Abbey Road Trip Guide For Rock Music Fans

Feature Photo: Brian Kachejian

There are really good cities to visit for musicians and then there are essential cities to visit for music fans. The city of London stands at the top of the list with cities such as New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles. For fans of the British Invasion, there is no equal. It’s at the top of the list. If you are a rock and roll fan who really wants to understand and experience where it all began for musicians such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and so many more, then London is a must-visit. Of course, not all British rock bands came from the city of London, but it was in London where some of the most iconic albums and album covers were created. This article looks at the Abbey Road album cover and why the cover’s shooting location is such an important place for all rock fans to visit.

Getting To London

Utilizing just motor vehicle transportation, or train is definitely one way of getting to London from anywhere in the UK or Europe. Of course, if you live in the United States or anywhere else in the world besides Europe and Asia, you are going to need a plane or a boat to get there. Fortunately, for fans in the United States, airfare to London is usually cheaper than to other most European destinations and even some U.S. Domestic destinations. I paid 400 dollars for my ticket to London which was a direct flight from New York’s JFK Airport to London-Gatwick.

Important Travel Transportation Tip

After having experienced a direct flight to London and arriving at the airport at 1:00 am in the morning, I would highly recommend that you schedule a limo or some sort of cab service ahead of time to be waiting for you at the airport to take you to your hotel in London. Most of the London Airports are far from the city and the last thing you want to be doing is trying to figure out how to get to your hotel in the wee small hours of the morning. There is subway service but it doesn’t always run through the night and good luck trying to figure out which train to take. You are going to be tired, you are going to have no idea where you are, hire a professional to get you to your hotel safely, and then take it from there. That’s what we did.

Hotels

London is a huge city filled with many different types of hotels. A great deal of them are nothing like the hotels that people from the United States are used to. Some of the hotels are housed in very old buildings with no elevators and tiny rooms. Do not believe what you see on many of the sites that compare hotel rooms and offer rave reviews of some of these places. We stayed in what was a highly-rated privately owned hotel by Buckingham Palace and it was one of the worst stays I ever experienced. Find a Hilton or a Holiday Inn Hotel and play it safe.

Rock And Roll History In London

There is much to see in London, but if you are a rock and roll fan, then the first place you must visit is Abbey Road. The Beatles Abby Road cover is probably the most famous cover in all of music history. Visiting the intersection of Abbey Road is a pilgrimage that every true rock fan should make once in their lifetime. This is serious stuff my rock and roll friends. It’s everything you thought it would be and more.

The Abbey Road crossing is located at a busy intersection in London in the City of Westminster. One has to be careful when crossing the intersection because there are a lot of motorists who seem to be fed up with people crossing the street nonstop all day long. Once you get there you will witness almost every single person walking across the street over the iconic white lines imitating the Beatles poses. Most tourists including myself are not satisfied walking across just once. Everyone is trying to get the perfect picture which is not easy because there are so many people there all day long. My advice is to just walk across slowly and bathe yourself in the moment realizing that you are walking across the most famous street crossing in rock and roll history. Remember that moment, it’s far more valuable than the picture.

The Abbey Road album crossing is not the only reason to visit Abbey Road. Situated about 100 feet or so from the crossing is the legendary Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles Abbey Road album was recorded. It’s also a studio where hundreds of famous rock and roll albums were recorded. That’s not counting the hundreds of thousands of recordings that have been made there since the studio first opened its doors on November 12, 1931. In 2023, the studio is still very much in demand.

Standing outside of Abbey Road Studios music fans write many tributary words on the white walls in front. It’s pretty much an exercise in futility as the walls are washed and repainted weekly. Nothing one writes on those walls will last very long.

Abbey Road Studios Photo: Brian Kachejian

There are a lot of Beatles related places to visit around Abbey Road. There is nothing like a great record store and we found so many that had many rare Beatles albums and specialty items. The entire neighborhood around Abbey Road studio is bristling with stores and restaurants. One can spend all day in this section of the city of Westminster.

Photo: Brian Kachejian

Photo: Brian Kachejian

If you are wondering where the Beatles ate during their time recording the Abbey Road album, we were told that they often ordered at a famous London Restaurant called Seashell of Lisson Grove. We stopped there and hands down it was the best Fish and Chips we had during our London stay. The place is also well known as being the go-to spot for many celebrities spending time in London.

Photo: Brian Kachejian

There are a lot of rock and roll tours in London that one can go on. If you’re the type that likes to be brought to all of these places with a group of strangers and listen to a tour guide explain it all to you, then that’s fine. It also can be very limiting and boring too as some of the guides think they are rock stars. Our recommendation is to go explore yourself and be free of time restraints. There is just so much to see and do along Abbey Road alone.

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