Londoners! - Please help some travelling Canucks

[+TheVaultrons]

Mr. Vaultron and I are planning a much belated honeymoon to London and we need some advice from some real Londoners.

 

Right now, we're trying to pick out a hotel. We can get a great package deal if we stay at a hotel just north of Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park near Bayswater Rd and Praed St, but there's another hotel that we're interested in that looks like it's a little closer to the sites we want to see, but it's not part of the package deal. The second one is near the Victoria Train Station and Buckingham Palace. We're trying to determine if it's really worth our while to spend the extra money on the second hotel. Are the two hotels really that far apart? How much travel time would we really save by choosing the second hotel? We'd be relying mostly on the tube for transportation.

 

We also plan to do some caching while we're visiting. Are there any caches we shouldn't miss?

 

Thanks.

[+mousekakat]

I'm not a Londoner, by far!! but, last summer we went and stayed in a hotel in the Bayswater area and took the tube everywhere. We bought day tickets, if I remember right, and rode around as much as we wanted. Aside from the fact that some times the ride was really rather hot and the train very full, there was no trouble or major travel time. We took good walking shoes and did a lot of walking and exploring, too, for example, walking from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, and discoverd a GREAT little sandwich shop for lunch along the way and found the Military Chapel that had a lot of history and a beautiful altar that we may have missed otherwise.

 

Here's a little gem you might want to check out. It's slow loading, but has LOADS of info. I wish we had had it when went last summer!

 

Enjoy your trip...oh, and one last thing, verify your hotel has a/c if you're the type that really wants it. London doesn't get THAT hot, but it gets warm enough in the summer and if you've been out all day you may want a cool, quiet room to come back to. Our hotel advertised on their webpage that they had a/c, but in reality, they didn't. Fortunately they had a fan we could borrow, but only one, and it wasn't in the greatest shape!

 

Naomi

[+kbootb]

They don't sound far apart at all. So long as they are near a tube station I doubt that you would see much difference. PM or e-mail me the hotels and I can tell you for certain.

 

BTW I'm a Londoner, can't believe no other Londoner has leapt in to help

[Master Mariner]

As the crow flies, the two locations are about 3km apart. Walking from one to the other is mainly through Hyde Park and around the back of Buckingham Palace. If you want to view the two places in Google Earth or Streetmap.co.uk the first location you mention is at approximate position 51 30.938N; 000 10.536W and the second at 51 29.866N; 000 08.578W. If I was in your boots, I would go for the second location as there is a lot more touristy things within a 30 minute walk.

 

Don't forget to "do" Greenwich whilst your here so you can waych your GPS go from west to east!

 

Top travel tip, whilst in London, is to buy Oyster Cards as they will save you money and avoid having to wait in line to but tickets.

 

Did you also want advise for your honeymoon?

 

Edited to add: I am not a real Londoner but live in London.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Master Mariner

[+currykev]

They don't sound far apart at all. So long as they are near a tube station I doubt that you would see much difference. PM or e-mail me the hotels and I can tell you for certain.

 

BTW I'm a Londoner, can't believe no other Londoner has leapt in to help

 

It's Saturday so I was doing my cache duties!

 

I can't really give any hotel info,but both Nth Kensington and Victoria are popular areas for tourists and non-tourists alike.Victoria may have more to offer for shopping etc,but more unpleasant people too.The area around postcode SW1 has many security issues due to Parliament etc,so I would avoid caches within that postcode.STAY IN BAYSWATER!..Paddington has good tube connections with your Oyster card in hand.You can use the extra cash saved to catch the occasional black taxi or splash out on a lovely meal or two.

Do a Google Earth search for your caching opportunities while you take a break from your honeymoon activites!

[Jantaculum]

This Londoner would have answered earlier but was sunbathing... I mean caching.... in and around Hyde Park......

 

Nowhere in central London is too far away really. As long as you're based somewhere inside or just outside of the Circle Line, transport is easy - you just need a good tube & bus map and an Oyster card.

 

As far as caches go, well I've learned more about London since I discovered caching than I did in the previous 40 years of living here! Just read the cache descriptions well before you set off and you can't go wrong.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Jantaculum

[+TheVaultrons]

Mouse - Thanks for that link! That will come in really handy.

 

Mariner - I never thought of visiting Greenwich. That's sounds like a great idea! Probably something every cacher should do at least once, if they're able!

 

Everyone else - Can you recommend any really good caches that we should check out? Are there any areas of the city that are particularly good for caching? My very quick review of London caches revealed a plethora of micros, but very few smalls or regulars. The Mr. and I have a geocoin that we want to launch while we're over there, but I'm a little worried about finding a cache large enough for it. So if you could point out a few good small or regular sized caches, that would be fantastic.

 

And as for non-caching activities, are there any under-rated/off-the-beaten-path attractions we should see? We'll be going to all the main tourist attractions, like the Eye, Westminster Abbey, etc, but do you know of any hidden gems that the tourist literature does not usually mention. We're quite interested in really old buildings, especially churches, but we're open to anything. This is going to be a once in a lifetime trip for us, so we want to make the most of it.

 

Thanks for your input.

[+The Blorenges]

Three suggestions from the many great caches around London:

 

Last Delivery GCGBGB - This is a decent sized cache not far from St Paul's Cathedral. It's hidden in an interesting area where the gardener himself keeps an eye on it. It's regularly used as a drop-off cache for coins and TBs.

 

The Ghandi Peace Cache - GCGZ0V Suggested for the sheer audacity of the placement!

 

St Etheldreda's GC4201 - The oldest R.C. church and the largest stained glass window in London. I think it's also the most logged cache in U.K.

 

MrsB

[Helen in Mustardland]

Caches: Sarah of The Morgan Mob and I did sixty four in a day once, in London

 

Absolute favourite of all those for me was A Very Secret Spot, in Regents Park. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...9c-e46f62f637ed. It was towards the end of the day and a beautiful place to sit for a little while.

 

And a bonus is that nearby is the Letterbox and TB exchange, which is large enough for any TBs that have stowed away in your luggage. You'll find an awful lot of London caches are microes.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ac-fc460fc5aa46

 

I'd also recommend climbing The Monument for one of the CCC series

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...59-44010691471c

which I've just seen has changed and you don't need to climb it anymore as the cache question has changed, but do anyway if you're up to it, it's a lot of steps but the views of Tower Bridge and the river are spectacular.

 

Hope you have a marvellous visit.

[Jantaculum]

Combining tourist attractions and caching can be good

 

St Pauls Cathedral for example or the Tower of London

 

You can combine this cache with a visit to Magna Carta in the British Library (free!)

 

A bit of history that's relatively unknown to many Londoners is the London Stone - great bit of history

 

The canals are a fascinating part of British history and the Regents Canal passes through London. You can have trips on narrowboats at Little Venice, Camden Lock and London Zoo (not sure of exact details)

 

If you're after some culture this one starts off at the National Gallery

 

Any of the parks or Thames-side series are great if the weather's good.

 

Hope that helps!

[Jantaculum]

Another museum, the Victoria and Albert

 

I notice you're interested in very old buildings - this one is a London cachers favourite and near St Etheldreda's that Mrs B mentioned above

[+Geo.Kitten]

I also did regents park well the letterbox anyway and it was well worth it! totally enjoyed the walk through the park. Another nice place is Hampstead heath lots of caches

[+goldpot]

I'm a Londoner and live in the smog - but I was far away caching in Canada (with a few caching raids into the US)

 

I don't think you need a guide book to tell you where and what to see in London as many caches will do that for you and take you to those hidden gems too.

My favourties are - GC5E3C The CCC series

GCJQDY If you like old churches - this will surprise you as it did with me if you don't look at the pictures before hand.

And Regent's Park is an excellent place to go caching

[+Von-Horst]

I have stayed in, and would recomend, the Sanctuary House Hotel

 

It is just a couple of minutes' walk from Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.

 

Buckingham Palace is a ten-minute stroll away, St James's Park, The Mall and St James's Palace are even closer. Beyond is Hyde Park in one direction, and London's West End, with it's world-famous Oxford Street and Regent Street shopping about a mile in the other. Knightsbridge and Harrods are about the same distance, and Trafalgar Square, The Strand and Covent Garden rather less.

 

The 'secret spot' cache is one of the best in the UK...