TRAFALGAR TRAILS - What to see in London

Jamila Gordon, Contributor

You will never run out of things to do while vacationing in London. Besides the activities and events surrounding the 2012 Olympics, there are numerous cultural, religious, historical and social things to explore.

A two-minute walk from Piccadilly Circus, you will find the huge and always busy British Travel Centre, where you will find information about tour bookings, theatre tickets, local and regional transport, map and guidebook sales and currency exchange. They can also provide you with information on last-minute accommodation if you spontaneously turned up in the city without having one.

The centre also houses the Scotland, Wales and Ireland tourist boards and is open later than most tourist offices. The London Tourist Information Centre has branches in all the international and domestic airports. They also allow you to make same-day accommodation bookings but they charge a service fee.

If you plan to do a lot of sightseeing, the London Pass card can be purchased at any tourist information office. The card is valid for entry into 50 major attractions as well as travel on public transportation. The British Museum has the world's greatest collection of Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman antiquities and there is far too much to see in a single day.

In South Kensington, there are three museums of interest, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum. Charing Cross has two galleries within walking distance of each other; The National Gallery has masterpieces from the 13th to 20th centuries, and The National Portrait Gallery showcases images from British political life and popular culture. Tate Modern, housed in a huge old power station on the famous Thames River, has a fascinating collection of modern art from 1900 to the present. It's important to note that a few of London's museums and galleries are free on Sundays.

Famous landmarks

What would a trip to London be without visiting its famous landmarks, namely St Paul's Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge, London Eye, Covent Garden Piazza, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington Arcade, St James' Palace, Buckingham Palace, St James' Park, The Cabinet War Rooms, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament with its famous clock tower Big Ben, No. 10 Downing Street and ending up in Trafalgar Square. All these sights are located in the West End, South Bank and Westminster neighbourhood and, best of all, can be visited on foot all in one day (in the order I've stated, but doesn't allow enough time for exploration of the individual sights).

When embarking on this walking tour, it's important to note that entry fees range from £5-£12. Buckingham Palace is the most expensive to get into and the interior will remind you of an ornate hotel lobby. The thing not to miss at the palace is the changing of the guard. The changing of the guard always happens outside Buckingham Palace at 11:30 a.m.; from mid-April to late July it's daily, and the rest of the year it's on alternate days. You are allowed to enter all the sights except the Houses of Parliament unless you are attending the visitors' galleries during a parliamentary debate. Westminster Abbey really needs a few hours to do it justice. The best way to soak in the atmosphere is to attend 'evensong' at 5 p.m. weekdays or 3 p.m. weekends.

If walking isn't your thing, you can hop on and off a red double-decker bus at your leisure, which can run you £12-£20, depending on the route and the tour company. Most of the companies sell advance tickets to the biggest attractions to save wasting time in lines. Whether walking or riding, the day or two spent exploring these sights will be well worth the trip.

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