London

There are few Servas hosts in the city centre, but many hosts in London live in interesting, multi-ethnic neighbourhoods, which are as worth exploring as the better known historic sites. Travel links by underground, bus and train are plentiful.

Hosts in London receive many requests for hospitality and so may not be able to host you. It is worth considering contacting hosts in Regions A, B, E and G, which are fairly close to London, with good transport links into the city.

Servas Britain 

Regional Co-ordinator:
                         Assistant Co-ordinator:

 

Ruth Allen (host 10163)
Brian and Anne Heagney (host 10155)
Number of Servas host households in the region: 55
Peace activities in the region:
Many British peace organisations have their headquarters in London. London hosts are often involved in local peace-building activities.
A peace walk was recently organised by London hosts, visiting landmarks in London associated with peace events.London hosts on peace walk 2010
Main areas in London:

London has developed as a capital city and expanded outwards over centuries. Many of its outlying areas were originally villages and still have their own particular character. this is a brief list of some of London’s main areas – some well known and some not so well known:Tower of London and Swiss Re building
  • Westminster (Houses of Parliament; London Eye; Tate Britain gallery)
  • West End (Oxford Street & Regent Street shopping areas; Piccadilly; Buckingham Palace; Hyde Park; Trafalgar Square)
  • City (financial centre; Tower of London; Tower Bridge; Tate Modern gallery)
  • West and South-West London (Natural History, Science and Victoria & Albert museums in Kensington; Portobello market; Kew Gardens; Hampton Court Palace; Heathrow Airport)
  • North London (Camden Market; Regent’s Park Zoo; Hampstead Heath; Highgate Cemetery)
Transport in the region:
London has good rail and underground rail networks, which cover most of the urban and suburban areas. It also has a good system of local buses. However, public transport costs in London are high, and taxis are also very expensive. A Travelcard for all transport zones (1-6) can be bought from stations, newsagents and tourist offices (cheaper after 9.30 a.m.). If you are in London for a week or more, buy an Oyster card (from stations or some newsagents) and put credit on it – this will reduce your travel costs.
See the Transport for London website for more information (opens in a new window).   		Transport hubs:

  • London has five airports (Heathrow (west), Gatwick (south), Luton (north), Stansted (east) or London City (east/central), all with good connections to central London
  • If you travel by Eurostar, you will arrive at St. Pancras Station (north)
  • If you travel by ferry from France or Belgium, the onward train connection will bring you into Victoria Station (south-west)
  • The main stations in London (King’s Cross; Liverpool Street; Paddington; Victoria; Waterloo; Charing Cross; Euston) have connections to all parts of the UK
  • Victoria Coach station has National Express coach connections to most other parts of the UK (National Express link will open in a new window)
  • Transport for London (TfL) Barclays Cycle Hire – bike hire system run in conjunction with Transport for London
  • Megabus – cheap coaches to other parts of the UK
Tourist information:

There are tourist offices in various parts of London and at the airports. The main tourist office is near Victoria Station.

 
Other information:

If you have trouble finding a Servas host to stay with, there is information about alternative accommodation in the front of the Servas Britain host list. Hotels can be booked through tourist board offices or at some of the larger stations.

Millennium Bridge Old Billingsgate Fish Market