Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
from 10:20am to 3:30pm. Round-trip fares are £12.50 for adults, £6.25 for children. A
family ticket for two adults and as many as three children costs £32 round-trip.
A perfectly fine and better value, if slightly more functional option for downriver
trips from Embankment Pier to the London Eye, Bankside, the Tower of London,
Canary Wharf, and/or Greenwich are the regular, fast water-borne commuter services
operated by
Thames Clippers.
One-day, unlimited travel hopper passes are avail-
able. For details, see p. 82.
Westminster Passenger Service Association
(
&
020/7930-2062
or 020/
7930-4721; www.wpsa.co.uk; Tube: Westminster), which also uses Westminster Pier,
offers the only riverboat service upstream to Kew, Richmond, and Hampton Court,
with regular daily sailings from just before Easter until the end of October. Trip time,
one-way, can be as little as 1
1
⁄
2
hours to Kew and between 2
1
⁄
2
and 4 hours to Hamp-
ton Court, depending on the tide. Cruises from Westminster Pier to Hampton Court
via Kew Gardens leave daily at 10:30 and 11:15am, and noon. Round-trip tickets to
Hampton Court are £22.50 for adults, £15 for seniors, £11.25 for children aged 4 to
14, and £56.25 for a family ticket; one child 3 or younger accompanied by an adult
goes free. Round-trip tickets to Kew cost £18, £12, £9, and £45, respectively.
BUS TOURS & CYCLE TOURS
For the bewildered first-timer, the quickest way to bring London into focus is prob-
ably to take a bus tour—but it isn't cheap. The
Original London Sightseeing Tour
passes by many of the major sights in a couple of hours or so, depending on traffic.
The tour—which uses a traditional double-decker bus with live commentary by a
guide—costs £25 for adults, £12 for children aged 5 to 15, free for those 4 and
younger. A family ticket costs £86 and includes up to three children. The ticket, valid
for 48 hours, allows you to hop on or off the bus at any point on any of three different
circuits around the city. Your ticket also entitles you to a free riverboat ride with City
Cruises (see above) and a choice of free 90-minute walking tours.
Tickets can be purchased on the bus or at any of the five start-points—Marble
Arch, Trafalgar Square, Woburn Place, Piccadilly Circus, or Grosvenor Gardens—
and from the
Original London Visitor Centre,
17-19 Cockspur St., Trafalgar
Square, SW1 (
&
020/8877-2120
or 020/7389-5040; Tube: Charing Cross). For
information or phone purchases, call
&
020/8877-1722.
It's also possible to book
online at
www.theoriginaltour.com
. Do so ahead of time, especially in low season,
and you may secure significant discounts on the prices quoted above.
A much cheaper alternative is to seek out the two remaining London bus lines where
old-fashioned
Routemaster
double-decker buses still operate. Only route
9
—which
skirts Hyde Park and Green Park, and halts at Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square—
and route
15
—linking Monument and St. Paul's with Trafalgar Square and Regent
Street—offer this “heritage” service. Although you can't hop on and off at will—unless
you've bought a Travelcard (see “Getting Around,” p. 77)—you can enjoy your own self-
guided London bus tour for £1.30 per person.
If you prefer two wheels to four,
Fat Tire Bike Tours
(
&
0788/2338-779;
www.
fattirebiketours.com/london) offers a 4-hour tour of Royal London (£20, £18 stu-
dents) originating from Queensway Tube Station, and a 5-hour River Thames Tour
(£30) starting from Waterloo Road, on the South Bank. Both offer plenty of guiding
as well as cycling, and you're advised to book ahead of time; you can cancel in case
of bad weather. Bike rental is included in the price—at a reduced rate for kids, for
whom the Royal London Tour is ideally suited.
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