London visit, help me please!

[golondrina]

Hi

We live in Spain. DCs have been to the UK once (10 and 7 yo) and London briefly to see the dinosaurs at the Nat History museum.

We're coming over for a flying visit in a couple of weeks, central London and then 2 nights near Windsor to see friends.

I grew up near London and worked in central London briefly but apart from a brief UK visit 2 years ago, haven't been back for years.

We've only got from the Wednesday afternoon (arriving Gatwick at about 330pm) to Friday lunchtime, so feel we need to plan what to see. We're staying at the County Hall Premier Inn.

We want to not spend too much and see/do:

Big Ben/parliament (outside)
Changing of the Guard or just the guards standing there
Trafalgar Sq
Covent Garden
Picadilly Circus
Science museum
Mummies at the British museum
Fish and chips somewhere
A curry
Tower Bridge (either the tour, did it with DH years ago) or see the bridge open.
Ride a double decker (I think there's one that does a particularly scenic route?

I've been on visitlondon.com but getting a bit overwhelmed with too much choice. Do I need an Oyster? Where can I get them? How can I get the children added to one? Is a London Pass worth it as we're not interested in most of the expensive attractions really.

Argh, help?

[golondrina]

Could I not just do Southern trains direct to London Bridge and then tube to Waterloo for County Hall, or does that not make sense?

Also, I read that kids are free, but you add them to the oyster, how does that work when swiping for the tube gates, you swipe and you and the kid squidge through together?

I expect you can tell I've been away from London for a veery long time by all these silly questions.....

[sakura06]

The cheapest way to get from Gatwick is to split the ticket and buy a single from Gatwick to East Croydon, then East Croydon to Waterloo East (probably best for you for County Hall with a change at London Bridge). Alternatively, you can now use Oyster to pay and it costs about £8, I believe. If you pay for your train from Gatwick with Oyster, it's probably worth topping up at least £20 to start.

With seeing Big Ben and Westminster, you'll be right across the bridge at County Hall. Trafalgar Square and Horse Guards parade are really close too.

[golondrina]

Anyone know if it's possible to get a walk-in ticket for the Sky Garden? There seem to be walk-ins between 2 and 4.30 pm, wondering if it's worth trying?

[golondrina]

Off tomorrow! Thanks for all the tips!

[christmaaaas]

Following for curry house recommendations!

[golondrina]

Should we get oysters and use them for the normal train into London? How much should I put on the oysters? Can I buy them and add the kids (I understand they go free if included on an adult oyster) at Gatwick airport?

[superram]

Don’t get the Gatwick express, it’s not much faster than the normal train and both take you into Victoria. You could change at Clapham to get into Waterloo which would be better for county hall. I really liked the tower bridge tour. Brick lane is best for curry.

[DoodleCat]

You can get free family trails from the info desk in the great court at the British museum. There's one that takes you through the mummies. Go early or late though, when it's busy it's not great fun.

[golondrina]

Hmmm, actually the hop on hop off doesn't seem that great after all actually.

[golondrina]

Me again.

DS (10) wants to see the mummies, but I think the Natural History is full of stuff he'd love too. If we do just the mummies, and go early, do you think we'd have time to do some Nat Hist too?

Also, wondering whether to just buy a hop on hop off big bus family ticket too rather than faffing with all these different routes.

Aaaaaand, I think we need oysters too, should we use them on the Gatwick Express on the way in and how much should I put on the oysters?

[golondrina]

ooh we could maybe hop off and eat in borough market, have heard good things?

[golondrina]

And the RV1 between Tower Bridge and Covent Garden sounds scenic too, so will maybe catch that back from Tower Bridge on Friday morning

[golondrina]

That's a good idea, I know the southbank a bit.

I've been looking and I think the number 11 bus from Victoria goes through Westminster, so we could hop off at Horse Guards and so on.

[BikeRunSki]

If you are staying at County Hall, i’d Hold in a wander down the South Bank to see street entertainers and maybe street food. You are also right by the London Eye there too.

[nancy75]

Thursday night have a walk around the south bank, or over tower bridge to St Katherine’s dock for dinner? Plenty of places to eat all around where you will be & it’s always busy early evening. London eye is really quiet at night & London looks great all lit up!

[BikeRunSki]

I grew up in Central London. My dad always used to take visitors on the No. 11 bus - World’s End (Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood), Kings Rd (Punks), Sloane Square, Victoria, Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Trafalgar Square, The Strand, Fleet St, The City. It was the 70s/80s, when the Kings Road and Fkeet St were exciting.

[golondrina]

Yeah, thanks for the suggestion tho. DC not into HP at all.

[SubtitlesOn]

Sorry see you are on budget time wise and money

[SubtitlesOn]

Harry Potter studios in Watford/Leavesden but Watford junction from Euston - 20 mins journey

Not in London and probably not tickets available but worth a look if you/your DC are interested

Christmas will have just started there

[golondrina]

OK. Plan so far then is:

Arrive Wednesday afternoon and check into the County Hall PI. Then do Trafalgar Sq, covent Garden, Picadilly, Regent's Street/Oxford Street/Hamleys area and xmas lights. Eat fish and chips.

Thursday morning British museum to see the mummies. Would like to do some typical Big Ben, Buck Palace type sightseeing, what's the best way to do that? Bus? Any good routes? What to do in the evening when it's dark? No point sitting in the hotel and we'll need to eat. DH wants a curry ;)

friday morning, maybe tower bridge. We won't manage to see it open but I did the museum/tour of tower bridge years ago with DH and it was good and inexpensive, so maybe that? Then lunch somewhere and off to Windsor in the afternoon.

[Waterlemon]

You should be ok then with the south ken museums, although there might be lots of school groups. Particularly in the wonder lab. If you want to visit the wonderlab, the best time is late afternoon when the school groups filter out.

Yes clipper boats are a great way to see the sights. We usually get DLR to royal Victoria then cable car over to the 02, then clipper from 02 to Waterloo. You can pay for both cable car and clipper using an Oyster card, but it’s cheaper to get a combi deal from the ticket office.

[golondrina]

Thanks for the British museum tip, and to the other pp who suggested not the science museum. Ds quite interested in nat history, earth stuff, so not sure if it's worth trying nat hist minus.dinos

[golondrina]

Pingu, the only other time we've been in the UK my chip and pin credit card wouldn't work on the tube, so I think maybe I should get oyster cards at Gatwick when we arrive

[golondrina]

waterlemon it'll be 21/22 Nov, that's term time in the UK, right?