Headed to London

[B52gator]

My brother and I are going out there for the Vikes game. We'll be out there for a few days so we'll be looking for stuff to do. We don't like the normal touristy crap, unless there are some must sees. Anybody have any ideas for cool stuff to do/check out?

[stract]

The Victoria and Albert Museum is amazing. Oh, and a quick visit to Greenwich and the Prime Meridian is geekily cool.

Hop a train up to Edinburgh, if you have the time.

Avoid Stonehenge, it's quite underwhelming (and smaller than you would think).

Edited August 23, 2013 by stract

[M2]

If you're only going to be there for a few days, I'd recommend staying in London. There is a lot to keep you busy during such a short time. Your hotel should give you some suggestions, preferably in walking distance or a short cab ride as you will be partaking in the local brews!

Have fun, London is one of my favorite cities in the world. If you can't have fun there, it's not the city's fault!

Cheers! M2

[DEVIL]

Do the WWII tour, check out the Churchill Museum and the War Rooms, and if you can get out to RAF Duxford, check that out. Go to "The Lord Nelson" pub.

[HookEmAll]

My wife and I did a pub crawl that starts by the university of London kinda south of it a bit. I can't recall the exact place, but from yahoo it's the first website under London pub crawl and advertised on most of the tourist maps they give away in hotels. It's still my wife's favorite vacation things we've done. For more wholesome adventures try Tower of London (only for history nerds... Wife wanted to gouge her eyes out) or the huge food market (on Saturdays) just south of there, across the bridge. It's pretty famous. Unlike Rome and many other European cities, I felt London closed early. Good luck getting into museums after 5 or dinner after 10.

[*]

Check out the Duxford imperial war museum and if near Cambridge stop by the eagle pub for a drink. Plenty of amazing history there.

[brickhistory]

RAF Museum - not the Duxford site, which is further away - is geographically small but packed with good stuff - particularly actual WWII stuff - captured Luftwaffe aircraft, etc. Imperial War Museum is overwhelming. The Tower of London. A double-decker bus tour - takes 1/2 day, goes by a lot of stuff, lets you pick what to follow-up on. Damned expensive place, however.

[rv10]

There may not be enough time to coordinate the passes, but you can tour the Tower of London at night after hours. There is a limited number of passes available. The tour is different than the one in the day time (no Crown jewels, etc). You are locked in the facility, and they unlock and lock doors as they go through the tour. Being fairly dark in most of the passage ways and the depending on the story telling capability of your tour guide, it is definitely an unique experience. The family was well entertained. The tour was less than twenty people with a dedicated guide. Our guide was a phenomenal story teller. My middle school age daughter (at the time) became so intrigue from his stories, she started reading more about the Tower's history when we returned home.

I don't recall the specifics (it was a few years ago), but we had to write a letter to request the pass and they were mail back to us in the USA. During the prime tourist period, they may be hard to get on short notice.

I agree with the comments about Stonehedge, completely underwhelming. We found the British Museum and the one at Greenwich interesting.

[HossHarris]

1. Find a Pub that's older than the US and have a pint ... rinse, repeat.

2. Eagle pub in Cambridge

3. Swing by the RAF club (near buckingham) .... Hotel/Oclub. Lots of nice stuff on the walls, decent bar in the basement, good breakfast, and lots of OLD RAF dudes shuffling about with good stories.

4. Walk all over central london.

[Homestar]

I'll second the Churchill war rooms & bunker ... also, some Tower beefeaters often moonlight as Jack The Ripper tour guides if you're interested in Jack the Ripper history.

[Alpharatz]

Don't miss Westminster Abbey....Poets corner.....RAF Chapel.......In a lot of ways the cornerstone of Western Civilization in one spot.. Then head up to Nelson's column....have fish and Chips w/ a pint on the way.

London is expensive. Cost me 100 U.S. for a cab to Gatwick The driver was Afghani, but extremely helpful and friendly.

LOOK RIGHT when you cross the street.

I'm partial to Ben Truman bitters....yum

[pitts2112]

Hit The Salisbury pub near Leicester Square. It looks exactly like you would expect Victorian London to look. And don't tip the bartender in a pub. Ever.

https://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_details.php?pub_id=206

As regards money, don't do the conversions in your head. You will drive yourself into a depression of irrelevancy. A pint costs what it costs, don't try to figure out what it is in dollars, just accept that London is ######ing expensive but is still the best city on the globe.

Speaking of the globe, take in a play at The Globe Theater - an accurate reproduction of the theater of Shakespearean fame.

Free Sunday morning tours at the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square are well worth taking in. A guide picks a theme then uses a half dozen pieces to demonstrate that theme. Very educational.

Do Buckingham Palace. It's worth every penny.

[Smokin]

There may not be enough time to coordinate the passes, but you can tour the Tower of London at night after hours. There is a limited number of passes available. The tour is different than the one in the day time (no Crown jewels, etc). You are locked in the facility...

Its called the ceremony of the keys. I really liked it, although I am a huge history nerd. However, you need months lead turn, not days. https://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/theceremonyofthekeys

[TAMInated]

My brother and I are going out there for the Vikes game.

Bragging.

[Bergman]

Bragging.

Bragging about poor judgement? Weird.

GO PACK GO

On a serious note, I second the Imperial War Museum. I'm not normally a museum nerd, but it was very well done and informative.

Beyond that, find a good sidewalk cafe in Leicester Square, grab a pint, and people watch.

Edited August 24, 2013 by Bergman
Add actual content

[Lawman]

Get every ticket you can online before you get there.

London is the busiest tourist city in Europe, and when I went on Earth because of the upcoming Olympics.... They have lines to stand in, to get to buy tickets, and then you get in the main line for the attraction.

Madam toussards wax museum for example was a 5 hour wait if you didn't have a ticket, 2 hours if you did.

Also the city metro pass will get you everywhere fast. Best subway system I've ever seen in Europe or the states.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Lawman

[M2]

Also take a ride on The Tube (STS), just so you can say you did...

[pitts2112]

Also take a ride on The Tube (STS), just so you can say you did...

Use the Tube as your primary mode of transport and you'll get the full London experience. But, take a taxi at least once because that's an experience as well. Ask the driver about "The Knowledge" and how long it took him to learn it. That conversation will blow your mind!

[Danny Noonin]

England is the busiest tourist city in Europe

Interesting. I always thought Germany was a busier town.

[M2]

Interesting. I always thought Germany was a busier town.

No, that would be Belgium!

[morenoj135]

I've been to just about every one of the places mentioned and all are great depending on your likes and dislikes. Also worth doing is the RAF Battle of Britain museum in Hendon (outskirts of London), Wimbledon is also cool but better if the tournament is going on. I second, use of the Tube as a primary source of transport, the price is right if you get an all day pass. If in Cambridge the Red Cow is a great place to grab a pint and pub meal. Edinburgh is outstanding if you have the time to make it all the way up there and on the way you can stop at RAF Duxford Museum.

[Lawman]

Interesting. I always thought Germany was a busier town.

god dammit auto correct....

[Lord Ratner]

My advice based on a few trips down there.

Get an Oyster card (5gbp) and use the tube to the max extent. I wont go over the prices, but you'll save more time and money than you could possibly imagine. The card makes it easier if you plan on using the tube multiple times a day, which you should plan on. You can save the 5 quid and get a zone pass each day, but I like the card better. Avoid cabs. A single cab ride will cost you more than an all day pass on the tube.

As stated by someone else, the Tower of London is for history nerds, as are many other attractions out there. The fact you'll be paying about 20 - 30 quid per location means you really have to like that kind of shit. Westminster Abbey, Buckingham, ToL, Kensington Palace, there are lots of wildly historic places there to see. We like that stuff, so we go, but others have been bored out of their mind.

Double Decker Bus - The tours are hop-on hop-off, so a ticket lasts all day, but honestly it's a pretty terrible way to get around london. The tube is better. Instead, get tickets online for a night time double decker tour. They are generally about 1/2 the price, and instead of using it as a way to get around, just get on, ride the whole circuit (60-90 minutes) and you can check off seeing many of the more conventional tourist areas in one go.

London Dungeon, Madam Toussaints, etc - Depends on your tastes. I thought the Dungeon was awesome. Kind of a mix of a haunted house, carnival rides, cheesy acting, and some very basic history. If you want to do it in conjuntion with the Eye ferris wheel, you can get a combo discount online. The lines are long in the mid afternoon, but die down around 630pm. Just watch out for closing times.

Hotels are expensive. Find a hotel on the outskirts of london near a tube station, and use the saved money towards the food, which is expensive.

Learn to love the salt shaker. London is better about good food, but many of the pubs will over promise and under deliver as far as food quality goes.

I cant think of much else. If you have any specific questions, PM me or ask here.

[Steve Davies]

London is better about good food, but many of the pubs will over promise and under deliver as far as food quality goes.

Any time you eat in a pub, you're going to get 'pub grub', regardless of what they tell you.

If you want good food, eat in a good restaurant.

[Lord Ratner]

Any time you eat in a pub, you're going to get 'pub grub', regardless of what they tell you.

If you want good food, eat in a good restaurant.

Agreed, with one exception:

Everything out here looks like a pub (especially from the outside), and compared to American restaurants, is a pub. There is a slow, but steady movement (at least where we are) of pubs bringing in real chefs and serving some pretty great food. Still rare, but one just popped up in Ely. The problem is that it still looks exactly like all the shitty-food pubs and there is no reliable review system like Yelp in the US.

Compared to the US though, it's still dire.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Lord Ratner