Expert: David Stewart White - 11/20/2009

Question
we ( Me and my wife) are planning to visit london on 30 31 1st ..3 nights 4 days by National Holidays  in Britania international hotel.
How do we plan our sighseeing...is this hotel good ....and situated at a central place.

Is there any tour operator who can take us around...
Do they take care of all entries like london eye etc....

Would like to know the best way of utilising all the 4 days and what will be the tentative cost of sightseeing only.
we are interested only in sighseeing so what are the items one should not miss on.

David Thanks in advance.  

Answer
Hello,

Regarding your hotel--I am not personally familiar with this hotel, but you can find information and reviews about it here:

         http://tinyurl.com/ybec24w


The hotel gets decidedly mixed reviews on TripAdvisor.com.  The location is not bad--a bit out of central downtown London, but very accessible via the Docklands Light Railway (which connects with the London Underground near the Tower of London).  You are also quite close to Greenwich and that is a nice place to explore (nautical museum, observatory, pubs, etc).

For a sightseeing introduction, you might want to try one of the hop-on/hop-off bus tours that takes you past the major sights and allows the opportunity for you to get off, explore, then resume the tour route.  Here's one company:

    www.theoriginaltour.com

I don't know of comprehensive tours of London that include all entries, but there may be some companies that offer this.

Sounds like you need to obtain a London guidebook, or do some online research about what sights to see during your visit.  I would always include the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, one or more museums (British Museum, Tate, National Gallery...) as well as simply time to walk and enjoy the atmosphere of central London, including parks (St. James's Park, Regent's Park) the bustling shopping streets and areas (Covent Garden is interesting area to shop and stroll).  Perhaps a boat tour on the Thames too.  Getting tickets to the London Eye is fairly simple, either online or simply at the ticket office.  In winter months, the lines are usually short at the Eye.

If walking tours are of interest, and you want a tour company, you can't go wrong with London Walks:

  www.walks.com

Hope this helps you.

Regards,

David White