London for visitors Londoners keep away from this op (London in General)

Member Name: carmen999

Product:	London in General
Date:	14/05/02 (103 review reads)
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A very general guide for a visit to London. I would not explain anything that is not well known by anyone familiar with London, so you can skip this opinion if this is you case. If you have never been to or you got lost or confused your last time here, you are allowed to continue reading.

For the trip, there are always hundreds of bargains: train, airplane, plane+hotel... If you find nothing (rare thing) try lastminute.com or Easyjet, Ryanair…

It is necessary to have in account that hotels are expensive and of not much quality (and this includes those of high category). The rooms, tiny.

In order to move within London, the best thing is to get a Travelcard (in any ticket office or some newsagents). Valid for the tube, bus and some trains (between London) you will find of 1 day, weekend (cheaper that buying 2), weekly, monthly or yearly. Only a picture is needed if you buy weekly or longer periods. And between those of 1 day there are 2 types: the most normal and cheapest is valid only from the 9:30 weekdays, but all the day during the weekend or bank holidays.
London is divided in 6 zones but the tourists rarely leave zone 1 (except for going to the airport) unless the hotel is a little far-off (and that is at the most zone 2).
Also there are booklets of 10 tickets in zone 1 and a million types more, but these are most useful.
Don’t forget that the transport, like everything, is quite expensive in this city.

Now that we can move, it is time to see London. Although it is really big, I believe the best way is to go by foot whenever you can, to be able to enjoy the atmosphere and the life of the city, that is one of its better virtues. It is also pleasant to take one of the typical red buses (double deckers) and see everything from the heights.

And yes, as much in the tube as on the bus, I advise to avoid whenever you can the rush hours: mornings till 9 or 10, evenings 4 to 7 (more or less
).

To decide what yo want to see is the most difficult. There is so much that it depends on the tastes and the time that you have. Armed with a guide, it’s better to plan a little beforehand, because the time flies rather than goes and the distances are great. If yo don’t want to buy a guide, the English office of tourism publishes enough booklets that can be requested and has a very interesting Website. Time-Out, Lonely Planet… and hundreds more that you can have a look at.

There are monuments, museums, shopping, nightlife, theaters... Everyone will have its favorites but even in years you do not have time to do everything. I suppose that you would not have to miss the Tower of London, the Parliament with the Big Ben, the British Museum or the National Gallery, visits to Oxford Street, Piccadilly, the parks... A very personal list lacking so many things.

On the nights out, a small warning at the time of returning home. There are night buses (in which you can use your Travelcard) all the night: they use the prefix N before the line number and there are enough lines, some very frequent and other each half an hour approximately.
However, the typical black cabs are rare during the night (although they are working on this problem). The mini-cabs are cars of normal aspect that is not advisable to take in the middle of the street since many are illegal and they may be dangerous, but you will find some agencies that there are everywhere in those hours or you can speak with the doormen or personnel of the clubs that will call them.

Of the food, what I am going to say but that usually it is the worse experience for most tourists. Usually one resorts to the McDonald and similar ((ugg!), but do not forget that also a lot of small independent restaurants in which it is possible to eat well and at a reasonable price. There are hundreds of restaurants of all the countries of the world and this may be the momen
t to try Mongolian food (that I recommend) or the likes of Afghanistan. If you do not feel brave, there would be always a great selection of any of your favorites.

This opinion has already gone too long (somebody has arrived till here?), but I am going to prepare a list of my favorite (and very reasonable) places for a next one.

Until soon and good trip!

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