Welcome to London Logue your one-stop London travel guide. No matter what you need for your upcoming trip to London, you will find it here, along with information about food and drink, the "real" English language, and culture in London. Find reasonable prices on airfare to London and London Hostels using our special search, and research where to stay once you get here, and what to do with your vacation time once you land. Enjoy your visit to London!
When choosing among the theme parks around London, Adventure Island is in its own category because it’s always free to enter, and visitors only have to pay for rides or buy wristbands that allow them onto ride packages. It’s about 40 miles east of the central London, so it’s the farthest one out, but it is on the seaside, unlike the others, and it’s still fairly easy to reach on a simple daytrip. The park used to be known as Peter Pan’s Playground, and many locals still use that name or simply call it “Pan’s.”
The rides and attractions
Adventure Island doesn’t really have different themes in different parts of the park, but it does divide its rides and attractions into categories suited to different age and size groups. They’ve got Big Adventure Rides, Junior Rides, and Mini Rides, which will be appropriate for increasingly smaller and younger children. There are about 10 in each category, including 4 proper roller coasters, so no one should get bored too quickly. They’ve also got mini-golf, bumper cars, mini racers, rock-climbing walls, and a water fight attraction to round out their offerings. Again, this is a seaside fun park with free admission, so a big part of the fun will be just wandering about, as long as the weather is decent. [more]
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Of all the theme parks near London, Legoland Windsor is definitely the best choice for young families. The park is designed for children from 3 to 12, although accompanying adults and slightly older kids should find the place quite entertaining as well. There are over 50 rides as well as live shows, workshops, and other attractions aimed squarely at younger children, and especially those who are already fond of the iconic building-block toys.
Legoland Windsor was the second out of the four existing Lego parks, with the first and largest being in Billund, Denmark, and the two more recent additions being near San Diego, California, USA, and in Günzburg, Germany. Of course, the general theme of the whole place is the Lego toys that we all grew up with, and everything possible is meant to look like it was built from the tiny blocks.
Attractions in Legoland Windsor
As is typical of theme parks in general, Legoland Windsor has various areas within its borders that each have their own theme around which all the rides and decorations are based. Some of the more notable areas in Legoland include:
[more]By guest writer Sara Rossini
London: Pubs. Locals. Wine. Cards. Sheep? Most travelers experience London by staying in hostels, fighting the crowds at the Tower of London and drinking outrageously expensive beers – I spent a week outside London living on a narrowboat.
What is a narrowboat, exactly you ask? A modern narrowboat is a narrow (typically 7 feet wide) version of a houseboat made to fit the narrow canals of England and Wales. You can rent a narrowboat, just as you would a houseboat, and personally pilot your way through the many canals in the London area. You can choose to stay closer to the heart of the capital, or you can choose one of the many other distinct starting points in England. Similar to a houseboat, you can moor at one spot for the entire trip, or you can cruise down the English waterways exploring the picturesque countryside and discovering a new location daily. Narrowboat holidays on the canals make for an interesting and unique experience.
England has an extensive canal network, which connects to London’s River Thames providing an easy (although, not obvious) way to spend time soaking up the sights of London while enjoying a unique experience in the peaceful countryside. The most challenging part of each day is picking an activity: from day trips into London Proper, Warwick Castle or perhaps a quiet walk through the canal villages. Depending on the length of trip, travel ambitions, and starting location, the options are limitless of daily activities made available with England’s extensive public transportation.
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Of all the theme parks near London, Chessington World of Adventure is probably the best choice for families with a wide age range among their children. Thorpe Park is probably a better choice for teens, as it has a huge selection of thrill rides and not much else, and Legoland might be a good choice for families with only younger children. Chessington mixes these worlds together with a nice selection of rides and attractions suited for different age ranges.
The attractions at Chessington
Chessington World of Adventures has dozens of rides mixed in among 9 different theme areas that range from Beanoland to Mexicana to Mystic East to Transylvania. These include large and modern roller coasters as well as shows and other attractions well suited for younger children. They have a nice list of all of them, including height restrictions, on the official Chessington website.
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School groups, scout groups, large groups, small groups, if you are a group looking for a hostel in London then the YHA Holland Park is perfect. Situated in the middle of Holland Park in Central London and occupying a historic mansion built in 1607, the YHA has been here for the past 50 years.
Offering a classroom, meeting rooms, lounge, TV room, library, a restaurant, free breakfast, dorm rooms for the kids and private rooms for the chaperones, this hostel is an ideal solution to your group booking problem. Holland Park YHA has over 200 beds, which include dorm rooms of 12 and up to 20 beds and is separated into a male, female and mixed section. The stunning gardens within the hostel grounds are only envied by Holland Park itself which creates a damper to any street noise.
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Those looking for a proper theme park near London filled with thrill rides should look no further than Thorpe Park. Located about 20 miles southwest of the city center, and only a few miles south of Heathrow Airport, this is by far the easiest to reach amusement park for roller coaster junkies passing through London.
Opened on the site of a former concrete quarry in 1979, the 500-acre Thorpe Park has continued to add new rides every year as its gained in popularity. It was purchased by The Tussauds Group in 1998, which was purchased by Merlin Entertainment in 2007, so now it’s part of the world’s second largest entertainment group (after Disney), and also part of the same family that includes the London Eye, Alton Towers, and the Chessington World of Adventures, as well as the Madame Tussauds wax museums, of course.
The rides
Thorpe Park contains dozens of water rides and roller coasters, each within one of the special theme areas contained within the park. These are big and world-class thrill rides, and the names of some of the more popular ones will tell you most of what you need to know including: Stealth, Nemesis Inferno, Colossus, Tidal Wave, Rush, Samurai, Vortex, Slammer, Detonator, and X:\ No Way Out.
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