A few questions about the West End/South Bank in London...Thanks!!!

[Live the good life]

Although we had been to London before, we can't recall the distance between the Piazza/Central Market in Covent Garden and corner of Piccadilly/Green Park. (1) How long would it take to walk between the 2 locations. Would it be safe at night to walk on Picadilly? Would it be easy to get a taxi from the Piazza at Covent Garden, and how much would it cost approximately? (our recollection was that it was very hard for us to get a taxi outside of Harrod's, but that was in a different part of town, and it was a rainy night!) We plan to use the hop on hop off during the day time...

(2) We will be spending 2 nights pre-cruise in London, and would like to know which places would have lots of people and street entertainers/outdoor music in the early evening/night, trafalgar square or covent garden?

(3) Which parks (St James or Green Park) would have more activities/music? We will be there on a Thursday and Friday, then spend one day in Dover on Saturday...

(4) Any recommendations for a restaurant with a great view of the River besides Pont de la Tour?

(5) Any difference between the River cruise departing from London Eye South Bank and the River cruise departing from the West End?

(6) Is there a place in Hyde Park for tea with a great view of Hyde Park?

 

5 months till our cruise, and we are finally trying to do our homework/research...Thank you in advance for your replies...

 

Kim

[Globaliser]

Doing the ones I can:-

• We can't recall the distance between the Piazza/Central Market in Covent Garden and corner of Piccadilly/Green Park. It's just over a mile.
  
• How long would it take to walk between the 2 locations. Maybe 20-30 minutes' walk (depending on how fast you walk!).
  
• Would it be safe at night to walk on Picadilly? Yes.
  
• Would it be easy to get a taxi from the Piazza at Covent Garden, and how much would it cost approximately? (our recollection was that it was very hard for us to get a taxi outside of Harrod's, but that was in a different part of town, and it was a rainy night!) This depends critically on what time you're talking about. For example, on a weekday evening, you'll have no problem between 7 pm and 9 pm. After 10 pm you will be struggling. This is all to do with the flow of people to and from the West End, and the time that cabbies have dinner. The best place to get cabs from in the Covent Garden area is to talk down to Waterloo Bridge and start walking across the bridge towards the south side. Many cabs come into town empty over the bridge. It's a prime spot for getting one. It should cost about £5 for that trip, but again it's different depending on the time of day and the tariff that's therefore chargeable, and of course the amount of traffic.
  
• Which places would have lots of people and street entertainers/outdoor music in the early evening/night, trafalgar square or covent garden? Covent Garden.
  
• Any recommendations for a restaurant with a great view of the River besides Pont de la Tour? For starters, all of the restaurants along the river there, which are all Conran establishments - apart from the Pont, there's also the Butler's Wharf Chop House, the Cantina del Ponte and the Blueprint Cafe. Elsewhere, try the restaurant at the top of the Oxo Tower (near Blackfriars, Waterloo and Southwark Tubes). There's a restaurant in the Tate Modern which is supposed to have good river views. Also, but not quite a restaurant - there's a bar called Vertigo which is at the top of Tower 42 (what used to be called the NatWest Tower) but you must have reservations, otherwise you won't get past security on the ground floor.
  
• Is there a place in Hyde Park for tea with a great view of Hyde Park? There's a cafe by the Serpentine (the lake in the middle) which ought to have views of the park. But I'm not sure how good the tea will be ...

[Nickwolf]

.....is to talk down to Waterloo Bridge ....

 

Waterloo bridge is a very nice bridge, I don't know why want tourists to start giving it a hard time ;) :p

 

Sorry I couldn't resist, I will have to watch my own typing now.

 

Nick.

[Globaliser]

Sorry I couldn't resist, I will have to watch my own typing now.

Like straight away?

Waterloo bridge is a very nice bridge, I don't know why want tourists to start giving it a hard time ;) :p

:D Good catch, though!

[Nickwolf]

Oh no, that will teach me. :o

 

Nick.

[Live the good life]

Globalizer, thank you so much for your replies...I have been doing research based on your recommendations over the past week and feel better about the whole visit...Also feel better about walking on Picadilly back to our hotel at night, if we can't find a cab.

We will definitely visit the XO tower (2nd or 8th floor restaurants) and Butler's area. Vertigo Bar on top of tower 42 is also a place we might check out (http://www.vertigo42.co.uk ). We also just found out that based on some diners' critics, Cantina del Ponte has rude services; so, we most likely will go to Le Pont de la Tour...We will also try out the Bengal Clipper (Indian food around that area), or Tamarind in Mayfair, voted best Indian restaurant in London by Frommer's. Frommer's also recommends the Bridge (British food) near the Millenium bridge as a best view restaurant. On the other hand, we will be doing the British Eye, the Thames cruise, and the Tower of London Exposition, so we will have plenty of view. We just wish we would have more than 2.5 days in London so we could visit Eton, Oxford and Windsor castle as well!

 

BTW, since Buckingham's palace will not be open in July, what can one do to see the Change of Guard at this palace? Can one walk right outside of the palace??? (A few years ago, we could only go to Kensington since Buckingham was closed during X-mas time).

 

Thanks, Kim

[Nickwolf]

Kim, you can go to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The soldiers parade first at nearby Wellington Barracks and march down to the palace along a public road. The actual ceremony of changing the guard then takes place inside the grounds of Buckingham Palace which you can see through the fence/gates.

The crowds can get very large at the palace so be prepared for that.

 

My tip is to go along about an hour before the advertised time and make your way to Wellington Barracks and watch the pre parade inspection through the barracks fence line near the Guards division museum. The crowd will be very much smaller and you are very much closer to the soldiers so the photo opportunities are much better. Once you have seen that go along to the palace and watch the soldiers march by. Normally you get to see the Cavalry troop ride past on their way to the changing of the guard at Horseguards too.

 

Once the soldiers are inside the palace grounds there is not that much to see and I think the actual ceremony takes something like 45 minutes but unless someone is there to explain to you what is going on it will seem as if not much is happening. What I am saying is I wouldn't bother hanging around for that.

 

Nick.