Accommodation and day trips

Q: We intend to come into London on 1st or 2nd August and we will have free time until Tuesday 5th August.
Do you have any suggestions for good but inexpensive accommodation in or near London My wife and I would be interested in possible tours or a Thames cruise in or around London.
We have seen some of the obvious attractions like St Pauls Cathedral, Westminster Abbey Tower of London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Possible points of interest could be Cambridge or Windsor Castle. We can consider events which involve modest costs To put you in the picture I am a retired Anglican clergyman age 71. We are able bodied but anything involving strenuous excercise would be beyond us.
We look forward to your advice.

A: In terms of accommodation, I'd recommend staying on the south side of the river near the south bank or bankside. There are a few hotels in this area and I suspect they would be a lot less expensive than the ones on the north side.

For example, there are two fairly new hotels just on the south side of southwark bridge, really good location for siteseeing, just behind the Tate Modern. I think one might be called the London Rose or something like that.

To do a Thames cruise, rather than paying loads for an organised one, go to Westminster Pier and ask for a return ticket to Greenwich on the regular ferry service. Naturally, you won't get the running commentary on the journey, but if you don't mind this, the regular service is I think much cheaper. (Check return times for boats though.)

A day trip to Windsor is nice. I would say there might be more to enjoy there than at Cambridge, though both are worth visiting if you have the time. I think you can get a train to Windsor from Waterloo station (easy walking distance from the south bank, if you were to stay in that area.) Windsor is nice, and so is Eton, nearby.

Windsor Castle and GAY

Q: Can i travel to windsor castle just for 1/2 day? is there a bus tour for this trip? what are cheapest hotel near the victoria coash station? where is GAY pub?

A:
1 - Travelling to Windsor Castle, and bus trips there

You might find some chargeable organised bus tours from central London to Windsor Castle but I think the cheapest way of getting there is to go by train and then walk to the castle. As its an hour or so from Waterloo to Windsor by train, a half day trip might not do the visit justice. But I guess it depends how long you want to spend there.

http://www.londonforfree.net/trips/windsor.shtml

2 - Hotels near Victoria coach station

Unfortunately, I don't know any to recommend to you but there are loads of hotels along the side street leading to the coach station, and I think there's an accommodation booth in the station itself.

3 - GAY pub

The GAY pub (actually a bar) is in Old Compton Street (Soho). The GAY nightclub is on Charing Cross Road, up near Oxford Street.

From Victoria to the US Embassy

Q: I`m visiting london on september 4th because in the up-coming months I have an appointment at the american embassy in london to get my visa to go back to america,so I just basically need to know how far it is from the national express coach station at victoria station to the embassy on foot as I`ll be walking,and if there are any cheap hotels nearby as I may have to stop over..thankyou for your time There are quite a few cheap hotels around Victoria, on the roads surrounding the station. I've not stayed in any but I think there is also an accommodation booth in the station concourse.

A: I think you should probably allow half hour to walk from Victoria to the American embassy (its in grosvenor square, isn't it??) To get there, I'd go from victoria across St James park (passing the front of Buckingham palace), up to Piccadilly, cross and then go up old Park Lane and Audley Street.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Victoria,+Westminster,+London,+United+Kingdom&sll=54.162434,-3.647461&sspn=10.99834,41.132813&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=0,51.496031,-0.143638&ll=51.506392,-0.155697&spn=0.011406,0.040169&z=15&om=1

Where to stay

Q: We are planning to come visit London. There will be 4 adults. Do you have any suggestion as to where we should stay???? We don't want to stay in a bad place but we don't want to pay a lot of money to stay either. We plan to do a lot of sight seeing in London

A: I would suggest you tried to stay somewhere in "zone 1" of London - this equates to central London, in case you don't know.

Within zone 1, I would look for hotels in places like Victoria, Bloomsbury or Paddington (near the station, there are some decent and cheapish hotels). Be careful about places like Kings Cross as they are mostly B & Bs and pretty down market - though there are some newer hotels being built there.

Cheap accommodation

Q: my boyfriend and i will be honeymooning in london in late may. we have never travelled abroad. do you have a suggestion for cheap double accomodations?

A: the Strand Palace hotel in the Strand (!) is, I believe, good value. It is also very centrally located.

And there are several good value hotels also in Bloomsbury and around Victoria.