The Best Places to Eat, Sleep and Play in London This Spring and Summer
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LONDONSPRING & SUMMER GUIDE 2012 The best places to eat, sleep and play in London this spring and summer With more than 60 million reviews and opinions, TripAdvisor makes travel planning a snap for more than 50 million travelers visiting our site each month. Think before you print. And if you do print, print double-sided. INTRODUCTION TripAdvisor, the most trusted source for where to eat, sleep and play in thousands of destinations around the world, has collected the best insider tips from its 50 million monthly visitors to produce a unique series of travel guides. In addition to the best hotels, restaurants and attractions for every type of traveler, you’ll get great advice about what to pack, how to get around and where to find the best views. Be sure to check out the guides at www.tripadvisor.com. You’ll find reviews for more than 555,000 hotels, 200,000 vacation rentals, 175,000 attractions and 780,000 restaurants on Inside TripAdvisor.com. Learn from other travelers what to expect before you make your plans. LONDON One of the world’s top destinations, London is a thriving, exciting city with a diverse cross-section of offerings, from pubs to palaces. You name it, London has it in abundance. PACKING TIPS The Romans, after their arrival in Britain in C.E. 43, first put 1. Avoid sore feet: “Bring duct tape and put it on London on the map. Since then, London has been fought over, your heels. I don’t care how good your shoes are or how tough your feet are, you’re not used to burned and bombed. It’s become a center of commerce and walking seven to nine hours a day on concrete court intrigue and developed into a city of culture, a place to and cobblestones. Absent that, buy Savion Blister Plasters with Tea Tree Oil at Boots. which artists, writers and musicians flock. Today, London’s a They’re smooshy and lovely.”—TripAdvisor cosmopolitan metropolis, home to more than seven million Member, Allentown, Pa. inhabitants of diverse nationalities and backgrounds, making it 2. Dress well: While jeans are fine for sightseeing, the most populous city in the European Union. they’re a no-no for “a smart restaurant” so bring something less casual for the evenings. — While the spring can be fickle, with sun mixing with rain TripAdvisor Member, London and clouds, summers are generally mild: perfect sightseeing 3. Stay comfortable: “Layers are the key. I wear some tanks under a shirt and always have a weather. But don’t pack away that umbrella—the sunny skies sweater to wear under a raincoat. Take a hat can be punctuated with thunderstorms. Winters see shorter and small umbrella. And two pairs of shoes days and cool temperatures. Keep that rain slicker handy! in case one needs to dry out.”—TripAdvisor Member, Cleveland, Ohio tripadvisor.com 2 Top VIEWS LONDON’S BEST VIEWS The London Eye, an elaborate Ferris wheel, For unobstructed views of some London must- “You absolutely cannot miss a trip to sits across the River Thames from Big sees, take a ride on the river. “I took a River St. Paul’s Cathedral. It’s amazing to Ben. Twenty-five people can fit into one of Thames cruise from the Tower of London to stand alongside the dome and gaze over 32 enclosed transparent “pods” and see for Westminster Bridge. Along the banks of the London until it fades off into the haze of the up to 25 miles. “Loved it; this was one of the Thames are the many landmarks of London. It horizon. Plus, what a place for pictures.”— first things I did on my trip to London. It was a was relaxing to sit and watch the sights pass by, TripAdvisor Member, New Jersey great way to get an overview of the city and a including Tower Bridge, Tower of London, St. St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Paul’s Churchyard, first look at some of the sights.”—TripAdvisor Paul’s, the Globe Theatre, the London Eye, the 020 7236 4128 Member, Edmonton, Alberta Parliament Buildings and Big Ben.”—TripAdvisor London Eye, Jubilee Gardens, 0871 781 3000, Member, Vancouver, British Columbia http://www.londoneye.com Thames Cruises, 020 7740 0400, “You absolutely cannot miss a http://www.citycruises.com trip to St. Paul’s Cathedral.” Where to PLAY TOP 10 Attractions . 1 The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, 020 7872 0220 . 6 Royal Air Force Museum London, Grahame Park Way, Hendon, 020 8205 2266 . 2 British Museum, Great Russell Street, 020 7323 8299 . 7 Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 020 7304 4000 . 3 National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, 020 7747 2885 . 8 Houses of Parliament, Old Palace Yard, Westminster, 020 7219 4272 . 4 Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, 020 7416 5000 . 9 St. James Park, Horse Guards Road, The Storeyard, 020 7930 1793 . 5 Churchill War Rooms, Clive Steps, King Charles Street, 10. Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, 020 7930 6961 020 7942 2000 FAMILIES “We’ve been to science museums all over Arrive early to the Tower of London to Plan for lots of time at the Natural History the U.S. and Europe and this is one of the miss the queues. “Not only was the whole Museum. “From the actual building itself best. The Science Museum is massive, place filled with wonderful history but (look at the pillars to see birds and lizards with sections dedicated to aeronautics, the guide added so much to the tour.”— carved into the stone) to the multitude medicine, space, computers, etc.”— TripAdvisor Member, St Louis, Mo. of fantastic exhibits, you could spend a TripAdvisor Member, Dublin, Ireland Tower of London, Tower Hill, 020 3166 6000 week there and still not see everything!”— Science Museum, Exhibition Road, TripAdvisor Member, Cardiff, U.K. 0870 870 4868 “…the next best thing Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, 020 7942 5011 to time travel.” ROMANCE The undulating fields and scenic water A visit to the maze, formal gardens and state St. James’s Park is “a lovely place to gardens make Regent’s Park “an oasis apartments of Hampton Court Palace have a stroll any time of the year. With its of calm in the city: a superbly maintained, in Surrey is “the next best thing to time British trees, statues and lake, it’s definitely huge open space with several small cafes.”— travel.”—TripAdvisor Member, Phoenix, London’s best park and a great place for TripAdvisor Member, Lancaster, England Ariz. views of Westminster and Buckingham Regent’s Park, 020 7486 7905 Hampton Court Palace, Surrey, Palace. A classic British setting.”— 020 3166 6000 TripAdvisor Member, Bristol, U.K. St. James’s Park, Horse Guards Road, The Storeyard, 020 7930 1793 Call an Expedia Travel Specialist now 877 633 3716 tripadvisor.com 3 Where to PLAY BUDGET One of the nice things about London is how Tate Modern art gallery, also free, is “Hampstead Heath is a revelation—like many of the museums are free! Not that you’d housed in an old power plant. The art a bit of the countryside brought to the mind paying to visit the Victoria and Albert work is “much more cutting edge than the city. Get your comfy shoes out for a nature Museum, one of the largest museums of Museum of Modern Art in New York.”— stroll. What a hidden jewel!”—TripAdvisor applied arts in the world. “If you like art, in all TripAdvisor Member, Amherst, Mass. Member, Spartanburg, S.C. its forms, this is your museum.”—TripAdvisor Tate Modern, Bankside, Southwark, Hampstead Heath, Hampstead, 020 7332 3322 Member, Valencia, Spain 020 7887 8888 Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, 020 7942 2000 “Much more cutting edge than the Museum of Modern Art in New York.” ADVENTURE “Hyde Park provides a fantastic backdrop “If you want to pretend you’re the next “Just because you’re in the city, your golf for all your sporting needs. Informal pick- David Beckham, then check out Hackney swing doesn’t have to suffer. Urban Golf has up games of rugby, cricket and football can Marshes, which is quite famous for its 73 come to London thanks to a state-of-the-art be found all along the park, so show up and football pitches (the largest number in all facility in Soho, where you can play over 50 make some new friends. Tourists and locals of Europe in one place).”—TripAdvisor of the most famous courses with the latest in flock to the Park to cycle, jog or blade Member golf simulators.”—TripAdvisor Member along the Paths during the nice weather. Hackney Marshes, Homerton Road, Urban Golf Soho, 33 Great Pulteney St., You can also play tennis or try your hand at Hackney, 020 8356 8467 020 7248 8600 the putting course.”—TripAdvisor Member Hyde Park, 020 7298 2100 TripAdvisor members have posted more than 10 million traveler photos on the site. The good, the bad and the very candid. It’s almost like being there! EDUCATIONAL/HISTORICAL The British Museum houses the world’s Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is a replica “Original London Walks is an excellent greatest collection of international antiquities. of the original Globe where many of the way to see London! The tours showed “You should plan to see only a small portion of Bard’s plays were first staged. For “nice us parts of London we wouldn’t have the collections during your visit—plan ahead authentic Elizabethan atmosphere” and a discovered on our own. All of the and you’ll have a great time.”—TripAdvisor cheaper alternative to a West End show, guides were great and were very Member, Baltimore, Md.