London on foot
Walking around London
London sprawls, and what appears to be a short jaunt may actually be an epic trek.
Walking can be a fine way to get between sights in a given neighborhood, but probably not so much to get between neighborhoods.
That said, walking is also the best way to discover the Real London. If you spend all your time tunneling about town on the Tube, all you'll really see are (a) the major sights, (b) those few blocks it takes to walk to and from them, and (c) a wide variety of Underground tunnels, escalators, and staircases.
There are loads of pleasant strolls throughout the city. Try out the Millennium Bridge between St. Paul’s and the Tate Modern in Southwark, or the colorful back streets of Soho.
Look right!
Just be sure you remember to "Look Right" before stepping off the curb.
Londoners drive on the left side of the road, so on two-way streets traffic will be hurtling at you from the right, not the left as it does in right-side-drive countries. You'd be surprised by how second-nature it is for Americans and others from right-drive countries to look only left before crossing. It will probably continue to startle you for several days before you get used to it (and do so anew each morning).
However, that's just on two-way streets. London is also full of one-way streets, so half the time cars will, indeed, be rushing at you from the left.
I find it's best to be overly mindful all the time and to look carefully both directions before stepping off the curb.
Consider a guided walk
Walking tours are also by far the best way to explore the city—whether geographic or themed, these remarkably cheap tours give you incredible insight into the deep, rich history and colorful characters of London (they're often led by colorful characters, too). Highly, highly recommended. » more
- Viator.com - Best one-stop shopping site for all sorts of activities, walking tours, bus tours, escorted day trips, and other excursions. It is actually a clearinghouse for many local tour companies and outfitters, and since it gets a bulk-rate deal on pricing (and takes only a token fee for itself), you can actually sometimes book an activity through Viator for less than it would cost to buy the same exact tour from the tour company itself. (I once booked a Dublin pub crawl via Viator and later discovered that I saved about $1.50; also, the tour turned out to be sold-out, and they were turning away the folks in front of me in line, but since I had a pre-booked voucher I got in.)Partner
- Londonwalks.com - Since the 1970s, the gold standard in city walking tours and museum tours—and cheap, to boot. Just meet your guide at the appointed time and place (usually a Tube stop), pay your £10 (students or over 65s are £8; under 15 free), and prepare for a good two hours of amazing cultural insight and historic anecdotes. If you plan on taking three or more walks, buy a "Frequent London Walker" card for £2 from your first guide, then each subsequent walk costs £8. They also run popular excursions outside London for £18. Note that the fee just covers the guided tour; you pay for any admissions (or, for excursions, travel expenses) yourself.
- Contexttravel.com - This bespoke walking tour company doesn't even call its 200 tour leaders "guides." It calls them "docents"—perhaps because most guides are academics and specialists in their fields: history professors, archeologists, PhDs, art historians, artists, etc. Groups are miniscule (often six people maximum), and most docents can be booked for private guiding sessions as well. They aren't always the cheapest tours, but they are invariably the best. People rave about Context.Partner
- City-discovery.com - Chief rival to Viator (though with a less spiffy interface and often sub-par text descriptions), representing many of the same tours (at the same prices). However, it also seems to cover more destinations, especially secondary ones. When it comes down to it, City-Discovery and Viator have maybe 70% the same inventory, but then 30% will be completely different (some Viator has City-Discovery does not, other vice-versa) so it pays to check through the offerings from both.Partner
- Streetwise London - Amazingly detailed yet tiny, a foldable and laminated map that slips into your (deeper) pocketPartner
- London A to Z - One of the world's greatest street-by-street maps (pronounced "London A to Zed"). The only publication that lists every tiny alley and dead-end lane of the maze that is London's infrastructure.Partner
- National Geographic London City Map - A London map from the inimitable folks at National Geographic. Good overview and street index.Partner
- London PopOut Map - Intriguing map-based way to peruse London's neighborhoods, transit lines, and theatres.Partner
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