DELETED because due to recent knowledge gained, I can now see I wrote very offensive words here.

You know what they say about fags: they're hot. Hehe.

I'm a big fan of British Museum; you can definitely spend most of a day there. If the weather's good, consider booking a ticket for the London Eye; if that doesn't work, the Globe Theatre is within walking distance from there. Tate Modern usually has something cool on exhibition as well. I don't think I've been to London in five years or more, but that's what I recall off-hand. There's plenty of other stuff to see or do there, as I recall.

Definitely remember to look both ways before crossing the street. I had a very unpleasant experience once on a school trip to Edinburgh where a bunch of class mates jaywalked over a six-file street and I and a couple of other classmates followed them like lemmings because we were in a hurry to catch a bus. Nobody was hurt, but it was damn close. Never again. Seriously, look both ways even on a small crossing.

I did some googling and found out the F word is very offensive to homosexual people. :( It seems the word was twisted into something bad.

What ever you do , make sure you take a ride on the London Underground at rush hour ... best fun I can think of in London !! :p , If that fails the come up to North Wales for a day ... I live there , and it truly is the real Middle Earth ! :)

Don't drive with your own car.
Getting a parking place is pure horror. And if you finaly get one you will think that you just rented a flat for your car.

you can get an all day travel card which is a pass to go anywhere within central London via train or bus... that might save you a fair bit. I don't know if they do a family one though. A sight seeing trip on a bus followed by a sightseeing trip on a boat in the Thames (river) is a pretty good way to see a lot of the sights. Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, Houses of Parliament 10 downing street etc are all close to one another and can be a fairly pleasant walk along the waterfront. Also Greenwich Park is a nice area to pop into. The millenium wheel is also pretty popular but again expensive. Take a look at some London tourism sites as they tend to offer deals and discounts.

A lot of the museums are free (you may know that already.) I know you said no museums but the science museum tends to be very popular with kids. The Natural History museum is also very popular and both museums are free.


I'm going camping in North Wales (mix of wild and site) at the end of August. Love the place. Really couldn't recommend it enough. Yes the Welsh can be unfriendly but it's such a beautiful landscape. In the event you actually do drive there, try and head to a place called Lake Vyrnwy... most beautiful place I have ever been to and there's a waterfall (Rhiwargor Falls) hidden at one end. Sadly I won't be going there this year as we're exploring around Mt Snowdon.

Your friend sounds like a massive racist...

Well, half a dozen pakistanis jumped him in the street for no reason....

I spent a week in London once. Well, not really - our hotel just happened to be there, I spent an entire day in Beaulie (National Motor Museum) and another in Duxford (Imperial War Museum). To me, London didn't seem so much a city as a collection of statues, plaques and other such nonsense that it was impossible to filter out the interesting stuff from the noise. I would very much recommend considering spending some time - even just one day - somewhere else. I think that you could buy a plane ticket in the Imperial War Museum for a ride in a De Havilland Dragon which would take you for a pass over London (no idea how long) and back, although I noticed so late that the flights had finished for the day. I think it was something like fifty quid, certainly something I'll try to do next time around.

Also, if you have a smartphone, download the UK map. Doing so saved me a fat load of bother.

To be fair, there are a lot of segregated areas within London but not really Central London, usually more the outskirts and suburbs. Prominent Muslim and Jewish communities do dominate areas, along with certain racial groups and they can be a bit funny about you walking down their streets. You're unlikely not to notice when you've wandered into one of these areas though. There's also some rundown nastier areas to avoid but you'll be able to tell those too from how rundown they look or the Tenement buildings. Common sense, as with any city, prevails.

P.S Camden is a popular but rough place for nights out and for it's market. It can be worth walking down the high street when the Electric Ballroom (nightclub) is doing one of their gay nights as the queue can make your eyes go wide with the kinds of stuff some of them wear (lots of cowboy outfits, bdsm etc.) I don't know how some of them don't get arrested for what they wear but I bet they don't have any trouble getting a seat on the Underground!

The museums in south Kensington are really good and the science museum is great for kids but can get quite busy.

On transport get some oyster cards, They cost £3 (I remember) and you load them with cash, they work on all the public transport and are quick (RF chip). The most useful thing is not only are they cheaper than single tickets but they cap at a day travel card (normally 4.70 for zone 1-2) So if you are doing a lot of tube hopping they are great.

Not cool, but you can't make sweeping generalisations based on that.

Great. I wrote a lengthy post, but apparently the forum gobbled it up.

Thank you for all your feedback, it has been most helpful. I do have a few more questions though.

We'll be staying in Westminster. It's a flat rather than a hotel room, so we plan to be doing our own cooking a lot of the time. We do want to go out to lunch/dinner sometimes though, but I'm given to understand that this can be prohibitively expensive in London. Therefore, if anyone has recommendations for good and cheap(ish) restaurants/cafes/take-away places/whatever in that area, or close enough that it would be feasible to go there to eat, I'd be grateful. Pubs too, come to think of it. Personally I'm partial to cider, but I don't know how readily available it usually is in pubs over there.

We're mostly interested in English cooking, but other recommendations are also fine.

Can't think of any particular place for good English food in that area, but if you are willing to try different foods from around the world there are quite a few places in the 10£ range a few minutes walk away. Most of the ones I know are closer to leicester square.

There is a good korean restaurante called Little Korea 1 min away from leicester square.

If you like dim sum, on weekends for lunch, there is a nice dim sum menu in golden pagoda (1-2 mins away from leicester). When you get the bill, you will get an extra charge that doesn't explain what it is. It's likely the service charge, although the % and way of rounding changes from time to time xD Anyway, I don't think I've ever paid more than 10£ (drinking bottled water, no alcohol) with that charge included.

If you want to have awesome rammen, ittenbari is a restaurant in regent's street (5 mins from leicester, probably 15-20 from westminster).

There is also a nice cheap malasian (this one came recommended by an actual malasian) also 1 min away from leicester. I can't remember the name of the top of my head, but if you are interested I can look it up for you.

There is also a cheap italian I quite like 3 mins away from leicester square station, going in tottenham court raod direction. La Porchetta, Pollo Bar.

Those are the cheap ones I can think of close to there.

Spent 3 years in London and loved it (but perhaps that had something to do with being a student at the time).

I would recommend St. Paul's Cathedral. If you can't get in then just to view it in the evening when it's lit up is nice. Walk over the Millenium Bridge and look back is the best view.

If you have time see a show at the Globe. £5 (standing which, IMO, is the best way to view it) for some of the best theatre in the world.

If you like comics, fantasy, sci-fi etc. find Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue. Ignore the ground floor (just toys and crap to entice children in) and go straight to the basement. Lots of comics, books, RPGs, anime, etc.

If you're looking for a pub that does good British ale there's one called "The White Horse" on the London School of Economics campus (but not part of the university). Spent many a good hour in there. :)

There seems to be lots of people saying negative things about London, but I spent 3 years there and never had a bad experience.