Will be in London and/or Ireland for 3 days in May - What are "must see" spots for my wife and I?

[lovetheblues]

My wife and I will be traveling in Europe in mid-May to visit my daughter who is studying in Leiden. This will likely be our only visit, so I'm looking for some input on "must see" places especially in London and Ireland, as we will have 3 days before we go to Leiden. We are in our early 50's and quite active. We enjoy the city but love the countryside. Sightseeing, eating out, and live music would be much enjoyed. Any input would be much appreciated!

[Barking Spiders]

TBH it's best you stick with the UK or Ireland otherwise you'll be spending half a day at the airport and on a plane. If I were you I'd base myself in Cork and explore the west coast of Ireland. If you choose the UK I'd actually recommend rather than spreading your time too thinly pick an area, either North Yorkshire, The Cotswolds/Gloucestershire (where I live ) , central, north and west Wales, the New Forest in Hampshire, Scotland or the Lake District in Cumbria.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Barking Spiders

[acidbass]

If you have never been to Ireland before, Dublin is a must. Plenty to do if you have a day to spare, plus very accessible by air from anywhere in the UK. The usual tourist stuff is pretty good actually - Guinness Brewery, Kilmainham Gaol, Glasnevin Cemetery, plenty of nice museums and of course the Temple Bar area which is the hub of music, nightlife and 'craic' in the city. If you plan to spend a little longer than one day, I would recommend an open-top bus sightseeing tour on the first day (weather permitting) and thereafter making a note of your favourite sights to visit later/the next day.

[paddy109]

Me and the wife did the Thames cruise last two times we were in London. It is relaxing and takes in a lot of the sites - highly recommended.

[TrevorR]

London... The London Eye is amazing.

Walk along the South Bank of the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge. You'll walk past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Royal Festival Hall, Shakespeare's Globe, St Paul's Cathedral, HMS Belfast, The Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern (pop in there for a look around for free) and the Tower Of London.

Walk from Parliament Square, down Whitehall past Downing Street, past the Cenotaph, past Horseguards Parade to Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column (pop into the National Gallery, also free). Hang a left under Admiralty Arch and walk through St James's Park down to Buckingham Palace.

Go to Horseguards Parade any morning at 11am for their changing of the guard. Much much better than the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. That is 100 yards away behind a fence and a 30 deep crowd of tourists - you'll barely see a thing. At Horseguards you'll be about 20 feet away from the horse mounted honour guards of the Household Cavalry with just a rope in the way (#bestkeptsecret)

My fave music venue in London is Green Note in Camden - great for Americana, blues, folk and other roots music. Nice veggie food and organic beer too. I also like the Borderline in Soho, near a Tottenham Court Road, depending who is on...

Go to the last minute ticket booth in Leicester Square, queue up and see a West End theatre show or musical.

Edited March 21, 2017 by TrevorR

[lovetheblues]

Thank you very much for all of your helpful replies!! It's so difficult trying to balance seeing what you can, and not overdoing it! . So looking forward to getting to see places I've only read about or seen in movies. Also would love to visit Wales, where many of my ancestors came from - Cornwall mostly. Thanks again!!

[TrevorR]

With three days you'll need to limit what you do. Truro, the main city in Cornwall is 5 hours solid drive from London and that's before you do any actual sight seeing. London and surrounds will more than occupy three days... Plan a 2 week vacation some time, then you'll have more options...

[size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]PS Cornwall and Wales… VERY different places/countries (if the Cornish Nationalists are to be believed) and neither indigenous populations would take kindly to being confused… lol [/color][/font][/size]

[TrevorR]

PS Windsor - 40 mins train ride from London... Visit the castle (if the flag is flying then the queen is at home!), visit Eton College, stroll by the Thames and feed the swans all within 20 minutes stroll of each other...

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1490135661' post='3262607']
London... The London Eye is amazing.
[/quote]

The London Nose is great as well.

[pbasspecial]

Maybe take an open top bus ride or a 20 min ride in a black cab (not cheap but worth it) of all the main landmarks which are quite close together.
Also stand on the the north side of Waterloo bridge when it is dark. Right on the bend of the River. One of the best views in the world. Very close to Somerset House and Covent Garden.
Eat in China Town.
Up the Creek comedy club in Greenwich is fantastic. River cruises from there too. Walk through the foot way tunnel to the Isle of dogs. Lots of famous bands have done photo sessions there.
Jack the Ripper tour.
Pie & Mash at Goddards or Manzes in Deptford.
Full English in a proper greasy spoon.

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1490135661' post='3262607']
London... The London Eye is amazing.

Walk along the South Bank of the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge. You'll walk past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Royal Festival Hall, Shakespeare's Globe, St Paul's Cathedral, HMS Belfast, The Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern (pop in there for a look around for free) and the Tower Of London.

Walk from Parliament Square, down Whitehall past Downing Street, past the Cenotaph, past Horseguards Parade to Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column (pop into the National Gallery, also free). Hang a left under Admiralty Arch and walk through St James's Park down to Buckingham Palace.

Go to Horseguards Parade any morning at 11am for their changing of the guard. Much much better than the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. That is 100 yards away behind a fence and a 30 deep crowd of tourists - you'll barely see a thing. At Horseguards you'll be about 20 feet away from the horse mounted honour guards of the Household Cavalry with just a rope in the way (#bestkeptsecret)

My fave music venue in London is Green Note in Camden - great for Americana, blues, folk and other roots music. Nice veggie food and organic beer too. I also like the Borderline in Soho, near a Tottenham Court Road, depending who is on...

Go to the last minute ticket booth in Leicester Square, queue up and see a West End theatre show or musical.
[/quote]

I'd agree that Ireland and England in three days is just too much. You'll have a better experience if you pick one and even then you'll only scratch the surface.

I'd spend at least a day in London, the tourist and historic sights are pretty close together so you can pack them all into a day. I'd recommend the two walks above, you can take in a lot of the sights in a couple of hours. Don't forget the museums (the Natural History Museum is in a fabulous building) which are mainly clustered together. If you don't have time to do your own research then the open top buses are probably a good use of limited time.

If culture is your thing then there will be quite a choice of classical music along the South Bank (close to the London Eye) more art galleries than you could take in three days and of course all the theatres which again are conveniently grouped together.

Food! Whatever you've heard about British food is probably out of date. IMO this is one of the best parts of the world to eat because of the sheer variety. We are an immigrant country and London is one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world, look for the hundreds of 'ethnic' restaurants. We have discovered fine dining and you'll find many Michelin starred restaurants (at a price) to choose from. Street food is becoming trendy here too so if you want something quick and tasty it's worth keeping your eyes open.

It's worth getting out of London for a day at least. Most of England (unless you like lots of traffic Scotland and Wales aren't really reachable in a whistle stop tour) There are plenty of lovely spots in the green belt around London, I was born in Downe, Kent it's been a village of about 600 people since before the Roman invasion and only 15 miles from London Bridge. There are two pubs in the village, a cafe and lovely country walks all around. Charles Darwin lived there and you can visit his house which is now a museum. Alternatively Google (Areas Of Outstanding Natural Beauty) to find some lovely countryside and visit one of those.

If you want to hire a car you could follow the excursion we organised for some American friends this year. They caught a train out of London to Salisbury, It has a magnificent Cathedral with the highest spire in the country. You can see an original Magna Carta there. The cathedral area has many medieval buildings and walking around has a very different vibe to London. We then drove them across Cranborne Chase (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) To Shaftesbury a small market town, very pretty with Gold Hill a really well preserved historic street and a good cafe at the top for lunch. If you can keep out of the pubs. Then we drove on to Stonehenge which is about 35 mins away and back to Salisbury. Car hire will be around £100 a day.

Whatever you choose to do, have a lovely time.

[lownote]

Just think twice before allowing a 'guide' to take you to Stratford as apart of a quick tour of London. Stratford upon Avon is the home of Shakespeare and a lovely place but many miles north of London. Stratford is a dump in East London.

I second most of the advice given above. Planned carefully you can see a lot of great stuff in London in a solid day, but you may need a lie down afterwards!