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Going to the UK and Ireland soon for vacation. Most of the trip is planned out but I'll have about 4 days in London. I know there's a lot of Brits on Dakka, any recomendations on what I should check out?

The Imperial War Museum-Great collection of things that used to be used to kill people...
HMS Belfast-Big arse battleship...

Or for a more culturual look at how we stole pretty much everything of alot of countries, the British museum

Or that...
Both are good really...

Natural History museum

British Museum for sure. Imperial War Museum sounds cool.
I want to see the "Tank Museum" but I guess its quite far actually.

The one in Duxford?

rodgers37 wrote:Natural History museum

Seconded, I love that building and most of what it contains.

The skeleton of a megatherium on the end of the first corridor on the right (the one that also has many marine reptile skeletons on display) is my favourite.

purplefood wrote:The one in Duxford?

Bovington I believe. It's supposed to be the world's biggest and best collection of Tanks...I think. Damnit, you're the British one here.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

purplefood wrote:The one in Duxford?

Bovington I believe. It's supposed to be the world's biggest and best collection of Tanks...I think. Damnit, you're the British one here.

Duxford is planes. And its amazing
I think your right about Tank museum location.


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corpsesarefun wrote:

rodgers37 wrote:Natural History museum

Seconded, I love that building and most of what it contains.

The skeleton of a megatherium on the end of the first corridor on the right (the one that also has many marine reptile skeletons on display) is my favourite.

I got amazed by the collection of rocks and minerals etc. It was up the stairs in the section with the big Dino skeleton, i think that section used to be used for temporary displays...

Interwebz says Duxford = Imperial War Museum?

rodgers37 wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

purplefood wrote:The one in Duxford?

Bovington I believe. It's supposed to be the world's biggest and best collection of Tanks...I think. Damnit, you're the British one here.

Duxford is planes. And its amazing
I think your right about Tank museum location.

Ahh yeah...
I went to Bovington once... i think Duxford has a beter name though...

Another vote for the Natural History museum if only for the big arse diplodocus skeleton that greets you when you enter. I was entralled by that when I was a young boy.



Would also recommend the National Portrait gallery just round the corner from Trafalgar Square. A kind of "Who's Who" of Britain through the ages.

London Eye is also well worth it. The views are pretty cool

Also, don't bother with the Tube. You see a lot more if you walk around London. Enjoy anyway

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Interwebz says Duxford = Imperial War Museum?

There are about 3 i think...
IMW London
IMW Duxford and IMW North

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Interwebz says Duxford = Imperial War Museum?

Yeah there are 3, one in London (which is free), one is Duxford (Cambridge) (which wasn't/isn't free) and one in Manchester i think.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Interwebz says Duxford = Imperial War Museum?

It's in Lambeth, and a five minute walk from Westminster. It has a pair of old battleship cannons mounted on the lawn, and some of the only surviving specimens of various tanks in the world in there. Excellent display, very interesting. I highly recommend it.

Ok, I'll see the London one.


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What about Stonehenge? I feel like I "should" see it but am I just going to be underwhelmed?

KamikazeCanuck wrote:What about Stonehenge? I feel like I "should" see it but am I just going to be underwhelmed?

Most probably, but then I see that everytime I drive down to the West Country. At the end of the day, it's just rocks. If you're going further afield, go and see some cool castles instead.

Check out the English Heritage website, there are loads of great castles and the like around UK (not all English Heritage, but they are in charge of a lot).
Stonehenge is great, well i thought it was. But then we were staying close to it at the time.

What sort of stuff are you interested in?

London is by many measures the best city in the world for the breadth and depth of culture, food, drink, museums, history and stuff.

I assume you are principally interested in war history.

The Imperial War Museum, HMS Belfast and Tower of London can all be visited in a day.

Duxford is the detached Imperial war museum flying section. The RAF Museum at Hendon in north London is a good visit.

Bovington is the word's biggest collection of tanks and can be done as a day trip from London if you set off early.

Portsmouth can be done as a day trip, though it is better to spend a night there and take two days to see everything including the Royal Marines museum.

Also in London, the National Army Museum in Chelsea.

If you like castles, the Tower of London does nicely. There are various other castles within a day's reach too.

Kilkrazy wrote:Portsmouth can be done as a day trip, though it is better to spend a night there and take two days to see everything including the Royal Marines museum.

Portsmouth, pah!

rodgers37 wrote:Natural History museum

This, totally. They have an animatronic T-Rex, as I recall.

Bovington is fantastic, but it is a pricey journey from London and takes about 2.5 hours to get there on the train, followed by a 10 minute taxi ride that you'll have to arrange in advance.

IWM Duxford is amazing too, with the best air collection and loads of great tanks in their land warfare hall, but also quite a pain to reach from the centre of London.

RAF Hendon is also possible and not too far from the centre of London, but is obviously entirely aircraft. Lots of special stuff there including a harrier, a eurofighter typhoon, the only surviving WW2 d-day typhoon, more spitfires than you can shake a stick at, etc.

The main IWM is in the middle of London and has a 5 or 6 tanks including a T-34, a WW1 tank, a sherman and Monty's tank as well as the creme-de-la-creme of British military stuff, so if you only get to one place, it is a safe bet.

The natural history museum is probably the best overall museum in the world imho, it is opposite the victoria and albert museum which has amazing stuff, and is down the street from the science museum which has all the victorian engineering you could imagine, including stephenson's rocket. All 3 can be done in a very long, exhausting day and all are great.

The british museum has the best artefacts of almost any museum in the world and you can see the treasures of so much human culture under one roof.

The Tate gallery has lots of amazing artwork, as does the national portrait gallery and both are easily accessible.

The British Library is one people dont normally recommend (or even know about) but it has a treasures room with stuff you'll never see anywhere else including Da Vinci's notebooks, the magna carta (multiple copies actually), a first printing of the gutenberg bible, multiple old maps, original shakespeare works, jane austen's writing desk, darwin's notes and letters, a huge stamp collection including the inverted jenny, and loads of original hand written beatles lyrics as well as many other incredible things. Definitely worth a visit if you are into literature.

Stonehenge is underwhelming imho but mainly due to how busy it usually is and how much effort it takes to get there from central london. If you are really into things from that period of history it is of course unbeatable.

The tower of london and the crown jewels are must-see as well. The tower is great and dates back a thousand years, but the crown jewels are literally the crown jewels. They personify the historical power of britain and must be seen in real life to be appreciated.

Harrods is worth a stroll around, as is fortnum and masons if you want to get something special or just see what shopping is like if you have insane amounts of money to waste.

Other than that, I can recommend dozens of other things but it depends on your personal interests.


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(damn did I just type all that, seems I like London )

Kilkrazy wrote:What sort of stuff are you interested in?

London is by many measures the best city in the world for the breadth and depth of culture, food, drink, museums, history and stuff.

I assume you are principally interested in war history.

The Imperial War Museum, HMS Belfast and Tower of London can all be visited in a day.

Sound like a plan!

Flashman wrote:

Kilkrazy wrote:Portsmouth can be done as a day trip, though it is better to spend a night there and take two days to see everything including the Royal Marines museum.

Portsmouth, pah!

Portsmouth is awesome you heretic.

Portsmouth may have the HMS Victory, but in Norfolk we have signs saying 'Nelson's County'

Did that broadside set of a car alarm?
Damn...
I knew the guns were loud but i didn't realise they were that loud...

legoburner wrote:Bovington is fantastic, but it is a pricey journey from London and takes about 2.5 hours to get there on the train, followed by a 10 minute taxi ride that you'll have to arrange in advance.

IWM Duxford is amazing too, with the best air collection and loads of great tanks in their land warfare hall, but also quite a pain to reach from the centre of London.

RAF Hendon is also possible and not too far from the centre of London, but is obviously entirely aircraft. Lots of special stuff there including a harrier, a eurofighter typhoon, the only surviving WW2 d-day typhoon, more spitfires than you can shake a stick at, etc.

The main IWM is in the middle of London and has a 5 or 6 tanks including a T-34, a WW1 tank, a sherman and Monty's tank as well as the creme-de-la-creme of British military stuff, so if you only get to one place, it is a safe bet.

The natural history museum is probably the best overall museum in the world imho, it is opposite the victoria and albert museum which has amazing stuff, and is down the street from the science museum which has all the victorian engineering you could imagine, including stephenson's rocket. All 3 can be done in a very long, exhausting day and all are great.

The british museum has the best artefacts of almost any museum in the world and you can see the treasures of so much human culture under one roof.

The Tate gallery has lots of amazing artwork, as does the national portrait gallery and both are easily accessible.

The British Library is one people dont normally recommend (or even know about) but it has a treasures room with stuff you'll never see anywhere else including Da Vinci's notebooks, the magna carta (multiple copies actually), a first printing of the gutenberg bible, multiple old maps, original shakespeare works, jane austen's writing desk, darwin's notes and letters, a huge stamp collection including the inverted jenny, and loads of original hand written beatles lyrics as well as many other incredible things. Definitely worth a visit if you are into literature.

Stonehenge is underwhelming imho but mainly due to how busy it usually is and how much effort it takes to get there from central london. If you are really into things from that period of history it is of course unbeatable.

The tower of london and the crown jewels are must-see as well. The tower is great and dates back a thousand years, but the crown jewels are literally the crown jewels. They personify the historical power of britain and must be seen in real life to be appreciated.

Harrods is worth a stroll around, as is fortnum and masons if you want to get something special or just see what shopping is like if you have insane amounts of money to waste.

Other than that, I can recommend dozens of other things but it depends on your personal interests.


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(damn did I just type all that, seems I like London )

Apparently, London is made out of Museums! Buddy I'm travelling with is a Library/aAchivist Major so The British Library is a must. Our time is pretty limited so I guess we'll have to give up on Bovington and Stonehendge this time.

The british library is just down the street from the wellcome trust as well, which has a very nice (but small) free museum with lots of curiosities from the Victorian era that are worth checking out including Darwin's walking cane, Napolean's toothbrush, a peruvian captive in a mummified state (that is very freaky), 19th century Japanese sex toys, 18th century tattoos (still on skin), and lots of very odd medical curiosities that are worth seeing if you are going to be down the road from them anyway.

Wow, how would you go about getting Napoleon's toothbrush?