Help me plan a trip to London

[Farcry66]

Hi folks,

Its my partners 40th birthday next month. Obviously the big party he was going to have is not going to happen. I've got him some bits and bobs but I really want to put an itinerary of a lovely weekend or midweek break away when we can go - so I'd present it as a rough itinerary but with no dates on it and nothing booked yet!

It doesn't have to be London if anyone has any better suggestions.

I have a budget of about £150 Not including hotel, but does include food. Would like to find some slightly unusual fun things to do. He's an incredibly clever man, musician, plays rugby, loves sci-fi, generally interested in stuff, we both love singing and have massively missed karaoke during lockdown. We do have quite a few friends in and around London, so could include suggestions for things for us during the day and something for a group in the evening. We are both teachers so could be something we do midweek in a school holiday rather than has to be fixed at the weekend.

So ..... any ideas or recommendations?

Walk along the regents canal from Maida Vale to Camden / kings cross. Stop at Camden for browse and lunch from the food stalls.

If you can increase your budget then a rib experience on the Thames is great. That's about £35 pp up I think fending how long a trip.

If you can, book your trip to include a bank holiday weekend so you have the extra day.

Am I missing the fact that we will probably still be in lockdown next month? Stay at home!

Ignore me... Just reread the thread!!! 🙊 🙊 🙊 🙊

Another vote for the wellcome museum- it is fascinating. There are loads of things you can do with a small budget! Camden Market- walk along the river and eat some lunch at one of the stalls. Make yourself a tour book of all the local monuments and visit them at your leisure throughout the day. If you travel by train then you get 2 for 1 on lots of attractions. The Hunterian museum is very close to the British Museum and is also free and gruesome but is amazing. It is a medical museum and has lots of picked things in jars and old surgical equipment etc.

If you like karaoke, we hired a karaoke room for a friend's 40th. I think it was off Regents Street. You hire it by the hour (there's various rooms) and we had a lot of fun (helped by there being a bar). Wistful memory of pre-coronavirus life!

I also like breakfast up the Shard (around £10-20 per head if you order carefully), the graffiti in Leeke Street tunnels (under Waterloo Station), wandering round Borough Market and Escape Rooms (one of my favourite ones is by London Bridge though you need a group for that).

That is a small budget for London, everything is generally more expensive. But they are lots of free things to do, eating out is expensive.

I love Covent Garden. A wander around Harrods, food halls are amazing, I have always fancied the duck tours, but have never done one.

With things as they are at the moment, it may give you more of a chance to save perhaps.

It’s a lovely idea to have a future trip planned, gives you something to look forward too & we all need that at the moment. Enjoy making plans. I am sure your DP will really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

I know this is a plan for post lockdown, but many cafes, restaurants, attractions may go to the wall financially soon, so not worth including in your itineray.

There's a bar called Maddison which is above St. Paul's shopping centre with the most amazing view of St. Paul's cathedral. It's a rooftop bar but you can also go just to look at the view- it's a strict dress code though and can get quite busy so I would maybe go during the day. Close by there's a ping pong bar called Bounce which is fun. I used to love going to this Turkish restaurant just outside great Portland st station. Cheap as chips and lush food

Duck tours have been gone for years sadly. They lost their launch place to development.

Another vote for the river boat. One of them goes Tate to Tate, or going from Westminster to Greenwich is nice.

Number 11 bus is good for sightseeing. All the way from Victoria to the City.

People watching on Southbank.

There are sometimes Hidden London tours which explore closed tube stations etc. They are quite expensive but interesting.

The Postal Museum and Mail Rail are good.

Number 11 bus is good for sightseeing. All the way from Victoria to the City.

My dad used to take people n the No 11 and “guide” them round London. In those days it started in Fulham then World’s End and went down King’s Road before heading to Victoria, Westminster, Trafalgar Square and The City. It was a brilliant route.

I haven’t lived in London for many years now.

I can also recommend the Good Hotel in the Royal Docks. It’s an ex floating prison, that has been turned into a boutique hotel. It is really nice, great location, not expensive and has a rooftop bar with a great view of Canary Wharf.

There isn't much in Crystal Palace (you do know the palace burnt down in 1936). It's also in Zone 3 which will put your transport costs up.
£150 is ok for food and transport if you eat a places like McDonalds or Wetherspoons or something.

BTW, if you fancy going for cocktails, DSs highly recommend the chain PingPong at happy hour. Incredibly cheap cocktails and dim sum - about £10 a head for a drink and food. They've done it a few times and say staff are really friendly.

It's not a small budget for London necessarily and you won't have to eat at Wetherspoons or McDonald's ffs!

As pp said, Chinatown has some good little places that are cheap enough. There are so many cafes and food halls to choose from!

jerichosp nothing wrong with McDonalds and 'Spoons. I like them. But if the £150 includes transport costs then it will leave less for food. What I kind of meant was 'cheap' eating places. So that can include an All You Can Eat in Chinatown just not a fancy restaurant.

I just wrote a post about travel costs and it disappeared...
The daily price cap for Zones 1-3 covering bus/tube/trains etc is £8.50. Times 2 adults is £17. If that's 3 days you are there for that's £51. That's a big chunk of the £150. Zone 1-2 are cheaper (£7.20 a day) and it goes up to £10.40 if you include Zone 4.
You really should stick to Zones 1-2 if you don't want to spend a big chunk on travel.

This thread is making me realise how much I miss going out and about in London! I live in Zone 2 but feel like it’s been years since I visited central London, due to lockdown. Fingers crossed we will be able to get back to normal at some point this year.

You can get an Honest Burger, chips and a beer in Camden for £13. Chinatown. Falafel carts. Lebanese and Turkish food. The Italian restaurants can be cheaper too. No need to go to the two chains that are in every single uk town.

Last time we were there we only used the tube a couple of times due to good itinerary planning. You don't have to max it out.

Check out cheap eats on trip advisor

This Londoner is saving this thread for next time I have a child free work free day (and we're not in fucking lockdown).

For good interesting food (as long as you don’t mind small places) the Soho branch is my favourite, but they have others
baolondon.com/restaurant/bao-soho/
And an interesting museum is this www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/grant-museum-zoology. The Grant Museum of Zoology small museum near Tottenham Court Road/Gower St full of interesting things.

I said "somewhere like McDonalds, 'spoons or something" jeeez. I basically meant 'cheap'. People don't half get defensive. An "honest burger, chips and beer for £13" is expensive if both are eating (so £26) if the spending money budget is essentially £100 or so when you take out the travel costs.
Obviously I am not the OP nor her husband so I can't speak for them but to me food is just fuel and I would rather spend my money and time on something more interesting.
If he loves Sci Fi then a trip to the Forbidden Planet Store would be a brilliant place to go - and personally I would rather spend my money there (if it was me going that is).

For dinner try Brasserie Zedel - amazing Art Deco Dining room and great bar next to it for an aperitif. Be sure to go to the toilets - the decor is wonderful.

Buy a picnic from borough market and have a walk along the river to Temple. The law courts are a gorgeous bit of history and the Middle Temple Gardens are a hidden gem of a place - people don’t seem to realise you can just walk in and enjoy them. Then make your way to the Foundling Museum, one of my absolute favourites, where you will see the most poignant displays of the tokens left with the foundlings as well as some impressive art. I love Holborn and Bloomsbury - could walk that area for hours. Have a look at one piece at the British Museum - I’d suggest the Rosetta Stone. And then make your way to China Town to Won Kei Restaurant for a Formica cafe meal downstairs in the cheapy bit. And Coffee in SoHo at Bar Italia and watch the world go by.

I feel like weeping - I miss my London so much all locked down like this!!