~xxxxA new goliath and Europe’s biggest city, London is one of the ultimate city-break destinations. Whether you enjoy its fabulous art, history and buildings, breathtaking sights, world-class cultural events, fine dining and vibrant nightlife or top quality theatre, ballet and internet explorer, this pulsating metropolis fits the bill. While the capital often enjoys the spotlight thanks to a number of visible sporting events such as cricket at the Oblong and Lords, tennis at Wimbledon and this year’s Tour de England, there’s even more of a buzz these day as it limbers up to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
There’s a wide range of accommodation from budget youth hostels to probably the most luxuriously expensive hotels on the planet. It’s not cheap but it’s certainly wonderful.
Getting there/getting around London
London is easy to get to by road. Of the major motorways, you can am London from the M1 in the north, the M4 and M40 in the western side, the M3 and M23 in the south and the M2 and M20 in the east. If you’re flying, choose from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and City airfields. By coach, nearly all national services come into Victoria coach station. Once you’re in London, you can choose the bus, train or tube.
You can also criminal plenty of the capital’s iconic black airport taxi cabs, but they do tend to be on the expensive side. Driving in London is quite an experience and not for the faint-hearted. If you do drive or hire a car, remember that during the week you’ll have to pay coach companies in london the over-crowding charge (£8) between the hours of 7am and 6pm.
Sightseeing in London
You’d need a few weeks to tour all of London’s famous points of interest, museums and galleries, museums, parks etc. Probably the best way to get your bearings and take in as many famous points of interest as possible is onboard an open-top bus. There are tourist bus stops all over the city and one ticket enables you to go on and off as and when you need to. Most avenues take in Buckingham Palace, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the System of London, the Houses of Parliament and Piccadilly Circus. The London Eye is one of the city’s most popular attractions and will be offering fantastic views.
Top museums include Tate The british isles, the Tate Modern, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum and the Natural History Museum. There are wonderfully relaxing parks like Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, Saint James’s Park and Richmond Park or you could explore some of the city’s interesting markets at Camden, Notting Mountain or Spitalfields.
London family attractions, day trips and shopping experiences
Family attractions in London
The Natural History Museum is superb for children and there are lots of interactive indicates. You can experience what an earthquake feels as though, get up close and personal with dinosaurs such as the distressing T-Rex and examine odd and wonderful examples in the Darwin Hub.
London Zoo and London Aquarium tank are popular destinations for animal lovers and the System of London and the London Dungeons make for an entertaining few hours. See your favourite celebrities (not quite in the flesh) at Madame Tussauds or visit east London to check out the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood.
Day trips from London
Windsor Castle sits on the River Thames about 20 miles western side of London and a tour of the world’s earliest occupied castle is extremely popular. If you fancy heading down to the shoreline you can catch a train to Brighton from Victoria Station and grow stroking in the sea air in around one hour. Hampton Court Palace in the south west of London is probably coach company in london one of the most spectacular palaces in the world and its famous maze should keep you busy.
Visit in the winter and you can ice-skate with the palace as your history. Theme parks such as Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park lie on the city’s outskirts and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park is around thirty minutes north of the capital.
Shopping in London
A shopping splurge won’t be cheap, but there’s very little you couldn’t buy. You’ll find standard fashion in Oxford and Regent Streets and big department shops like Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and world-famous Harrods in Knightsbridge. Around Covent Garden you’ll find exclusive accessories and more standard names and the markets are perfect for variety. Portobello Market’s perfect for jewellery and Camden draws a very mixed crowd in search of ethnic martial arts disciplines, crafts, jewellery and second-hand clothing.