Reviewing City Walks: London

My wife gave me a box of the City Walks: London cards this past Christmas as we had planned a New Year’s Eve trip to London. Rather than constantly carrying around a guide everywhere we went, we opted to occasionally try out some of the cards as I'd heard they offered some good insight into different areas of town. The cards are packaged in a handy little box that includes 50 cards and a fold-out map with a broader idea of each walk's location. They're conveniently sized and easily fit in a coat pocket or, if you don't mind if they get messed up, in the back pocket of your pants.

We had much on our plate and only so many days in London so we only had a chance to use two of these cards – one was walk #38 through Notting Hill to Holland Park and the other was walk #39 to Portobello Market (the two cards you see me holding above). We used both back-to-back as one big walk, first touring Portobello Road and then Holland Park. The Portobello Road walk provided some insight on some of the shops and houses that we were passing. That particular walk would have been more pleasurable had the crowd been less overwhelming. Apparently, it’s usually quite busy on Saturday mornings - no surprise there so maybe its shame on us. The second walk was a real treat. It took us through some lovely neighborhoods (I particularly enjoyed our stroll from Hillsleigh Road up to Aubrey Walk) and to Holland Park, the former grounds of Lord Holland.

The cards were convenient and included small maps on one side and details on the other. While the maps were relatively accurate, I found that using a secondary map made it easier to walk around as not all the streets were marked. Personally, I used The London Mapguide by Michael Middleditch. I referred to it countless times during our London stay. While not the most portable size, it offers an outstanding level of detail and markings for restaurants, pubs, hotels, shops and other points of interest.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend using the London Walks cards on your next trip. Of course, they also come in other "flavors" such as Rome, Paris, New York, Boston and Amsterdam. We have the Paris set but have yet to put them to use. In good time...