CITY SAFARI - London & Partners

guaranteed to get you covered inspray and screaming with excitement(Embankment Pier, VictoriaEmbankment, WC2. ☎ 020 79305746. thamesribexperience.com).London Urban Adventures(☎ 020 7354 6169 londonurbanadventures.com) is all about gettingoff the beaten track. On their EastEnd tour you’ll go looking for Banksygraffiti and try pie and mash, or trythe Markets tour where you can tokeep an eye out for a bargain whilechecking out food, antiques and more.You can also learn more aboutyour favourite sports. Two iconicdestinations – Lord’s and Twickenham– are hallowed ground for cricketand rugby players. At Twickenhamcombine the excellent World RugbyMuseum (p. 49) with a visit to theEngland dressing room, and evenrunning down the player’s tunnel. TheLord’s tours also include the dressingrooms and the architecturally dazzlingInvestec Media Centre (p. 37). Theworld-famous Chelsea Football Clubalso has tours of Stamford Bridgestadium and you can take a peek atthe locker rooms too (p. 26). And fora really forward-looking jaunt, try oneof the daily Olympic trips, which willtake you down the Lea Valley towpathto a panoramic view of the site of theLondon 2012 Olympic Games andParalympic Games( tourguides2012.co.uk).FAMILY-FRIENDLYMost of our recommended tours arechild-friendly, but these ones are thepick of the crop.A fantastic trip for children of allages is the London Duck Tours(p. 50) – see our review (right).If there’s a car that epitomised the‘Swinging Sixties’, it would the MiniCooper. To get that fun retro vibe, trya trip with Small Car Big City. Thetours are themed to famous vehicularfilms – for example, duringThe ItalianJobyou’ll dress in boiler suits andnavigate your driver round the sightsas if being chased by police (☎(0207585 0399. smallcarbigcity.com).Parts of London aresynonymous with a certainboy wizard, and there areplenty of excursions forHarry Potter’s legions offans. London Walks (p. 50)have three different circuits.Brit Movie Tours will whiskyou round Platform 9 ¾and the Leaky Cauldronin a minibus (☎ 08442471 007. britmovietours.com), and LondonDiscovery Walks offera free download of thelocations ( discoverywalks.com).Teens will adore theCelebrity Planet tours,which range from walkingtours of Notting Hill (boththe film locations and homes of thefamous), to driven tours of the wholecity, pointing out famous places andpop culture sites, via The Beatles andof course, Harry Potter( thecelebrityplanet.com).ROMANTICHow can you resist l’amour if it comeswith a liberal helping of one of theworld’s greatest capitals?Bateaux London (p. 102) andLondon Showboat (p. 41) offersplendidly elegant cruises for lunchand dinner. With five or four-coursemeals, oodles of champagne andafter-dinner dancing, it has to be oneof the more romantic ways to see thecapital. Bateaux London hasalso introduced a new afternoon tea,all the better to enjoy the river’s manysights at any time.For a twist on the traditionalbus tours, check out See LondonBy Night (p. 50). Most of London’slandmarks are beautifully lit afterdark, lending the city a twinkling,magical air. This open-top trip takesyou past Westminster Abbey andTower Bridge, true, but also past thebreathtakingly pretty Harrods,the sparkling Piccadilly Circusand much more.And for somethingcompletely different, why nottake your loved one for a walkthrough Brompton Cemetery?This stunning Victoriangraveyard is filled with beautifulmemento moris, , all the betterfor reminding you that life isshort and you should seize themoment (5,12,19,26 Jun. RoyalParks, p. 29).A VISITOR’S EYE VIEW“Do a London Ducktour, and not onlydo you get to see London from thelovely vantage point of the river, youget to see it from the road too andbe papped along the way by curiouspassers-by. The trip in ayellow converted World War IIamphibious vehicle takes in variouslandmarks including three palaces:Westminster (the Houses ofParliament), Buckingham Palace,and Lambeth Palace, the seat of thehead of the Church of England. Thelatter two benefit from the luxuryof the largest and second-largestprivate enclosed gardens in London.This fact is just one example of somefascinatingly quirky stories about thislovely city that the highly entertainingguide will imparted en route. We didone of the last tours of the day beforesunset, and the view of the settingsun over London from the river,changing the colours of the buildings,was wonderful. Quack Quack!”Jennifer McLarneyCHELSEA FC DRESSING ROOM COURTESY CHELSEA FC; PEOPLE ON FERRY AND LONDON DUCK TOUR© VISIT LONDON IMAGES18 | visitlondon.com | LONDON PLANNER | June 2011