Arriving
By Train -- Each of London's train stations is connected to the city's vast bus and Underground network, and each has phones, restaurants, pubs, luggage storage areas, and London Regional Transport Information Centres.
If you're coming from France, the fastest way to get to London is by the HoverSpeed connection between Calais and Dover, where you can get a BritRail train into London. For one-stop travel, you can take the Chunnel train direct from Paris to Waterloo Station in London.
By Car -- Once you arrive on the English side of the channel, the M20 takes you directly into London. Remember to drive on the left. Two roadways encircle London: the A406 and A205 form the inner beltway; the M25 rings the city farther out. Determine which part of the city you want to enter and follow signposts.
We suggest you confine driving in London to the bare minimum, which means arriving and parking. Because of parking problems and heavy traffic, getting around London by car is not a viable option. Once there, leave your car in a garage and rely on public transportation or taxis. Before arrival in London, call your hotel and inquire if it has a garage (and what the charges are), or ask the staff to give you the name and address of a garage nearby.
Visitor Information
The British Travel Centre, Rex House, 4-12 Lower Regent St., London SW1 4PQ (Tube: Piccadilly Circus), caters to walk-in visitors with information about all parts of Britain. There's no telephone service; you must go in person and there is often a wait in a lengthy line. On the premises you'll find a British Rail ticket office, travel and theater ticket agencies, a hotel-booking service, a bookshop, and a souvenir shop. It's open Monday through Friday from 9am to 6:30pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm, with extended hours on Saturday from June to September.
London Tourist Board's Tourist Information Centre, Victoria Station Forecourt, SW1 (walk-ins only; no phone; Tube: Victoria Station), can help you with almost anything. The center deals chiefly with accommodations in all price categories and can handle most travelers' questions. It also arranges ticket sales for tours, and theater reservations, and offers a wide selection of books and souvenirs. From Easter to October, the center is open daily from 8am to 7pm; from November to Easter, it's open Monday through Saturday from 8am to 6pm and Sunday from 9am to 4pm.
The Tourist Board also has offices at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, and 3, and on the Underground concourse at Liverpool Street Railway Station.
Finding Your Way Around
It's not easy to find an address in London, as the city's streets -- both names and house numbers -- follow no pattern whatsoever. London is checkered with innumerable squares, mews, closes, and terraces that jut into, cross, overlap, or otherwise interrupt whatever street you're trying to follow. And house numbers run in odds and evens, clockwise and counterclockwise -- when they exist at all. Many establishments, such as the Four Seasons Hotel and Langan's Brasserie, don't have numbers, even though the building right next door is numbered. Just ask if you're having trouble finding something. Throughout this book, street addresses are followed by designations like SW1 and EC1, which are postal areas. The original post office was at St. Martin-le-Grand in the City, so the postal districts are related to where they lie geographically from there. Victoria is SW1 since it's the first area southwest of St. Martin-le-Grand; Covent Garden is west (west central), so its postal area is WC1 or WC2; Liverpool Street is east central of St. Martin-le-Grand, so its postal area is EC1.
If you plan to explore London in any depth, you'll need a detailed street map with an index. No Londoner is ever without a London A to Z, the ultimate street-by-street reference guide, available at bookstores and newsstands. There's even a Mini A to Z, which all but the most myopic will find easier to carry around. If you can't find the map you're looking for, Foyle's Ltd., 113-119 Charing Cross Rd., WC2 (tel. 020/7440-3225; Tube: Leicester Square), carries a wide range. Also, we have included a foldout street map at the back of this book.
