Afternoon all, Not sure this is the best place for this or in the UK forums (but its not 100% zoo related). Going down to London for the weekend for the league cup final and will have around 2/2.5 days were I can do something else while down there. Looking for suggestions of things to do and see. Went down late last year and did all the sites with family (natural history & Queen Victoria museums, landmarks), going down by myself so more open to what I can do. Is London Zoo worth the entry cost? Is there any parks that are worth visiting? Any ideas welcome.
Given that you’re a ZooChat member, I’ll concentrate on zoological themes as I don’t know anything about your other interests. Yes, I would definitely visit London Zoo whilst you’re in London. You could also consider visiting:- • the London branch of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Barn Elms • the London Sea Life Aquarium, on the south bank of the River Thames, near the London Eye • the Horniman Museum, at Forest Hill, which has an interesting zoological gallery and a small, but nicely done, aquarium. (Non zoological but this museum also has a very impressive collection of musical instruments on display.) • Crystal Palace to see the Victorian dinosaur statues • the Grant Museum of Zoology at University College • the small zoo in Battersea Park Unless you especially wanted to stay in London, then visits to Whipsnade Zoo or the Zoological Museum at Tring are other possibilities.
St James's Park has an interesting waterfowl collection, including Pelicans. London Parks in general have a surprising amount of wildlife, some of it non-native, such as Ringneck Parrakeets and Egyptian Geese.
If you're down at the weekend you could take a trip out to Chessington for their Zoo Days, where only the zoo is open, entry around £10, plus you can get there on Oystercard/Travelcard. I'll second the Horniman Museum, there is a small extra charge for the Aquarium (but it is worth it), plus the natural history gallery is really good. Worth the trip for the taxidermy Walrus alone! The Hunterian Museum has an extensive collection of anatomical specimens. The Grant Museum has a glass jar filled with moles, plus a quagga skeleton. London Zoo is currently on winter prices, but still around £20. Personally I find it better value than the similarly-priced London SeaLife, but I guess that depends on how much you like aquaria (plus London zoo has a rather nice aquarium itself)
Parks worth visiting? Imo London has the best parks of any city, they make London what it is. The following are all great parks; Regent's park, St James's Park & Green Park, Hyde Park, Holland park, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park, Hampstead Heath. There are others, Kew Gardens might interest you if you're into botany but bear in mind that it's winter (I assume you're going soon? I know nothing about football)
Some interesting suggestions, didn't know you could get to chessington on the Oyster card. Will definitely look into that. St James park I had a walk around when I was down last. I was thinking of doing Kew Gardens one day probably the day I go down. Yes end of Feb (so soonish).
A point in favour of the Grant museum, other than it being thoroughly excellent, is that it is 15 mins walk from Euston, so if that is your station and you have a spare hour it can easily be enjoyed.
On my first trip to England (been four times) I visited the Docklands Museum and found it enjoyable. As far as animal displays there was a narwhal tusk that you could touch.
Yes, the Docklands Museum is excellent. Incidentally, one of the exhibits is a reconstruction of a Victorian animal dealer's premises.
If you are into movies, you can visit some locations that appeared in iconic movie scenes. Harry Potter at the London Zoo, Thor at Greenwich Naval College, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) entering an underground lair from next to the London Aquarium etc etc.
There are direct trains from London Waterloo, Vauxhall and Clapham Junction. The zoo is then a very easy 15 minute walk from Chessington South station.
And it has a jar full of moles. And the pickled soft parts of a thylacine. And a wonderful assortment of heads cut in half. And a quagga skeleton. It's a gloriously random but deceptively comprehensive museum - and doesn't have to swallow up too much time if you don't have it (I only had half an hour there and it was just about enough - it's all in one, fairly crowded gallery so we got around the whole place). Well worth it.
