Stuff to do in London & Edinburgh?

Middle of next year, our family will finally be taking an international vacation to the above locations; we'll spend about 3 days in London and 5 or so in Edinburgh.

Aside from the obvious iconic locations, any recommendations on stuff to do while there? Seriously looking forward to the trip.

(Tagging @TheBrit because I just remembered you. I would think you might know a few places. )

 

Things I like to do in cities... consume vast amounts of alcohol and vomit it back up in some back alley while headed back to my digs. Possibly not everyone's cup of tea.

On a serious note, I'm not too familiar with Edinburgh so can't do more than recommend the usual honeypots, I only ever stop there when headed north into the highlands and islands.
London I'm more familiar with but I'm usually in the same boat as any tourist, the place has so much to do that it is easy to become so overwhelmed that you can easily end up wasting a lot of time. I really, really hate making advance plans but if I don't when I go to London I end up coming away thinking I could have done so much more. I don't know if it's your first trip but will assume it is.

I usually ride the Tube but for an irregular visitor you want to see as much as possible so I'd be inclined to ride the upper deck of the buses as much as I could within the city.
Make sure you have a 'proper' chip and pin bank card (mine's Wells Fargo and it is as standard) and for crying out loud make sure that the signature strip is signed - I was gobsmacked when I moved out here and found it was common not to sign the card, if a retailer spots an unsigned card it will be confiscated and all kinds of aggro will likely ensue. Nearly everywhere will use Tap, so if it's not something you are used to between now and your trip I'd suggest you look for the symbol when you pay for gas or visit the grocery store and get used to using it. Lower cost purchases will often not require your pin number but costlier stuff will - so make sure you know your pin. Also never, ever, ever let your card out of your sight, if someone handles your card they should keep it in your sight at all times - if they don't you can be pretty sure that it will be cloned. I took a load of cash with me and found it hard to shift, if you don't mind getting shafted by your bank's charges then it probably is the best way to go. They might want you to give them a heads up when you head out of the US, it's much easier to clarify before you get anywhere near the airport!!!

Museums galore can easily occupy your day, we usually arrive at Heathrow at stupid o'clock in the morning, head straight to our hotel, drop bags and hit the British Museum or the National Gallery, just be aware that if you do the same you'll probably feel like you ran into a bus by about 10am London time because of jet lag (I find that plenty of water on the flight helps, I don't drink sodas but, if you can, avoid them and it's about the only time I will never willingly drink booze). We did the Tower, which I hadn't visited for about forty years and it was definitely worth the trip. I like the Maritime museum out at Greenwich but it is out of the way for a trip with limited time. If by family you mean teens or younger they will probably enjoy Madame Tussards waxworks or the Harry Potter studios, but this one is on the northern edge of the city and will eat into time getting to and from.

If it's shopping rather than museums that interests you, you could take in the large, fancy, wallet emptying, stores such as Harrods or Fortnum and Mason. Me, I prefer Camden town with it's markets, small weirdo stores and pubs. Late teen kids or the raver in you will love the underground Cyberdog store, just be aware that it is fairly large underground and the very far end has a no holds barred, fetish, bondage, sex toy type section which might be a trifle disconcerting for the average US parent with kids!!! The area around Covent Garden is always worth a nose round, fancy little stores and street stalls and lively pubs.

For the evenings you can't go wrong with a trip to a show in the West End. If you like something a bit out of the ordinary for food head down to POP Brixton and check out the scene. It's an area of freight containers that have been turned into some fairly nice eateries (Google will give a better idea).
Grown up kids will probably like the night club scene, especially if they are small town kids or rural. Going out at night is generally safe, as is riding the buses but just as anywhere else if an area looks unsavory then it's probably best to avoid or go around. Wearing of a ballcap by anyone over mid 20's will mark you as an American tourist.
For pubs - no alcohol for under 18's, however over 16's may have alcohol if sat down for a meal but they cannot buy it. Under 15's are not allowed at the bar area, seated you can get away with any well behaved child. If your kids are between 18 and 21 obviously it falls to you as their guardian whether you let them drink but, having been in that situation, just be aware that the blighters may well have no concept of self control and try to order alcohol anytime of day, which to a Brit is perfectly acceptable and won't be challenged if they present ID proving they are 18.

Otherwise, wear comfortable shoes, we always end up walking far further than we anticipated, we usually take in a yomp along the river.
You will almost certainly leave wishing that you'd done this, that or the other but unless you are going to spend a month there you will always feel that way so enjoy what you have done and plan on those things for your next trip. Have a great trip and feel free to ask questions.

 

Appreciate you answering - will put my thoughts below, which may help out a bit.

Well, the family will be with me, so while I will absolutely partake I gotta keep it somewhat respectable.

Technically it's my 2nd trip (went there for a day when our ship pulled into Portsmouth way back in '99 or so), but that was so long ago, and the visit so short, that it may as well be my first.

Yeah, I've got 3 banks w/chip cards and pins; even back in '99 and '01 I had little trouble pulling out cash, and the banks I'm a member of now are far bigger, so I expect little trouble there. Good note on the card signature; mine are signed but I didn't know that. And yeah, I've 'almost' been the subject of theft (in Rome and Antalya) so I'm familiar with that.

Yeah, those things are definitely on our must-do. I think we leave O'Hare at 7:30 p.m. and have a straight flight (!!) to London, arriving at 8 or 9 a.m. London time, so I've told my family sleep in the day we travel, drink plenty of fluids, etc. Think the plan is to get into town, crash at a hotel for 3-4 hours, then get up around noon and hit the pavement for a few hours to exhaust ourselves so we sleep well that evening. The following day we'll start seeing the sites in earnest.

Yep, Camden and Covent Garden are both on our focus.

We originally planned on spending like 2 days in London and the rest of our time in Edinburg (the wife likes Outlander LOL so the Highlands is high on our list), but the more she watched Youtube "Best stuff to do" videos the more she thought "maybe we ought to do the trip in halfsies." As of now, these are must-dos:

- British Museum, Natural History Museum, Seven Dials
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Shakespeare's Globe
- Westminster Abbey
- Buckingham Palace
- Bath
- Windsor (it's my last name so I *HAVE* to go there so I can lend my royalty jokes some legitimacy - "stopped by and visited 'my' village," hardee har har)
- Camden
- Greenwich

The wife wants to do some shopping, but honestly that can be mixed in with a day of just walking around, sampling the local fare, etc.

There's tons of other stuff we'd like to see aside from that; but as you're well aware, it's impossible to see everything. But that just gives us a reason to go back.

I had a ball last time I was there. Went on a bit of a pub crawl with a member of our Navy's NCIS and a guy from MI5, I think. For all the talk about bloody Yanks and American independence, I found people over there very welcoming (aside from one crotchety old female cook in a pub in Portsmouth, until I realized she was intentionally giving me sh*t LOL).

 

Couple of thoughts.
Presumably Windsor and Bath are not part of your '3 days in London'? I have never been to Windsor but did spend a summer living and working in Bath, as cities go it ranks in my top 3. I took the wife round the roman baths this summer, wanted to do tea in the tea house next door but the whole area was packed with tourists and we wanted somewhere a bit quieter, so we did lunch in some nondescript overpriced restaurant and then walked up to the Royal Crescent.

I wasn't aware that the Seven Dials was a thing, couldn't have even told you where to find it, Google tells me it's the gentrified shopping area north of Covent Garden up to Shaftesbury - that was one of the places I was thinking about for smaller type shopping, I've always lumped that area in with Covent Garden or the West End.
I should probably have known that, for a chap whose father spent his working life in Knightsbridge, and currently has a jeweller brother in Hatton Garden and a sister in the City.

We timed our summer trip to London at a really bad time this summer, we dropped in on the Queen's Jubilee weekend and it was absolute bloody mayhem. We had hoped to do the Tate Modern and The Globe but walking along the Embankment on the other side we could see queues stretching for hundreds of yards, gave them a miss and hit the Tower instead - which was bizarrely quiet, put it down to the hordes being on the Mall for the festivities, all hell broke out after midday and the gun salute (which also caught us by surprise), which bought the hordes to the Tower.
I haven't done the Palace, other than walking past and round it on my way to various places and haven't been to St Paul's since I was a kid, we did hit the Abbey this summer whether I'd do both the Cathedral and the Abbey in one trip when pushed for time is debatable (actually it isn't because, as proved by my last trip, I only did the one).
My wife and I can easily spend more than half a day in both the British Museum and the National Gallery, this was the first time I've taken her that we haven't done either, packing your list in will require some fairly regimented timing. And just to make it worse, another museum that would be top of my list, especially for a family trip would be the Science museum...

Next installment coming : Highlands, as it doesn't sound like you'll be in Edinburgh for long...

 

So, we'll be overseas about 10-11 days, so I assume (the more that time goes by) that we'll spend close to 1/2 our time in London and thereabouts, and 1/2 the time in Edinburgh.

Regarding Windsor/Bath...I probably should say we'll spend 1/2 our time in England and 1/2 in Scotland, as, while most of our trip will center in/around those cities, we'll venture out a bit, so yes, Windsor/Bath is part of our 1/2 trip to England.

Yeah, I have to admit that I was a bit concerned when we made our trip plans - and then realized King Charles' coronation is in the same month. But thankfully it's far earlier in the month, so I assume it won't make quite the hit to our plans that the Queen's Jubilee did for yours.

Well yeah, I realize that some of these sites (sights?) can take up a half day to a day on their own. With that said, this is our very first trip overseas as a family; so my assumption is that, notwithstanding some of the larger sites (e.g., the museums and the National Gallery), we'll probably take a day to visit several sites that would normally be their own half day or so...and then follow up there in subsequent visits. (I find it absolutely amazing that right now I can get a ticket from Chicago to *LONDON* for about the same price as I can a ticket from Chicago to Seattle.

Well, I'm a bit of ADHD, and I spent years in the military, so I realize I'll indeed need to regiment my time. With that said, one of my favorite sayings is "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." LOL I fully realize we may get there, spend 1/2 a day in the British Museum and say "You know what? @$#@ Buckingham Palace and this and that, we'll do those some other time." LOL

Probably not. I assume we'll spend a solid day futzing around the Royal Mile and shopping and some, but the balance of the time will likely be spent checking out Inverness, Loch Lomond, Glasgow, etc.

 

Following.... planning a similar trip next fall.

 

Assuming the kids are interested most places will take up more time than you might expect and I don't need to tell you how long you'll be anywhere that bores them...

Bear in mind that the national museums are free, while the houses of God will want your money before they let you in, technically you make a 'recommended donation' because God forbid that they charge entry....


When I was growing up Glasgow was a proper shithole, somehow in the 90's it spent some time as the official cultural city of Europe, I'm not sure if that was some sick Belgian idea of a joke but it's supposed to be quite arty, etc. I've never been tempted to stop there longer than to change trains, gas up or swap plane for hire car. Maybe I should , nah, the hills will always call when I get that close....

Once you get north of the two cities things get real quiet real fast.
Something to bear in kind is that everything looks very close on a map but it can sometimes seem to take forever to get anywhere in Scotland (England isn't really any better), especially if you get stuck behind some doddery old couple towing a caravan behind their Honda Accord. I'm not sure what the laws are any more but if some likely lad or lass comes up behind you at high speed, in Scotland, you were legally obliged to move over for them and let the pass if they flashed their headlights at you. I think the idea was to reduce road deaths as the locals had a tendency to pass you regardless, at high speed and often make a mess of themselves and the unsuspecting tourists coming in the opposite direction...

...

 

I'll have to see if I can find my travel logs and take a look through them.

London:

HMS Belfast is a must do if you're at all into military history, in my opinion. Plan to spend a lot of time, though. First time I went, we had to skip some stuff. Second time I went, we went first thing in the morning and spent at least 4 hours.

Find somewhere to get a pie and a locally brewed pint. I enjoyed a fair bit of Fullers when I was there.

As mentioned above, the tube is probably the cheapest way to get around. They have hop on hop off tour buses that are nice but pricy.

Not sure what your wife thinks she wants to shop for but I suspect she'll be disappointed. Everything there costs double what it costs here.

Edinburgh:

My recommendations won't be as good because we were there during the Fringe Festival. But head down to the castle and try to time it for when they're doing the tattoo (drumming) if possible.

Not sure if it's just the particular tour group I was with or what but the "pub crawl" we went on was terrible. I was expecting some actual pubs with history and character and got a bunch of dance clubs and lame crap like that.

Haggis is delicious. Keep an open mind.

If you can get a small day trip out into the Highlands with a local guide, do it. The scenery is amazing. We also lucked out with a local guide who realized we weren't the typical group of middle aged Asian tourists who just wanted to see gift shops and cafes and he took us to some "secret" waterfalls and spots like that.

Can't remember if it was Edinburgh or somewhere else (York, maybe?) that we did a really good ghost tour.

Anyway, I'll check my journal and get back to you with more.

 

Stonehenge!

 

A day on the royal mile will be good. You said not the obvious, but Edinburgh castle is a must. If you mean to get out of Edinburgh, Glasgow is the obvious second choice. The cathedral is awesome, along with the rest of the architecture.

With time enough Sterling castle is cool with a lot of Braveheart references.

One of the best times I had was at the Doune Castle. The headphone rentals are inexpensive and narrated by Eric Idle, I think. But one of the cast members for sure. "We've already got one" Monty Python. But it's a bitch to get to with public transportation.
The Red Lion Inn across from the bus stop is good though. You're father was a hamster.

There's a place in Glasgow called the Sharmanka Kinetic Theater. It's obscure and unique. We spent two days there.




But you can't beat the Highlands for nature and hikes. You also have to see the hairy coos.

 

Looking through my notes for some other highlights:

London:
Cabinet War Rooms & Churchill Museum - went here two of the three times I was in London
London Film Museum might have something good. It was Bond in Motion (vehicles from a bunch of the movies) when I was there.

Turns out the ghost tour was York.

Scotland:
Hadrian's Wall
Have a pint or a nip in the oldest pub on the Royal Mile
Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park
I wrote down that Flying Scotsman is a good local red beer.

 

Nice to hear some others chip in. The views of US tourists are probably more useful than mine, as a native I never had the same time constraints as someone who's flown in.
I would say that I can't even begin to think where we'd start if we had less than two weeks, managed to swing three weeks this summer and still it felt as though everything was a rush. One thing a tourist doesn't have to deal with is trying to juggle visiting parents, four siblings and two grownup kids scattered across southern England. All I want to do is get into the hills, preferably the Lakes or Scotland but the native family would pitch a fit if we disappeared into the mists for a week.

 

"Pay to pray" *snort snicker*

I mean, I'm a believer, but yeah, I never understood why they don't just...take it on faith that some would like to donate. *scratching head* I don't mind paying for something historical but yeah it's kinda corny.

Honestly, we're staying there (at least for a day or two) because it's close to, yet cheaper than, Edinburgh. LOL

Well, I mean, it's that way here too. I live in the sticks a bit, and we get stuck behind people who go -2MPH...and then suddenly realize how slow they're going just as they hit the passing lanes and speed up.

 

Well, it's me, the wife and our 14 year old son. Honestly, everything will be neat and new and different for them, so just being able to go anywhere at all will be interesting. The plan I think, in general, is to hit one or two 'big' things a day, and reserve at least one day or so in each location to hit the countryside or a location not central to the city we're staying in (e.g., Inverness/the Highlands in Scotland; maybe a trip to Canterbury/Windsor in England).

 

Yeah, I definitely remember having a pint or two along with some shepherd's pie and other various/sundry meals.

I mean, she's not planning on any big purchases (aside from maybe a sweater or dress or something). You know, candies/chocolates, shot glasses, mementos, etc. I already told her to *NOT* buy a kilt in Scotland. lol

In Edinburgh, yeah, we'll hit the Royal Mile, the castle, and get out into the Highlands/Inverness/one or two of the Lochs.

 

I spent my formative years growing up in a town near Canterbury, as a non-buggered altar boy I even got to sing there once and remembered the place for many years through rose colored specs. I did a group bike ride there in 2013 and it would be fair to say that it ranks right up there with Glasgow in my list of places to steer clear of. I'm sure the Cathedral is as lovely as ever it was but the town has suffered from over expansion and the road network is absolute bloody chaos. If I were to do a day trip there from London I'd be inclined to take the train.
Even though we were on bikes and all experienced at filtering (lane splitting) it was still a nightmare to make any progress in the town. I presume that for at least some of your trip you'll hire a car, so bear in mind the bikers can and do legally lane split, that and there are speed cameras absolutely everywhere now so keep an eye on those speed limits.

 

Is that the new prime minister?

 

Oh yeah, if we go there, we'll either hire a driver or take the train for sure.

I'm not taking a car, at least not this time. I had to drive back in '99/'01 (was in the Navy and the admiral on our ship - USS Enterprise - knew me so he kept requesting me to be their driver for special functions) and driving in Portsmouth, London, Rome, etc., was freaking insane.

 

Ah, I assumed you'd at least hire a car for the Scottish part of your trip outside the two cities, otherwise you are constrained to coach tours or towns with rail stations. Much of northern Scotland hasn't changed a lot, besides town development, since the days of Outlander Claire's 1940's, get far enough out of the towns and if it weren't for the tarmac'd roads you could be in Jamie's 1700's.

 

Be sure to try the local cuisine. More specifically fish and chips, and the deep-fried Mars bar.

 

Definitely. Had some FANTASTIC shepherds pie years ago; and the wife had made it clear she wants to try fish n chips. LOL