London has no shortage of great things to do or see, from great shows (we still rave about “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, which we saw in 2004 soon after it opened) to free world-class museums (blogs to come) to the pub scene. One of our favorite must-dos in London is to take a walking tour.
London walking tours work this way: you pick the tour you’re interested in (from the tour company’s website), you show up near the designated tube exit at the appointed time, you find and pay your guide, and for 2 hours or so you enjoy the wit and wisdom of what we’ve always found to be a great tour guide. Walks are usually a wee bit less than $20 per person (in pounds naturally), not including the tip you’ll inevitably want to give your guide. There are several companies to choose from, but we’ve used London Walks.
When we visited in 2004 we took the now famous Jack The Ripper tour, which–as the name implies–takes you around the site of the still unsolved serial murders of 1888. If you can take the tour on the right night, it will be led by author and recognized Jack The Ripper authority Donald Rumbelow.
Yesterday we took the Old Westminster by Gaslight tour, a tour of some of London’s most iconic sites in Westminster, namely the Houses of Parliament (in the building called the New Palace of Westminster, we learned), Westminster Abbey, and the surrounding backstreets where famous Londoners (like Lawrence of Arabia) have lived and London politics are carried out over a pint. Other of London Walks’ tours include a new Harry Potter tour, a Beatles tour, and a Ghost Walks tour; they also offer day trips to Bath, Stonehenge, the Cotswolds, and Oxford. There’s always next trip.
Tips: not all tours are conducted every day, so plan in advance if you have your heart set on a particular tour and show up on the right day. The guides take cash only, so to make the payment process go smoothly and get the tour started promptly, try to bring the exact amount for the published price of the tour.
