Cheeriommmm
September 25, 2014 5:01 AM   Subscribe

I'm going to London for about a week. I've never been before, and I'd like to have a really relaxing time - almost like a spa retreat - for not a million dollars. What are inexpensive activities to do, or cute little places to eat that would make me feel like "London is such a relaxing, peaceful place"? I don't want to tear around London trying to cram in as many sights as possible, I want a relaxed and curated look at the place, with some weird neat shops and surprising delights along the way.

Even though I realize London is quite a busy place, I know this kind of experience is possible to have - a few years ago I spent a week in NYC and felt the same vibe. I did lots of yoga, went running in brooklyn, walked the highline, drank smoothies. It was dreamy.

I have seen this post and it was helpful.

Thank you!
posted by andreapandrea to Travel & Transportation around London, England (22 answers total) 43 users marked this as a favorite
 
I LOVED wandering the museums while I was there. I found that as soon as you got out of the kid-friendly exhibits, it was quite peaceful, and the museums/galleries are some of the best in the world! There are a ton of options, of course, so whatever your fancy is.
posted by aggyface at 5:06 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


When I'm in London, I really like to spend at least one evening walking on the South Bank, from Westminster to London Bridge. You follow the Thames, but you're removed from the road, so you don't see cars. It's especially nice by night, and busy enough with other walkers that you don't feel uneasy. There are plenty of restaurants along if you feel peckish, and if you go early enough in the day, you can stop under the Waterloo Bridge to browse at the Southbank Book Market.
posted by snakeling at 5:07 AM on September 25, 2014 [10 favorites]


Spend half a day (or more!) in Hampstead Heath.
posted by toerinishuman at 5:11 AM on September 25, 2014 [4 favorites]


The Soane Museum http://www.soane.org/ is a wonderful place. Very peaceful and unique. Soane's house, as eccentrically devised and full of cultural artifacts as only Soane could make it.

The Wallace Collection http://www.wallacecollection.org/ is quite a substantial and is often fairly quiet - at least in comparison to the big national jobs.
posted by aesop at 5:13 AM on September 25, 2014 [2 favorites]


The national Botanic Garden at Kew Link is a little pricey, and it'll give you a chance to explore the edges of London. Kew is great though. Lots of open space and plants. And parakeets.
posted by aesop at 5:16 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


I like the Rake by the borough market in the South Bank. Small little pub with great beer. I enjoy the market too but it isn't quite relaxing.

The Soane Museum is a fine example of what I think of as British Weird, their low key celebration/tolerance of monomaniacal obsession and eccentricity.
posted by srboisvert at 5:16 AM on September 25, 2014


Do go to the Soane, but if you can try and go to one of the evening openings, which are candle-lit.

Similarly, I can heartily recommend the "silent nights" at Denis Severs' House.
posted by bebrogued at 5:45 AM on September 25, 2014


Quiet London is a book chock full of these kinds of places.
posted by penguinicity at 5:49 AM on September 25, 2014 [4 favorites]


Take the double decker bus tour. Great way to see the sights SITTING down.
posted by Ferrari328 at 5:51 AM on September 25, 2014


The City is super-quiet on weekends, when all the financey businessy buildings and most of the shops are closed. Things to do there that are nice:
  • Pop up onto the roof of One New Change (not-very-busy shopping centre with a great view of St Paul's from the roof)
  • The Barbican is a lovely big arts centre that's often very quiet, but particularly worth going to for the conservatory, open only on Sundays
  • St Dunstan-in-the-Eastis a tiny park in a ruined church
  • Guildhall Art Galleryhas the ruins of an old amphitheatre below-ground
all within 20 minutes or so walk of each other, and the whole area is soooo quiet when it's not full of business.
posted by severalbees at 6:00 AM on September 25, 2014 [8 favorites]


Similar to with the South Bank walk mentioned above, you could walk along the Regents Canal to Primrose Hill, it's a beautiful and quiet afternoon walk. Once on the hill you can people watch, have a picnic, and watch the city from what feels like a distance.
posted by slmorri at 6:08 AM on September 25, 2014


Yes to Hampstead Heath. I work around there and there is a lot of yoga (google, there are too many places to link), plenty of places to walk/swim on the Heath, lots of chichi shops and cafes around Hampstead Village, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill, and Highgate.

The Parkland Walk is pretty lovely, and will take you to Alexandra Palace, which is a weird piece of Victoriana set in proper zone 3 aspirational/gentrified suburbia, with some great views across London to boot.

Also walk through Regents Park, along the Regents Canal, and along Upper Street (Angel tube). Clerkenwell/Barbican/St Pauls/Southbank is a good wandering route too.

All those walks can be run, incidentally.

In south London, hang out in Brixton Market for cool cheap world food, walk/swim/do yoga in Brockwell Park, look at the victorian dinosaurs/views of London in Crystal Palace, explore cutesy Dulwich village and artsy Greenwich and Blackheath. All on the train/bus which is much less stressful than the tube.

Honestly just steer clear of Oxford Street/Regent Street (which is easy to do, I practically never go to that part of town because it's hellish) and London isn't actually that busy (nothing like New York). Rush hour on public transport is 7-9.30 and 16.30-19.00, so try to avoid travelling at those times.
posted by tinkletown at 6:10 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Not far from Hampstead Heath is Highgate Cemetery, which obviously is kind of touristy in that you have to take a guided tour to see the really old portion, but it's lovely and set back in a quiet neighborhood.

Seconding St. Dunstan-in-the-East - wonderful place to have a sit, especially if anything is flowering! Postman's Park is another neat little pocket of space, although perhaps a bit morbid for most people?

The giant museums are not necessarily terrible places to have some peace - the British Museum is massive, but is also fairly quiet if you're not pressed up against the Rosetta Stone. I also really like the Courtauld Gallery, which is much smaller and focused on Impressionist art, if that's your thing.

London's city center in general is such a great place to have a quiet ramble, and a lot of the business/government neighborhoods just empty out on the weekends. It's nothing at all like New York, and I think you will find it delightfully easy to find good places to run, sit, and just be, peacefully. So many parks and winding old streets.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 6:26 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


One of the most fun days I had in London was after services at Wesley's Chapel. The church historian took a group of whomever was interested on a walking tour of places significant to John Wesley's life, pointing out places of general historical interest along the way. We stopped to rest in the Dissenter's Cemetery, Postman's Park, and the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great. Plus, the Chapel and Wesley's house itself have a lot of interesting historical stuff to explore, even if you're not Methodist yourself.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:49 AM on September 25, 2014


The Café in the Crypt below the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, off Trafalgar Square, is a memorable spot for lunch or tea. Bonus: Wednesday night jazz.
posted by needsnoprosecutor at 8:47 AM on September 25, 2014


You could go to a free yoga/pilates/fitness class at a Sweaty Bettys, a sports clothing store.
posted by troytroy at 8:54 AM on September 25, 2014


There are so many amazing parks in London - especially west, where you can feel like you aren't in the city at all. My favourites are Kew Gardens if you want some structured nature, or for more unstructured nature try Bushy Park or Richmond Park. Bushy and Richmond are not quite as easily accessible via public transport as most of the other London parks, but well worth the visit. Kew Gardens is probably the busiest-feeling of all those places, but the train station drops you off in what feels like a tiny adorable village square.
posted by Joh at 10:02 AM on September 25, 2014


Go to London Wetland Centre during the week. If I remember correctly, they don't do school group visits on Mondays - if that's still the case, it might be the most relaxing day to go.

Floatopia in Chiswick offers cheap-ish floatation therapy (in a sensory deprivation tank), and the surrounding area has some unusual little shops to browse through. Hogarth's House is near there too, and is a nice off-the-beaten track little museum - as are Keats House (Hampstead) and Dr Johnson's House (Chancery Lane).

Friends House in Euston, not far from the British Museum, has a Quaker worship room (right next to the cafe and bookshop) where you can sit in silence if you need some peace; no one comes to check whether you're actually worshipping or not. A few lesser-known museums near there, too, which tend to be fairly quiet on weekdays: the Brunei Gallery, the Petrie Museum, the Grant Museum of Zoology (check out the Micrarium) and the Wellcome Collection (a little more popular than the others, but usually not super-busy).
posted by Perodicticus potto at 12:55 PM on September 25, 2014


I really enjoyed sitting in St Martin in the Fields church (by Trafalgar square) in the afternoon and listen to the rehearsal of the evening concert.
It was peaceful and actually only very few people attended. Afterwards I had tea in the crypt.
There are also free lunch time concerts just before that but the rehearsal was more enjoyable for me, not so busy (but then I do enjoyy listening and wachting musicians rehearse)
http://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org
posted by 15L06 at 1:30 PM on September 25, 2014


On Sunday morning, listen to the church bells at St. Pauls.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 6:59 PM on September 25, 2014


I just returned from a London trip! It was awesome!

I was there for two weeks, and the first ended up being super touristy and packed and the second pretty chill. Mostly, for the second, which sounds more like what you want, I strolled around museums* and parks and wandered in and out of whatever shops caught my fancy. I had a particularly nice afternoon walk from the Victoria and Albert museum north through the lovely Hyde Park (check out the Princess of Wales memorial fountain) to Paddington Station, and another very sweet twilight walk to Primrose Hill in Regent's park (as mentioned, you can get a beautiful view of the city from there).

As mentioned earlier, the south bank of the Thames is a beautiful walk. In addition to the book market, stop at the Borough Market to browse/eat the amazing food. If you're up to it (not exactly relaxing, but a wonderful time), see a play at the Globe! They offer 5 pound standing ("Groundling") tickets which are historically accurate and offer an excellent view of the stage.

(*I don't know if anyone told you this, but I was super surprised to find out that entry to most London museums, and definitely all the major ones, is FREE. Yes, please donate, but no one will refuse you entry or even notice really if you don't/can't do much. It is amazing. British Museum, Victoria and Albert, Tate, etc.: FREE. It is a stunning thing to simply stroll in and visit your favorite Picasso or the Rosetta Stone anytime you wish.)

Regarding the double-decker bus tours: I did not go on one of the "official" tour buses, so I can't compare the experience, but the normal public transport buses in London are also big red double-decker buses. They're not open on top, but if you're lucky, off peak hours it's not often hard to snag one of the best, front-row top-deck seats and have a glorious view. I found entirely by accident that the bus I chose out of convenience to my travel plans (the #12) crosses the Westminster Bridge, goes by the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus. It was neat to see all the tour buses on their routes and know that I was passing by many of the same locations for something like 1.40 pounds. People on the Internet agree. Also, in the heart of the city there are often Underground/bus stops everywhere, but it's surprising (to an American) how very close everything tends to be. Map things out to see if you can walk them even if Google tells you there are transit options, because some of the stops are very close together.

Re: spending a million dollars: I was prepared for things to be more expensive, but I didn't realize just how much more expensive eating out is in London than I was personally used to. Yeesh. I did have a blast, though. Afternoon Tea but it is certainly a leisurely, luxurious experience--be prepared for it to serve for dinner, too. We went to the Dean Street Townhouse, but there are tons of guides to/lists of afternoon teas.

You probably don't have the time to try going anywhere outside of London, but if it catches your fancy, I took a day trip to Brighton (there are trains that operate from major London train stations and get you there in an hour). It's lovely! I mostly wandered the lanes (full of wonderful little independent shops, art galleries, and so on) and spent time looking at the sea. Back in London, I almost took a cruise down to Greenwich (1-2 hours depending on the direction) on one of the sightseeing lines like this one, but ended up not doing so. It sound like a lovely way to travel/sightsee, though.

Also, I found that just doing things like getting to a museum at opening time and going in the middle of the week did wonders for adding to the relax factor of even fairly busy things with lots of people, like museums and outdoor markets.

OK, this is me and might not be you...but when I visited Hampton Court Palace (visiting palaces, including the Tower of London, BTW, is not very cheap), I found that they have these rows of cloaks which are freely available to borrow for the duration of your visit. You can visit a royal palace and wander around wearing a cloak! I say yessss. Hampton Court also has a garden maze!

If you do visit any of the tourist sites, by the way--I got a great deal out of the guided tours and events. The Beefeaters at the Tower of London tell great stories on their tours; Hampton Court has things like free choral concerts, and costumed re-enactors informally playing out scenes like the estranging argument between Georges I and II. Don't write off the stuff as "too touristy"--or do what I did, and revel in the touristy-ness. No shame in that, have a good time!

Memail me, and I can share with you the custom Google Map I made of the places I went, if you like.
posted by spelunkingplato at 2:04 AM on September 26, 2014 [3 favorites]


Aesop have some good suggestions about nice things to do in London. I can heartily recommend an early dinner at Yauatcha in Soho for sublime dim sum, its a real bargain at under £30 for two.
posted by Middlemarch at 2:47 PM on September 26, 2014


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