4-day London Itinerary - Help Needed! (Solo, 1st time)

One thing I noticed is that you surely don't have enough time on day one to get to your flight. It is recommended you be there three hours before flight and you have less than an hour by the time you get to airport and park. Also does your hotel allow check in that early?

I do not understand:

Buckingham Palace (16min walk + 15min see)
Westminster Abbey (17min walk + 15min see)
Palace of Westminster (3min walk + 15min see)
Big Ben (4min walk + 15min see)

The 15 minute See. What does that mean? Surely you are not giving yourself 15 minutes to see these places?

I have only been to London one time and I am old with mobility issues but your schedule seems too rigid and hectic when I look at it. Others might disagree but I like giving myself time to relax and people watch and look around.

Both the flight to England and the flight back to the US - you need a minimum of 3 hours before the flight leaves, and I would say 4 to be on the safe side.

I also do not understand the day of things like 'Westminster Abbey (17min walk + 15min see)' Are you going inside? You definitely need way more time to see these things. And I do recommend you go inside of Westminster. It is one of the great churches of the UK. You should also go in the Tower of London. For as long as possible. Again, we spent the better part of the day there.

You also need way more time at the Harry Potter studios than you have listed. We were there the whole day.

Night time I would go to some West End shows and take evening London Walks walks.

Allow time for getting through crowds - I note this trip is later this month. It’ll be BUSY. Walking and transport will take longer than you anticipate.

I can only repeat what I said last time. All restaurants will serve some vegan food so you don’t necessarily need to add in all this extra planning and travelling for meals.

I like Mildred’s - you’ll probably need to book.

If design is your big passion, prioritise the V&A. I don’t think two hours would be enough for me.

On Harry Potter day, come back to London for dinner - there’s not much choice around the studio tour.

I understand your concept of walking and looking, but as I said earlier: there will be crowds. The tube will be busy. Buses may be slow. Just getting from one place to another may take longer than you expect and the way this is planned out, it feels there is absolutely no downtime.

Given how beautifully London is lit up at night, and given that you’re not planning to go inside many places, why not do some of your looking-at-stuff in the evenings?

@gail
Thanks so much for pointing that out! This first flight is actually at a small one-gate airport, so customs will be at the bigger one when we land—sorry for not explaining that better! I went ahead and emailed the hotel to ask about early check-in and leaving my bags. Really appreciate you flagging this!

@bostonphil7
Thanks for your thoughts! I’m just planning to see most of these landmarks from the outside—I won’t have time to go inside or do tours for everything on this trip. It’s more of a “snap a pic, take it in, and move on” kind of plan. Curious to know if thats okay picking and choosing you think?

@jlkelman
Wow, I really appreciate this advice! You’re right—I’ll add more time on the back end to slow things down. My idea was to just walk by most landmarks to see them and only spend more time at places like the V&A, National Gallery, or Harry Potter Studios. Does that sound like a solid plan with the time I’ve got?

Also, for Harry Potter Studios, I’ve heard it can take a full day, which I probably don’t have. Any tips on what to prioritize if I’m short on time? And I love the idea of exploring the West End or doing an evening walk—definitely adding that to the list. Thanks again!

@goldengirl
Thanks for pointing that out! I hadn’t really thought about how much crowds and travel time could eat into my day. I’m hoping to try as many vegan spots as I can since I don’t have many near me, but I might need to scale that back. Mildred’s is definitely on my list, though!

I think you’re spot on about slowing down and taking in the city at night. London lit up sounds amazing, and I’ll make some time to just wander and enjoy it. Appreciate your advice—this helps a ton!

Hi, Matthew, since you are talking about walking past various sites, you might want to take a look at the Rick Steves' walking tour. It's in his guidebook but also online (see link below). It takes you past 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

Just curious, why did you remove your links? Links are allowed as long as they aren't for self-promotion or advertising purposes.

Just curious, why did you remove your links? Links are allowed as long as they aren't for self-promotion or advertising purposes.

Mardee, it was a link to his spreadsheet on Google Drive which a lot of us were reluctant to open.

Oh, GG, that makes sense. Thanks!

You also need way more time at the Harry Potter studios than you have listed. We were there the whole day.

I disagree. Everyone has their own method of travel, and just because one person wants a whole day is no reason for someone else to spend that much time. I'm heading to the Warner Bros. HP tour in March next year with two grandkids, and have no intention of spending the whole day there. You do what you can with the time you have. :-)

Since you're interested in seeing but not "visiting" a lot of the landmarks, you should consider the tea bus, if it fits your work schedule. They drive you around to see all the sights while feeding you tea. With the traffic, it probably goes very slowly. They have a vegan menu option. I have not done this specific tour, but others have commented favorably in the forum. I did a similar one in Dublin and had a great time.
https://b-bakery.com/london/bus-tours/afternoon-tea-bus-london

It looks like the last departure is 5pm, which will be dark, so more sparkly.

Remember that there are no must-sees except the sights that YOU must see (like, I'm guessing, the Harry Potter studio, which most of us old farts on the RS forum would only go to with our kids/grandkids because we didn't grow up wanting to play quidditch). Since you prefer museums and galleries (of which there are probably 1000s in London), I suggest doing a deep dive into what is available and choose the one (or 2 or 3) most of interest to you and budget as much time as possible to explore your picks. You will not be graded on this assignment. Relax and enjoy the generous downtime included in your work trip.

I realize I spend more time at places than most people, but the time listed is very short for so much to see. And getting there and back to London is time consuming, so I feel like if that effort is being put in seeing everything you can is important. If its the same as when I was there you'll see the great hall for a limited time first then costumes, small items like wands and the snitch, and internal sets first like the Gryffindor common room and Dumbledore's office. I spent a lot of time at the Gryffindor's common room. I just loved it! So if something doesn't interest you as much move on so you can spend more time looking at all the details of the places that do catch your eye in the time you have. Then you'll go through the Forbidden Forest, and you'll have larger items like the knight bus and chess pieces before getting to Diagon Alley. You end with a scale model that is beautifully lit and you can walk around the whole thing. Take some time to look at all the amazing details.
I concur with not eating dinner at HP studios if you can eat before and after, keep that time for looking at things. Especially if you are a big HP fan.

You'll find floor plans of London's many large museums on their websites. Your time is very limited, so it will be critical to take a pre-trip ook at the plans for the few places you want to go inside (including the V&A) to decide which sections you are most interested in. Spending even a full day in the V&A doesn't allow a visitor to see everything, so focus on what you would really hate to miss.