We are planning a trip and have planned 4 days in London... please let me know your thoughts on the top things to see/do?
It depends on what your interests are. If you go to this page and click "At a Glance" you'll see Rick's suggestions https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england/london
We really do need some help from you. Everyone has very different interests and my list of top things to see and do could be the list from hell for you.... Are you wanting the top tourist list tick sites or are you prepared to visit somewheredifferent which will be less touristy and busy?
Loads of interesting and historic things to see and do.
Most museums are free.
What are your interests? Theatre, architecture, food, art, walking, parks?
Why not look at London Walks and see if any intrigue you. www.walks.com
I’ve been going to London since 1972. Last trip was 2022 for Wimbledon. In 2021 spent the month of November there.
Never ever been bored.
London is always changing yet always the same.
I am going to follow a bit of a different track since we haven't heard your interests. Here are some of my top tips for any visit to London.
1. Use City Mapper App together with public transport to get where you want to go. It is accurate, warns you of any disruptions, and gives real time information.
2. Plan your days in either geographic groups or transport groups that make sense. For geographic example: Westminster Abbey, Churchill War Rooms, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, St James Park. All in easy walking distance of each other. For Transportation Example: Tower of London, then walk outside the gate and grab an Uber boat (scheduled service) to Greenwich where you can explore several sights of interest, boat gives a different view of London. Take the boat back to a pier closest to your accommodations or Westminster for easy tube transfer.
3. Plan 2, at the most 3, major sites in one day if you are going in and exploring the venue.
4.. Be flexible. You may need to switch your itineraries around depending on rail or transit disruptions . City Mapper a saver when this happens.
5. Focus on what interests you, not what "everybody" says you should go to. Pick your top 8 locations and focus on them first.
6. Don't worry about bringing or having a lot of cash. This is about as close to the cashless society as one can get. Even the pay toilet in St. James Park took Apple Pay......
London is a lovely city to visit. I know you will have a great time and want to come back again.
To start you thinking about what/where you might like to see, I suggest checking out YouTube. There are TONS of creators who produce really interesting and informative videos about all aspects of London life and the sights to see.
IMHO, Joolz Guides is the best channel for this. He walks through pretty much every neighbourhood in London in turn, so you can check them out one by one and get some inspiration.
The “top tourist sights” lists by the likes of Lonely Planet and Time Out London can also be useful in helping you focus your thoughts and narrow down your choices.
Good luck!
For me, the top two sites would be Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. (But that's just me, I'm a history person)
The British Museum is wonderful, just do some research beforehand about which parts you want to see, because it is really too big to see all in one day.
I second the above posters suggestion to check out Joolz Guides on Youtube. Love him, he's excellent!
This thread was originally posted 2 weeks ago and the OP has not returned since then. Just FYI.
OP has form for asking a single question, sometimes repeated, but never returning to the thread.
Hmmm, you're right, Cambourne. There are 16 threads started by the OP and only 1 reply.
Yes, many OP's do this. I just believe an OP has to do a little homework themselves. That is why I just posted a link on this request.
Once the questions are narrowed down, you know the OP is more serious about receiving detailed travel information. This is also why I now look at posting history before answering. I am not saying this is the case here with this OP, BUT there are infrequent posters who come here just to watch forum members work their tails off answering broad general questions. While they are not spammers, they do take up space with such open ended questions like, "I am going to Spain, what should I see?"? If you figured out how to get to this forum, surely you can search the internet to answer that basic general question. Just my opinion.