Opinions on London itinerary with 70yo mother please

[TooWeirdToLiveTooRareToDie]

I’m taking my mother to London for 1 night, 1.5 days for her 70th. Does this sound like a good itinerary or have I packed too much/too little in and are the restaurants good? I want it to be a nice trip and not exhausting for her!

She’s not all that fit, so I’m expecting to take cabs door-to-door and I’m resigned to the fact that it will be more expensive than bus/tube but I don’t know the best routes and it would inevitably mean more walking and steps for her. But let me know if there’s a simple route from any of our planned destinations that I can look into.

Day 1

• Arrive at Paddington around 12
• Drop luggage at The Landmark and have lunch there

-Taxi to the river for a Sightseeing cruise (c.2.30?) -Taxi to Waldorf Hilton for pre-theatre dinner (c.5.00?)

• Nip next door to Aldwych theatre for a show at 7.00

Day 2

• hearty hotel breakfast and a swim
• check out and store luggage (by 12)
• Taxi to St. Paul’s cathedral (1.00)
• Taxi to afternoon tea at The Wolseley (4.00)
• Taxi back to hotel to pick up luggage and head to Paddington for 7.00 train home

We could have afternoon tea back at The Landmark to cut out one stop, I just thought it’d be nice to go somewhere different as we’d have lunch there on day 1.

Are there any better suggestions for pre-theatre dinner near Aldwych?

I think this sounds like it could be a bit much, especially day 2. Bear in mind the traffic could be dreadful, you are doing a lot of driving.

Look at the Delauney for pre-theatre, it's just across the road. It's the same group as the Wolesely so you could maybe do afternoon tea at your hotel on day 2 and not feel you're missing out too much. I don't know the Landmark but presumably it has different dining spaces so it wouldn't feel to samey to have lunch and tea there.

I would run this by her. I'm trying to remember my mum at 70, I think this would have been a bit much.

I personally would -

1. Stay near the theatre - does it have to be The Landmark?
2. Cut the pre theatre dinner. Have a great lunch, cruise and then just a room service snack while getting ready for the show, with ice creams in the interval.

Are you seeing the Tina Turner musical at the Aldwych? It's fab!

Itinerary sounds good to me.

Why St Paul's? I'd rather go to Harvey Nicks but then I'm a heathen.

Another vote for the Delaunay.

Also are you going directly from the river to dinner/show? Not sure that works as you'll want to get changed presumably? You're also having lunch at circa 1pm and dinner at 5pm which seems like overkill on the food. And lastly 3 hours at St Paul's is way too long!

That's a lot of dashing around. Since you've chosen a lovely posh 5 star hotel, I'd probably spend a bit more time swanning round it and a bit less time in cabs.

Alternative plan could be:

Day 1 arrive hotel, luxuriate in room, swim, relax (is there a spa?), have a big late lunch, taxi to theatre, dinner at Delaunay.

Day 2 leisurely breakfast, taxi to St Paul's OR river cruise, taxi back to hotel for afternoon tea, taxi to Paddington.

Yeah, I think even I would be a bit worn out after all of that. I second the suggestion about nice lunch and then just chill a bit until the theatre.

I don’t think it’s that much and my 75 year old mum would manage no probs.

Sounds lovely.
Wherever you plan to eat make sure you book in advance.
We were very disappointed one evening in London when we couldn't get a table anywhere.

There's a brasserie place around the corner from the Waldorf that has a pre theatre menu, it's a chain but I hadn't seen them before. We stayed at the Waldorf but thought the food was so so considering the price

@whatnumber

We didn't make reservations at all, there's so many restaurants in London there's always somewhere unlike where we live where you book 2 weeks ahead

If there's a particular reason for St Pauls can you combine that with afternoon tea/late lunch nearby? Then day 2 is basically breakfast and swim at hotel, taxi to City, taxi back to station (via hotel for luggage).

Well, you know your DM, but my DM is in her eighties (and not in perfect health) and she would be fine with that itinerary and would happily be walking with her wheeled suitcase from Paddington to the Landmark (because it's quicker than queuing for a taxi and a more direct route on foot). We'd probably be going for cocktails post theatre too. Churchill's , Zetter Townhouse, Bernardis and Purl are places near your hotel that my DM has enjoyed. There are some amazing small restaurants too (and Michelin starred ones) right next to the hotel. DM's favourites are Donastia and Locanda Locatelli.

My biggest concern would be timings in traffic if you are taking taxis. It's worth checking on TFL/Google maps/Uber for journey times at the relevant times of day. I would probably make reservations if you are on a tight schedule, you don't want to be wasting time waiting for a table. It might make more sense to swap St Pauls and the river cruise as I think 2.5 hours is a bit tight for a river trip and a taxi to dinner at 5pm. Is there a special reason for visiting St Pauls? There are more convenient and more interesting places to visit.

You could probably find somewhere more inspiring than the Waldorf for a pre-theatre dinner. Maybe by the river? One of the restuarants in the Shard or Oxo tower or Sklyon for river views. There are some nice rooftop places with fantastic views by St Pauls eg Madison, Sabine. If you don't want a commentary on your river cruise, just grab a river bus rather than a sightseeing tour, although I think some of them have commentary videos too.

Afternoon tea at The Wolseley is gorgeous. I would request a table on the little mezzanine bits as it is quieter and you can look down on everyone.

Another for pre-theatre at The Delauney.

I third the Delaunay for tea, or if you want push the boat out, at the Rosewood hotel on High Holborn. V. posh.
You could also try Ubers instead of cabs.

Delaunay.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will certainly look at The Delaunay.

@chesirecat99 Really useful information, thank you, this is what I need as I don’t know how long/faffy all the transfers will be.

My mum really wanted to see St. Paul’s and also suggested the boat trip as they’re things she’s never done. The website I looked at said Westminster to Tower would be 30 mins and had a commentary on the sights but maybe this is the hop on/off one. I don’t think we have time for a full trip to Greenwich and if we did, I’d probably go and do the maritime museum/cutty sark but we def don’t have time on this trip if she wants to see St P’s.

@Hoolihan Thanks, more luxuriating might be nice. It’s difficult to know whether she’ll be up for getting out and doing stuff after 2 hours on the train, or really tired! As for the food, we recently went on a day trip together and I was quite surprised at how often she needed to sit and eat. I’d happily rush around all day not thinking about it much!

Good point about the changing. Swim/spa on arrival on day one might be the way to go.

The 3 hours between St Pauls and afternoon tea is simply so we’re not rushing and based on the website saying 2 hours is usually the right amount of time as that’s all I have to go on. How long do you think we might spend there?

@PermanentTemporary The Landmark is where I’ve always stayed and it’s been good every time. I haven’t booked yet, so there’s time to find somewhere else but I was put off by some bad reviews when I started looking at other places - any suggestions are gratefully received!!

So does this sound like a better plan
Day one

• Arrive at hotel, light lunch/snack
• spa and swim
• get ready for evening
• Taxi to Delaunay for pre-theatre dinner
• Theatre

Day two

• AM River cruise
• PM St Pauls
• Back to The Landmark for afternoon tea and collect luggage
• 7pm train

@JorisBohnson2 Yes! She’s really excited!

It’s mostly about the show and staying somewhere nice, so fitting something in to make the most of the journey is a bonus.