London Things to Do

You could spend weeks exploring London’s myriad of tourist attractions, but with so many sights just a short bus or train ride away, there’s no excuse to only stay in the city. Whether you want to hit the beach or explore England’s historic towns, here are some of the best day trips to take from London.

For the sixth week of our Viator’s 2011 Ultimate Holiday Giveaway, we’re giving away tickets to one of our most popular London tours!

1. Ham House. Terrible name, wonderful house. This gorgeous 17th century mansion is on the banks of the Thames River near elegant Richmond on the edge of London.

There are people who swim year around in London – outdoors. Yes, I also think they are crazy but I have to admire them. The place to do it is the Hampstead Heath Swimming Ponds, world-renowned and very London. Located on the Highgate side of the huge wilderness known as Hampstead Heath, there are two ponds open all year around: the Highgate Men’s Bathing Pond and the Kenwood Ladies’ Bathing Pond.

On the edge of London, there are dinosaurs. Not real ones, not even very realistically modelled ones, but they are impressively large and enjoy the highest historic protection classification given to man-made structures in London. There are around thirty of the models gathered around a couple of lakes in Crystal Palace in south-east London. Some look more like huge deer, frogs or even crocodiles because less was known about dinosaurs back in the 1850s when these were made.

I can literally hear Leonard Nimoy’s voice intoning those two syllables, as the greasiest Moog sound ever conceived hovered beyond the grainy 16mm footage, like a nagging, alien ghost. In Search Of…, if you’re unfamiliar, was this Nimoy-hosted, speculative documentary series that ran in the ’70s and early ’80s. It had episodes about bigfoot, and space aliens, and haunted houses, but with a much better soundtrack than anything on basic cable now.

Britain isn’t terribly big, and as such, you can get around the island and see some other stuff. If it’s the first time you’re visiting, look into a package that takes you to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath. These are some of London’s most famous landmarks, and each represents a period of England’s distant past. You’ll regret not going, and the guides generally make the trip informative and amusing. These can be found for under $100 a person, and they’re a good bargain.