction per day. We spent approximately just under $500 for Westminster Abbey + Verger tour, Churchill War rooms, Hampton Court Palace, Roman Baths, #1 Royal Crescent, Herschel Museum of Astronomy, Highgate Cemetery tour, Thames River Cruise, Tower Of London, St. Paul's. For some reason, our London Walks guide never collected our money.
Food-$2,300 approximately for two persons. We like to eat well with three meals a day, many lunches in cafes or pubs. One night we had burgers at Shake Shack. Includes one drink with dinner.
Tube-didn't keep good track of this, but approximately $70 per person. We used Uber twice.

Posted by
2684 posts

Fantastic report, Tammy! Nicely organized. I hope you know how proud I am of you for that dinner at Shake Shack:). The only way you could improve upon that is, of course, dinner at McD’s with us:)

Posted by
4611 posts

Finally, someone else that spends 5-6 hours at places like the Tower and Hampton Court. It always surprises me when advice suggests 2-3. And I agree about the food in London. By far, we enjoyed the restaurants and food in London over anywhere else we've been in Europe.

Posted by
2692 posts

This sounds like a wonderful trip! I had considered visiting Sir John Soane's museum when I was there in September but ultimately decided I needed more unstructured time to just wander as London is ideal for that, and your comment kind of confirms what I'd read about it in other reviews. I am also tired of people still hanging on to the notion that English food is awful--haven't had a bad meal yet in 5 visits, whether at a nice restaurant, pub, or even if it's just a room picnic or egg McMuffin for breakfast because sometimes that suits perfectly.

Posted by
9256 posts

Great report. Seems like you enjoyed yourself!

The misnomer regarding British food has long been dismissed.

Been visiting since the 70’s when I was in college.

Fell for bangers and mash. Didn’t understand the concept of beans with breakfast. Now I eat them.

Blood pudding, jellied eels and marmite remain “absolutely not eating” items.

Happily enjoy Dishoom, Nandos, Pret sandwiches and Pub Grub each visit.

Thank you Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and many other for helping changing the food scene!

Posted by
14790 posts

What a terrific time you had! I love the way you organized TR and your reasons for liking/not liking various things!

Thanks so much for taking the time to post!

Posted by
134 posts

Tammy, thanks for your trip report!! I bookmarked it for future reference. 😊 Hampton Court Palace is on my list for next summer.

Posted by
5443 posts

Thanks for this report, Tammy! It's bookmarked in case I close it on my screen while I'm perusing it for ideas for my 2024 visit. I already appreciate your tip about going early to Borough market.

Posted by
629 posts

Definitely book marking this trip report as we hope to get to London one of these years. It’s one of those that we hope going without a guide will be just fine since at least we speak the language! Thanks Tammy for the detailed information, really really helpful.

Posted by
1029 posts

Thank you Tammy for an insightful trip report. I will be in Bath and London the second week of December and will leverage some of your advice and insights.

Posted by
8120 posts

Tammy, this is an awesome trip report! You reviewed the good and the bad, and that is so great! I loved reading about all the places you went to and why you went there. And I especially appreciate reading about the cost of the trip. I find that very helpful.

I've got it bookmarked and will be referring to it over the next few months! Thanks for sharing this!

Posted by
2618 posts

Great TR, Tammy! So glad you loved London. When I was at Durham cathedral recently there was a giant globe that sounds like the one you described at Bath Abbey. I never did find out what it was about, which seems to defeat the purpose.

Did you have to book at Olde Cheshire Cheese?

Posted by
6547 posts

Tammy! I’m bummed that we missed each other yet again, but so glad you had such a wonderful time.

And glad to see there are other folks who need open windows!

Thanks for a great trip report.

Posted by
4867 posts

Thank you for such a great report! I like your quick summary for the places you went and your explanations about why you did or didn’t like them. That is helpful.

Posted by
33927 posts

Thanks for a great trip report Tammy, and thanks for the detail.

We have been on the fence about taking a trip to Bath - further for us than from London - to splash at the thermal baths. I think you have made our minds up. Thanks - I'll put the credit card back in the pocket.

We share a lot of your likes and dislikes.

Posted by
3505 posts

Wonderful report, Tammy!
I love how your photos are all beautifully framed!

Posted by
3566 posts

Thanks for the nice comments everyone.😊
@Mary-we did not have a reservation for Cheshire Cheese, but I think we got lucky on our timing because after we got seated, we saw others turned away.

Posted by
174 posts

I will be in Bath in April for 2 nights. I took a look at the 8 hotel as you mentioned how much you liked your stay there. It mentions their restaurant is closed now, was this the case when you were there? I ask as I don't know if this means no breakfast available. Also was your room at the location near Sally Lunn or around the corner?
Thank you again for your report and your pictures.

Posted by
3566 posts

Carol, they used to have a restaurant separate from the hotel. They still do breakfast at the hotel. Our room was over the street. It was a bit noisy with late night partiers with windows open.

Posted by
5463 posts

I used to push the Herschel Museum regularly on Bath posts and it never seem to get any response. So I'm glad to see you liked it!

Posted by
174 posts

Tammy thank you for the info re breakfast. I am looking at a room at their sister townhouse around the corner on Abbey Green across from the large banyan tree. This location was called Three Abbey Green in the past I believe at that time it was a different owner.

Posted by
4611 posts

I should add that once again your photo book sets the bar for creativity. If you and Tim ever go on an RS tour and you submit a scrapbook, then the rest of us need not bother.

Posted by
3566 posts

Thank you Allan!
Carol, I believe that the other place is closed for some reason, which is why we got the upgrade to huge room.

Posted by
3887 posts

Tammy, excellent trip report (and photobook) !!
Thanks for posting this; I've enjoyed reading it very much.
I like your writing style, of getting right to the point, listing and reviewing sights, restaurants and hotels.
I can't wait to stay at your hotel in Bath!
So glad you had a great time.
Sorry that the Bath Spa experience was not everything you had hoped for.
Thanks for including the costs of your trip. Very helpful for anyone planning a future trip.
You really planned this trip well, in my opinion; just the right number of destinations and sights, and a realistic expectation of what you could do in the time you had.