Hi, been vacationing in the NL for some time but this year baby wants to go to London. Fine & good, but what she wants to see is Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard plus the Tower of London and that sort of stuff. Me, I know she wants to go to Harrods but the only place I really want to go is Stonehenge. Got any info as to where that is in regards to London and what sort of public transit is available? - Me drive on the wrong side of the road? Thanks but No Thanks. (TbNT!)
Any suggestions as to what we can see in the UK via public transit during a week to ten days will be much appreciated. Plus I am more than happy to post relevant pictures for those that cannot travel as I. Ideas? Requests? Thanks in advance - darms

Stonehenge is between 1 and 2 hours drive from central London, depending on traffic conditions - an hour or so if there aren't any jams, but two hours or more if there are! It's located in open countryside about 10 miles north of Salisbury, which is also worth a visit, particularly the magnificent 13th century cathedral - one of the best in Europe. English Heritage provide visitor and access information for Stonehenge at http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConProperty.313 including public transport info. If you don't want to drive, then train to Salisbury, and then a cab or bus to Stonehenge would seem to be the answer.
Nowadays you aren't allowed to get too close to the stone monoliths, ie within touching distance, but you can get close enough for decent photos.
Most U.S. visitors to Britain make for London, and remain there, which is fine, but you miss out on much of British scenery and history. Other things worth seeing in London are St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge (take one of the many river trips for this), Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and of course there are many museums, art galleries, theatres, etc, all easilly accessible by underground (subway) or taxi (cab). Make sure you use only the registered 'black cabs' or you're likely to be ripped off!
Other UK places worth a visit, though you'd really have to stay over at least one night , easilly arranged from London by train, are Edinburgh with it's spectacular castle - and excellent shopping too, York with it's famous cathedral (or minster), and fascinating narrow streets, and Chester with it's impressive city walls.
There are many other interesting towns in fairly close proximity which you can easilly visit on a day rail trip from London, such as Brighton, Hastings, Salisbury (already mentioned), Canterbury, and the University towns of Oxford and Cambridge. Most of these can be visited either individually by rail, or as an organised coach day tour.

British Rail, I must say, organise some very good day trips , and National Express (coaches) too. I agree with all you say, Aramis, except for the Black Cabs. They are so prohibitively expensive I certainly wouldn't use them for anything, short or long. Stick to the buses and tube, overground rail and coach . It is worth picking up leaflets on trips from the stations and coach termini.Have a great time.
I am very fond of the Gardener's Museum , HERE
easy to find by bus and a lovely place.

If you're making the trip by train to Salisbury on your way to Stonehenge, I'd recommend spending some time in Salisbury and visiting the cathedral. Once you've reached Stonehenge, it doesn't really take much time to 'do' it, especially now that you can't go right up to the stones.

What sort of things are you interested in, and how long will you be over here for?

Incidentally, it's the rest of the world that drives on the wrong side of the road!

Go and see Windsor Castle. I thought the entrance fee was a bit high when we went but worth a visit nonetheless. The Royal Family actually spend time living there (a bit of week-end residence maybe ). Almost any Cathedral city is worth a visit. Really ancient history abounds in them. Winchester being a good example. This was the capital city of the kingdom of Wessex (when there were other kingdoms as well). A Round Table is there. It was made around 1250. Henry 8th was the one who had it painted and hung in the Great Hall. The legendary King Arthur was somewhat earlier than that, so it can't have been his.

You might find this old thread useful for attractions in and around London.

British Rail? That shows your age dear, or more to the point your long absence from th country.

Quote:

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Under the 1993 Railways Act, the old British Rail was split up and sold off. By November 1997, British Rail had been divested of all its operating railway functions.

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I went to Stonehenge on a school trip one day, way back in the early sixties when you could not only see the stones from close up but could sit on them, and if the urge took you, write on them! The graffiti was everywhere. I certainly sat on a stone.

By British Rail I meant the Railway system, whatever it is now called...

Lots of them as I understand it, Railtrack owns the tracks, then many companies own trains. Very confusing these days.

I enjoyed going to the Wax museum when I was in London. Went everywhere on the bus or train. Also found the bus conductors very helpful, they will tell you where to get off if you are not sure.

Do they sell weekly bus and train passes?

Darms I have been to Stonehenge twice and it is well worth the trip.
The last time we went we did have a hired car, but the first time we took the train to Portsmith (sp?), stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast there and caught a bus to Stonehenge.
It is enough years ago that I can't remember any more specific details than that, but it certainly is doable without a car.
I'm pretty sure that you can't take a train anywhere closer than that - at least you couldn't then!
Portsmith also has a very cool old military fort that you can tour. It was quite different from anything else I'd ever seen.

In terms of being in London. You must visit the Tower of London and do a Jack the Ripper Walk that leaves from near there. The Millenium Eye is a great experience too.
One of the best ways to see London is to buy a pass on one of those all day sight-seeing buses. You can cruise around London, get off where you like, and then get back on and keep going.
The one we took even included a ride down the Thames in a boat, past the Houses of Parliament. It was great fun.
Be advised though, that London is hands down the most expensive city I have ever been in for food and such!

Telling someone 'where to get off' can have a rather different meaning to what you may think, though I'm sure most bus conductors will generally use the original meaning! Actually, most UK buses don't have separate conductors, the driver doing both jobs. Buy a one day travel card for London use which will give unlimited travel on all London buses and the underground - costs about £10, and will save you a lot of money. I don't agree at all with Ren about the black cabs, they're no more expensive than cabs in most major cities of the world, and are very safe and reliable. Unlicensed mini-cabs on the other hand are well known for rip-off fares. Obviously if use cabs extensively, or for long journeys, particularly out of the London zone, it'll cost you a packet, but they are useful if you have luggage or are travelling late at night.
You can buy an inner London fold-out, pocket size street map for about £2, available from slot machines at most underground (can we please say Tube?) stations. I often use these to navigate London streets on foot, and you'll continually pass cafes and pubs, where you can relax. Virtually all the major London sightseeing attractions, and parks, etc, are clearly shown on these maps, as well as the Tube stations. The actual Tube map is free at all stations, just ask for one when buying your ticket.
A couple of weeks ago, I had to attend a meeting near Trafalgar Square, and afterwards walked down the Strand, past and into the 'Old Bailey' (the UK senior law courts), then to St. Paul's Cathedral. Having seen it many times, I didn't go in, specially as they now charge - which I find disgraceful seeing as it's supposed to be primarilly a church, not just a tourist attraction! I then crossed the River Thames, and walked along the picturesque South Bank, past Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - you can take a guided tour, or show yourself round, or even book to see a play, and I've done all three! Then on past the full size replica of Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hind, crossed the river again and on to the Tower of London. I didn't go into the Tower, seen it & bought the tee-shirt, but carried on to one of my favourite London places - St. Katherine's Dock which is just past Tower Bridge, and had a pint of ale in the Dickens Inn!
It might be worth trying to get tickets to see the 'Ceremony of the Keys', at the Tower of London. They're free, but you must apply well in advance. The ceremony is over 700 years old, and takes place every evening. You'll find details of how to apply at http://www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/content.asp?ID=704

I would recommend a trip to the city of Lincoln. It's an easy one and a half hour train ride from London. Stay a couple of days in one the hotels around the Bailgate and Steep Hill. Castle, Cathederal, Victorian prison, 11th century Norman house, still lived in; they are all close together. Some great old book shops and restaurants, goldsmiths etc. If you like history, you will like Lincoln and from there you can easily get to York, or swing down to Leicester and see Bosworth Field where Richard III died.

I've never been out of England, and my geography isn't all that great. But I'd reccommend Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon. Both really nice places. Salisbury Catherdral and Gloucester Cathedral are both good places to see, as well as Leeds Castle, in Kent. I can also reccommend the "Good Friday" buses, or the open topped buses, which are in the major cities. They take you all around and also usually have a tour guide with them. If you get a tour guide who knows all about the city you are in for a treat. York is beautiful also. I think the most beautiful places I'd been in England though, is the Cotwalds. So many places on our doorsteps.

skunkee, you really got me confused there. I lived for about twenty-five years roughly halfway between Portsmouth and Salisbury (in Southampton) and caught trains to both cities on a regular basis. I also often travelled to Amesbury which is down the road from Stonehenge. Salisbury is much closer to Stonehenge than Portsmouth. There is a train between Portsmouth and Salisbury, it takes about an hour and a half - might you have caught that train and then a bus? Busing from Portsmouth to Stonhenge surely would be very cumbersone with some changes. I just went to check in case Salisbury station had been closed down but it is definitely still open. This is a panarama shot of Salisbury station.

The bus from Salisbury station to Stonhenge takes 25 minutes. Bus times to Stonehenge

London always has huge numbers of hotel deals and special offers, but they vary from hotel to hotel almost daily. Try typing <"Hotel Deals" & London"> into Google, and you'll find many thousands of deals to suit every budget.

Sue it was over 20 years ago, so anything is possible.
My memory is of catching a bus from Portsmouth, and I don't think it took all that long to get to Stonehenge either.
I'm pretty certain that that is the way we did it, although I can believe that the train to Salibury does (and did) exist. My husband maybe wanted to stay at Portsmouth for other reasons, and I assumed (erroneously) that it was the closet train station.
We were on our honeymoon at the time.

I feel a little disloyal saying this but, even at this time of year be prepared to wait in an endless line to get to see whatever it is that you want to see. Also, London is not what it was even twenty years ago. If you love ethnic, fine, you'll see it in a variety of discarded comestible fast food containers almost everywhere. But, that's just me, my brother loves the place. However, I would advise not wearing a wooly/fluffy type of jacket and do please avoid carrying a backback/burgen. When/if in a rail/bus station do please keep a firm hold on your valuables, in particular womens handbags of the shoulder strap type. These can be removed 'very' easily, as my wife found to her, well actually mine in the end, cost.
And now, I must return to my moonlighting as chief tourist officer for the London Tourist Board.

Darms - I felt much the same way about driving in the US, and your roads are a lot better than ours. A bloke we spoke to said it wasn't just driving on the other side, it was roundabouts, cars parked on the roadside and two lane roads where the traffic is fast and busy. What really terrified him the most was the price of petrol/gas over here.

I've been to Stonehenge twice in recent years, once in August and once in March. March was lots better. Fewer people, and it was easier to let the imagination run riot. Thermal undies and lots of padding are recommended - the wind blows pretty sharpish up on Salisbury Plain.

Stonehenge is probably about seventy miles from Portsmouth and about nine miles from Salisbury. Amesbury is the nearest town but it is very small, Salisbury is still fairly small but larger than Amesbury. I used to travel to both, and to Portsmouth, with my job many years ago.

Thanks (didja notice Sue?) but again I'm not really a 'tourist' kind of guy so most of what I want to see will have mostly locals within therefore whatever lines should be largely minimal. Personally I have been in all sorts of 'bad' places such as Amsterdam's red-light district at 4 am (No, shut your dirty mind, I just could not sleep & needed to walk - Walk) but the missus isn't up to that sort of stuff. What are 'good' London neighborhoods for economical lodging? What qualifies as a 'reasonable' lodging rate, lodgings w/o vermin or rampant crime? (Some things can be too cheap) In this price range should I expect third-story toilets w/o lifts? (as in much of Europe) Don't worry that London is not what it was even twenty years ago. Austin TX is not what it was 25 years ago either.
And whatever became of Watney's Red Barrel? I used to like it. Did the Pythons do it in?