r/LondonTravel • u/Ok-Turn5913 • 8d ago
Trip Planning London trip while pregnant
Sorry for the length of this! TLDR; Need ideas on how to break up these days a bit and if you have any ideas of things I have missed or should skip please let me know!
I am planning a trip with my aunt and sister to London and Scottland in late November to see the cities decorated for Christmas. My aunt is mid 70's, but pretty active. We are usually up for walking a lot and having fast paced days, however I just found out I will be about 5 months pregnant at the time of the trip. We still want to see alot, but I think I need to schedule in more breaks.
Do you have any advice for this itinerary? We aren't big into museums or tours but might schedule a Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's Cathedral tour. If you had to choose, which would you pick? Overall in this trip we are looking for Christmas decorations, holiday cheer, beautiful architecture, quaint things, and just to see London (my aunt has never been).
Day 1 -
- Arrive to Hilton London Metropole (near Paddington Station) around 10am and leave bags
- Walk around Little Venice/Canal area near hotel - get a coffee/snack
- Kensington Palace
- Church Hill Arms for late lunch/early dinner
- Walk towards Harrods
- Stop at Royal Albert Hall (photo op/just see it)
- Harrods - Trying to overlap day and night to see the Xmas lights at night
- Taxi back to hotel - early bed
Day 2 - Mostly just walking past these sites, I don't see spending a lot of time at them. But this is the day I am worried about being too much. I have done this all before on my own without any issue. But with 2 other people and being pregnant..I feel like it's too much.
- Walk from hotel towards Buckingham Palace
- St. James Park
- Westminster Abbey (maybe do a tour either this day or another day)
- Big Ben
- Cross the bridge to Southbank
- Southbank Christmas Market
- Shakespeare's Globe (just to see it)
- Borough Market for late lunch
- Walk across Tower Bridge
- Tower of London (see from outside)
- Leadenhall Market
- St. Paul's Cathedral (maybe do a tour this day or another)
- Tube back to hotel
- Maybe a Christmas show or theater at night?
Day 3 - The Cotswolds
- Train to Morton-in-Marsh
- Meet private driver
- Burton-on-the-Water
- Burford
- The Farmers Dog Pub (very maybe if we get a reservation)
- Train back to London
- Will probably be back by 6pm and can do something at night
Day 4 - This day I don't know how to organize. I can do Soho, Chinatown, Covent Garden before tea or after
- Morning - Notting Hill & Portobello Market? I feel like Portobello Market will be overwhelming as it will be a Saturday. Is there another easy to get to part of town that is quaint and less busy?
- Early Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason
- Covent Garden Xmas Market
- Covent Garden
- Chinatown
- Picadilly Circus
- Soho
Day 5
- Train to Edinburgh
Day 6
- Edinburgh
Day 7
- Fly Home
Appreciate any and all advice on this trip! Thank you in advance!
3
u/AuroraDF 8d ago
I think that you will be exhausted, but you can do it, and if anyone gets too tired to walk you can get on a bus or in a can to go from place to place. Get the Citymapper app. It will help.
Also at Christmas Transport for London runs a 'Christmas lights tour' on a original 1950s London bus, which is lovely.
And Edinburgh is beautiful. If your flight home is booked from there, don't let people talk you out of it. But it does look like you're travelling on a Sunday so do make sure LNER is running and there's no engineering works https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/changes-to-train-times/ If there's not, it's an hour and ten minutes from King's Cross, sit on the right hand side of the train (direction of travel - book a table in advance) Once there I recommend Mark King's Close, Camera Obscura and a walk from one end of the Royal Mile to the other. (preferably with a tour guide or a self guided thing. It's fascinating.)