athletics

I am going to London in July. I have never been there or to Europe. Does anyone have any suggestions, what airports to fly in to, places to see, local tips. Anything.

Charlatan

You should do a search... there have been a lot of postings about where to go and what to do in London...

Fly into the one that you can get the cheapest flight into... If price is no problem then fly into the one that is closest to where you are going. Or if you are like me and chasing reward miles, you go where your carrier takes you...

There are a ton of great galleries (Tate and Tate Modern are excellent), great restaurants (can you say excellent curry!) and just plain old fashioned culture...

Try to go to some of the markets like Spitalfields/Brick Lane/Columbia Road or Camden...

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the_marq

I think Charlatan is right, this topic has been done to death. Nevertheless, my "don't miss" recommendation for London is the Imperial War Museum.

LuciferJones

Go to the wax museum, that place is friggin awesome

I went there a long ass time ago when I was really young, but I still remember the wax museum and how cool it was.

Grasshopper Green

Flying into Gatwick will take you to Kings Cross or Victoria Station by train (if I remember correctly) and Heathrow will take you to Paddington Station....you may want to find which station is closest to your hotel and plan accordingly. Also, I recommend taking a guided tour one of the first days; it will give you an idea of areas you want to visit, take you to some typical touristy places with the guide giving you extra information you may not have received traveling alone, and you can do all this without worrying about transporation. Other than that, it's all about personal taste.

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diddagirl

I was in London in March...only for a few days though. I did see Maddam Tussauds wax museum which was pretty cool, but extremely pricey. Saw Buckingham Palace (happened to be there for the changing of the guards which was exciting!). It was surreal to be there.... just felt like I was in a movie or something. London is a big beautiful city. I truly needed much more then a few days to see even half the stuff I wanted to. My advice for you would be eat at pubs and stay the hell away from cabs. Eveything there is wayyyy to expensive. Take the tube, or the bus, because the cost of the cabs are atrocious. And I literally couldnt even afford to eat anywhere other then a pub.

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StephenSa

Expensive is right! The current exchange rate means you'll spend about two dollars for every pound so keep in mind a four pound beer is eight dollars, etc, etc. If not concious of this one can be broke faster than one would imagine. I found getting around on the tube was easy. The British Museum is great, London Tower, Picadilly Circus, no lack on interesting things to do. Just walking around and soaking it all in was my favorite part! Have fun.

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superiorrain

£4 Beer!!!!!!!! holy shit where the hell did you go. Now london is expensive, i should know i live here, but have never paid more that £3 for a beer.

As for places to go, all the places mentioned are all good. Parks are nice to espically Regents park, make sure you walk along the river, you get some of the best views of London on that walk. Take a boat ride on the river, not that expensive and always good for a laugh.

If you have any particular interest, it might be wise to list on here then maybe we could give you some better hints.

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n1ck31

I went last summer. The Tait modern was awesome, very cool. The whole city is great, just walk and walk and get a pass for the tube and buss system together - they are both world class public transit systems. Camden market is great, as is any musuem. Generally, London is a little expensive but an amazing city. I love it.

Charlatan

My wife is there right now... she just sent me a text to say that she was off to Hampton Court for the morning...

I would also recomment both the Tate and the Tate Modern... great collections. The London Tower is pretty cool as well.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

chickentribs

Lots of great suggestions. If you want to spend a day or two and see the countryside I reccomend a day trip to Bath, England and stay the night at a B&B. You see the English countryside, plenty of history, and gorgeous architecture. Have fun...

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and most oft there Where most it promises
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tiltedbc

yeah, I remember a thread about this before.

London is one of the more expensive places to visit and you're paying in their currency, which is scary when you work out the exchange rate. The most fun I had was riding the subway (tube) and doing the walking tours at night. Great way to meet other travellers!

It's also a HUGE city, so be careful to plan your siteseeing in advance. And YES, go and see all the famous tourist things such as the Tower Bridge etc... just to say you did. Then go visit a few pubs and meet the locals. Some of the deli foods in those pubs will put hair on your chest (and everywhere else). I ate a spiced up boiled egg that set my mouth on fire. Good thing I had some warm beer to swill... ahhh the memories.

dnd

I live in London so probably have a different perspective than a visitor may have, although i would definatly recommend the London Eye to everybody. Covent Garden in summer is always lively, fun and interesting. The Tate Modern Gallery is must see and a walk along the river bank afterwards is a must.
For airports, London is served by 3 major ones, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead. All are accesible via public transport, but travelling to and from Heathrow is the cheapest and you get to ride the tube!
A tip is to avoid the underground at peak times, sounds obvious, but people can be a little rude, especially in the morning.
If you do go to london, hope you have a great time!

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Locobot

London sucks, dont go.

superiorrain

Do you care to say why? i mean that's a strong statement, think it needs some backing up.

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"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." - Arthur C. Clarke

Locobot

Well seeing the rosetta stone and all the other treasures plundered from antiquity was neat but I left London with such a distaste for the city. I was there years ago with a much better exchange rate and I still felt like I was hemorraging cash the entire time. The city is simply a horrible place for tourists who are channeled in to all of the most expensive options for admissions, transit, and food. The tower of London was extremely underwhelming. The Tate modern was okay...paying $15 for a bowl of noodles at the Tate modern sucked...I remember this more than the art. I ran out of things I wanted to do in London well before my time there was up, ended up going to a bunch of movies (also at exorbitant rates). Nearly getting jacked by the bouncers at a place that advertised (but didn't actually have) nude dancers because I refused to pay $300 for a 5 minute conversation (we didn't even touch eachother) with a whore was not too cool either. Those fuckers had some heavy Eastern European accents. I'm not some anti-anglo type, but London is seriously the locus of arrogance in the English speaking world and not worth visiting without $5k-10K to drop.

I was bored enough in London to think that going to see the Bank of London would be worthwhile...it's not. The FTSE doesn't even have a live trading floor...boooring. Speaker's Corner was completely empty while I was there, not a single raving luny to be heard. The train system is decades behind the rest of Europe, expect Amtrak-type delays of several hours, privatization didn't work out so well there. The best conversation I had in London with a native was with a girl collecting for the WWF, coincidentally she was from Manchester.

The average London salary is $63,141 per year, roughly 3 times the American average. The cold calculus is that London is simply not worth the expense for a visitor.

vector_1979

Visit london eye. Best to book via the website http://www.londoneye.com/

Recommend walking haunted london tour. Get to see some obscure parts of london http://www.london-ghost-walk.co.uk/g..._Jones_MMC.htm

Goto the west end to see a play.

Depending on your time you are there, look out for any music festivals. I think there is one in Hyde park sometime this summer. (Or even the Olympics in 2012!??)

And yes, bring your wallet, it can be expensive, but how often will you come to London?

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