I would recommend the Open Top Bus Tour. You can buy a hop and hop off 24 hour ticket. You then get a commentary tour and you can get off and on when and where you want to. It also offers some discounts on entry to some attractions. I think one of the companies offers a free Thames Cruise with the bus ticket as well.

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/london/default.aspx

Hi

children under 10 travel free on lonodn bus and underground, when accompanied by an adult. Adult travelcards are from £6.80 for central london to £13.80 for all zones (per day) - weekly ones are also available..
http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/travelcard.htm
have fun

kev

i would look at this page for a good rundown on the travelcard and the oyster card....
http://www.milesfaster.co.uk/information/travelcard-oyster-card.htm

Sarah was right about the Free River Cruise, The Big Bus Company (see URL for "bigbustours" in Sarah's post above) includes this in their Lonodn Sightseeing Tours along with free walking tours too.

The good news is that their tickets are now valid for 48hrs until February 2009!

Under 5s travel free and booking online saves you £2 per adult ticket. (£22 instead of £24) But for those of you who have two fare paying children (ages 5-15) it's cheaper to get the Family Ticket for £58. I've done the tour and the guides on the buses were fantastic, very knowledgable and humorous. A great way to learn all about London in a short space of time.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip!

always seems a lot of money to me - personally I'd rather get a travel card and a good guide book - London's expensive enough without paying £58 for a bus tour

KEVP4, I know there is a credit crunch at the moment but.......

This couple say they wish to do a lot of sightseeing. I am going to hazard a guess that you do not have two young children? I have two, aged 5 and 8 and believe me you do not want to be stuck on a crowded bus or, worse still, a tube train struggling through your Tube map and Lonely Planet Guide to work out where you are and where you want to be?!
Your little cherubs utterly fed up and running amock due to boredom whilst all the onlookers stare judgementally as though there was not a commuter alive who had any offspring. I would happily pay £58 for the two days every time just to get the reduction in stress levels! LOL!

Ah well, everyone to their own I suppose.

This seems to be getting a little confusing.
Is there a family travelcard I can purchase that can be used on both buses & the underground, or will I have to buy seperate for the buses(including open top tour bus) & a seperate one for the underground

If you plan to use the tube and bus then children under 11 are free on both. I plan to get an oyster card as it caps on a daily amount.

My mum and dad are just back from London and said the TUbe was having a lot of work done so a lot of routes were down. 10 days until we go.

mckay - the travel card can be used on tubes and buses - the open top bus is a seperate tour company and you have to pay seperately on that.

kevD - Ah well, everyone to their own I suppose. - true - personally when my kids were that age they loved the adventure of using the tubes, whereas sitting on a bus for a couple of hours looking at boring tourist spots drove them crazy..........

We're just home from a good weekend in London.

We bought Oyster cards and when we left yesterday we checked the balance. We put £20 on each when we bought them and topped up with an extra £1 to check we had enough for our day around London. We had £3.90 left for the next trip. Most tube stations had good staff who saw us coming and would scan the special passes for children they have and allow them through first while me and hubs went through one else where. They were also good at telling us where the wider barriers were so hubs would take 1 child and i would take the other through.

We pre bought our london eye tickets and got our madame tussaud tickets there too and saved a bit of money.

We went to see the Lion King at the Lyceme. It was fantastic. We arrived early and wandered about before choosing where to book for dinner. Possibly advisable to do that as there were lots of people being turned away when we were there.

The transport museum at Covent Garden was a good filler for the afternoon. It's not far from the Lyceme and the kids had a ball.

We also went on the big bus company tour. They also offer your ticket for 48 hours as well as a free river cruise and access to the walking tours they offer. Make sure you go on a red tour and not blue. It cost us £58 for 4 of us but it was a good time but we wished we had done it sooner.

Don't think piccidilli will be quieter on a sunday night. It was heaving with people.

Rainforest Cafe was nice for lunch on the day we left. Kids had a free reign in Hamley's and I was amazed as my 6 year old only spend £31 and his sister spent £41. Everyone told me I would live to regret saying they had a free reign but they didn't want to spend money really just look about and get pictures taken everywhere.

We also stayed in Pimlico which is only on the Victoria line but it was a quick journey and very quiet safe neighbourhood. Once I get my stuff sorted here I'll do a review on the hotel.

We hope to go back in the next 6 months as we feel we saw nothing. Kids want to do the tower of london, tower bridge, another theatre show and the free museums we found in the timeout book for kids in London.

hi want to site see london
wax works, eye, buckingham palace, tower london, london dungeons etc
where is best place to stay which will be central for all
any tips advice much appreciated

Premier Travel Inn at County Hall?

We stayed in Pimlico. It was a short 5 minute journey to Oxford Circus or 2 minutes to victoria to get other tibes elsewhere. We stayed in the Express by Holiday inn which for a family of 4 was a reasonable £120 a night and we got good points under their loyalty scheme. We were a it worried but with an oyster card found it easy to navigate anywhere due to the good transport system

London is so big and attractions spread out it's impossible to be handy for everything. You need to plan your visit so you cover things close together in one day and minimise travelling.

We have just stayed in London Bridge. Brilliant for London Dungeon, Tower, Tower Bridge, St Pauls, Tate Modern, Borough Market as all are in walking distance. Not good for Buckingham Palace, Tussauds or the Eye.

Hilton London Bridge was £100 a night room only - very new and very well appointed and very quiet. I've paid more and had worse experiences.

We also used Oyster Card and its the best way of paying for travel. 90p flat fare on the bus from Liverpool Street to Regent Street was a bargain.

will check out these thanks

Hi Daveyjp,

The London Eye isn't that far from London Bridge - it's only a short bus ride away.

And if you wanted to visit Buckingham Palace from London Bridge you could always hop on the tube or a bus. But you're right, if you want to be within walking distance of the attractions you mentioned. then London Bridge area would be the place to stay.

But I would recommend staying near Blackfriars Bridge as that's pretty central to get to most places (west, east or central London)

Strawberry

Hi all

We (Mrs Kiltie & I) are flying down and staying overnight at Gatwick next Sunday before heading to Egypt on Monday, we both thought of going in to Central London to see a show but there are not really any shows on a Sunday can anybody recommend some entertainment in London that we can go and see on Sunday afternoon/evening.

Thanks for any info
Graham

You could try one of the comedy clubs or if you like Jazz, Ronnie Scotts is open 6pm - midnight Sundays. There's also Sarastro Restaurant on Drury Lane and while not providing a show as such there's a string quartet and live opera while you dine on a Sunday evening.

Thanks marcuschap72

Can you recommend any particular comedy clubs?