Help with accomodation in London

Greetings,

I will travel to London for the first time in 13th September. I'm planning to stay 5 nights and I want to see the most I can of the city.

Can someone recommend me a place to sleep near majority of the cool places to see, in walking distance, so that I don't spend a lot of time and money on transportation?

Any good tips for anyone going alone with it's backpack for the first time to London?

Thank you in advance

Don't eat the yellow snow.

sleep with iainc

everything downtown is in walking distance... and the tube really isn't THAT expensive if you need it.

i once nearly walked the entire circus line... i thought i might die by the time i finished, but my point is that you can walk just about anywhere in the city center.

  blicero said:

i once nearly walked the entire circus line... i thought i might die by the time i finished, but my point is that you can walk just about anywhere in the city center.

 

i once nearly walked the entire circus line

 

i once nearly the entire circus line

 

i once the entire circus line

 

i the entire circus line

by the way, it sounds like you'll fit right in at Camden Market (camden town). you should check it, although i wouldn't walk there.

walking along the south bank is nice. i recommend walking from the waterloo bridge to the southwark bridge... you'll pass the Tate Modern (not to be missed!) and Shakespeare's Globe, and the wine district/vinopolis.

pretty much all museums in London are free (donation) and there are so many good ones. Victoria & Albert, British Museum, Tate, Tate Modern, National Gallery, etc...

Also, Covent Garden is fun... even just for the buskers.

  Dan C said:

  blicero said:

i once nearly walked the entire circus line... i thought i might die by the time i finished, but my point is that you can walk just about anywhere in the city center.

 

i once nearly walked the entire circus line

 

i once nearly the entire circus line

 

i once the entire circus line

 

i the entire circus line

LOL @ circus.... I meant "circle"

do all the tourist stuff like blicero said but dont go to camden during the day unless you specifically want to buy union jack/sex pistols branded trinkets and rizla. the nightlife is ok (ie. some pints).

check out the parks - hyde is overrated, kew is stunning. go to some of the markets - bricklane/eastend and london bridge are good. enjoy the cockney shouting, but watch for pickpockets.

for nightlife try bricklane/shoreditch and soho. guaranteed therell be some decent night/rave on in those 5 days - you can always fall back on ginglik in shepherds bush too.

also, the number one thing you absolutely most positively MUST do, is buy an oyster card.

these are cards that cost arout £4 you use to beep through the barriers. you top them up with money and they charge about half the price of normal travel. also, you cannot be charged over £6 a day when using one, which if i remember correctly is cheaper than an all day travel card in the first place. the tube stops which take the brunt of people coming in from the airports/coaches are guaranteed to have vending machines for them too.

this place is cheap and very nice and actually right opposite where i live! not that central (it's in Baham), but only a 5 minute walk to the tube which is on the Northern Line and will give you access to all the major areas....

plus Balham's nice with lots of bars and places to eat and sexy girls

Thank you all for the replies and the help.

Let's see:

>> chaosmachine: yellow snow?

>> keltoi: Who's iainc? :)

>> blicero: What's Camden Market? Thank you for the locations tips.

>> idrn: Than kyou for the tips. The oyster card is for tube only?

>> BCM: Thank you for the link. That guest house looks awesome. Lot's of gardens and green spaces. Is it hard to get from there to the central London?

Thank you all once again

covenant - no mate, it's really easy - you just walk down bedford hill (where it is situated) and get on the underground. it's on the northern line which will take you straight to leicester square, camden, the embankment (next to the london eye), everywhere really... it's cheap too - a single room is about £30 a night, which is very reasonable for london. in a lovely area, really nice people who own it too!

  covenant said:

Thank you all for the replies and the help.

Let's see:

 

>> chaosmachine: yellow snow?

Ignore

 

>> keltoi: Who's iainc? :)

London based WATMM member

 

>> blicero: What's Camden Market? Thank you for the locations tips.

Road with loads of head shops, sells random paraphenalia, some ok music shops, your milage may vary some people love Camden, personally I'm not a big fan. Also, don't go on Saturday.

 

>> idrn: Than kyou for the tips. The oyster card is for tube only?

Buses also and the Docklands Light Railway, but I doubt you'll be using that.

 

Thank you all once again

No thank YOU

Thank you for the replies Obel and BCM.

I was just checking the London Tume Map and I guess I'm starting to understand how the tube works :) (This is all new to me).

Just one question about the oyster card. I have to charge it with money. Before I enter the tube I have to press it against that yellow symbol to validate the trip. When I get out of the tube, at any station, do I have to press it again to indicate the end of that trip?

Thank you for all the help :)

Yep, but you have automated barriers that you touch to let you in and out of the station platform - so you can't really forget to touch out !

  Obel said:

  covenant said:

Thank you all for the replies and the help.

>> chaosmachine: yellow snow?

Ignore

Ignore at your own peril! :P

  covenant said:

Thank you for the replies Obel and BCM.

I was just checking the London Tume Map and I guess I'm starting to understand how the tube works :) (This is all new to me).

 

Just one question about the oyster card. I have to charge it with money. Before I enter the tube I have to press it against that yellow symbol to validate the trip. When I get out of the tube, at any station, do I have to press it again to indicate the end of that trip?

 

Thank you for all the help :)

To get an Oyster, go to a help and assistance booth with twenty quid or something, give it to the person and ask for an Oyster card. They'll give you one and credit the £20.

As MCBPete said, the barriers you just have to touch the oyster symbol with the card (note - you can have the card in your wallet and it'll still pick up the card through the wallet) and the barriers are at every station in central London so as long as you're going through a barrier at your destination then you're definitely touching out.. Buses are a little different, you get in the door in front of the driver, touch the Oyster on the pad and it's £1 payment for the whole journey, no need to touch out.

Just because no-one's pointed it out, the Oyster can also be used on London's buses, the DLR (Docklands Light Railway, which if you've any sense you won't need to use) and soon for some of the London Overground rail services as well. A word of advice: if you want a less hassled and more pleasant journey, try to use the buses and overground rather than the tube to get around. The tube is crowded, hot, filthy and unpleasant. Most importantly, taking the above-ground services will let you see more of the city - I've lived here for 3 years now and I still enjoy taking new bus routes in order to see parts of the city I've never seen before. Certainly beats staring at the back of some teenager's head on a tube train!

  Obel said:

  covenant said:

Thank you all for the replies and the help.

Let's see:

 

>> chaosmachine: yellow snow?

Ignore

 

>> keltoi: Who's iainc? :)

London based WATMM member

 

>> blicero: What's Camden Market? Thank you for the locations tips.

Road with loads of head shops, sells random paraphenalia, some ok music shops, your milage may vary some people love Camden, personally I'm not a big fan. Also, don't go on Saturday.

 

>> idrn: Than kyou for the tips. The oyster card is for tube only?

Buses also and the Docklands Light Railway, but I doubt you'll be using that.

 

Thank you all once again

No thank YOU

  Iain C said:

Just because no-one's pointed it out, the Oyster can also be used on London's buses, the DLR (Docklands Light Railway, which if you've any sense you won't need to use) and soon for some of the London Overground rail services as well. A word of advice: if you want a less hassled and more pleasant journey, try to use the buses and overground rather than the tube to get around. The tube is crowded, hot, filthy and unpleasant. Most importantly, taking the above-ground services will let you see more of the city - I've lived here for 3 years now and I still enjoy taking new bus routes in order to see parts of the city I've never seen before. Certainly beats staring at the back of some teenager's head on a tube train!

the tube's brilliant i love it. i had so much fun getting home from work last night....it wasn't as hot as the sun and as crowded as a cattle truck at all and everyone was in such a lovely mood. i didn't want to punch anyone and wasn't heard to shout "fucking tubes!" whilst on the platform at kennington.

this is a good hostel I have stayed in before and its right in the centre of the city

http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/l...ondon-st-pauls/

it is literally across the road from St Pauls Cathedral and you could walk to most of the famous attractions from there

  Obel said:

  Obel said:

  covenant said:

Thank you all for the replies and the help.

Let's see:

 

>> chaosmachine: yellow snow?

Ignore

 

>> keltoi: Who's iainc? :)

London based WATMM member

 

>> blicero: What's Camden Market? Thank you for the locations tips.

Road with loads of head shops, sells random paraphenalia, some ok music shops, your milage may vary some people love Camden, personally I'm not a big fan. Also, don't go on Saturday.

 

>> idrn: Than kyou for the tips. The oyster card is for tube only?

Buses also and the Docklands Light Railway, but I doubt you'll be using that.

 

Thank you all once again

No thank YOU

 

 

  Iain C said:

Just because no-one's pointed it out, the Oyster can also be used on London's buses, the DLR (Docklands Light Railway, which if you've any sense you won't need to use) and soon for some of the London Overground rail services as well. A word of advice: if you want a less hassled and more pleasant journey, try to use the buses and overground rather than the tube to get around. The tube is crowded, hot, filthy and unpleasant. Most importantly, taking the above-ground services will let you see more of the city - I've lived here for 3 years now and I still enjoy taking new bus routes in order to see parts of the city I've never seen before. Certainly beats staring at the back of some teenager's head on a tube train!

Ha, sorry mate. Not been up long, bloody exhausted, etc. etc.

I think the advice about avoiding the tube stands, though. Yesterday on the Circle line I had to sit next to this really fat woman who took up a good portion of my seat as well. It was so dizzyingly hot too, and we were going pretty much all the way around the fucking circle to a stop two behind the original. It was disgusting. If I hadn't have been wearing a pair of barely mid-thigh length jorts I might have evaporated right there.

Yet again the jorts save the day! Is there anything they can't do?!

  Iain C said:

  Obel said:

  Obel said:

  covenant said:

Thank you all for the replies and the help.

Let's see:

 

>> chaosmachine: yellow snow?

Ignore

 

>> keltoi: Who's iainc? :)

London based WATMM member

 

>> blicero: What's Camden Market? Thank you for the locations tips.

Road with loads of head shops, sells random paraphenalia, some ok music shops, your milage may vary some people love Camden, personally I'm not a big fan. Also, don't go on Saturday.

 

>> idrn: Than kyou for the tips. The oyster card is for tube only?

Buses also and the Docklands Light Railway, but I doubt you'll be using that.

 

Thank you all once again

No thank YOU

 

 

  Iain C said:

Just because no-one's pointed it out, the Oyster can also be used on London's buses, the DLR (Docklands Light Railway, which if you've any sense you won't need to use) and soon for some of the London Overground rail services as well. A word of advice: if you want a less hassled and more pleasant journey, try to use the buses and overground rather than the tube to get around. The tube is crowded, hot, filthy and unpleasant. Most importantly, taking the above-ground services will let you see more of the city - I've lived here for 3 years now and I still enjoy taking new bus routes in order to see parts of the city I've never seen before. Certainly beats staring at the back of some teenager's head on a tube train!

 

Ha, sorry mate. Not been up long, bloody exhausted, etc. etc.

 

I think the advice about avoiding the tube stands, though. Yesterday on the Circle line I had to sit next to this really fat woman who took up a good portion of my seat as well. It was so dizzyingly hot too, and we were going pretty much all the way around the fucking circle to a stop two behind the original. It was disgusting. If I hadn't have been wearing a pair of barely mid-thigh length jorts I might have evaporated right there.

Christ, Victoria Line yesterday from Green Park to Tottenhame Hale, people cramming into the train, no room to move and it wasn't even rush hour. Boiling hot, absolute nightmare. I nearly snapped and killed everyone.

lol

anywhere round victoria/pimlico way will put you walking distance from the most obvious tourist stuff.

i live in pimlico and walk almost everywhere

couchsurfing.org if you dont want to spend the money for a hostel.

(havent tried it, but sounds great)