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Best Way To Spend A Day In London

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Neenee | 20:37 Fri 08th Feb 2013 | Travel
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Off to London to become a complete tourist for the day. Are the open top tour bus companies the best way to get around and see the sight. I realise the tube would be quicker. But would like to be above ground to take everything in and Jump off and on at all the main tourist sites. Any bus company better than others? What's the best value... And any other ideas or tips. To help utilise a full day of sight seeing
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>>>Are the open top tour bus companies the best way to get around and see the sight No! They're bloody expensive and you get to see everything using normal public transport anyway. Detailed bus route map here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/maps/buses/pdf/central-london-bus-map.pdf but the one on page 6 of this booklet is easier to understand:...
20:55 Fri 08th Feb 2013
The City Sightseeing open-top bus gives you a ticket valid for 24 hours (sometimes 48 hours depending on the promos) and you can hop on and hop off at all the stops.
try tfl website gives details on tickets etc would be best to have a one day travel card
If it was me, I`d get a one day travelcard for all zones. If you go by train and you look on daysoutguide.co.uk, there are 2for1 deals. The train needn`t be long distance, any local overland train ticket (such as one on South West Trains etc) qualifies.
>>>Are the open top tour bus companies the best way to get around and see the sight

No! They're bloody expensive and you get to see everything using normal public transport anyway.

Detailed bus route map here:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/maps/buses/pdf/central-london-bus-map.pdf
but the one on page 6 of this booklet is easier to understand:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/visitor-guide.pdf
(It's worth reading the rest of that document too).

However the best way to see many of the sights is from the river. If you've got a Travelcard, you can get a third off the fares on most river services. Details here:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1131.aspx

For good food at really silly (cheap!) prices, look no further than Bistro 1:
http://bistro1.co.uk/
(I use the Southampton Street branch, which is right by Covent Garden).

The South Kensington museums are all free (except for special exhibitions) and there's bound to be something to interest you:

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

Question Author
We arrive into paddington by train. Are we quite central ? Where do we go to start off if we did decide to get a bus tour??
Question Author
Buenchico. That's fab info you have sent. Will get busy printing it now. Many thanks.
Central London (where most of the main tourist attraction are) is ringed by the Underground's Circle Line, which serves just about all of London's mainline termini so, wherever you arrive in London, you're always on the edge of the central area.

Big Bus Tours have a stop by Paddington Station:
http://www.bigbustours.com/UploadedFiles/BBTtimetableApril2012_singlesheet_210wide_201204031309.pdf
but simply hopping on a London Transport service 23 will take you to many of the sights. It runs along Oxford Street and Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus, and then onto Trafalgar Square and along the Strand. So the main shopping areas, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Somerset House and lots of other attractions are along, or close to its route. If you alighted at Trafalgar Square you could walk down to the House of Parliament and then hop on a river service from Westminster Pier.
The bus tours are convenient. You may have a guide or recorded commentary. Using regular buses is not; it requires planning since no one bus will give you all key sites, though the No 15 comes close.

A river trip is worthwhile. You see London as the city was seen by past generations and a lot of the views surpass, by far, the views you get of the same sites from land: Greenwich, Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, are all in this category. Even a short one is pleasant.

To get around generally, the tube is the only way, and so a travelcard is worth having. Individual journeys bought one by one work out very expensive.
If you're feeling wealthy ('cos it's £23 per ticket) you can actually do a land and river tour in the same vehicle!
http://www.londonducktours.co.uk/
A lot of the main tourist sites are clustered round the Westminster / Whitehall area (not all of them but many of them). This is the centre of the UK Government, the Church and Royalty.

The walk below is a walk around the area that gets you to see Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing St, Cenotaph, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Trafalgar square and more besides.

As it says on the walk "If you walked this without stopping you'd do it in an hour, but there is so much to see you probably will have done well to complete it in one day".

I think a look round this area will give you are great introduction to London and you can become a real tourist.

http://www.londontoolkit.com/walks/whitehall_walk_westminster.htm
I think this is a great map to show you where most of the main tourist sites are:

http://makkamappa.com/system/maps/452/original/TouristMapPlacesToSeeLondon.jpg
Dukh
Just curious, when are you planning for this trip? If this weekend be aware it is Chinese New year on Sunday. A lot of Chinese community & tourists will be making their way to ChinaTown and surrounding areas to celebrate (will be whole weekend though Sunday main day). If you do get a chance to be there over this weekend, there is a lot of entertainment for this celebration but be warned it does get extremely packed during this time. Its getting bigger every year. Enjoy your time in London.
Question Author
We are going up on Monday.
Then you wont get caught up in the celebrations, you should be able to enjoy sights in peace.... enjoy your time in London. I too recommend river bus ride, thoroughly enjoyable.
Add a layer on Monday, we went and it was colder than usual in London.
Question Author
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to help and answer.

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