How many days in London ? First time to London !

In your mind, does 4 full days equal 5 nights?

I think you can see a lot in 4 full days (especially if you are not counting your arrival day from North America.). Sometimes it works well to block in 2 major sites a day - one for the morning, one for the afternoon. I'd start with a list of things that are interesting to YOU not just what are interesting to others.

I'll also add that for major cities like London or Paris, the more days the better, lol.

What would you like to see?

5 nights and 4 days will allow you to scratch the surface and see a handful of key sights. What do you have in your minds eye when you imagine London. Practically anything you can imagine or remember having seen is there.

What interests you?

London requires a minimum of one week and that doesn’t include day trips.

It really depends on you, and what most interests you. I don't think there is a list of what constitutes a "main" site or any rule that requires certain sites have priority over others, or a certain length of stay. .

Now, setting aside my tendency to pedantry, you can certainly fill your available days, however many they may be, with some of the major or best known sites. Will you see everything? Highly unlikely. All the more reason to plan to return. I've been to London a handful of times, and still have a long list of things I want to see and do.

Okay, I have to say it. There is no "minimum" required for any location. What matters is the priorities and interests of each traveler.

Frances1: My experience is that I could comfortably visit about two major sites a day in London with some smaller sites or a evening at the theater thrown in. What are your priorities? If you have 4 full days and you have about 8 top sites that interest you, you should be fine.

No minimum, no maximum.

My feeling from all my reading is that you could have a very pleasant four day trip, a very full two week stay in London, or even live there for a year, and still not hit everything worth checking out. Depends on your interests and whatnot.

My upcoming trip is from the 2nd to the 11th. First night on the plane, three nights in York, five nights in London, with a morning at the end before we have to depart. We are not hitting a few of Rick’s MUST SEE sights, because I find he sprints through places I prefer to linger, and I could not make the connections work. And yet, every full day (save one) is two major sites, and the one that isn’t is the LeChef/Ms.Florist mid vacation chill day (Kew Gardens, dinner at the hotel restaurant ahead of theater). We settled on this compromise due to London hotel prices. I could have done better there, and just skipped York altogether, but I didn’t and we’ll see how it works.

As Rick said once upon a time, you have to plan as though you will return. London, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Venice, Florence, Istanbul, and likely others almost demand a second visit. Or a third. Or. Permanent residency ;-)

That’s my thought on it.

After many London trips sharing a few insights.

Make a list of your “must sees” and research each of their websites for opening and closing times.

Will help you with your tentative daily itinerary.

Pub lunches are good.

Read up on how to use the London Underground.
www.tfl.gov.uk

Research London Walks. www.walks.com

London is noisy, crowded and a marvelous European city to explore.

In 2021 spent the entire month of November there.
Still not enough for me!

Dress in layers and have fun.

How long can you afford to spend in London without having to curtail the rest of your holiday? Draw up a short list of your absolute must sees for Loindon but remember there's a lot more to see in the rest of the country!!

It really depends on the pace you want to set and priorities. Our one and only trip to London so far was as follows:

Day 1. Arrived about noon, wandered our neighbourhood aimlessly.
Day 2. Targeted walks to Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square,
Day 3. London Walks Tour of Westminster Abbey, walked along the Thames with afternoon at the Museum of London.
Day 4. 6 hours at Tower of London.

Day 5. London Walks tourof Camdden Town. Couple of hours at the British Museum. Evening at Leadenhall Market and The George Inn.
Day 6. Hampton Court Palace. 6 hours
Day 7 day trip to Brightlingsea.
Day 8-12 Off to Bath and the Cotswolds.

Wanted to see more of British Museum and Museum of London. Wanted, but didn't have time this trip for National Portrait Museum, tour of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Palace, Victoria and Albert Museum, National War Museum, Churchill War Rooms, Greenwich, Shakespeare's Globe.

All the above advice is very sound. I have read those comments on this forum many (many) times. I did not realize how not following that advice would affect me, so I gave London only 3 1/2 full days (arrive at 20:00, so 4 nights). Now, as I delve deeper into what there is to see/do/eat/drink etc., I find myself having to pass over many things I would love to experience, that I did not know existed until I did my research. I could really use another 2 days, min. for me! We leave London for York, where we have 4 nights as well. I can't bring myself to cut any of those days, because I have found so much more to do there as well. My advice is to follow the above advice and RESEARCH!! You might be amazed, and probably will find your question answered. Hind sight, you know...

Absolutely agree you should start to research what interests YOU and your travel mate(s). RS to start. Fodor's, Trip Advisor, Frommer's, DK Guides.

Our favorite site might have been The Old Bailey (London's Criminal Law Court) - one hour in one courtroom and another hour in another. FASCINATING to watch those British Barristers at work. Better than Witness for the Prosecution with Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich & Charles Laughton. That probably isn't you cup of tea.

Some folks like going to see the Crown Jewels or the Changing of the Guard, but I hate standing around in lines.

Museums? Royals? Shopping? Parks? Pubs? Food? "Tea"? Theatre? Music?

In 4-1/2 days, we went to St Paul's Church, The Tate Modern, Westminster Abbey, the Imperial War Museum, Sir John Soane House, The Old Bailey, The Wallace Collection, a day trip to Oxford University (along with the Museum of Natural History and the Ashmolean), Hyde Park, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Hampstead Heath (and Kenwood House, on the Heath) and the British Museum. We stayed with friends who lived in Hampstead. We also had a fantastic meal in Notting Hill.

My guess is that only two to four of the 12 to 15 sites we visited would make most people's "top sites" lists. We MISSED the National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Museum (regular, not modern), Buckingham Palace, Harrad's, Picadilly, the Churchill War Rooms, Tower of London, Globe Theatre re-creation, and West End Theatre. We had a great trip.

Have fun planning.

In recent years I've spent 10 nights, 12 nights, 14 nights and 7 nights in London as part of longer trips. I still haven't seen all of the British Museum or any part of several big-name sights that don't interest me. Many of London's museums are free/donation-requested, and quite a few of them are huge. On a short visit you can try to dip into a lot of them (at the cost of a fair amount of time spent traveling back and forth) or you can plan longer visits to just one or two that you expect to be most interested in. Quite a few of the major museums are open late one night a week (often Saturday); that can help stretch your sightseeing hours, but in some cases only part of the museum is open late (that used to be true at the V&A).

The key London sights that aren't free tend to have high ticket prices. I'm frugal and would have a hard time rushing through a place I paid more than the equivalent of $30 to enter--which includes Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the Churchill War Rooms, probably among others. I'm biased in favor of taking more time to see fewer things, but many people prefer the sampler approach.

I like to mix in time spent exploring interesting neighborhoods on foot, rather than spending all my time indoors at historical sights and museums. LondonWalks does excellent walking tours all over the city, with a wide variety every day of the week, and Rick's walking tours (in his guidebooks and on the free app) are very good.

Hi, we’re planning four days in London for this year, also.

This is what Rick Steves recommends for a week, so some options to pick: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england/london-itinerary

My reply is affected by where you are during the rest of your itinerary. For instance, London is our last location in Wales & England, so I am doing some activities in other locations, such as an afternoon fancy tea in a different city, formal gardens, etc. And, we have been to the major art museums in several countries, so we might spend more time outdoors than inside a lot of museums that others would like. I also was in London in the ‘70’s and remember some things, such as the Tower of London that I won’t repeat because of time.

Our current plans:
1. Arrive early morning from York. Wander outdoors - Trafalgar Square, Harrods area (not a big shopper but want to see it), ride a double-decker bus - all the silly touristy stuff. May pop into the Victoria/Albert Museum if we’re near. Evening: Westminster Abbey Evensong.
2. Churchill War Room, Sky Garden, lunch at the Borough Market, Imperial War Museum. Evening: Piccadilly Circus area.
3. British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral. Possibly a play in the evening.
4. Food tour reserved for East London. Flexible - no late afternoon/evening plans.

Make it what appeals to you and what will make the time in London very special!