# What Would You Do As A Tourist in London? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411 "2017-08-22T22:20:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/41 "2017-08-23T22:09:07Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Go to Greenwich Observatory, not to see the observatory but to climb the hill where you can see the skyline of London. It’s a great view. Down the hillside are also some ancient burial mounds, the remains of a tree that was there in Elizabeth I’s day, and Queen Caroline’s bathtub over by the rose garden. But there’s nothing to see of the Roman ruins up on the hill-top–just a plaque about the Time Team dig there. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street. If you go at the right time, you can chat with Dr. Watson. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/42 "2017-08-23T23:04:11Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors. It’s “moops”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/43 "2017-08-23T23:15:32Z")
I spent a day and a half in London and all I was see Hyde park (twice!), see the monuments near Green Park, and see Tate Britain (not modern: the one on the north side of Vauxhall Bridge.) I would have done slightly more except I thought that the Tate opened at 9 but it was really at 10, and there wasn’t anything to do around there except walk across the Thames and wonder what the unmarked MI6 building was. Thankfully their wifi worked even outside the museum. (And walk a bit of John Islip street which is gorgeous at least when I was there in the summer.) At any rate, I’d recommend Tate Britain. It actually has a great variety of eras represented, with even a modern wing, which was exactly enough for my tastes (I wouldn’t enjoy an entire museum of modern art, but just a gallery and a half is enough to add a little variety.) ---
**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:** [August 23, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/44 "2017-08-23T23:44:24Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I’m not really a fan of big cities so I’d go to the countryside and visit the little village that is my namesake. Then probably ride a sheep. There’s a village in England called “ **Drunky Smurf** ”? You know, I could almost believe that. 😃 The London Dungeon is fun, if your tastes run in a more macabre direction. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/45 "2017-08-24T00:17:50Z")
I’m an art kind of guy, so I haunt the National Portrait Gallery (the Aleister Crowley and Mervyn Peake paintings are favorites, because I enjoy weirdoes), and the OLD Tate Collection. I could spend a day in the 19th and early 20th century rooms alone, and an hour in front of Jacob Epstein’s massive “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.” Don’t skip Somerset House and the Wallace Collection, which contain several masterpieces that make you say “WTF is this doing HERE?” Manet’s “At the Folies Bergere,” for example. I’m also a big WWI buff so I love the Imperial War Museum and the dozens of monuments scattered around the city. Don’t miss the once-controversial Artillery Memorial, just SW of Hyde Park. > **[Royal Artillery Memorial](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Artillery_Memorial)** > > The Royal Artillery Memorial is a First World War memorial located on Hyde Park Corner in London, England. Designed by Charles Sargeant Jagger, with architectural work by Lionel Pearson, and unveiled in 1925, the memorial commemorates the 49,076 soldiers from the Royal Artillery killed in the First World War. The static nature of the conflict, particularly on the Western Front, meant that artillery played a major role in the war, though physical reminders of the fighting were often avoided in ... You can also stroll aimlessly and read all the blue historical markers affixed to buildings. Fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/46 "2017-08-24T00:52:11Z")
Some things we did (about ten years) ago that haven’t been mentioned: - the [Ceremony of the Keys](https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/explore/ceremony-of-the-keys/#gs.ThITQ7g) at the Tower of London. It’s when the warders “lock” the tower for the night, so it happens at 9:30 PM. It’s cool, plus you’re next to Tower Bridge and the Thames at night. Back in 2005 then we had to send a postal mail (from the US) with a international postal coupon attached for the return of the tickets. Now they’re totally online, but fully booked until July 2018! - the Beatles walking tour - no love for Madame Tussaud’s here? I especially liked the National Gallery, since I had this [Eyewtiness DK: Perspective](https://www.amazon.com/Eyewitness-Perspective-techniques-perspective-Renaissance/dp/0789455854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503535781&sr=8-1&keywords=eyewitness+perspective) book which explained many of these paintings and the evolution of realistic perspective in paintings. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/47 "2017-08-24T01:31:49Z")
One of my favorite things to do when I go to a city like London is check out some of the oddities that don’t make most travel guides. Check out [this guide to London sites.](http://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/london-england/places) I’ll be in London from Sept 2 until Sept 10, if any London dopers want to meet up. Staying at a hotel one block away from Trafalgar Square. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/48 "2017-08-24T01:51:18Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Staying at a hotel one block away from Trafalgar Square. Oooooo! Walk north on St. Martin’s Lane to Cecil Court and window-shop in the excellent rare bookstores. I can’t afford to buy anything there, but looking is free. There’s also a great occult bookshop right in the middle of the lane, south side – the best I’ve seen since Sam Weiser’s of New York closed down years ago. Then walk south down Villiers Street toward the river and stop at Gordon’s Wine Bar, in business for four hundred years. The subterranean interior is damp, dark, cavelike and claustrophobic, so just order a coup of port, dry sherry, or Amontillado (they’ll draw it from the barrel) and carry it back upstairs to sit outdoors in the breezy alley. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/49 "2017-08-24T01:58:19Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Oooooo! Walk north on St. Martin’s Lane to Cecil Court and window-shop in the excellent rare bookstores. I can’t afford to buy anything there, but looking is free. There’s also a great occult bookshop right in the middle of the lane, south side – the best I’ve seen since Sam Weiser’s of New York closed down years ago. > > Then walk south down Villiers Street toward the river and stop at Gordon’s Wine Bar, in business for four hundred years. The subterranean interior is damp, dark, cavelike and claustrophobic, so just order a coup of port, dry sherry, or Amontillado (they’ll draw it from the barrel) and carry it back upstairs to sit outdoors in the breezy alley. Already done both of those things on prior trips. :). Bought my significant other a really nice first edition of one of her favorite authors last time I was there. Love Villers Street. One of my favorite things to do on a sunny day is grab something to go from Herman ze German, and go sit in the little park there near Gordon’s Wine Bar. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/50 "2017-08-24T02:31:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Spend 3 years in the British Museum. This is probably the single most accurate post. Plenty of places have military museums, art museums, etc… and some places have historical and anthropological museums. But none of them stack up to the British Museum. It’s unlike anything else in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/51 "2017-08-24T05:56:32Z")
Another vote for the British Library treasures. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/52 "2017-08-24T06:37:00Z")
Decide on a set day per week/fortnight/month, get out your map, stick a pin in it and look up what’s in that area and just go. E.g., South Kensington - V&A, Natural History and Science Museums and the parks. Bloomsbury: British Library of course, but also the Wellcome Collection, the Dickens Museum, the Foundling Museum (leave the British Museum for a day on its own) South Bank: Tate Modern and Borough Market, of course, but just have an explore around the Festival Hall and the Hayward Gallery. In my childhood, the thing to do on a rainy day was just to get on a bus and go to the end of the route to see what’s there, even if you only got straight back on the bus to come home again. ---
**Author:** ![paulmarkj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@paulmarkj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulmarkj)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/53 "2017-08-24T12:13:57Z")
Walk around Soho, the area between Tottenham Court Road, Charing Cross Road, Regent St and Oxford St (but avoid Oxford St itself) In Soho there is: For guitars and music: Denmark St Restaurants, pubs, cafe: anywhere - there are hundreds Shopping - Regent Street and all over Soho Music - Ronnie Scotts \<\<\<\<\<\< DEFINITELY GO HERE (and little clubs) I could spend all day there. Also: National Portrait Gallery & National Gallery (on Trafalger Square) Tate Modern/Globe/Great walk along Thames (all on South Bank) Camden Market and then take barge to Regents Park ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/54 "2017-08-24T13:19:45Z")
I live in London but do occasionally get out and about. > [@Sherrerd](#): > > Also: Amazon UK hasn’t yet killed off Foyles, and their Charing Cross Road flagship bookshop is well worth a visit for any book lover. Despite it being a giant chainstore, \*\*Waterstones Piccadilly \*\*is also good for hours-long book browsing (but good luck finding a working toilet anywhere in the building). > [@bonzer](#): > > Speaking as someone who’s lived in the city for nearly two decades, the attraction that the locals most take for granted and so miss out on is the Tower of London. We generally lump it in with things - like avoidably being in Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus, or being in Madame Tussaud’s _at all_ - that only tourists would do. Now the Tower is undeniably expensive and has its cheesy-tourist-trap aspects, but it’s a big site with lots of different things to see (of varying interest) that could easily soak up a day if you’re inclined. Meh. I’ve been twice and the cheesy-tourist-trap aspects make up far too much of the tour, and the rest of it is mostly Victorian reconstructions of what the Tower used to be. Personally, unless you really want to see the Crown Jewels I would suggest just passing by the outside of the Tower (preferably by boat - \*\*get a Thames Clipper \*\*or similar to or from Greenwich Pier up to, say, Westminster or the Eye, as it’s a nice ride with plenty to see (and a coffee bar onboard). There are plenty of good suggestions here, but here are a few more: \*\*Afternoon tea at The [Wolesley](https://www.thewolseley.com/). \*\*Never mind the tourist traps of the neighbouring Ritz or Fortnum & Mason tearooms; The Wolseley is the bee’s knees and surprisingly reasonably priced, all things considered. Reservations recommended but not required. If you want a more intimate museum experience, try the \*\*[Benjamin Franklin House](http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/default.htm)\*\*near Charing Cross Station. They don’t have any Franklin memorabilia, but what they do have is the house itself, which is largely unchanged from Franklin’s day, and live and recorded actors to take you through Franklin’s years in London. As someone who grew up near Philadelphia I thought I knew Franklin’s life well but this had a lot of surprises. The tours/performances are at set times and seats are limited - again, calling ahead is recommended. Another home/museum: [Sir John Soane’s Museum](http://www.soane.org/). Soane was a Georgian architect with a penchant for collecting all kinds of stuff. If you’re in Greenwich, normally I’d recommend seeing the Painted Hall but right now it’s full of scaffolding as part of restoration work [**oh wait, that’s a good thing…**](https://www.ornc.org/painted-hall-ceiling-tours-tickets). Definitely a unique and limited-time experience. ---
**Author:** ![robz2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f8ce5/32.png) [@robz2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robz2)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/55 "2017-08-24T18:43:00Z")
Abbey road ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/56 "2017-08-24T20:50:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > If you’re in Greenwich, normally I’d recommend seeing the Painted Hall but right now it’s full of scaffolding as part of restoration work [**oh wait, that’s a good thing…**](https://www.ornc.org/painted-hall-ceiling-tours-tickets). Definitely a unique and limited-time experience. The tour is really good. So much so that I might well do it again when more the restoration has been done. But it does help if you’ve seen the Hall without the scaffolding. ---
**Author:** ![spjork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@spjork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spjork)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/57 "2017-08-25T14:56:22Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Find a Pub, have a pint or two and play darts with the locals. Pubs with darts are a dying breed-- not something you can easily find in a pub in town. Besides, pub quizzes are more my speed. Playing it in SE5 can be BRUTAL as it is smack dab in the middle of King’s College Hospital, Goldsmiths, and UAL. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/58 "2017-08-25T15:02:06Z")
> [@spjork](#): > > Pubs with darts are a dying breed-- not something you can easily find in a pub in town. > > Besides, pub quizzes are more my speed. Playing it in SE5 can be BRUTAL as it is smack dab in the middle of King’s College Hospital, Goldsmiths, and UAL. Or “brutal” because you’re in Camberwell and someone might kick your head in. 😛 But no, I haven’t seen a pub with darts in it in London for many years. Hell, it’s getting hard to find a (non-Wetherspoons) pub around here that hasn’t become a trendy gastropub selling £12 cheeseburgers - like the Bodysnatchers, one by one they’re all being converted… ---
**Author:** ![spjork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@spjork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spjork)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/59 "2017-08-25T15:02:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > My gf went to London with a coworker. They divided their time between pubs and cemeteries. Four days was not enough. I went to Madeira for a week and dressed for hikes every day only to end up drinking at local hole-in-the-wall bars instead. If she comes again, she should really see [Grimaldi’s grave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Grimaldi_Park) if she hasn’t already because there’s a piano that you can jump on ala the movie Big. ---
**Author:** ![spjork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@spjork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spjork)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/60 "2017-08-25T15:06:11Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Or “brutal” because you’re in Camberwell and someone might kick your head in. 😛 > > But no, I haven’t seen a pub with darts in it in London for many years. Hell, it’s getting hard to find a (non-Wetherspoons) pub around here that hasn’t become a trendy gastropub selling £12 cheeseburgers - like the Bodysnatchers, one by one they’re all being converted… My local (in SW19) has pool and table tennis but no darts, despite it being somewhat out in the sticks and being an independent off the main road. I suppose I could venture out to a country pub but, you know, country. And Peckham/Camberwell isn’t that rough! It’s so gentrified now, they play classical music and have an honor system library at Oval station XD [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411.md?page=4)