LONDON TRAVEL TIPS FOR FIRST TIMERS | 40+ Must-Knows Before Visiting London + What NOT to Do!

if you're visiting London for the first time this year make sure you watch this video because I'm going to be sharing all my best tips and tricks for first timers hi I'm Christina from happytoonder.com and I've spent a lot of time in London over the years most recently spending three months there so I've learned a lot from trial and error what to do and what not to do in this amazing capital city so in this video I'm going to be sharing all my best tips and tricks for first timers to make sure you have an amazing time so we're going to start with some London travel planning tips first things first in terms of when to visit London honestly every season it has something really cool to offer the only thing I would say is to avoid Peak peak season being July and August just because this is when everyone and their mom is going to be visiting London so it's going to be really busy and also when it gets hot in London it's not the most pleasant experience just because the tube system is not built for heat so it gets very sticky very humid very disgusting so I would really not advise visiting London during the thick of the summer in terms of how long to stay in London I would say four days is an absolute minimum just because anything less than that you're going to feel stressed trying to capture all the sites and you're really not going to feel like you've seen a lot but minimum four days more if you want to do some of the day trips around the city now let's talk about arriving in London so the greater London area is actually served by six different airports so there's Heathrow yatwick Stansted Luton London City airport and London South End airport now for visitors coming from overseas odds are going to be entering through Gatwick or Heathrow whereas the other ones are more meant for shorter flights usually coming from elsewhere in Europe now if you're coming from Heathrow I would definitely advise against doing the Heathrow Express just because I know that it's quick but it's very very expensive and also unless you're staying at a hotel really close to Paddington Station you're going to end up having to take public transport further and transfer to your next stop anyway so the tube is definitely a much more cost effective solution luckily Heathrow is on the tube line so you can just hop on with a contactless card and it'll calculate your fare for you so it's quite a simple way to do it in terms of hotels there are thousands of potential hotels and rooms that you can choose from but generally speaking I think the most important thing in London when you're choosing a hotel is Comfort whereas I'm more inclined to pick based on location for other cities London is such a spread out and huge City that just booking and accommodation that's close to one attraction doesn't necessarily put you at an advantage when you're going to sightsee in other places so really picking a hotel that's comfortable in a nice neighborhood with good food options to me is more important than staying like next to the London Eye or close to Big Ben so long as you pick a hotel that's close to a tube station honestly you'll be fine for getting around I would prioritize places that are in zone one and zone two just because that's honestly cheaper when you do public transport that way and also staying in one of those zones will put you kind of within a stone's throw of most attractions in London that said I would personally prioritize things like the specifics of the hotel and whether or not they suit your needs in terms of comfort now it's important to note that a lot of hotels in London are actually repurposed from older buildings sometimes they will have no elevator or lack of amenities that you might be used to like air conditioning so when you're vetting hotels be sure to look Beyond just a few photos be sure to read the descriptions quite clearly look at some reviews because a lot of older hotels in London will not have some amenities that you would come to expect from a hotel now another important tip is to make sure you get an international SIM card or at least an international data plan just because oftentimes you'll be relying on internet a lot when you're in London a lot of restaurants even have their menus just on QR codes these days so having data is quite important but the good news is it's very cheap to get a SIM card when you're in London actually at the airports they have machines look for vending machines from three they sell SIM cards and you can set it up really easily and it's very affordable as well lastly before you head to London make sure you have a travel friendly credit card and the reason I say this is because London these days is becoming very much a cashless City so cash is no longer King you're going to be using cards to pay for a lot of things so if you have a credit card that charges you every time you use it abroad then that's not really going to work out in your favor and I highly recommend getting a wise card you can hold a bunch of different currencies in one account and it also minimizes any potential fees when you're using it abroad so I highly recommend using that because you are going to be using card a lot when you're in London now in terms of getting around London here are some must knows first things first you definitely wouldn't need to rent a car unless you're planning on driving out to the countryside or doing some more remote trips within the city you're not going to need a car and you definitely shouldn't be wasting your money that way because it can be very stressful driving in London and most people won't be used to it second when taking taxis I definitely recommend downloading an app called free now it's basically like uber except they work with licensed taxis so you can easily order a taxi through an app and then they'll come to you and so this is way easier than trying to flag a taxi down it's also really good because you can see the estimated fare so that way you know when you're getting scammed or when you're not getting scammed third I definitely wouldn't rely on these Hop On Hop Off buses as a mode of transport to be honest with you I have taken one in the past and I thought it was really fun as a sightseeing tour but as a mode of Transport it's really not that reliable because the schedules aren't as consistent and it's really not the most efficient way to get around now way better than the hop-on hop-off buses is just relying on public transport as millions of londoners do every single day now the public transport system in London relies on a tap in tap out system that automatically charges you as a visitor you have two options you can either just use a contactless card anything with this symbol and that will automatically charge you or you can get an oyster card as a tourist the easiest thing is probably just to use a contactless card there's actually no difference between the fares that they charge you with a contact list versus Oyster card there's only a few situations where as a tourist I think it makes sense the first one is if you plan on getting a rail card so if you get a rail card you can actually register it with your oyster card and that's going to save you one third of all your train Journeys including your tube Journey so that makes sense but of course this only really works if you're staying in London for a longer period of time or if you plan on coming back really frequently the other situation is if you have a credit card but it's not a travel friendly one in which case you're going to be charged every single time you do any transactions abroad in that case then it might be worthwhile getting an oyster card but besides that contactless is the way to go it's also very very simple now in terms of public transport in London you have a few options you have the underground trains also known as the tube you also have buses and overground trains which connect you out to more suburb areas now as a tourist you're mostly going to be relying on the underground and on buses both have their pros and cons but for me personally I would recommend Taurus more prioritize the bus actually just because it's cheaper because it's charged just one zone across the board it's also really fun to ride at a double decker bus like up top and you get to see a lot more you also get cell service so it's easier to navigate that said there are some downsides with the bus of course you're at the mercy of London traffic which can be really brutal also the buses are often not as punctual so if you're using Google Maps to navigate never trust the estimate that they give you on there just because it doesn't factor in traffic instead look for the electronic stop times that are usually at the stop those will tend to be a lot more accurate regardless of what option you choose just always make sure you have a good buffer time if you have to go anywhere specific so if you have a show you need to catch or certain train you need to catch give yourself a lot of buffer time in advance just in case the public transport system fails you because there's often delays in busier tours areas to be honest with you I would prioritize walking above all else because often this can be faster than taking the bus or the tube and it's just a more Scenic way to get around now let's run through a few basic tips for riding the tube first of all avoid rush hour I would never willingly go on the tube during rush hour as a Taurus just because you have that flexibility so plan around it not only are the fares more expensive during that time but it gets incredibly busy and it's just not a fun time to be around so definitely avoid the tube around 7 30 to 9 A.M and also 5 to 7 PM another thing is to always keep your ticket or your card handy because whenever you're riding the tube you have to tap out at the fair Gates every time so the last thing that you want to do is hold up everyone behind you because you can't find your card this happens way too often so make sure you have your card handy in your pocket so that you're ready to tap out when the time comes also make sure you have your full Journey loaded on your phone before you go as I mentioned before there's no cell service in most tube stations so when you're down there there's no way for you to just use internet to navigate so make sure you have the full Journey loaded or download a map or something and if you're on a crowded train make sure you take off your bag or have it in your front so that it's not in everyone's way and lastly do not stand on the left side of the escalator this is the passing Lane so if you're standing be sure to stand on the right and leave the left side clear for people who want to walk up now if you're going to be staying in London for a while and you're planning on doing some day trips out of the city one thing I could recommend getting if you want to be spontaneous about it is getting a London plus Rail Pass so with this pass you get unlimited train Journeys For a Day within a set time period and this specific pass includes London to pretty much every day trip destination you can imagine this is a great option if you want some more flexibility and you don't want to buy tickets in advance but generally speaking it will just be cheaper if you plan ahead of time and get your tickets way in advance all right now it's time to talk about attractions in London so first off do not overload your itinerary London is a massive City packed with so many different sites it's going to be impossible for you to cover everything in just one trip a lot of people live here for all their lives and still don't see everything so you have to be realistic about what you're going to see remember that your trip to London is meant to be fun so don't overload your itinerary otherwise you're just going to be hopping from site to site and you're not really going to be enjoying yourself I would personally limit big paid attractions to one or two a day and then filling the rest of the day with exploring you know enjoying food doing some of the best free things that London has to offer another thing that's important is to plan your days by neighborhood because London is super spread out it can often take you more than 40 minutes to get from one end of the city to the other so you want to avoid doubling back making your itinerary as efficient as possible now another thing I'd say is to really limit your paid attractions to just a few because there's so many cool things to do in London that are absolutely free you don't need to spend a ton of money to have a good time my deep dark London secret is that to this day I still haven't been up the London Eye and that to me is just because I there's a million and one nice viewpoints in London most of which are free so you don't necessarily need to pay to go see something just because it's popular now that's it if you do intend on seeing a lot of different paid sites one thing that I can recommend is buying a London pass so of course do the math and see if it makes sense for you but the London pass is basically this pass that includes a bunch of paid attractions for one set price and so I recently did this and I got to do a lot of things I would have otherwise not done in London which I thought was really fun but again this is only really worth it if you're going to see a lot of sites so be sure to total up all the mussies for you and see if it matches up with the price and how it compares I would also advise prioritizing uniquely London attractions just because I think that there are a lot of top attractions in the city these days that don't really have a lot to do with the history of London itself so things like Shrek's 40 Adventure or Madame Tussauds I feel like these are okay attractions to bring your kids to if you need to entertain them but honestly in the grand scheme of London there's a lot of better things to do that are a lot more unique to the city another tip is to familiarize yourself with all the free things that you can do in London because yes London is an expensive city but it's really easy to sightsee completely for free you can visit Parks go to free museums go window shopping or go on walks some of the most popular museums in London are actually free or by donation my personal favorite is the VNA so this is a museum that's dedicated to decorative Arts from all around the world super beautiful it's also really close to other free museums like the Science Museum and Natural History Museum so I can highly recommend those but beyond that there's also the National Gallery the National Portrait Gallery Tate modern Tate Britain the Imperial War Museum the British Museum and more so if you're looking to save money prioritize those free museums and you'll be golden now another important must know is to book things in advance as much as possible so whether it's a West End show or reservation for a restaurant people in London love looking ahead so if there's something that you really have your site set on make sure that you book it as soon as possible for instance with the London Harry Potter Studios tour that can sometimes book up two months in advance so be sure to not dilly dally and book everything as soon as possible now on that note there are a lot of really cool things to do in London that are free or almost free but you just need to book them in advance so I'm just going to give you a quick list right here first of all there's the mithram which can be booked up to four months in advance there's also the barbecane conservatory tickets for that are released for the next week on Thursdays at 10 A.M so be sure to keep that in mind another unique experience you can have is at the Tower of London it's called the ceremony of the keys and basically you get to watch the beef eaters lock up the Tower of London for the day which is a very cool and unique experience it's only five pounds but tickets need to be booked in advance on the first working day of the month at noon for the next month there's also Sky Garden which is free and it's one of my favorite viewpoints in London but tickets do go super quickly so usually tickets are released every Monday up to a week in advance so be sure to look on their website to book and I will say here's a little hack for Sky Garden if you don't manage to get tickets which often people don't unless they're super on top of things another fun way to actually get up there is to book a breakfast ticket which costs 8.50 so it's not free but that does include a hot drink and a pastry and you get to see Sky Garden before it opens to the general public which I think is priceless now if you're hoping to catch a show on the West End I do have a few tips for you as well so first of all be sure to download an app called today tix this is a really great app that advertises different sales and Deals and through there you could also enter different ticket lotteries and get day of Rush tickets which tend to be cheaper as well in advance of your trip also be sure to enter different ticket lotteries as I mentioned earlier so they have ones for Hamilton Harry Potter and the cursed child and a few other shows and these are basically special tickets that are usually for the first few rows because they're slightly obstructed but you'll get tickets for like really cheap so for me personally I got to see Hamilton with these seats and it was only 10 pounds a ticket so it's really worth trying your luck you never know and it's a great deal in a pinch when you arrive you can also check out the tkts booth in Leicester Square for day of discounted tickets all right now let's move on to some food and drink tips for London first off don't just go to London and eat fish and chips don't forget that there's a huge range of really delicious British foods that you need to try for me personally I love different meat pies I love getting a full English breakfast sausage rolls and sticky toffee pudding if you've never had it it's just the most Divine Dessert on Earth so be sure to give that a try those visiting on a Sunday should also make sure they get a Sunday roast which is typically eaten as a late lunch or kind of an early dinner so be sure to book in advance because a lot of pubs will do it but it's like a tradition that's beloved across London so all the best places will book up really quickly beyond that though make sure you've sample some of London's incredible international cuisine as well by going to some of the food markets in the city there are a ton the most famous one is Brewer Market you've probably heard of it and I do love it there but it gets very very crowded some other really great ones are Greenwich Market Brick Lane Market Old spittle Fields Market and it's smaller but Maltby Street Market is also very fun all right now let's have a quick chat about Pub etiquette so going to a pub in London is an essential activity honestly even if you're not a big drinker I would recommend going to a pub because these are really cool cozy spaces that also do food and are just a great space for socializing so it's not just about drinking but there's a few important must knows for you to enjoy your Pub experience properly so the first is that not all pubs in London have table service in fact a lot of them don't so the most common way that you would order is actually going up to the bar and ordering your drink there often you can order food as well and then you'll pay on the spot rather than waiting for the end of your meal another thing that's very common these days is to actually have a QR code on the table so this is why it's important for you to have data because especially with chain pubs you can just scan the QR code and then from there you can order all your different drinks all your dishes to the table number that you're sitting at and then that way you don't have to go up to the bar to order now in terms of what to order beers are most commonly ordered in pints in the UK which are 20 fluid ounces but if you want something smaller you can order a half pint or just a half just be aware that sometimes they might make fun of you for this so yeah definitely order a pint if you can it's just part of the fun lastly in regards to tipping a lot of restaurants in central London these days will be adding something called a discretionary service charge that's about 12.5 so what you need to know about this charge is it's actually optional but the awkward thing is if you want them to take it off you have to ask them to do it so you would only really do that in the case where you feel like the service doesn't deserve that much tip but if there is that service charge on there then you don't need to tip additional all right finally let's tackle some tips for when you arrive in London so the first is to make sure you look both ways before crossing the street because if you're from a country like mine where they drive on the opposite side of the road you're gonna automatically be looking in the wrong direction when you cross so it's very common for tourists to like almost get run over just because they're not instinctively looking in the right direction luckily there's often markers on the pavement that tell you which side to look but just to be safe look both ways and be extra careful full when you're crossing the street another safety tip is to keep your phone really close to you and hidden at all times because actually these days more so than pickpocketing phone snatchings are becoming a really common crime in London so it's very common that you hear these stories of people walking around with their phone out and then someone coming by on a scooter or on a bike and grabbing it out of their hands and just Wheeling off so definitely make sure that you don't take your phone out in public unless you need to and definitely not when you're standing by a busy road or at an intersection or something where someone can just come and grab it in a similar way definitely don't leave your phone out on a table there's been lots of instances even when you're in a restaurant where I've heard people will come in and talk to you and distract you and then grab your phone so just make sure you have all your valuables kind of stashed away and you'll be fine now another thing is to be aware of commonly mispronounced names so with British English I find that oftentimes names are not at all pronounced like how they're spelled so in London there's quite a few places that Taurus often mispronounce and it just sounds silly so I'm just gonna rattle off a few for you just so that you know first of all with the river that runs through London it's not the Thames it's actually pronounced the Thames with this famous Square it's Lester Square not Leicester Square this neighborhood in London is known as Greenwich it's not Greenwich and these neighborhoods are known as Clapham and Fulham not Clapham or full ham and of course with the southern it's Southern and not South work unfortunately for you there's loads more Beyond those so what I would recommend you do is just keep an ear out when you're on the train or whatever just like listen out for pronunciations because then you can hear and make sure you know how to say places that you're going to and last but certainly not least remember to be respectful because at the end of the day London is an amazing City to visit yes but there are millions of locals that do call this city home so when you're traveling around make sure you're not being loud and disrupted live in residential neighborhoods don't be trespassing people's property to get a cute photo of their house things like that I know it seems like common sense but I've seen a lot of ridiculous tourist behaviors in London so it's worth mentioning all right thank you so much for watching and as usual if you have any more questions or additional tips to add be sure to leave them in the comments below and for more practical travel videos just like this one be sure to like And subscribe for more so I'll be seeing you guys next week thanks so much for watching bye

Channel: Happy to Wander

Views: 299,997

Keywords: London England, London Travel, London Tips, Things to do in London

Id: vpCYaDgX65w

Length: 17min 38sec (1058 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 10 2023