Please sign in to post.

3 Days, 30 Million Steps & a Pint (or maybe 3): London Itinerary Check & Questions

Posted by (South Carolina) on

Will be in London in May - 3 full days then to Belgium. I've visited London so I'm mildly familiar with the layout. We are late 40s, very active, don't mind getting steps in. We are normally“off-the-beaten-path” type, but are looking forward to London, even though city vibes aren't always our fav. We’re skipping museums due to lack of time. We are early risers, so beating the crowds is not an issue.
Day 1: Friday, May 16
- Arrive at Heathrow at 7:40am. No checked bags – only carry-ons and backpacks. Depending on where we can store our luggage, I’m hoping to arrive at Tower of London by 10:00am. Our Airbnb is in Marylebone near Langham Street. Still waiting to hear if we can drop off our carry-ons that early. If yes, we may take luggage to our place first. If we are unable to drop that early, we will store luggage for the day near Tower of London. As far as I can tell, LuggageHero has a place located near Fenchurch Street - at The Hub (a Premier Inn property). I've searched other apps - they don't seem to have anything closer. Honestly, it may be best just to store it to save time.
- Day 1: Drop luggage, Tower of London ($35 – see Crown Jewels, beefeater tour). Arrive at a reasonable time that morning (10am) – all depends on the luggage situation. Walk the Tower Bridge. Queens Walk to Borough Market for food. Cross the Millennium Bridge. Visit St. Paul’s Cathedral ($26). Ye Ole Cheshire Cheese to see the dungeon but can skip. Walk back to get luggage near Tower? Tube to our accommodation. Go to nearby Boots for necessary toiletries. Order take away or go nearby for casual eats. (suggestions?) Crash early.

- Day 2: Up early, coffee/pastry on the way to Oxford Circus. Take Bakerloo line to Waterloo station. Walk over Westminster Bridge to peep Big Ben/Parliament. Westminster Abbey ($30) when they open at 9am. Stroll past Buckingham Palace. 12:00pm tea reservation at The Dorchester (2 hours). Then the Royal Mews ($17). Fortnum/Mason (take home tea) and Buffalo Trace (bottle of bourbon for the next leg of our trip in Belgium). Potentially Churchill War Rooms ($33). Meet with friends for a pint and maybe Indian food for dinner. Back to Airbnb.
- Day 3: By this time, we’ll want to get away from the crowds. Up early, grab coffee/pastry. Take Northern line up to Hampstead. Grab more coffee and walk to Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath. Potentially see Kenwood House. Walk around to shops, thrifts, antiques near Flask Street and Perrin’s Court. Holly Bush for Sunday Roast at 2:00pm. Pub hop. Depending on mood either tube back or walk back through Regent’s Park. Pack for leaving early tomorrow. Then potentially a close by pint or small bites, if hungry.

Questions:

1. As for luggage on the first day - I almost think it would just be best to skip dropping it off at our Airbnb and just store it, to save time. Any suggestions other than what I mentioned about my thoughts/possibilities?

2. Is my hopeful 10:00am arrival to the Tower of London on the first day too lofty?

3. Overall, what are the thoughts on this itinerary? Can we fit anything else in? Should I take anything off because of timing?

4. Indian food – there are so many choices! We were thinking about Roti Chai because it look modern/fun, and it’s walking distance to our accommodations and close to Hyde Park, if we wanted to take an evening stroll. Any Indian dinner recommendations that are a must in the areas we will be in on Saturday evening?

5. Pubs - given the areas we’ll be in, what are the ones not to miss? We love a free house pub but open to group owned pubs.
6. Given the cost of what we’d like to see, I believe the 2-day LondonPass is actually worth it to us this time. Currently they are on sale for $104. If we hit all attractions I mentioned, they add up to $141/person. Also, I don’t believe we’d be restricted by timed entries with the London Pass. Convince me why I’m wrong with this math and logic.
Thanks for suggestions!

Posted by
223 posts

Only you can know what you can handle in a day and how vigorously you want to travel. I can only tell you what I've learned from my experience in London about two years ago.

You don't say from where you are flying or if you'll be in economy or a lie-down seat. We flew economy and were able to last the whole day - but we also didn't see anything big, we just walked (and walked...). We landed at Heathrow around the time you will, sometime between 8-8:30am. I have a picture of my sons in front of Big Ben right after we came out of Westminster Tube station, and the clock face reads 10:36am. So - yeah, stowing bags and getting to the Tower by 10am might be tough. Of course, we took the Tube in from Heathrow; the Elizabeth Line or Heathrow Express should be quicker. We also tried Borough Market for lunch and quickly gave up. It was so crowded we could barely move. If I were ever to go back to Borough Market, it would be extreme off-hours.

We went to the Churchill War Rooms right after visiting Westminster Abbey; it's less than a ten minute walk.

I would also note that just because your ticket has an entry time, you aren't getting in RIGHT at that time. You and dozens of other people have that same time, so a 10am timed ticket at the Tower means you aren't getting in til 10:15am. We had 9:30am tickets to Westminster (when they opened) and I have a picture timestamped 9:28am and we are still very much in line to get in. My point is, with an itinerary as full as this one, those 15-20 minutes might count.

I hope you have a great trip!

Posted by
366 posts

Sounds like you are packing quite a lot in! A few thoughts from me:

-I think being at Tower of London by 10am is a little optimistic... even just getting off the plane and getting thru Heathrow can take quite a while, and that doesn't account for leaving your bags off.
-I'm not aware of a dungeon in Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Are you thinking of Viaduct Tavern, with the old Newgate Prison cells in the basement?
-I think you are doing a lot on your first day when you will be tired- Tower of London is possibly our best sight, so you want to see it when you're awake. But you will know best how you manage jetlag/sleeping on planes/etc.
-For places to eat near where you are staying, Charlotte Street has a lot of nice restaurants (and wide variety)
-Churchill War Rooms are pretty big, not sure you would have time to fit that in as a second afternoon activity
-For Indian food, you're staying pretty close to Drummond Street (behind Euston Station) which has a lot of Indian restaurants. If you want something a tiny bit different, one of my favourite restaurants is Great Nepalese on Eversholt Street next to Euston Station.
-For pubs, my main advice is Fuller's pubs for food/drink/atmosphere (Holly Bush is a Fuller's pub) and Sam Smith's for drinks/atmosphere. To be honest it's a bit rare to find pubs that aren't owned by some type of chain these days, tho they do exist.

Good luck with the rest of your planning.

Posted by
9247 posts

I love Dishoom (new age Indian is the best way to describe it - they describe it as Mumbai comfort food). But regardless, it's wonderful. There are about 5 locations in London, although you would be pretty close to the one in Covent Garden. The food really is incredible.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.