# What should I see in London? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857 "2008-09-16T16:51:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/21 "2008-09-17T00:27:18Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > the British Museum was free to enter and was a block from my hotel. You stayed in the Russell? When I stayed there last summer, I found the British Museum endlessly fascinating, huge and filled with beautiful antiquities (including the Roman silverware that was the subject of Roald Dahl’s first published story) and, as you mentioned, free. By the end of my visit to London, I thought they’d need a firehose to remove me from the premises. I want to live there. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/22 "2008-09-17T00:38:20Z")
> [@Elysium](#): > > The British Museum is one of my favorite places. Their collection is amazing and not to be missed. The British Museum is unparalled. It’s stuffed full of centuries worth of treasures and antiquities looted from literally every corner of the globe. It’s seriously mind-boggling if you’re into that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/23 "2008-09-17T01:55:45Z")
The London Dungeon is cool if you’re into realistic horror/Jack the Ripper-type stuff. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/24 "2008-09-17T02:08:46Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > The London Dungeon is cool if you’re into realistic horror/Jack the Ripper-type stuff. I was sure I’d be the first person to recommend that! It is actually pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/25 "2008-09-17T02:28:31Z")
Ya prolly want to avoid the guy with perfect hair who’s sipping a pina colada at Trader Vics. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/26 "2008-09-17T04:05:28Z")
National Portrait Gallery Victoria & Albert Museum Natural History Museum Westminster Cathedral ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/27 "2008-09-17T04:13:01Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Drive? You couldn’t sound more American if you tried 😉 Hour and a half by train from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour station American?!? Screw that, I’m Texan. And you’re correct, the thought of hopping on a train to go anywhere is completely alien to me. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/28 "2008-09-17T09:29:09Z")
I’m about to do the tourist guide thing for someone soon, the list I gave her of places she should probably check out are as follows (in descending order of how much I rate them): > **[Westminster Abbey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_abby)** > > Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs, and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have occurred at the abbey since 1100. > Although the origins of the church are obscure, there was certainly an abbey operating on the site by the mid-10th c... > **[Tower of London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_london)** > > The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separated from the eastern edge of the square mile of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill. It was founded toward the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by W... > **[British Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum)** > > The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.\[a\] The British Museum was the first public national museum to cover all fields of knowledge. > In 2022 the museum received 4,097,253 visitors, an increase of 209 per cent from 2021. It ranked third in the list of most-visi... > **[St Paul's Cathedral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul%27s_Cathedral)** > > St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London. Its dedication in honour of Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The present structure, which was completed in 1710, is a Grade I listed building that was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher... > **[Shakespeare's Globe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_Globe)** > > Mansion House > Shakespeare's Globe is a realistic true-to-history reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse first built in 1599 for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays. It is located on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Southwark and hosts theatrical productions. > The original theatre was built in 1599, destroyed by a fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644. The modern Globe Theatre is an academic approximation based on ... > **[Natural history museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history_museum)** > > A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. > The primary role of a natural history museum is to provide the scientific community with current and historical specimens for their research, which is to improve our understanding of the natural world. Some museums have public exhibits to share the beauty ... > **[National Gallery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery,_London)** > > The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, in Trafalgar Square since 1838, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.\[note 1\] The current Director of the National Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi. > The National Gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its collection belongs to the govern... > **[National Portrait Gallery, London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Portrait_Gallery_(London))** > > The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world that was dedicated to portraits. > The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off Trafalgar Square, and adjoining the National Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery also has regional outposts at Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire and ... > **[Imperial War Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum)** > > Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a national museum with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice of the United Kingdom and its Empire during the First World War. The museum's remit has since expanded to include all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces have been involved since 1914. As of 2012, the museum aims "to provide for, and t... > **[Royal Academy of Arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Academy)** > > The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate. > The origin of the Royal Academy of Arts lies in an attempt in 1755 by members of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Ma... > **[Wallace Collection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_collection)** > > The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along with the Marquesses of Hertford, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection features fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with important holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms and armour, porcelain and Old Mas... > **[Freemasons' Hall, London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasons%27_Hall,_London)** > > Freemasons' Hall in London is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and the Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England, as well as being a meeting place for many Masonic Lodges in the London area. It is located in Great Queen Street between Holborn and Covent Garden and has been a Masonic meeting place since 1775. > Parts of the building are open to the public daily, and its preserved classic Art Deco style, together with its regular use as a film and television loca... You’ve already mentioned the obvious of Big Ben, Parliament, Buck Palace but as you only need to go to them and take pics (there’s no reason to go inside them and sometimes you can’t) then it doesn’t take long to do that, and they’re all within half a mile of each other. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/29 "2008-09-17T10:27:55Z")
The only thing I’ve done in London that hasn’t already been mentioned is to take a trip to Stonehenge. Take the train to Salisbury (visit the cathedral, while you’re at it), then a bus to Stonehenge. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/30 "2008-09-17T11:16:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The only thing I’ve done in London that hasn’t already been mentioned is to take a trip to Stonehenge. Take the train to Salisbury (visit the cathedral, while you’re at it), then a bus to Stonehenge. Stonehenge isn’t in London. /Pedantry ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/31 "2008-09-17T12:47:41Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Stonehenge isn’t in London. > > /Pedantry I also found it to be completely underwhelming. Seeing it on TV made me think those stones are enormous. Not. They could easily have fit in my yard. And they are surrounded on all sides by fields of peacefully grazing sheep. Not at all what I expected. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/32 "2008-09-17T13:13:46Z")
The sheep and the “fields” around it are more than half of what makes it so cool. The Salisbury Plain is gorgeous–it’s like a blank canvas where you can watch the play of light and shade all day. Wonderful. I found Stonehenge itself to be odd as hell and yes, diminished. It may have evoked feelings of awe when stumbled across back in the day, but now you are placed on a path, with many other people (all listening to headsets of info about the stones) and made to go round in a circle. When I was there, people got irked if you stopped for a bit–it was a weird exercise in group dynamics. Stonehenge is intriguing and fascinating but not as a tourist place, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/33 "2008-09-17T14:12:18Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I loved the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and the British Museum. The Tower and Westminster were a little pricey to get into, but the British Museum was free to enter and was a block from my hotel. I stayed in The Thanet a block east of the British Museum. It was great being so close so to so much great stuff! ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/34 "2008-09-17T14:29:20Z")
> [@lemur866](#): > > the british museum is unparalled. It’s stuffed full of centuries worth of treasures and antiquities looted from literally every corner of the globe. It’s seriously mind-boggling if you’re into that sort of thing. > [@John Constantine](#): > > Ah, the British Museum. The place where the British Empire took its last stand and said: > > “Fuck you! We’re not giving it ALL back.” Damn straight! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/35 "2008-09-17T14:38:30Z")
The British Museum is great. It’s like Epcot’s World Showcase- you get to see potted histories of the rest of the world, all in one convenient location. The Natural History Museum was my favorite place in London as a kid; way better than the one in NYC, IMHO. The Museum of Science and Industry is also very cool, but devotes way too much space to steam engines. Once you’ve seen one flywheel, you’ve seen them all. If the Cutty Sark is reopened (I can’t tell from the website), that’s a lot of fun too, plus there are heaps of (mostly history-related) things to do around it in Greenwich. It’s a tea clipper (tall ship) in dry dock that you can walk around inside. Oh, and Stonehenge is no fun at all. When I was a kid you could actually walk right up to the stones and get your druid on or whatever; nowadays, you have to stand about fifty feet back. It’s much better for photography but not nearly as cool otherwise. It only takes about two hours to get to Salisbury from West London- hop, skip and a jump by US standards- but I wouldn’t bother unless you want to go visit the West Country (and you should!) ---
**Author:** ![vintageloveletter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@vintageloveletter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vintageloveletter)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/36 "2008-09-17T15:34:46Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > I suppose I must be biased, since I used to live there, but 20 minutes on the DLR from Bank gets you to Greenwich. It has museums (Maritime and the Old Royal Observatory), shops, several markets of varying degrees of usefulness, and a beautiful park. > > If you’re feeling cheesy, get the boat back from the pier to Westminster. I second a trip to Greenwich. I took a quick boat ride on the Thames to get there. It was a very relaxing outing to wrap-up my last week-long trip to London. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/37 "2008-09-17T15:42:12Z")
I’ll throw in another vote for the London Eye. Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum was fun. Plan plenty of time at the Tower of London if you want to see everything. Lots of good museums. I enjoy theater, but there’s not really much difference between seeing a play in London and seeing in anywhere else (IMHO, of course). You could easily spend a day just walking around the older parts of the city (jumping on the tube or a bus every now and then), looking at the architecture, the statues, and the historic sites. Personally, my favorite parts of every trip I’ve taken to the UK were out and away from the cities, but since that’s not the question in the OP I won’t elaborate unless asked. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Oh, and Stonehenge is no fun at all. When I was a kid you could actually walk right up to the stones and get your druid on or whatever; nowadays, you have to stand about fifty feet back. Depends on when you go. I was there at the summer solstice (they take the fences down for the night). It was raining this year, but still mighty cool. The only downside was that I wasn’t the only one to think of it–there were over 10,000 people there at dawn. It was quite a party. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/38 "2008-09-17T15:44:44Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] If the Cutty Sark is reopened [/quote] [Unlikely](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1817806.ece) there was a fire last year. Any pictures you see on that story do make the damage look worse than it is as a lot of the superstructure was not in place at the time. > [@](#): > > . . . and Stonehenge is no fun at all. Yup. They keep you too far away to apreciate the size, if you want to see a stone circle go to Avebury (which is also _not in London_) London’s a bit short on stone circles. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/39 "2008-09-17T19:02:13Z")
The main hull of the Cutty Sark is under scaffolding and tarps as they repair it - there’s literally nothing to see of it at the moment. You can still easily spend a whole day in Greenwich if your tastes run to history and architecture. Aside from the view from the top of the park, the National Maritime Museum and the Observatory, there’s the Queen’s House, the Old Royal Hospital (don’t miss the Painted Hall) and a Hawksmoor church. All essentially free. > [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > If you go to **St. Pauls** , go a few blocks northeast and visit the **Museum of London**. It’s a great place and covers everything London from prehistory on up. Though it’s worth noting that they’re in the process of overhauling all the galleries and when I was in just last week - showing a Canadian visitor round - everything in the post-1666 half was shut. However, the new versions of the earlier galleries are even better than they were before. And, again, it’s all free anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857/40 "2008-09-17T22:14:49Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > History? > > Camden Market is worth a walk around but there was a fire there a while ago so I’m not exactly sure if it’s the same place that I knew. > > Great pubs and food are everywhere in London IMO. The fire only took out a small part of it, the majority of it’s in tact. As for walking round it, well, I’m biased because I live near it, but I’d only recommend it if you enjoy shoulder-charging teenage Emo kids out of the way whilst growling “Move, hippies!” It’s how I spend my weekends. If you spot me, do say hi. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-see-in-london/463857.md?page=3)