London Travel Tips
July 8th, 2009Travelling
London should not be visited from June to August. Traffic jams feel much worse on hot days and the queues for everything interesting will be unbearably long. London roads are still congested and the underground railway is often faster than a taxi. There are no tourist-free months but the best days to visit are in May or September, when the days are fairly long. If shopping is the main aim, November – December is even better. Prices drop in the January sales, but the crowds grow correspondingly.
Countryside
If you are compelled to be in London during the peak season, it can be a good idea of spending at least part of the time in the surrounding countryside. Cambridge can be reached by train in an hour from either Kings Cross Station or Liverpool Street Station, and a fine day can be spent touring the colleges and sites. As you might expect of a university town, the shops are ordinary but the pubs are excellent. Oxford, the same distance but in another direction, is equally distinguished academically but rather more industrial.
Hotels
The best hotels were previously concentrated in areas like Mayfair and Belgravia, described as discreet rather than interesting. Today’s travelers are less worried about rubbing shoulders with working people and the hotels have spread accordingly. The worst aspect of London hotels id their uncertain standard of cleanliness, but in the five-star category this should not apply.
Regardless of the number of stars, the “City of London” is a place for the leisure traveler to avoid. The City is what London calls its financial district and, although it contains photogenic sites like Tower Bridge, the area dies each evening after the men (and ladies) in suits have commuted back to their homes in the suburbs. There are fine hotels in the City, but they are for working trips and their best features are photocopiers and printers, executive lounges and conference centers.
Father West there are fine hotels, far too many to mention, in central Soho, noisy Westminster, dirty Victoria and posh Knightsbridge. One way to prune the list is to enquire about their English breakfast, which should contain eggs, bacon and sausages cooked in umpteen ways each, plus unlimited quantities of bread, fruit, juice, yoghurt, coffee and tea. Smaller hotels may want to bring the breakfast of your choice to the table, but a vast self-service buffer is better. The author’s personal favourite is the breakfast of the Spanish-owned Melia White House Hotel on Regent’s Park, which includes a fine sparkling white wine. After all that bacon and sausage, the palate needs it.
Shopping
The shopping in London has always been unsurpassed and the old favorites are as good as ever. The best known department store is Harrods in Knightsbridge but more remarkable is Liberty, just behind Regent Street near Oxford Circus. It is even older than it looks because the timbers used to build it came from old British warships. Liberty prices are not cheap but lunch in its Champagne and Oyster Bar is not soon forgotten.
Half of the fun of London shopping is in its street markets. Some of the best are in the area around Camden Lock, near Regent’s Canal. One market is temporarily closed after a recent fire, but there are five other indoor and outdoor markets. The items on sale tend to be trendy rather than refined, but they are certainly unique.
Pubs
There are tens of thousands of pubs in London but most of those in the centre are fairly modern and dull. A notable exception is the Dove, overlooking the River Themes near Hammersmith Bridge. It was built in the 17th century and, over the years; a lot of people have discovered its fine beer and views, including Ernest Hemingway, a man who knew his drink. They say that King Charles II used to come here with his actress mistress Nell Gwynne, but probably not for the beer.
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