Please help me plan a trip to London from Scotland!

[asblackasyoursoul]

Hi all. I’m looking to plan a wee trip for myself to London for a few days. I’d be flying from Inverness to either Gatwick or Luton.

The main things I want to see are the art galleries and museums.

But the problem is I’ve never been to London and don’t know it at all… was looking at accommodation and of course the prices in central London are totally out of my budget!
Am I best to stay somewhere further out and get a train in? But I don’t know how the underground works at all, is there regular stops?
I just want somewhere cheap and cheerful to lay my head for a couple of nights, nothing fancy.

I was just a bit shocked as to how huge London is… everything is so far apart! Could anybody help me out, will my London trip be doable on a budget? I’ll be going alone so I am quite nervous about navigating the underground and things by myself.

Thank you!

Also, my plan was to arrive Friday morning and leave Sunday evening. Would this be enough time for me to see the galleries and museums or is this a trip that really needs more time?

you’ll see enough in that time sure though of course you won’t see everything

staying longer would obviously be even more expensive

on the plus side a lot of the museums and galleries are free these days but accomodation is very expensive centrally. Have you looked at premier inns? They don’t come up on the 3rd party sites you have to book direct. There are lots which are less central but still well located.

If Gatwick then the holiday inn at wAndsworth town is cheap and quick into london or the Hilton Hampton at east Croydon

What’s your budget for accommodation? Look on the Premier Inn site to see what you can afford - and then see how far out that is. For example, you could stay in Ealing Broadway which has an underground station within easy walking distance of the Premier In and would get you into the city quite quickly.

The underground is really easy to manage - you just tap in and out using a contactless card and there are stations for everywhere. Just plan your day carefully - so the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the V&A are all in South Kensington so you’d want to do them together. Nice places to eat locally too so you can break the day up a bit!

Which museums and galleries do you want to see?

Navigating the Underground is easy as you just need to look at the map to find your nearest station, destination station, and where to interchange.

What budget do you have for a hotel?

Hi OP, the size on London means it's not so much a city, more a small country, so you are going to have to be really focused on what you want to see in two days - frankly I'd go for quality over quantity. What interests you? art? history? design? because London probably has a museum or gallery for that.

I would do cheap night when you fly down near airport or on way into London and then a city centre one for the Saturday

The Hilton curio Westminster is next to Tate Britain and a short walk to national gallery , lots on bankside near Tate modern and loads in south Kensington near the Victorian museums/galleries

The OP says they're planning to fly down on Friday morning - so there's no point spending Friday night at a hotel near the airport.

Probably best to find a hotel somewhere on the train route from the airport into London. Check in and drop off bag, then head into London for sightseeing.

At Luton airport the train station isn't incorporated into the airport like it is at Gatwick, and there's a shuttle bus between the airport and Luton Parkway station. Both Luton and Gatwick are served by Thameslink trains, so that opens up the same parts of London on a direct line. Although Gatwick has other services into London too (London Bridge (also served by Thameslink) and Victoria) which might give more hotel options.

There are more than 250 galleries and museums in London so seeing them all is not an option! As other posters have said, if you can give us an idea what interests you and what you'd like to see, we can then advise.

London hotels are eye-wateringly expensive. Generally, the further out of the centre you are, the cheaper (relatively) they will be. So more commuting (which costs a fraction of the hotel bill) if you don't mind that. Sunday nights are generally cheaper, so if you have some flexibility about days that might be an option.

I'd suggest doing a bus tour to see the main sights - Tower Bridge, Buck House, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and all that - it will also give you a better sense of the geography of central London than you'll get from the Tube map.

My favourite museums in London are the V&A (art and design) and the Museum of London (tends to be quieter than the British Museum and very interesting). Just down from the Museum of London you have St Paul's and the Millennium footbridge (as seen in Harry Potter) over to Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern and HMS Belfast, with Tower Bridge in the background. St Paul's is also v handy for the Thameslink, making commuting in from Luton or Gatwick easy.

From there you can go west into central London via the Tube, or you can go along the river by boat.

For views across London you can't beat the Sky Garden - like the Shard but nicer and free. (You do need to book ahead).

With plenty of notice z hotels, point a hotels and premiere inn hub hotels are all good value for a single person traveling, and they’re usually in pretty central locations. What you give up is having a big room and a window! You have to book all of them direct.

Download Citymapper - it tells you when to get off the tube and is generally pretty accurate on times etc for all public transport.

If you’re interested in the big museums and galleries, I’d do your Friday in Kensington doing the National history/science/V&A. Saturday you could do the National gallery/National portrait gallery/British museum in Trafalgar Square/ Bloomsbury (they’re within walking distance of each other - is a decent walk but interesting).

Doesn’t really matter where you stay - it’s hard to spend more than 45 minutes getting into central London from any other bit of it but use the Citymapper to check journey times before you buy.

If you’re coming in on Friday check how big a bag you’re allowed into the museums etc

If you’re on FB, there’s a brilliant group called Visit London Things To Do which has every answer you want, in addition to the excellent answers here on MN. The latest question I see is, “What’s the best (cheap) train from Edinburgh to London?” with 36 comments posted so far

To help narrow down the possibilities, I'd suggest you get a good basic guidebook such as "DK Eyewitness Top 10 London". They're great little books: lots of practical info, well laid out, illustrated and, best of all, numerous sections on top 10 museums, top 10 galleries etc.

For transport, take a look at www.tfl.gov.uk, the Transport for London site. There are also TFL apps such as TfL Go, to help plan journeys, including real-time travel info.

Accommodation doesn't have to be pricey. I stayed the night in London recently, in a budget hotel minutes from two of the major London rail stations, on a pleasant tree-lined square, for just £45 ensuite, albeit without breakfast. It wasn't a special deal and I only booked a few days beforehand. It really depends what you want. Where I stayed wouldn't suit everyone, but all I require is somewhere private, welcoming and convenient for the places I want to visit.

Whatever you choose, have a great trip!

I agree with PPs. You need to check out accommodation that's easy to get to from your arrival point that's a bit further out and then find out the cost of travel from there to the centre to see if the total is cheaper than staying at a more central point.
For example, I see from a quick search there are Travel Lodge, Premier Inn etc in Croydon that are easy to get to from Gatwick, and a return trip to central London is £13.10 by train.

www.hilton.com/en/hotels/crohxhx-hampton-london-croydon/
www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/us/en/wandsworth/lonwd/hoteldetail

Both easy to get to from Gatwick, next to train stations that give easy and cheap access into central London

Wandsworth high street is quite nice to eat as well

This one is usually cheap and is ok- again easy to get to from Gatwick into Victoria
www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/us/en/london/lonve/hoteldetail