Fodor's London's 25 Best

Very good resource for planning a trip to London. Well written, lots of useful information with great tips not given in other guides & lots of pictures. Each section begins with a map of the area, locations covered in that section are highlighted. Tube map & central London map fold out on the front cover. VERY large pullout map in the pocket of the back cover. Highly recommend if you are going to be touring London.

As with most travel guides, one just has to say that they have been there and that the travel guide was a big help. Okay, it was. But before I bought this travel guide, I had taken the time to look through a few others. This Fodor's Citypack begins with a few pages on planning your trip to London. The annual weather is given along with some advice on how to get to London from the major airports that serve it and the year round weather. Next comes a section called "living London," the sights of the now London. London's top 25 sights? You know Buckingham Palace is the ninth on the list? London's best is followed by Where To, Travel Facts, an Index, and a very, very useful map. Like a lot of folks who visit London, we bought passes on the Tube, the London subway system, a idea with which we whole-heartedly agree. The passes also get you the chance to ride those double-decker buses. We bought passes for the entire time we were in London and used them extensively. It does not take long to learn how to use the Tube. At the same time, bring a good pair of walking shoes. We stayed at a hotel north of Hyde Park, but on our first night in London, we took the Tube to Hyde Park Corner (southeast corner) and walked past Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. Before the evening was over we walked by Parliament, Westminister Abbey, and Big Ben. (Used the map.) Other sites we saw on our trip were that replacement for the London Bridge (which is now in Lake Havasu City, AZ), the Tower of London, the New Globe Theatre (of Shakepeare), PIcadilly Square, the home of Charles Dickens, and let's not forget the British Museum... All was made much easier by Fodor. The only tip I might add is that the Tube system does not reach all of the way to Heathrow or Gatwick. Plan the return trip as much or more than the trip to London. In our case, we took a taxi from Hyde Park to Gatwick. The trip took over an hour and was well worth the 60 British Pounds. Check-in at the airport took three hours.

We were only in London for one day, and this little book and its great maps was all we needed to find and see a range of sights. The "walks" are particularly good and helped us have a great day in London.

Fodor's Citypacks are awesome. When traveling to large cities, I always pick up a Fodor's citypack. In addition to nice waterproof maps, the pack includes a 25 point of interest itinerary. So you can easily flip to a site of interest such as Buckingham Palace and the city pack provides a brief description, history, directions, cost of museum, and transportation. Very well organized.

A wonderful introduction and overview of london. the pull-out map is a great idea and the small size makes it a very functional and portable guide. This book enhanced my trip to london immeasurably.