Four days in London

IMO way too much for four days. I'm not sure you could do it justice in a week. London is huge and you'll spend a great deal of time moving from the sights in one part of town to sights in another. Plan your route for each day.

County Hall is a great hotel, good location. Ask the hotel for shortest directions to Waterloo Underground Station to avoid a longer walk than necessary. For some of your trips, Harrods for example, you may want to take the bus across the Thames to Westminster Station to avoid changing underground lines.

Definitely too much. Don't forget to allow time to acclimatise to the different time zone too! This is sounding like the worst possible sort of tourist tick list... Prune by at least half.

Harrod's is now a much over rated tourist trap. Try Liberty's on Regent Street instead! It is a fantastic black and while building and the inside is pretty stunning too. It has real class...

I would be concerned about a guided tour that is taking you to London Bridge. It’s a nondescript concrete bridge. I imagine that they mean Tower Bridge. And a number of places that you are presumably walking or driving past on the tour you will have walked past on the day before.

The Changing of the Guard will either mean you spending a lot of time standing around or you seeing very little.

I’m not sure what is attracting you to Victoria station - it’s fairly ordinary and if you want to see a station there are better ones. Probably St Pancras is the most interesting. I also wouldn’t waste time walking through either Chelsea or Notting Hill. And I certainly would not go anywhere near Harrods.

I think it looks like a whole lot, but I’m seeing this a little differently.

Day 1 is legit too much. I would bump Churchill War Rooms off to Day 3 or 4. It’s a heavy duty sight that you need some energy for, not good for an arrival day. When you list off all the Westminster sights, I’m reading this as just walking around. That’s fine, I think, but as your tour covers much of this ground I might shift your walking to another area, maybe starting at Trafalgar, Covent Garden, and/or along the Thames east of Charing Cross station. There’s plenty of pubs, restaurants, etc that you can reasonably see out the day. Don’t wear yourself out too much because…

Day 2! Wow, I’m glad to hear this is all a guided tour because it’s a massive day. My only plan would be to have a nice dinner reservation ready.

Day 3: You can keep this your shopping day, and St. Paul’s is a good choice. It’s not the most intense or time consuming visit. One of my favorite things to do is walk from St. Paul’s across Millennium bridge and around Bankside/Borough Market.

Day 4: Following the “two big sights a per day” guideline, day 4 is a good one to do Churchill Rooms and another sight like British Library or V&A. If you feel like you have legs left, do what you can.

These are busy sightseeing days that will almost assuredly wear you out. Personally, I would be hard pressed to squeeze in a play or something like that. I’d skip the Eye, Thames Cruise, and the bus tour too. I hopped on the bus to kill some time on my arrival day, and did not like it one bit. You’re mostly stuck in traffic, or at stops waiting. And London can be pretty un-sexy. It’s not like you’re driving past a parade of beautiful buildings like Paris. The whole thing put me to sleep.

Hi Lance!

I live here and know all the tricks and shortcuts and your proposed itinerary almost put me in a coma. This is WAAAAYYYYY too much.

I won’t confuse the issue by putting my oar in on specifics, but I will say that the other posters are spot on in advising you to prune, prune, prune.

Rick always says, “Assume you will be back.” And then he suggests you triage very aggressively. I concur with him.

More time to savor fewer places always seems the best plan. And program some time in for wandering and serendipity! Your personal discoveries will be some of your best memories.

Finally… London is a modern, vibrant, living city and not just an assemblage of tourist sites to tick off a list.

REALLY finally: if you go to Liberty London (I recommend!!!) and want the best fish and chips in town, then head to the Golden Union, at 38 Poland Street. It’s less than a 5 minute walk away, and it is fabulous.

If in Piccadilly Circus and craving a pint, pop in to the Devonshire, at 17 Denman Street. Best pint of Guinness in London and excellent food. They age their own beef.

I second Golden Union, not cheap, but excellent.

This is VERY helpful. Thank you all very much!!!