LONDON THEATRE BREAKS - and from Londoners please ....your recommendations

[mosschops30]

I am taking dh to London for his birthday in Feb.
want to do a show, but he's not a show person but has said he'd like to see Phantom and from what I can see on websites, its still runnning

So have looked at a few websites and although they do packages, I can make it about £20 cheaper by buying the hotel and tickets separately (staying at Holiday Inn Bloomsbury nr Russell Sq tube station, Phantom is on somewhere near Picadilly Circus 3 stops away).

So I was just wondering if you experts could point me in the direction of good hotels, good ticket sellers and other things we could do whilst there for a romantic weekend (london eye trip or thames river cruise?)

TIA

bump

Holiday Inn Bloomsbury Sq is OK - haven't stayed their in ages and last time I was there it was abit run down. You can always save money by booking seperately.

If you are only occassionaly visitors to London and haven't done it before then I always recommend the Eye, done it half a dozen times now with different friends and it never fails to impress. Check that it is open, it close down fo a month each winter (usually Jan though might extend in to early Feb) for its annual maintenance. River cruise might be a bit cold in feb and I am never sure how much of London you really see from the River.

With regards to show, what kind of music is he into, have you considered one of the musicals based on a particular groups music. We will rock is the best known but there are others.

The best and only place in london to buy tickets from where you won't be ripped off is the SOLT booth in the centre of leicester square and you get them cheaper

look on theatremonkey for info on where the seats are cos they are deffo brill too

DON'T go to a other booth in west end cos they will charge a bomb

wot about Les Miz we love it

or HAIRSPRAY ~ if you dont mind not seeing michal ball use the MN link for cheaper tickets on Monday night

I cant go to a booth, we live in Cardiff and I dont want to run the risk of going to booth on the day and not seeing the one London show that dh would like IYKWIM

Have seen a few other hotels now too, one of them a Le Meridian, which has terrible trip advisor reviews, another one opposite Buck Palace which has a pre-theatre dinner offer too.

Its just a minefield, I could spend weeks looking at this now and probably will.

Will check London Eye and if its open, neither me or dh been to london for years and have never been on the eye so would be nice given what youve sdaid DISOM

St Giles Hotel seems to be very popular for theatre breaks with younger people I think because it has a bit of nightlife and dancing etc all on the premises. Otherwise, the best thing to do is to go through to the London theatre breaks website for the show that you want, put in the dates you can go and see which Hotels come up best. It depends a lot if you don't mind being at Kings Cross or Kensington rather than right in the middle of theatreland itself. The Strand Palace by Charing Cross station is good for that. If you book the train from Cardiff at the same time, it saves a bit of money and a lot of fuss and you can add the London Eye fast track as well if you want, so I think it's well worth looking again at the all inclusive theatre breaks packages

try here

I walked past a Thomson's travel agent today, and they had an offer in the window of seeing Phantom on the 19th Feb plus 4 star hotel for £79 p.p.
Might be worth checking out.