London Travel Answers

we did the hop on hop off bus on our first day in london and it was a great way to get our bearings and decided which locations we wanted to go back and revisit. There are normally staff at most of the major stops selling the tickets. We bought ours from one of the staff at the Speakers Corner Hyde park stop but I know some of the hotels sell them as well and im sure the tourist info places (eg Cool Britania) would sell them as well

You'll be asked to buy tickets for the hop on, hop off tours at the main sightseeing places and can buy them there. It's actually better not to book the tickets in advance, since then you have to go to the office and exchange the voucher into a real ticket - a waste of time in my mind.

another city and more hop on and off buses. Like I said in paris if your time is precious you can use it,otherwise not needed. Its a personal choice. the regular buses can do a good job of sightseeing too lol!! yes ticket on the bus or their ticket office. London official tourist office on tours visitlondon.com/events/tours... hope it helps

When not on the road I live in London therefore I have never actually been on one of the hop-on hop-offs but I have researched them before for other VT answers and they seem extremely expensive to me. I agree with Gwened about the use of public transport for travelling around, it will work out a lot cheaper making your £££ go a bit farther in what is not a cheap city. If you are using a travelcard, you can hop on and off them all day for a fraction of what a hop-on hop-off costs. All it takes is a little planning or use a bus route map which are widely available free or downloadable from the Governmant website which I highly recommend for all travel matters in London. Here is a link. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ The bus map links are here. http://www.tfl .gov.uk/tfl/gettingaround/map... If I could just give you an example, the number 15 route which I know well. Coming from the East end, which I recommend you visit if you have time, you will pass Tower Bridge, Tower of London, the City of London (central business district), the Monument, St.Paul's Cathedral and Millenium Bridge, Strand, Royal Courts of Justice, Somerset House, Charing Cross, Trafalgar Square, Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus. This is only one example of hundreds of routes. Obviosly, you will not get a commentary (live or recorded) but you do get a chance to see how the locals travel about. If you do decide to go with one of the organised buses you will have no trouble getting tickets, just go to any of the stops or major tourist attractions and you will be approached by ticket vendors. The main companies are the big Bus Co., and the Original Bus Co., they both have websites. I hope you enjoy London, it is a great city. Just one final suggestion. If you fancy meetng any members n London, have a look at members page Lodon-Calling. There are four of us (toonsarah, roam, DAO and mysrlf) who run the VT "chapter" in London and we always love meeting visitors. Alternatively, just post up a meeting on the meetings section and you may well find someone to meet up with. If you have any more specific questions about your trip, please don't hesitate to contaqct me either here or per VTmail. Hope this assists, fergy.

Some people really like the HOHO buses, I've done them in Belfast and Dublin when I had a short period of time but I've never done one in London. Some people really like them as an introduction of London on their 1st day to get a feel for the city and then go back and see all of the sights. There is commentary, it might be recorded though, on the regular buses there is not. But as a means of transport it's very expensive and as posted above you can see the major sights by bus. The no 15 bus that Fergy mentions is great, it goes past a lot of the major sights in London, all included if you get a travelcard for use on the tube and buses Here's a map of the tourist sights and bus lines tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/...

Agree with fergy. travel card is a small fraction of the price of a hop on hop off. There's an ebook guide about how to do one route: smashwords.com/books/view/15...

Ok! Thanks for the reply but I am still confuse the difference between travel card and octopus card. Which is more convenient to use as I will be staying london for six days. Thanks

I'm guessing you mean an Oyster Card, not an Octopus. My preference is to get a weekly travelcard which should end up cheaper than the Oyster which caps out on a daily basis, not a weekly basis. At day 4 or 5 the travelcard becomes less expensive. Also check out the 2 for 1 offers at daysoutguide which you can use if you have a paper travelcard purchased at a rail station

well lifelong >Oyster card user, still carry the same card lol!! it gives you lots of freedom,and flexibility to see the city once in it. But do try the regular bus and walk, to see more,underground is not the best way when visiting. cheers

we always use the public transport system - much easier and suits us better as it is much cheaper too