London Vacation

[97thruhiker]

My wife and I are planning our annual vacation and have decided to spend a week in London this year.  We plan on going the first week of June.  This is our first visit to London so we plan on hitting some of the main tourist stops (British Museum, National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, etc.)  We also plan on taking a day visit out to Salsibury to see the Cathedral and Stonehenge.  With that said, for those of you living in London/UK, is their anything else that you would recommend to visit?  Any local resturants that we might want to visit?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, does anyone know anything about the Crown Plaza Hotel.  It says on its website that its in the "heart" of Westminster five minutes from Buckingham Palace etc.  Is this a decent part of town.  It looks decent from their webpage but you know how that goes sometimes

http://www.london.crowneplaza.com/

I know that is you visited Washington DC and stayed five minutes from the White House you could find yourself in the "hood".

[HaRuMaN]

You could visit Harpal while you're there...   

[grantspain]

The best thing to do is not stay in London,its very expensive,but depends on what your looking for-London is a good place to visit but not a good place to stay.I lived  in a little village called Hollingbourne,Kent near Leeds Castle,its on the main train line to Victoria station so its very handy,and you have all the beautiful countryside around you and some reasonable places to stay,but on the other hand if you stay in London then keep away from some of the more untasteful areas,westminster itself is not too bad but a nice place to stay is Putney.To be honest London is a bit of a crap hole,the history is cool but thats about it,but like i say depends on what you want to do,let me know and i will point you in the right direction

[cdbrown]

I can vouch for london being expensive.  I live in Kensington Olympia which is west of the city soon to move to Fullham for cheaper rent.

The location of the hotel looks great - ideal for the many walking tours around town and it's a fairly expensive area so no hoods.  Generally have to catch the bus or tube to get there.

Go to the Tower of London and take the free tour (well once you've paid to get in of course).
Take a bus tour to help get bearings.
Check out the Camden and Portabello markets.
Pubs, pubs and more pubs.  If you travel out of the centre you can find some very nice local pubs which serve good meals and lots of beer.  Be aware that it's acceptable to smoke in pubs at the moment but that is to change in the future.

Haven't been outside of London yet.

[Monkey]

If your going the Sailsbury you have to go to Southampton (shameless plug) as the history there is great, and your right on the door step of the new forest and some of the best beaches etc in the UK IMO.

personnally i'd stay on the south coast near southampton, your only 2 hours maximum from london by train (

[97thruhiker]

Thanks for the responses.  We are not locked into staying right in London.  That hotel came up under a package plane/hotel deal that my wife had found.  If theres a better alternative were all for it.  We decided on England as this will be our first trip outside the USA and felt more comfortable going to an English speaking country (military family, lived in Asia as a child but my parents handled everything so that experience really doesn't count). 

[Monkey]

What sort of things do you want to see?

what sort of places do you want to go, i know London and salisbury but any where else youve heard of that you would like to see?

What od you like to do on Holiday? Ie sit on a beach,, Find local History. Seing the country side etc

[Monkey]

What sort of things do you want to see?

what sort of places do you want to go, i know London and salisbury but any where else youve heard of that you would like to see?

What od you like to do on Holiday? Ie sit on a beach,, Find local History. Seing the country side etc

Just a couple of sujestions for the south of England

http://www.forestdale.co.uk/lyndhurst-park = Lyndhurst park Hotel, in a quite town/village good value 10-20Mins drive from southampton City Centre, regular buses with a bus stop out side.

http://www.thenewforest.co.uk/ really good site with everythnig to see/stay and do in the new forest

http://www.hants.gov.uk/discover/ Tourism in Hampshire

http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/ Salisbury Catherdal, a reall beutiful place to see

http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/ a eiry place, full of people on Summer solctice, but you cant get that close now cos of vandlism (gits)

http://www.weirdwiltshire.co.uk/stones/woodhenge.html Woodhenge

http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/ Another place with a fantastic medieval Cathedral.

http://www.portsmouthand.co.uk/ great place for navel history, and the spinnaker tower

 http://www.bournemouth.com/ great place to go, can get pricey to stay in during the summer months, its a typical seaside town with a prominade, loads of arcades, one of the best beaches in England (got an award) Imax theatre on the water front. and lots and lots of hills.

you cant beat a new forest pub for Food, proper Pub food, big steak and ale pies with new potatoes, or bangers and mash with onion gravey, all at a reasonable price.

all these places are easily accessable by train, bus or car and you can get to london via tran, bus or car, i would recoment the train though under 2 hours to waterloo station

[ha-Y-n]

You could visit Harpal while you're there...   

I was gonna tell him to stay away from Harpal 

[PCtech]

You could visit Harpal while you're there...   

I was gonna tell him to stay away from Harpal 

If you see the guy on the right, do NOT buy any X-boxes from him....you've been warned 

[markb]

You do realise (You won't) that England play Paraguay in their opening World Cup match at 2pm on Saturday the 10th June? If you are in the country at that time then you will find everywhere except bars deserted.

[grantspain]

You do realise (You won't) that England play Paraguay in their opening World Cup match at 2pm on Saturday the 10th June? If you are in the country at that time then you will find everywhere except bars deserted.

Apart from all the wives out shopping that is!

[ha-Y-n]

Noooooooooo, another Harpal thread! 

[97thruhiker]

As far as things to see, I guess the usual suspects as far as London goes (British Musuem, National Gallery, Parliment, that eye thing.  My wife wants to go to Notting Hill (guess she wants to find Hugh Grant running a bookstore or something).  We will only be in country for a week so we do not want to try to do to much. Should be out of country by the 10th so I guess we will miss the football experience.

Isn't Kate Beckinsale from London?  My wife can have Hugh Grant if I could have her  !

[missioncontrol]

Noooooooooo, another Harpal thread! 

he is everywhere........