London Travel Answers

You won't need AC in that part of Europe. The hotel will for sure have heating and that is what you might need in London. Many expensive hotels do not have AC in this part of the world either as you hardly ever need it.

Vey occassionally in England you get hot spells when air conditioning would be useful, usually in June and July. It would be freak weather indeed if you needed one in May, I've lived here nearly all my life and never used an air conditioner once so I'm sure you will be fine ;)

Just to echo the others and reassure you. I have lived 50+ years in London and the number of nights when I would have liked to have had AC is probably no more than one or two per summer - and never as early as May! Even if we have warm days then, which is possible, the nights are never too hot.

Very, very unlikely that you would need AC in May.

The only thing I'd caution against is booking a hotel on a very busy street, I stayed once in early September in London, it was hotter than normal and our hotel was on Cromwell Road and if we opened the windows it was so noisy you couldn't sleep. And it was unbearably hot/stuffy if you didn't. Some of the chain hotels (Travelodge, Ibis, Premier Inn) may be as cheap as the budget hotels that you are looking at, especially with advance pay deals, and some of them may have a/c. It's probably not necessary but I have been in London when it's been hot enough to use it.

Agree with the others...you are highly unlikely to need AC. As we would say in the UK: 'chance would be a fine thing'!

May is very unlikely to have the temps which would warrant AC. In fact, AC is far from the norm in the UK for ordinary houses or hotels simply because it's so very, very rarely necessary. But Dabs comment is valid: if you think the room might be stuffy enough to keep a window open all night then taking ear plugs might be a good idea, just in case.

Denis, as you are coming from the Philippines your normal local temperature of 32 degrees will drop dramatically to an average HIGH of 17 so you may need your warm coat and an extra blanket!!!!!!! degreeshttp://golondon.about.com/od/london...

If you are use to AC, book a hotel with AC. Some people don't like AC at all. My room mates rather have a open window than air....they say it gives them a cold because of changing temperatures so fast. cheers tommy x

folks there dont need it and you will be more cold in that month than  hot; so dont worry about it and enjoy London

If you live in the Philippines, you are more likely to need heating in London, whatever the month. No one can predict the weather, of course, but in May it is probably not going to be warm enough to need AC. We do prefer an open window at night and that is a problem in many hotels so if you enjoy that, you might want to contact the hotel and make sure you can open a window. You are lucky, May is a wonderful time to visit London. Your family should enjoy Hyde Park; it's great fun for kids. Enjoy.

I probably don't need to answer this but just to reiterate what the others have said, I have lived tere for over 25 years and air-con really is not high on my list of priorities for London, especially not in May. It can be pleasant enough during the day if the right weather system arrives but never that hot you will need AC. Have a great time in London and don't forget we have a VT group there called London-Calling. It would be great to meet you especially as it would be a chance to repay the wonderfu hospitality I had from Philippino VT members last year.

Hope this assists,

fergy.

I was in London in late August 2003 when they had a record temperature of over 100 F (38 C). I asked the people where we were staying what will they do. They had no window fans or air conditioning, they did not even have insect screens on the house windows. Since it was not as humid as in might have been, we slept OK with the windows open. The worst was riding on the "tube" where they don't have much for ventilation.(Tiny windows) But the best place we found to go was the free museums as they are air conditioned and humidity controlled to preserve things they display. In May you more likely will need warm clothes.

I can remember just one time in London when I would have liked to have air condition and that was in the unusually hot summer of 2003. I suppose you'd rather ask for an extra blanket than for ac in May.

Houses in the UK don't have window screens because we don't have mosquitoes. We have gnats and midges (similar species but harmless, and not nocturnal), but they are only a problem in parts of the Scottish countryside at certain types of year. So screens, like AC, aren't needed. We get the (very) occasional hot night but nowhere near enough to make AC a sensible option.

And, as the others have said, if you are used to Philippines climate you are much more likely to find London in May a bit on the chilly side.

Jonelis, nobody in UK have screen doors or screen windows as in America

Our friends where we were staying told us to only open the windows after we shut off the lights in the room as a few bugs do go after the light at night such as the odd moth and they would rather not have them in the house. This place was in the Town of Ruislip(Tube zone 6) They also said it was very rare to need to open windows.

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!! for your replies and tips. They are all very helpful. We have a chage of plan though. We won't go in May but in early October instead (Oct6-16). I'm pretty sure the same thing applies to October - no AC, extra blankets!

Of course we have the odd (small) moth.....but most of us don't care about that, and if we do then we just don't open the windows until the lights are out. Certainly no need for screens of any type.

And yes, if you visit in October you don't need to worry about AC (although October can have some lovely warm-ish, sunny days sometimes). You'll be pleased to know that central heating *is* a nor in the UK, in houses and hotels. We don't need AC but we definitely do need central heating (often for rather a large chunk of the year)! :-)