D.I.Y. Bus Tour In London

This is a bus tour I did in London. I have not planned it, I take no credit! It is in a travel guide... maybe you can find which one, if you look closely in the previous post!;)

Here's how you do it with three buses (nr. 15, RV1 and 148)


Start you tour in the morning, preferably on a weekday. On weekends London is full of tourists! Get a bus ticket or pay for the ride with your Oyster Card. I had a card that covered several days.

Go to Paddington station. The book says to find a stop E, H or P, but I never found it:( This would be the starting point. Hop on the bus 15 to Aldgate. If you're lucky, you might find yourself on an old Routemaster bus. Get on the top floor of the bus, there are better views there!

(Again, since I didn't find the right starting point, this part is from the book, therefore I can't guarantee that the info is accurate here!:)


The bus should go to Edgeware Road, called Little Cairo or Little Beirut because of the Arabic stores in this part of town. Then you should see Hyde Park and Marble Arch. The bus goes down to Oxford Street, one of the main shopping streets in London. From Oxford Street it goes to Oxford Circus and to the right to Regent Street. Regent Street ends in Piccadilly Circus.


From Piccadilly  the bus goes to Trafalgar Square, past Charing Cross station and to Strand.


**Edit: I tried to look at London bus route maps and I couldn't find this route as described in the guide book, that is, the connection between Paddington and Piccadilly seems to be "missing" (at least it's not called "route 15"?). So I recommend you take some other bus through town to get to Piccadilly Circus and from there on the route seems to go as described.**

Somewhere on Strand I found the right bus and continued the tour from there.
Strand changes to Fleet Street, famous for news papers and also Sweeney Todd, the mass murderer (or an urban legend? You decide:)!

The bus goes past St. Pauls Cathedral, where during my stay in London they had a Wall Street protest (click link for article).  Now we are headed towards the financial district of the City (the book says that few people live here, the district is mainly for business people working there).

Hop off the bus when the Tower of London is on your right side!
Walk straight, turn left in the first corner.
Under the bridge is the bus stop for RV1.

The RV1 drives over the Tower Bridge. It drives around in the south side of the river and under the railway bridges. The bus goes in a tunnel, then past London Dungeon and one of the oldest train stations, Bridge Station. It goes also past Borough Market, famous for eco produced food items.  Then it passes Tate Modern, museum for modern art (which I must see some other time!).

The bus does not go over the river on Blackfriars Bridge, but turns to the left. You can see the OXO-tower, and when you get to the London Eye, hop off the bus!

Go towards The London Eye, around County Hall, on the riverbank. Go under the road (a pedestrian tunnel) and get back up on the street. Right there, right next to(or more like ON the) Westminster Bridge you should find the bus stop for the last bus of the tour, bus 148.

Take the top floor again, and preferably the left side.
The bus goes over Westminster Bridge and you will see Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. From there it goes past Westminster Abbey. Then, past Victoria station. On the right should soon be Buckingham palace gardens.

The bus goes past Wellington Arch, then alongside Hyde Park. When you get past the famous Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, you should see Marble Arch. Again alongside Hyde Park, the long side of the park (the park is HUGE!) and also past Kensington Gardens towards Notting Hill. (The book says) If you are staying in Bayswater or want to take a walk in the park, get off at Queensway bus stop. Otherwise you can continue to Notting Hill Gate metro station.

I continued to Notting Hill and went to Portobello Market from there!

Link: London bus maps!

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