Six-Day Getaway to London August 24 - 30, 2018

The latest of our popular getaway destinations, London, the world's most international city, is bound to appeal to those with limited time and yet an irrepressible urge to travel. Like our other getaways, our program in London is remarkably generous for the price. This package includes roundtrip air from Washington, D.C., several meals, entrances, gratuities, and five nights in the Millennium Gloucester, a contemporary hotel in elegant Kensington. The four-star hotel is especially convenient to the major museums and for walking tours and independent excursions.

With its incomparable imperial heritage, palaces, museums, galleries, theaters, and monuments, London would quickly overwhelm the visitor were it not, for the most part, built to the human scale. Along the River Thames are the iconic Houses of Parliament with Big Ben, the infamous Tower of London and London Bridge, and the Globe Theater. Nearby stand St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, the British Museum, and Buckingham Palace, landmarks in the city but also in our imagination. Our program will include guided visits to several of these but also time enough for independent excursions to such places as the London National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Savile Row. One highlight of our program will be an excursion to Oxford, with a stop at Sulgrave Manor, ancestral home of George Washington. Six days will not be enough, of course, for the city requires a lifetime to know well. But how wonderful to pass through intelligently and with good company.

This tour will be led by W&L historian Mikki Brock, whose warm acquaintance with all things British enriched the W&L Traveller's recent visit to Edinburgh. Like most of our getaway programs, this tour is likely to fill at 35 travelers, so early registration is encouraged. As a special option, this getaway offers a three-night extension to Paris via the Channel Tunnel. With accommodations at the centrally located Etoile Saint Honoré Champs Elysées Hotel, this option will surely appeal to those with a bit more leisure.