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Luxury Car Hire uk London Guide

London

What strikes visitors more than anything about LONDON is the sheer size of the place. With a population of just under eight million, it's Europe's largest city by far, stretching for more than thirty miles on either side of the River Thames. Ethnically, it's also Europe's most diverse metropolis, and for those without local roots the place can seem bafflingly diverse. Londoners tend to cope with all this by compartmentalizing the city, identifying with the neighbourhoods in which they work or live, and just making occasional forays into the "centre of town" or "up West" - to the West End, London's shopping and entertainment heartland.

Despite Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolution, London still dominates the national horizon, too: this is where the country's news and money are made, it's where the central government resides and, as far as its inhabitants are concerned, provincial life begins beyond the circuit of the city's orbital motorway. Londoners' sense of superiority causes enormous resentment in the regions, yet it's undeniable that the capital has a unique aura of excitement and success — in most walks of British life, if you want to get on, you've got to do it in London.

For the visitor, too, London is a thrilling place and since the beginning of the new millennium, the city has also been in a relatively buoyant mood. Thanks to the national lottery and the millennium-oriented funding frenzy, virtually every one of London's world-class museums, galleries and institutions has been reinvented, from the Royal Opera House to the British Museum. With Tate Modern and the London Eye, the city can now boast the world's largest modern art gallery and observation wheel; as well as two new pedestrian bridges, the first to cross the central section of the Thames for over a hundred years. And after sixteen years of being the only major city in the world not to have its own governing body, London now has an elected assembly again, housed in an eye-catching building within sight of Tower Bridge, and a mayor who's determined to try and solve one of London's biggest problems - transport.

In the meantime, traditional sights — Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London — continue to draw in millions of tourists every year. Monuments from the capital's more glorious past are everywhere to be seen, from medieval banqueting halls and the great churches of Christopher Wren to the eclectic Victorian architecture of the triumphalist British Empire. There is also much enjoyment to be had from the city's quiet Georgian squares, the narrow alleyways of the City of London, the riverside walks, and the quirks of what is still identifiably a

col-lection of villages. Even London's traffic problems are offset by surprisingly large expanses of greenery: Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park are all within a few minutes' walk of the West End, while, further afield, you can enjoy the more expansive parklands of Hampstead Heath and Richmond Park. You could spend days just shopping in London too, hob-nobbing with the upper classes in Harrods, or sampling the offbeat weekend markets of Portobello Road, Brick Lane, Greenwich and Camden. The music, clubbing and gay /lesbian scene is second to none, and mainstream arts are no less exciting, with regular opportunities to catch brilliant theatre companies, dance troupes, exhibitions and opera. Restaurants these days, are an attraction, too. London has caught up with its European rivals, and offers a range from three-star Michelin establishments to low-cost, high-quality Chinese restaurants and Indian curry houses. Meanwhile, the city's pubs have heaps of atmosphere, especially away from the centre - and an exploration of the farther-flung communities is essential to get the complete picture of this dynamic metropolis

London Getting around

Stretching for more than thirty miles at its broadest point, Londonis a big place. The majority of its sights are situated to the north of the River Thames, which loops through the city from west to east. However, there is no single predominant focus of interest, since London has grown not through central­ized planning but by a process of agglomeration — villages and urban develop­ments that once surrounded the core are now lost within the amorphous mass of Greater London.

One of the few areas which is manageable on foot is Westminsterand Whitehall, the city's royal, political and ecclesiastical power base, where you'll find the National Gallery and a host of other London landmarks from Buckingham Palaceto Westminster Abbey. The grand streets and squares of St James's, Mayfair and Marylebone, to the north of Westminster, have been the playground of the rich since the Restoration, and now contain the city's busiest shopping zones.

East of Piccadilly Circus, Soho and Covent Garden are also easy to walk around and form the heart of the West End entertainment district, containing the largest concentration of theatres, cinemas, clubs, flashy shops, cafes and restaurants. To the north lie the university quarter of Bloomsbury, home to the ever-popular British Museum, and the secluded quadrangles of Holborn's Inns of Court, London's legal heartland.

The City — the City of London, to give it its full title — is both the most ancient and the most modern part of London. Settled since Roman times, it's now one of the world's great financial centres, yet retains its share of historic sights, notably the Tower of Londonand a fine cache of Wren churches that includes St Paul's Cathedral. Despite creeping trendification, the East End, to the east of the City, is not conventional tourist territory, but to ignore it entire­ly is to miss out a crucial element of contemporary London. Docklands is the converse of the down-at-heel East End, with the Canary Wharf tower, still the country's tallest building, epitomizing the pretensions of the Thatcherite dream.

A small slice of central London south of the Thames is definitely worth exploring. First off, there's the South Bank Centre, London's little-loved concrete culture bunker, which is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to inspired artistic direction and its proximity to the London Eye, the world's biggest observation wheel. Further east along the river in Bankside is Tate Modern, one of the world's greatest modern art museums, now linked to the City by the funky pedestrian-only Millennium Bridge.

The largest segment of greenery in central London is Hyde Park, which sep­arates wealthy Kensington and Chelsea from the city centre. The museums of South Kensington — the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum — are a must; and if you have shopping on your agenda, you'll want to check out the hive of plush stores in the vicinity of Harrods.

The capital's most hectic weekend market takes place around Camden Lock in North London. Further out, in the literary suburbs of Hampstead and Highgate, there are unbeatable views across the city from half-wild Hampstead Heath, the favourite parkland of thousands of Londoners. The glory of South London is Greenwich, with its nautical associations, royal park and observatory. Finally, there are plenty of rewarding day-trips along the Thames from Chiswick to Windsor, most notably to Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle.

Arriving in london

Flying into London, you'll arrive at one of the capital's five international air­ports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton or City Airport, all of which are less than an hour from the city centre.

Heathrow (08700/00123, www.baa.co.uk), fifteen miles west of the centre, has four terminals, and two train/tube stations: one for terminals 1, 2 and 3, and a separate one for terminal 4. The high-speed Heathrow Express trains travel non-stop to Paddington Station (every 15min; 15-20min) for -£13 each way or ,£23 return (less if you book online, more if you buy your ticket on board). A much cheaper alternative is to take the slow Piccadilly Underground line into central London (every 5-9min; 50min) for £3.70. If you plan to make several sightseeing journeys on your arrival day, buy a One-Day Travelcard (Zones 1-6) for £5.10 (see p.66). There is also a National Express bus service (08705/808080, www.nationalexpress.com) from Heathrow direct to Victoria Coach Station (daily 6am-9.30pm), which departs every thirty minutes, takes approximately an hour depending on the traffic, and costs £8 single, £11 r eturn. Airbus #2, also runs from outside all four Heathrow terminals to several destinations in the city (every 30min; lhr) and costs £8 single, £12 return. From midnight, you'll have to take Night Bus #N9 to Trafalgar Square (every 30min; lhr) for a bargain fare of £1. Taxis are plentiful, but cost at least £40 to central London, and take around an hour (longer in the rush hour).

Gatwick (08700/002468, www.baa.co.uk), thirty miles to the south,has two terminals, North and South, connected by a monorail. The non-stop Gatwick Express train runs between the South Terminal and Victoria Station (every 15-30min; 30min) for £11. Other options include the South Central services to Victoria (every 15-20min; 40min) for £8.20, or Thameslink to King's Cross (every 15-30min; 50min) for around £10.

Stansted ( 08700/000303, www.baa.co.uk), London's swankiest interna­tional airport, lies roughly 35 miles northeast of the capital, and is served by the Stansted Express to Liverpool Street (every 15min; 45min), which costs £13 single, £23 return. Airbus #6 also runs 24 hours a day to Victoria Coach Station (every 30min; lhr 30min), and costs £8 single, £12 return.

Luton airport (01582/405100, www.london-luton.com) is roughly thirty miles north of the city centre, and mostly handles charter flights. A free shuttle bus takes five minutes to transport passengers to Luton Airport Parkway station, connected by rail to King's Cross and other stations in cen­tral London, with Thameslink running trains every fifteen minutes, plus one or two throughout the night; the journey takes thirty to forty minutes and is £10 for a single fare. Alternatively, Green Line buses run from Luton to Victoria Station (every 30min; lhr 30min), costing £8.50 single, £13.50 return.

London 's smallest airport, City Airport ( 020/7646 0000, www .londoncityairport.com), is situated in Docklands, nine miles east of central London. It handles European flights only, and is connected by shuttle bus with Canning Town (every 5min; 5min; £2.50), Canary Wharf (every lOmin; l0min; £3), and Liverpool Street (every l0min; 30min; £6) tube stations.

Eurostar trains arrive at the central Waterloo International, south of the river. Arriving by train (08457/484950, www.rail.co.uk) from elsewhere in Britain, you'll come into one of London's numerous main-line stations, all of which have adjacent Underground stations linking into the city centre's tube network. Coming into London by coach (08705/808080,site www.tfl.gov.uk. One word of warning - avoid travelling during the rush hour (Mon-Fri 8-9.30am & 5-7pm), when tubes become unbearably crowd­ed (and the lack of air conditioning doesn't help), and some buses get so full they literally won't let you on.

Except for very short journeys, the fastest way of moving around the city is by Underground or tube (www.thetube.com), as it's known to all Londoners. The eleven different tube lines cross much of the metropolis, although London south of the river is not very well covered. Each line has its own colour and name - all you need to know is which direction you're trav­elling in: northbound, eastbound, southbound or westbound. Services operate from around 5.30am Monday to Saturday, and from 7.30am on Sundays, and end just after midnight; you rarely have to wait more than five minutes for a train from central stations. Tickets must be bought in advance from the machines or booths in the station entrance hall; ticket inspectors operate throughout the system and if you cannot produce a valid ticket you'll be charged an on-the-spot Penalty Fare of £10. A single journey in the central zone costs an unbelievable ,£1.60, so if you're intending to travel a bout a bit, a Travelcard is a much better bet (see box above).

London's famous red double-decker buses are fun to ride on, but tend to get stuck in traffic jams, which prevent them running to a regular timetable. In central London, you must buy your ticket before boarding from one of the machines at the bus stop. Tickets for all bus journeys costs a flat fare of £1. In addition to the Travelcards mentioned above, a One-Day Bus Pass for zones 1-4, which can be used before 9.30am on weekdays costs -£2 for adults and -£\ for kids. Regular buses run between about 6am and midnight; Night Buses (prefixed with the letter "N") operate outside this period. Night bus routes radi­ate out from Trafalgar Square at approximately twenty to thirty-minute inter­vals, more frequently on some routes and on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are £1 and Travelcards (see box) are valid. All stops are treated as request stops.

Large areas of London's suburbs are best reached by the suburban train net­work (Travelcards valid).Wherever a sight can only be reached by overground train, we've indicated the nearest train station and the central terminus from which you must depart.

Boat services on the Thames do not form part of an integrated public trans­port system. Fares are expensive, and Travelcards currently only give the hold­ers a 33 percent discount on tickets. All services are keenly affected by demand, tides and the weather, and tend to be drastically scaled down in the winter months. Timetables and services are complex, and there are numerous companies and small charter operators - for a full list pick up the Thames River Services booklet from an LT travel information office, phone 020/7222 1234 or visit www.tfl.gov.uk.

Compared to most capital cities, London's metered black cabs are an expen­sive option unless there are three or more of you - a ride from Euston to Victoria, for example, costs around ,£10, more at the weekend, and after 8pm on weekdays. A yellow light over the windscreen tells you if the cab is avail­able -just stick your arm out to hail it. If you want to book one in advance, call 020/7272 0272.

Minicabs look just like regular cars and are considerably cheaper than black cabs, but they are a bit of a law unto themselves. There are hundreds of mini­cab firms in the phone book, but the best way to pick is to take the advice of the place you're at, unless you want to be certain of a woman driver, in which case call Ladycabs ( 020/7254 3501), or a gay/lesbian-friendly driver, in which case call Freedom Cars (020/7734 1313) or Liberty Cars (020/7739 9080).

London Accommodation Guide

There's no getting away from the fact that accommodation in London is expensive and compared with most European cities, you pay over the odds in every category. Rates at the city's hostels are among the highest in the world, while venerable institutions such as the Rjtz, the Dorchester and the Savoy charge guests the very top international prices - up to £300 and more per lux­urious night.

The cheapest places to stay are the dorm beds of the city's numerous inde­pendent hostels, followed closely behind by the official YHA hostels. Even the most basic B&Bs struggle to bring their tariffs down to £45 for a double with shared facilities, and you're more likely to find yourself paying £60 or more.

If you want to avoid the hassle of contacting individual hotels and B&Bs, you could turn to one of the various accommodation agencies. The British Hotel Reservation Centre (BHRC) desks at Heathrow, Gatwick and Victoria train and coach stations, don't charge a fee for booking rooms, and most of their offices are open daily from 6am till midnight.You can also book for free via the 24-hour phone line (020/7828 0601) or the Internet ( http://www.bhrc.co.uk/)

London information listings

Airport enquiries Gatwick 08700/002468, www.baa.co.uk; Heathrow 08700/000123, www.baa.co.uk; London City Airport Airport 020/7646 0000, www.loncloncityairport.com; Luton 01582/405100, www.london-luton .com; Stansted 08700/000303, www.baa.co.uk.

American Express 30-31 Haymarket, SW1 020/7484 9600 (and other branches); www.americanexpress.com. Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10am- 5pm. Piccadilly Circus tube.

Bike rental On Your Bike, 52-54 Tooley St, SE1 020/7378 6669, www.onyourbike.net. Mon-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat 9.30am-5.30pm. London Bridge tube.

Car rental For the most competitive rates, ring round a few local firms from the Yellow Pages (www.yell.com) before you try your luck with the usual suspects. Http//www.exotic-rental-cars.org Europcar 020/7259 1600, @www.europcar.co.uk and at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and City airports; Hertz 020/7278 1588, www.hertz.co.uk and at Heathrow, Gatwick and City airports; Easycar 09063/333333, www.easycar.com.

Cricket Two Test matches are played in London each summer: one at Lord's (020/7432 1000, www.lords.org), the home of English cricket, in St John's Wood; the other at The Oval (020/7582 6660, www.surreycricket.com), in Kennington. In tandem with the full-blown five-day Tests, there's also a series of one-day inter­nationals, two of which are usually held in London.

Consulates and embassies Australia, Australia House, Strand, WC2 020/7379 4334, www.australia.org.uk; Canada, Canada House, Trafalgar Square, WC2 020/7528 6533 www.canada.org.uk; Ireland, 17 Grosvenor Place, SW1 020/7235 2171; New Zealand, New Zealand House, 80 Haymarket, SW1 020/7930 8422, www.nzembassy.com; South Africa, South Africa House, Trafalgar Square, WC2 020/7451 7299, www.southafricahouse.com; USA, 24 Grosvenor Square, W1 020/7499 9000, http://www.usembassy.org.uk/.

Dentist Emergency treatment: Guy's Hospital, St Thomas St, SE1 020/7955 4317 (Mon-Fri | 9am-3pm).

Football London 's top club at the moment is | Arsenal 020/7704 4000, www.arsenal.com); their closest rivals (geographically) are Tottenham Hotspur (08700/112222, www.spurs.co.uk). Meanwhile, in west London, Chelsea (020/7915 i 2951, www.chelseafc.co.uk) have recently had millions pumped into them by a Russian billionaire. ; Tickets for most Premiership games start at | £20-25 and are virtually impossible to get hold of on a casual basis: you need to book in advance, or | try and see one of the European or knock-out cup fixtures.

Hospitals For 24hr accident and emergency: St Mary's Hospital, Praed St, W2 020/7886 6666; University College Hospital, Grafton Way, WC1 020/7387 9300.

Internet cafes easylntemetcafe (www.easy.everything.com) has 24hr branches i at 456 Strand, off Trafalgar Square (Charing Cross tube), 9-16 Tottenham Court Rd (Tottenham Court i Road tube) and 9-13 Wilton Rd ( Victoria tube).

Left luggage AIRPORTS Gatwick: North Terminal (daily 6am-10pm); South Terminal (24hr). Heathrow: Terminal 1 (daily 6am-11 pm); Terminal 2 (daily 5.30am-11pm); Terminal 3 (daily 5am-11pm); Terminal 4 (daily 5.30am-11pm). London City Airport Airport (daily 5.30am-9.30pm). Stansted Airport (24hr).

TRAIN STATIONS Charing Cross (daily 7am-11pm); Euston (Mon-Sat 6.45am-11.15pm, Sun 7.15am-11 pm); Victoria (daily 7am-10.15pm); Waterloo International (daily 7am-10pm).

Lost property AIRPORTS Gatwick 01293/503162 (Mon-Sat 8am-7pm, Sun 8am-4pm); Heathrow 020/8745 7727 (daily 8am-4pm); London City Airport Airport 020/7646 0000 (Mon-Fri 5.30am-10pm, Sat 5.30am-1am, Sun 10am-10pm); Stansted01279/680500 (daily 6am-midnight).

BUSES 020/7222 1234 (24hr). HEATHROW EXPRESS 020/8745 7727, www.heathrowexpress.co.uk (daily 8am-4pm). TAXIS (black cabs only) 07918/2000 (Mon-Fri 9am~ 4pm).

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London/ London Getting around/ Arriving in london/ London Accommodation Guide/ London information listings