Need London UK advice!

[Levitron]

I'm flying through London (Heathrow) and I will have a 11 hour layover there.

My buddy and I plan to head out to London via the Heathrow Express (tickets bought already).

Any suggestions on what to hit up?

[J____]

depends on what you want to do, if you're there during the day, i would hit up a red bus tour. It's hop on and off, it's the quickest way to see all the major sites of the city. U'll get a good feel of the layout of the place as well. I would sit on it and go around the whole route first since u'll have limited time. should take about 3 hours or so. Good thing is at any stop you can jump into a tube station near by and it'll take you right back to paddington for heathrow express. If you want to just go to a few places, i would probably take a buckingham palace tour. it's one of those must visit places. I wouldnt bother with tower of london tour. I didnt find it that interesting compared to buckingham palace and all the other sites but thats just my opinion.

Or you can just walk around anywhere and hit on the hot tourists haha.

[syee]

What J said. I was in the same scenario as well (I had an 8 hour layover at Heathrow). I did the same thing and the whole round trip was just under 4 hours (because of traffic) The red bus tour also offers a "boat ride" if you want to do that. I think the boat ride starts right by the London Eye if that's what you want to do.

Just remember you'll need to save some time for clearing customs, then going through security again to get back in. The Heathrow Express is pretty quick so you'll probably be at Paddington in about 30 mins. (I'm pretty sure it was less than that) I just had enough time in my 8 hour layover to do a full loop on the bus and to grab some dinner before heading back to the airport, so an 11 hour layover will probably give you just enough time to do a quick 2-3 hour tour. (or to get off the bus at one or two stops)

There's a Red Bus stop just outside of Paddington Station. One thing I did (and you might want to do if you got a lot of stuff on carry on) was to use the pay "storage" facilities at the airport. Just stuff as much gear as you can into one bag and just take your essentials. You don't want to be hauling all your stuff with you in the crowded streets out there! If you want to explore, see if you can find some Europe maps for your GPS (my Garmin has it and you can just buy the CityXplorer ones for like $10 for a specific city) and use that to get around. It's easy to get lost out there!

[gars]

it also depends on what you want to see and if you don't mind walking. within Central, quite a few of the things are definitely walkable. From Piccadilly Circus, to Leicester Square, then over to Trafalgar Square, then down to Westminster. That being said, I've heard great things those bus tours, but just don't know how long you would have to wait for one, because you might be able to walk to the next destination in that time.

It also depends on what you want to see, or if you want to actually enter any of the places or one of the million free museums in London. Mind you, it's tourist season now, and it's going to be packed with tourists everywhere.

read about some of the highlights in London, which things seem to interest you? and ya, getting through customs can take forever at Heathrow. Last time I flew in, it took me an hour to get through customs. It's only if you have an EU passport with the extra chip that lets you through with an eye scan...

[syee]

Here's the bus I took. According to their FAQ they come every 15 mins which sounds about right. I don't recall having to wait very long for one.

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/london/default.aspx

[gars]

some of those bus tours have a thames cruise thrown in, but otherwise, you can always jump on one yourself. it's pretty nice to see it from the river, and they're not very long, you can do one in like an hour.

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

If you want to actually get to know the culture there and not just see sights, just hit up a bar and get fucking wasted, and probably miss your flight. Then you'll know what it's like to be an english man.

[gars]

there's a bar half a block from my house, i pass it everyday. Honestly, I have never seen a non-white person at that bar. And the only white people I see there seem to be older, working class. There are houses upon houses of black people next door to it, but have never seen one drink there. And this isn't the outskirts of London, nor is it a small town in the countryside... I'm talking about Kensington Area, nicer parts of town...

If you're non-white, you should have some fun and get drunk at a place like that.

[Gt-R R34]

Must try brix lane and the Indian food it's very good
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[gars]

I'd stay away from Brix Lane. Lots of horrible restaurants there, that should definitely not be allowed to stay open with their poor standards.

If you want good Indian food, Try Punjab. Well priced, right next to Covent Garden.

[achiam]

Originally Posted by Levitron

I'm flying through London (Heathrow) and I will have a 11 hour layover there.

My buddy and I plan to head out to London via the Heathrow Express (tickets bought already).

Any suggestions on what to hit up?

Hi there!

Not sure how many days you're in town for, but the following is a quick rundown of things to see (locations on the tube map!)

-British Museum @ Holborn Station
-Victoria & Albert Museum @ South Kensington Station
-Harrods @ Knightsbridge (when you exit Knightsbridge, on the side where it borders the tube station and Zara, if you walk southwards (away from the main street) it is quite a nice walk past row houses all the way to the heart of South Kensington, which is where the Victoria/Albert Museum is.
-Another nice walk is along the King's Road, which basically runs from near South Kensington Station all the way up to Sloane Square -- it's quite a trendy Robson Street - like place!
-You should also walk around Hyde Park, and at the northwest corner of Hyde Park is a station called Notting Hill Gate. If you get out of this station (or walk to it), ask for directions to Portobello Market -- this is an antique fair on Saturdays, and is quite busy -- it is also the scene from the movie "Nottinghill."
-Bordering the west side of Hyde Park, is a road called Kensington Palace Gardens -- it is pretty much the most expensive per square foot road in the world and is commonly referred to as "Billionaire's Row" -- you can walk up this road to get from the South Kensington area north to Notting Hill Gate station too. Bordering the south side of Kensington Palace Gardens is Kensington Palace, former home of Princess Diana.
-At the northeast corner of Hyde Park is Marble Arch and Speaker's Corner (not sure if you remember, but people can stand up and blab about anything they want!)

-Another cool place you should go to see is very far east -- it's past Canary Wharf (where I used to live), and you need to take a DLR train to Greenwich -- it's the home of where the meridian time line system developed, and a very nice park. On top of the hill in the park is the Greenwich Observatory and where the GMT 0 degree line runs straight through!

-If you go north, there is a very nice wooded park called Hampstead Heath. This is also a very nice upscale area that is more like suburbia but honestly there isn't much to do around there since we're used to wooded forests already.

-Wimbledon is an area in the far southwest of London, and home to the Wimbledon tennis tournament but I think it should be over by the time you get there.

-Chinatown/Piccadilly Circus should be familiar to you.

-Buckingham Palace is at the bottom of Green Park, which can be reached by going straight south from Trafalgar Square (at Charing Cross station), or eastwards from Hyde Park Corner (its all very close on the map and very walkable).

-Westminster Abbey is an absolute must if you haven't been -- many of the most important people in history as well as royalty are buried in there in ornate crypts. As well, the Parliament Buildings are there as well, at Westminster Station.

-All the live theatres are in the area Covent Garden, and many discount tickets can be bought cheaply in Leceister Square booths closer to the performance time.

-I think that's about all I can think of for now! If there's anything particular you wanna know, just ask!

Cheers!