London Siteseeing In One Afternoon!

[crisgal]

Does anyone know of a site that shows a good route for seeing a few sites? We only have about 5 hours but dont want to double back on ourselves. Is there a guide that can tell you best order to see main attractions in the centre?

[chrissa1]

Get on the Big London Bus. (Not sure that is the right name). It takes you to all the sites of interest and you can get on and off when you choose.

We did it back in the 90's and it was great. There is a person who tells you about all the famous sites.

[chrissa1]

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

[Baldric]

Just beat me to it chrissa ;-)

http://eng.bigbustours.com/london/home.html

[boxtops]

I agree with Chrissa, we always hop on the tour bus - that way, you're not going to miss anything on the route, and you can get off if you want to.

[chrissa1]

Great minds and all that, Baldric.

[tamaris]

Are there no concessions for us wrinklies ?

[crisgal]

That's a brilliant idea. Unfortunately I can't download the map on my smart phone. Do any of you know the nearest stop to euston?

[chrissa1]

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/tour-information/directions-to-main-start-points.htm

There you go, crisgal.

[pusskin]

Tour bus must be the best way to go around London. Not too much walking.
yesterday, we met Aussie relatives at Tower Hill and walked all along the perimeter (smashing) and crossed the bridge , strolled along the Thames and ended up having a yummy meal in a lovely pub over looking the Thames.
Ended up in St pauls cathedral, was lovely. All in 5 hours. Lovely, but overcast day.

[smurfchops]

Tour buses are expensive unless you save tesco rewards. You can use them for the bus, a free river cruise, I think other trips included and its all free with your rewards. Otherwise get a travel card and get the 6, 15 and possibly other buses,sit on top deck, they go right through centre of London. You can go from Marble Arch right through to Tower of London and further for around £9.00 with travel card. You can use on underground as well. Look on bus route of central London.

[boxtops]

Personally, I'd rather pay the extra and go on the tour bus, otherwise you have to find your own way round and it can be confusing.

[boxtops]

I'd use this one, you can get off if you want to explore on foot, then get back on the next one to go to the next attraction. http://www.hoponhopoffplus.com/?gclid=CPSd78Xc_r0CFTMetAodrE8AOQ

[smurfchops]

Boxy you are probably right,its easy to say 'get on a bus' when you know the route, but I still say use Tesco vouchers if if you have them !

[scooping]

My son and I got on one of these sightseeing buses a few years ago and it cost us £40.
We cruised for a few minutes and the traffic was so bad that we sat on the upper deck for about 30 minutes, not moving at all, and got very fed up. Frankly, it was quicker to walk and would have been an awful lot cheaper. We disembarked at Marble Arch and had fun exploring.

[smurfchops]

Crisgal where are you starting out?

[mushroom25]

whether taking the tour, or not, it's helpful to put together a brief list of things you'd like to see or do, since you've no chance of getting close to doing even half.

use the tour brochure to identify what you want, then use the attractions as stops on a wider tour of the whole city, or plan your own itinerary using the maps on the TFL website http://www.tfl.gov.uk/maps/?cid=fs069 .

remember a lot of the west end attractions are quite close together so it it's a nice day you can probably walk quite a lot of it.

[Buenchico]

An alternative to the tour bus:

From Euston, walk to Euston Square Underground station. (It's signposted). Take a Circle Line train (eastbound) to Tower Hill. (It's only about 15 minutes on the Tube). Walk to Tower Millennium Pier, taking in the first site (The Tower of London) as you do so, and the second one (Tower Bridge) upon your arrival there. Take an RB1 river bus to the London Eye. (Fare £6.80 or £4.50 if you've got a Travelcard). Services roughly every 20 minutes. Journey time 26 minutes, timetable here:
http://thamesclippers.s3.amazonaws.com/doc/TC-Online-TT-A4-April-2014.pdf )
Main sites along the way:
3. HMS Belfast
4. London Monument
5. The dome of St Paul's Cathedral
6. The Millennium Bridge
7. Tate Modern
8. The Oxo Tower
9. Cleopatra's Needle
10. The Southbank Centre
11 The London Eye
(That's a basic list; there's actually a great deal more to see on that short journey)

Then walk, with the river on you right, the short distance to Westminster Bridge (12. County Hall)

Cross Westminster Bridge to:
13. The Houses of Parliament
and
14. Westminster Abbey

Walk up Whitehall, passing:
15. The Cenotaph
16. Downing Street
and
17 Horse Guards' Parade

That takes you to
18. Trafalgar Square
19. Nelson's Column
and
20 The National Gallery

From there it's a few minutes walk to
21. Covent Garden Piazza
where (as well as all the free street entertainment) you can find loads of places for a well-earned drink and/or meal.

Hopefully there will still be time to walk to
22. Somerset House

Then walk to either Embankment or Charing Cross Underground station to take the Northern Line back to Euston. (If you need to end up somewhere else after your 5 hours, just let me know and I'll adjust the route accordingly).

[scooping]

Buenchico. That was really good.

[smurfchops]

Buenchico, are you a London Guide? Top marks there

[smurfchops]

Buenchico what about my bus idea ?