Visiting London for the First Time!

Hello,

I hope I am not barging in on this forum, but I was hoping to solicit some advice. I will be traveling to London for the first time ever in October and I am so excited! I will only have four days to experience the city, so I am looking for some tips on what I should make sure to see and do. We are staying in a Mayfair hotel. If you do not mind providing me with some assistance, I would be grateful!

Thank you in advance.

Tara from Pennsylvania, USA
What is the mayfair hotel? Mayfair is a nice location. Personally Mayfair and knightsbridge while expensive. Are worth it. Personally The Four Seasons Park Lane (yes another 4S recco) is great.
 
Thanks for all you thoughts!

The traveling party will be three adults. We arrive on a Friday morning and leave on Tuesday afternoon. Sunday will be spent at Wembly seeing an NFL football game. Otherwise, we have the time to sightsee.

I like Harry Potter and thought about the tour, but I’m worried it will take too much time. I don’t need to see Buckingham Palace, but the Tower if London and Covent Garden have been suggested as must do. Museums are okay, but not highest on my list. I also enjoy the theater, so I would consider a show if I knew where to go!
Museums are free in London. Loved the British Museum. Its free!!!!! Windsor Castle, Tower of London, Houses of Parliament are great. But cost more. What food do you eat? Like 100 dollar food 20 dollar food? 350 dollar food? . These are all cost of meals. I have eaten 20 dollar meals to 350 dollar meals in the UK! Personally I would also go to Stonehenge. Which was amazing. I cannot wait to eat at Sketch
 


Londoner here, so happy to answer any questions.

If you don’t have time for the HP Studio tour, there’s a number of great ‘sights of HP films’ tours. Like this one https://freetoursbyfoot.com/harry-potter-tour-london/

And if you can get tickets for the Cursed Child show while you’re here, it is amazing!

That would be great! Do you know the best way to get tickets (meaning, is there a particular site)?

What is the mayfair hotel? Mayfair is a nice location. Personally Mayfair and knightsbridge while expensive. Are worth it. Personally The Four Seasons Park Lane (yes another 4S recco) is great.

We are staying at the Intercontinental Park Lane in Mayfair!
 
That would be great! Do you know the best way to get tickets (meaning, is there a particular site)?



We are staying at the Intercontinental Park Lane in Mayfair!
No need to pay for club lounge at InterContinental London Park Lane. You get it for free by booking with an agent. Do not need to pay the club lounge surcharge. Don't do it. And this is true for so many other luxury hotels. You can see what you can get added at rack rates.https://www.virtuoso.com/hotels/616...park-lane?search=london&mode=Gts#.W9DBTC9L1pU
and no I am not agent. I work at the casino in Brisbane and a degustation restaurant or tasting menu in Brisbane.
 


Not much help, but London is actually a very beautiful city. True, the traffic is insane and every driver hates every other driver, but the parks and sculptures are lovely and serene :)
 
We then took a train from London to Windsor and spent a half day on our own at the castle and in the town. We were tired after the long flight so we went to sleep around 8pm.
This is what I wanted to know and you answered it before I could ask. Now I know we can take a train to Windsor when we travel after my DD graduates from college this spring.

Can I also take a train to Bath? I really want to show my family just how amazing the bathhouses are.

Love this thread!
 
Can I also take a train to Bath? I really want to show my family just how amazing the bathhouses are.

Yes you can take a train to Bath, my sister lives near there so I have done the London to Bath train journey many times. I usually book tickets on line here https://www.thetrainline.com/

the station for Bath is called Bath Spa, its in Wiltshire and the train journey is approx 2 hours. There is a direct fast train from London Paddington Station which takes 1 hour 30 minutes or a direct train from London Waterloo Station which takes 2 hours 26 minutes.

Price can vary depending how far in advance you book. A one way journey costs from £20 upwards.
 
We will be doing a 2 week London and Paris tour with a day and a half at DLP the end of this month. We have never been and are so excited! Thanks for the great info!
 
Thanks so much to everyone who has posted in this thread! It popped up on the front page so I've been reading through and it has been very helpful.

We will be in London for 8 nights this August, staying at the Rubens at the Palace.

We have booked a couple of tours (Highclere Castle & Harry Potter/Warner Bros), Hamilton, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London. We are also planning to visit the British Museum, and would like to do a HOHO tour. The HOHO bus might be a good way to get acclimated at the beginning & then we can explore further.

I am also hoping to find time to visit a Lush spa.

Do you typically need restaurant reservations? We have booked Rules & one of the themed teas at the Taj, but nothing more than that. I assume it varies by venue but would hate for it to be a "thing" that everyone has a reservation when they go out for a meal & we are always rolling up without one like a pair of clowns :jester::jester:

Just booked our airport car service & portable wifi a few days ago. It's getting closer!
 
Thanks so much to everyone who has posted in this thread! It popped up on the front page so I've been reading through and it has been very helpful.

We will be in London for 8 nights this August, staying at the Rubens at the Palace.

We have booked a couple of tours (Highclere Castle & Harry Potter/Warner Bros), Hamilton, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London. We are also planning to visit the British Museum, and would like to do a HOHO tour. The HOHO bus might be a good way to get acclimated at the beginning & then we can explore further.

I am also hoping to find time to visit a Lush spa.

Do you typically need restaurant reservations? We have booked Rules & one of the themed teas at the Taj, but nothing more than that. I assume it varies by venue but would hate for it to be a "thing" that everyone has a reservation when they go out for a meal & we are always rolling up without one like a pair of clowns :jester::jester:

Just booked our airport car service & portable wifi a few days ago. It's getting closer!
It depends on where you want to eat. You can easily pop into a pub, but for more popular venues, you should have a reservation. The only place that we needed one was Veeraswamy. That is the oldest Indian restaurant in London and omg the best I’ve been! Other than that, we found restaurants on the fly.

My experience is from 3 weeks ago.
 
It depends on where you want to eat. You can easily pop into a pub, but for more popular venues, you should have a reservation. The only place that we needed one was Veeraswamy. That is the oldest Indian restaurant in London and omg the best I’ve been! Other than that, we found restaurants on the fly.

My experience is from 3 weeks ago.
Thanks! I'm going to have to look into that restaurant. I love Indian food.
 
So far we are having a fantastic time in London. We arrived about 9 am on Sat from the US after an overnight flight. We were so lucky there were no lines at Passport Control we got through the electronic scan very quickly. We then went to the baggage claim and our carousel had already started. Usually our bags are near the end but were so lucky they came out pretty fast as well. We decided to make it an easy day so went on the London Eye and visited the Sea Life Aquarium. We bought flex time fast passes ahead if time. Today was the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We went on one of the HOHO tours which took an hour from the stop near our hotel to there so by the time we arrived it was 15 minutes before opening and the line to get in was long. We had the London Pass so did not have to wait in line for tickets. Luckily the line for the Crown Jewels was not too bad as we were expecting it to be. The next time we walked past it was horrid. It was very crowded so seeing things took time and were there much longer than anticipated. We did get to walk across both sides of the Tower Bridge and both sides of the glass floor before needing to catch the bus before the route ended. We did not have time for a few things we had hoped to do but hopefully we can work them in later on the trip. We did see a lot both going and coming back on the bus. Tomorrow we will take the boat to Greenwich.
 
So far we are having a fantastic time in London. We arrived about 9 am on Sat from the US after an overnight flight. We were so lucky there were no lines at Passport Control we got through the electronic scan very quickly. We then went to the baggage claim and our carousel had already started. Usually our bags are near the end but were so lucky they came out pretty fast as well. We decided to make it an easy day so went on the London Eye and visited the Sea Life Aquarium. We bought flex time fast passes ahead if time. Today was the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We went on one of the HOHO tours which took an hour from the stop near our hotel to there so by the time we arrived it was 15 minutes before opening and the line to get in was long. We had the London Pass so did not have to wait in line for tickets. Luckily the line for the Crown Jewels was not too bad as we were expecting it to be. The next time we walked past it was horrid. It was very crowded so seeing things took time and were there much longer than anticipated. We did get to walk across both sides of the Tower Bridge and both sides of the glass floor before needing to catch the bus before the route ended. We did not have time for a few things we had hoped to do but hopefully we can work them in later on the trip. We did see a lot both going and coming back on the bus. Tomorrow we will take the boat to Greenwich.
I'm glad you're posting about your experiences. We just purchased our London Passes yesterday since they were on sale. We'll be using them in October. It sounds like we have a lot of the same plans. I would love to hear how your day in Greenwich goes since we are hoping to go there, too. I noticed you said you didn't have to wait in line at the Tower of London since you had the London Pass. Is there a separate scanner or check in area for Pass holders that is clearly marked?
 

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