London Walks

I found out about the Original London Walks from tripadvisor....yet again an absolutely marvelous recommendation!

I have now done 6 London Walks over the course of three visits and have loved them all! For the price, they just can't be beat as an entertaining and informative way to get to know just a small piece of this amazing city.

I highly recommend them!

I have been on four London Walks over the last two years and the guides are all genuinely nice, friendly people and everyone on the walks seem to have a great time. The walks are just about the right length for London - about a mile or so and two hours. Any more would be a bit ambitious for London as it can get very congested and crowded in the city.

The guides all possess an in-depth knowledge of the subject they are talking about and welcome any questions. For a visitor to the very expensive city of London the walks are a real bargain - in these days of £60 for a theatre seat for a two hour show, £7 for a two hour walk of equal entertainment value is an absolute steal.

I highly recommend the following walks: The Blitz Walk, Ghosts of the Old City, Old Westminster and Blood Curdling London, all of great interest. The Blitz walk is especially good and is taken by a sweet, lovely lady called Helena, she really brings to life what happened all those years ago. All of the guides were charming though, their enthusiasm is obvious.

London Walks is owned by a very nice man called David Tucker who is very passionate about his company and if anyone wants to meet him he often takes "The Along The Thames Pub Walk" on Friday evenings, it must be one of the most enjoyable ways to spend an evening in the city! I look forward to enjoying many more of their walks in the future.

We had planned to take an Original London Walks day trip to Stonehenge on Jan. 2, 2007. Our group of 8 arrived 15 min. early and waited at the meeting spot designated in the brochure, where we were joined by several other parties. At 10:00 a woman approached the entire gathering and began to loudly scold (and I do mean scold) everyone for not "looking around for her" and now we were "all going to be late." (Apparently it is the tourist's job to figure out whom and where the guide might be.) She shouted out costs and asked all to hand over their 42 pounds. It was like she had an extreme case of road rage. We were stunned.

As we had no intention of spending our day with someone who treated us like idiots from the very first moment, we quickly decided to go it alone. We managed to make the same train by which the tour departed. If you are a group of four or more you can get discount fares on train tix--ask at the info desk by Waterloo Station, platform 16. (He was helpful.) Trains to and from Salisbury depart regularly and you can easily catch the bus to nearby Stonehenge. Stonehenge offers free audio guides--subject to availability--no problem for us. The info was great, so we had no need of the London Walks guide. We had a delightful, relaxed day; saved a little money and a lot of stress.

London Walks tours did come highly recommended to me, so I might try something else on another occasion. But Stonehenge is easy, so don't be afraid to DIY. And if you do decide to try the London Walks trip--be sure to swivel your head a lot, while waiting for the guide, or wear a sandwich board saying "I am looking for the London Walks guide." Best of luck.