24 Hours in London

What sorts of things do you like?
* Museums?
* Pubs? (Guinness? ;-)
* Fine dining?
* Local specialty fare?
* Shopping? If so, for what?
* Churches?
* Militaria?
* Palaces?
* Food trucks/street food?
* Scenic strolls?
* Parks?
* Skateparks?
* Thrifting?
* Ethnic food?

With more info, we can give better advice. And what ever you do, you are in for a treat. London is a blast!

I doubt you'll want to do very much walking, considering your jetlag and your looming Parisian adventures!

I think that walking gets rid of jet lag better than anything I know. If I were to ensconce myself in a plush theatre seat after a long flight, I'd be asleep 5 minutes after the opening.

@gardn128, I would take a look at the Rick Steves' walking tour. It's in his guidebook but also online. It takes you to all the major sites like Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and many more, and will give you a good look at London in the short time you have. https://podcasts.ricksteves.com/pdfs/westminster_map.pdf

From Heathrow, take the Piccadilly Line to Piccadilly Circus. (If you tell us what hotel we might be able to give better directions.)

Eurostar suggests you arrive 90 minutes prior to departure. You could give up to two hours if you don't mind waiting around a bit. More than that is overkill.

It will be getting dark pretty early in London in November. Perhaps a nice afternoon stroll then an evening boat ride on the Thames to see Parliament all lit up. If you decide you want to do one tourist thing you could visit the Tower, see the jewels, then get on the boat there and head toward Westminster. Ride in a black cab at some point.

As noted if you share hotel name easier for us to provide intel.

That said I’d walk over to Parliament Square where you’ll see Parliament with Elizabeth’s tower and if lucky you’ll hear Big Ben toll. Westminster Abbey is also nearby.

I’d then walk to the Two Chairman pub and have lunch. From there walk over to the Cockpit Steps and into Saint James park where you can follow Birdcage Walk up to Buckingham Palace. If the Royal Standard is flying it means the King is in residence .

Then back to your accommodation, check out and off to St Pancras. While waiting for your train have tea at the Booking Office.

We are staying at the Zedwell on Great Windmill Street.

We are trying to eat Vegan or something close to it most of the time so any recommendations anyone has for either a vegan restaurant or something ethnic that is vegetarian friendly would be greatly appreciated.

As for what we like to do, we will definitely be coming back on a trip dedicated to London and broader England in the future so we don't want to necessarily rush through anything just to check a box if we aren't really experiencing it, so while we love museums and castles and palaces, I don't want us to have to run through them. I love the walking tour idea - did tons of those in Italy via Rick Steve's earlier this year, and the boat ride at night sounds fantastic also.

Your hotel is right near the Piccadilly Circus tube station so the Piccadilly Line makes senses. Direct from Heathrow to Piccadilly Circus.

There is a Whole Foods--yes the US chain--a couple of blocks from your hotel. They have both hot and cold prepared foods as well as a place to sit and eat. Plenty of vegan selections.

A meal at a good Indian restaurant covers my shortlist of London experiences and can be vegan, so you’re set there. Dishoom is popular, but I’d confidently stroll in just about anywhere and expect a decent meal.

Quick hits? Head to Westminster and get a look at Big Ben and Parliment buildings. It’s the quintessential “I’m in London!” moment. I’d also put seeing Westminster Abbey on my short list, and it’s not as exhausting as a museum. Grab some lunch, maybe wander around Covent Garden/Trafalfar. I suspect you might be running low on gas at this point.

The next day, St. Paul’s would be a decent thing to squeeze in the morning. In the afternoon, the British Library is literally next door to St. Pancras. Storing your bags at the station while you see the treasures for an hour or so seems very doable!

For your vegan and ethnic food desires, pretty close to where you’re staying, try Govinda’s, a very long-established London Indian restaurant. It’s largely but not entirely vegan (it does serve paneer, for example.)

It’s actually part of the Hare Krishna movement and has been there for ever.

https://govindas.london/

I also like the Sagar restaurants - a mini chain of vegan Indian restaurants with good dosas etc. A couple of branches close to you.

https://www.sagarrestaurant.co.uk/

I haven’t done this, but I did a similar thing in Dublin and enjoyed it very much. They serve tea while driving around in a vintage bus. Vegan option available. https://b-bakery.com/

Thanks for all this great info. I am surprised our hotel wants to charge us 15 GBR per bag both before check in and after check out for a 1-night stay. I see in the RS guidebook it says train stations and airports have storage for 12.50 GBR per bag for 24 hours. Do they really charge the same price for a small laptop bag as a large suitcase or how does that work? Any other tips for us to avoid paying another 60 GBR x 2 on top of the $250 USD for one night at this hotel? Thanks.

All the rail stations in London use a company called The Excess Baggage Company. At the time the guidebook was printed they likely were at £12.50 per item (irrespective of size) but are now at £15 per item.

My name for them is The Excess Charges Company.

What you want is one of the App Based companies like Stasher (there are others). They use convenience stores or other hotels such as Premier Inn. I can see numerous options in the area of Pic Circus for £5 or less per day.

Luggage Hero outside St. Pancras advertises 3.19GBP and up.
https://luggagehero.com/london/st-pancras-international/

Also operates at Piccadilly.

Awesome, thank you so much!!!

To my recommendation of the tea bus, I will add Bustronome. I did this in Paris and enjoyed it. The food is very nice.
https://www.bustronome.com/en/

One day (24 hours) in London is not enough. You must spend a minimum of three weeks in London just to get an idea of the places you'll visit on a follow-up trip that must last a minimum of 30 days.

I hope my sarcasm is evident here. Enjoy your trip!

Thanks everyone for the great insights on London. Here is what I’m planning to book and do, please feel free to point out any mistakes in my plan or other suggestions, thanks again so much.

Saturday:
• Land at Heathrow at 935 AM, take the Tube to Piccadilly Circus to drop bags at Luggage Hero at Piccadilly until we check-in later. Expected arrival 1130 AM to Piccadilly.

• Head to Westminster Abbey for a timed entry at about 1230 PM and stay a few hours.
• Do parts of the Rick Steves’ Westminster Walking Tour…
• Ticket on the London Eye at 345 PM.
• Head back to Westminster Abbey for the evensong from 5 to 6 PM.

• Take the River Thames evening boat cruise on City Experiences from 6 to 640 pm at Tower Pier.

• Walk back to Piccadilly along River Thames, with a stop for dinner along the way at Govinda’s.
• Pick up luggage and check in to our hotel

Sunday:
• Check out of our hotel and drop bags again at Luggage Hero at Piccadilly.
• Finish the Rick Steves; Westminster Walking Tour including a visit to the Churchill War Rooms and Museum. Start at 830 AM.

• Take the tube to the Tower of London, with a timed entry of 1130 AM. Spend 2 hours here, take tube back to Piccadilly to pick up bags and take the tube to St Pancras, arrive by 3 PM for a 431 PM departure to Paris.

The Churchill War Rooms are a combination site. First you have the war rooms themselves. They aren't large and won't take long. (The audio guide explains what happened there.) Then you have the Churchill Museum. Those who are interested in Churchill and/or the WWII era will want to spend a lot of time in the museum. Overall, I was at the CWR for well over half a day. Think about your level of interest before deciding to squeeze the CWR into the time indicated in your sketched-out itinerary. If you don't really care about the museum, I'd question whether the CWR (which are not cheap) are really worth your precious time on this trip. I realize they are very geographically convenient, though.

I am a huge history buff and fan of Churchill so I will reconsider how to allocate more time there - likely strike the London Eye from the plan for one.

Re- Westminster Abbey on arrival day. I wouldn't pre book in case of a significant flight delay, especially in November when there are less people around anyway.
Writing at 6.45am UK time there are 296 tickets left for the 1230 slot today, and substantial numbers for every slot after 11am. As is usually the case only the first two time slots are sold out at 9.30 and 10.00.
You do not have to pre book. You can just turn up.

The London Eye- I know it is £13 cheaper if pre booked. However you are travelling in November when the weather has the potential to be less than great. Everyone is different, but I'm not sure if it is worth the money if you can't see much due to bad weather. You may feel differently.
If you are running late due to the flight would you rather do the Abbey later than you intend or the Eye, especially in bad weather?
A personal choice.

PS- You can't be at Evensong at Westminster until nearly 6pm, and be at Tower Pier at 6pm unless you can teleport yourself. I would want at least 30 minutes by any form of transport for the transfer, even taxi/Uber. So if the boat has a 7pm departure that would be better.

Or you could skip Evensong at Westminster, since you will already have toured there, and instead head for the Evensong at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, which is much closer to Tower Pier. The cathedral itself is gorgeous and well worth a visit, and their Evensong also begins at 5 pm, which would give you more time to get to your boat trip.

ETA: I agree with isn31c's comment about not pre-booking Westminster Abbey. You should not have any problems getting tickets at the door. Or you could prebook on your phone after you land, which means you don't have to wait in line (as much) at the Abbey.

All, my bad, what I meant to say for the Thames River boat tour is that it departs Westminster Pier at 6 PM and arrives at Tower of London at 640 PM. Does that work?

I will definitely wait to book Westminster Abbey based on this advice, thank you so much. I'm definitely thinking about skipping the Eye so that we can do more of the Westminster Walk on Saturday and leave more time for the Churchill War Rooms and Museum on Sunday.

Westminster Pier is across Parliament Square from the Abbey, but you have two very busy road crossings to get across. I think you may need to creep out a little early. I think you would need to leave at about 5.40, not forgetting you have the length of a big church to walk first.
The service is scheduled for an hour, but that depends on the length of the lessons and the length of the Anthem on that particular day. On an average day I would personally expect the office to be about 50 minutes long.
That day is also the festival of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland, died 1093, so there will be a little bit more to the service than on a normal day..

So I moved our train to Paris from 431 PM on Sunday to 7 PM on Sunday, which should allow us to do a good quality visit of both the Churchill rooms and museum, as well as the Tower of London in the afternoon. I booked the private tour of the Churchill War Rooms for that morning. Do you think I need to book the Tower of London tickets ahead of time? Right now the whole day is green and labeled something like Not Busy, so maybe I just wait until the day off just like everyone recommended for Westminster Abbey?

For Saturday, I can't really find any evening cruises late enough to attend the Evensong at either Westminster or St Paul's. So I wanted to run this idea by everyone - maybe we do a daytime Thames cruise on Sunday to get from Westminster (after Churchill) to the Tower of London. And then on Saturday, we do the Evensong at either Westminster or St Paul's, and if the weather is nice, sneak in the Eye. The only evening cruises later I can find are dinner cruises, which I'm guessing is the only option that late, but they are pricey and I'm trying to eat Vegan so not sure that works real well for us. So our Saturday plan tentatively is land, get to Piccadilly and drop bags, head to Westminster Abbey, do the Rick Steves' Westminster Walk, and then maybe go to the Eye, before heading to dinner back near Piccadilly.

Any thoughts would be welcomed, thanks again everyone so much!!!

I'd book your Tower of London tickets ahead - but I don't roll dice on things I want to see on a specific date, so up to you. Also, up thread you mentioned getting to St. Pancras exactly 90 minutes before your Eurostar departure. I'd give yourself a bit more time ahead there - though the check in doesn't open for 90 minutes before departure, you need to go through security and exit the UK, and sometimes lines can be super long especially if there are other trains departing at the same time. With your later train time make sure your luggage storage option is still open especially on a Sunday afternoon (as I understand it, Luggage Hero uses shops that aren't always open 24/7).

It will be fun to get a little taste of London! I can't believe your hotel is charging you to store your bags, is another hotel a possibility? That would be a time saver.

We were there in May and our flight was late getting in. Depending on your arrival time, I would just do part of the walking tour first to stretch your legs and recalibrate your timing. I wouldn't buy Abbey tickets so you can have the flexibility to go when you are ready. I would skip the London Eye and look at tickets for the Sky Garden. They are free but they sell out, they go on sale 3 weeks out on Monday morning. Each of you should use a different email account to reserve the tickets at different time slots, so you can be flexible there, too, with your timing and the weather.

You do need to buy Tower of London tickets and the Churchill War room in advance. I would watch to see if the boat tour tickets are selling out and wait to buy them as needed. From personal experience, a boat tour on the first day can be challenging. We slept through an entire canal cruise in Amsterdam one time. Maybe, gauge your energy, and you might feel more inclined to just move on to dinner. Enjoy!

Hello everyone, thanks again for all the great info, much appreciated and I wanted to share our final plan, along with a few last questions.

Saturday, November 16th:
- Land at Heathrow at 935 AM and taking the Tube on the Piccadilly Line directly to Piccadilly Circus
- The day before, and after landing, we'll check ticket availability for Westminster Abbey to make sure we don't need to buy tickets in advance for Saturday afternoon.
- Dropping bags off for storage at Luggage Hero - question, do I need to reserve this in advance or just show up?
- Grab a quick bite to eat at Whole Foods near our hotel
- Walk to Westminster Abbey and incorporate the Rick Steves Westminster Walk before and after the visit
- Attempt to reach St. Paul's Cathedral before closing via Black Cab and visit cathedral and dome tour, followed by Evensong at 5 PM if the weather is not supportive of...
- Consider the London Eye if it's a clear, nice day, but probably pass
- If we don't make it out of the Westminster area, consider the Evensong there at 5 PM
- Question - we are going to do a boat ride on the Thames on Sunday, but would still like to do an evening boat ride Saturday after dark, weather permitting, but I can't find any company taking reservations. Does anyone have any ideas or is that something that will just be available at certain docks real time to buy tickets?

- Walk to take the Tube back to Piccadilly Circus to claim our bags and check into our hotel.
- Go to dinner at either Dishoom or Govinda's
- Return to hotel

Sunday, November 17th:

• Check out of our hotel and drop bags back at Luggage Hero for the day at Piccadilly Circus
• Finish the Westminster Walk, if not completed the day before, after sunrise
• Walk to Churchill War Rooms for 9 AM tour, followed by museum visit until 1145 AM
• Reserved boat ride with City Experiences at 12 PM from Westminster Pier to Tower Pier, arriving at 1240 PM
• Tickets for Tower of London timed entry at 1 PM
• Depart Tower by 330 PM and allow 45 minutes via Tube to get back to Piccadilly to claim luggage, and then Tube to St Pancras and arrive by 515 PM for 7 PM train to Paris. Question - would it make more sense to take the Tube to St Pancras first thing in the morning and store the bags there and then Tube to Churchill War Rooms? I'm thinking maybe yes considering the possibility in the next bullet?
• While at St Pancras, consider checking bags again to spend an hour or so at the British Library or Museum.
• Train to Paris 701 PM

Thanks again everyone!!!

On 16 November for Luggage Hero you need to book ahead with all these app based luggage companies.

For the evening boat ride it looks like you aren't going to find any options for a guided trip.

Uber Boats/Thames Clippers run their water bus service (so unguided but you still get to see the views) from lots of piers in Central London.
Next day you'll be going down river somewhere.

So why not take the Clipper up to it's western terminus at Putney then the London Bus #14 back to Pic Circus? With the Christmas lights now on that will be a scenic bus ride.

On the Sunday you won't have the opportunity to go back out again- you will be being processed through the station, similar to an airport. So although that's a good idea it unfortunately isn't going to work. The BL closes at 5pm on Sunday anyway as does the BM.

On the Saturday another option I don't think has been thought about is the London Cable Car- just turn up and pay the same way as you would for the tube or bus- Oyster or Contactless (not included in the daily cap. The same applies for the Thames Clipper.

Many hotels will check your bags for those arriving early or departing later in the day. Could save you the step of finding a luggage storage place.

Hi, I usually do a free walking tour when I'm travelling for just one day or with very limited time. That way, in about 3 hours I see the must-see sights of the city and also soak up the history. I think it's a great way to get a general idea of the city in a very short time. I hope you find it useful!