Itinerary for London

The hop on hop off tour buses are not worth the time, effort and cost nor the best way to fight jet lag.

Once you get settled at your accomodation and have your Oyster card, get on the tube ( Victoria Line) to Green Park. Mind the Gap, Exit. Switch to Jubilee Line train to Westminster.

Westminster is the tube station for Parliament Square.
Elizabeth’s Tower, Big Ben ( under scaffolding ) Parliament, Westminster Abbey. Walk around, get your bearings and then walk up Whitehall past the HorseGuards to Trafalgar Square.

Have you first pint at the Ship and Shovell which is in the Craven passage or the Sherlock Pub. Both within easy walking distance of Trafalgar Square.

After your respite walk along the Thames. You’ll see the London Eye across the river. Good first few hours
Of introduction learning about the tube, and adjusting to the sites and sounds of London. A second walking option from Parliament Square is to follow Birdcage Walk through St James Park up to Buckingham Palace. As you’ve indicated you want to see the Changing of the Guard you can preview the area and figure out where you’d like to stand.

As you are traveling at the height of tourist season yes arrive early for the Tower of London and go straight to the Crown Jewels. Westminster Abbey will a zoo so go later in the day. 3 or 4 hopefully the hordes will have thinned out.

Pre book Churchill War Rooms. Massively popular due to The Darkest Hour. Even with pre booked times tickets you will still have to queue ( line up ).

I’m not familiar with the London Bridge Experience
( in fact I thought London Bridge existed in Lake Havasu AZ) I do know the Tower Bridge Exhibition, not for those with fear of heights. http://www.towerbridge.org.uk

Sunday Markets close to Tower Bridge experience would be Brick Lane, ( loads of eye candy and food stalls), nearby Spittafield’s, Borough Market (now trendy, no longer grungy ) or the Maltby Street Market which started in 2010. I’d opt for Brick Lane and Spittafields.

You should also consider booking a traditional Sunday Roast pub dinner near where you are staying.

If you must see the Changing of the Guards then go. Crowds will be huge,but go early to secure a good POV or you will see nothing but backs of people’s heads.

You can see more of London with your itinerary.

After seeing the Churchill War Rooms you could easily visit the adjacent Horse Guards Museum.

After seeing the Tower of London easy walk to the glass covered Leadenhall Market.

Museum of London should be added simply because it provides history on how the city you will be exploring came to be London. Free and well done.

Walking in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens is always pleasant in good weather. Lots of dog walkers. Might even see the Royal Guards Horsemen practicing. Waterfowl ( swans, geese, ducks) as well. Even green parrots by Kensington Palace.

Lastly use google maps satellite view and plot out your itinerary. You’ll see you’ve combined places not close to one another. Yes with Oyster you’ll be able to get to all places BUT would make far more sense to group places that are closer i.e. Westminster Abbey, Churchill War Rooms and London Eye.

Great city have fun!

Have you considered adding an evening or afternoon of theatre to your itinerary? Perhaps include an Evensong service to your visit to Westminster Abbey. I think the more experiential one's travels are, the more special the memories.

If you like department stores, I recommend Fortnum & Mason over Harrods...or you could go to both if really like department stores. I love F&M's first floor of foods and the food hall downstairs.

Borough Market doesn't have any stalls on Sundays, although the pubs and restaurants in surrounding streets might still be open.

Thanks Philip re: Borough Market info. I should have checked hours before I mentioned it. As you tell by my comment ( trendy not grungy) I haven’t been back to it since it evolved. I live in LA and am OVER trendy, hip, and gentrified.

Bob, do add at least one night of theatre to your itinerary if not more. London theatre is wonderful. You can now check what 1/2 price performance tickets at the Leicester Square 1/2 ticket booth will be available by looking here.
https://officiallondontheatre.com/tkts/. These are same day tickets.

You might also want to see what will be happening at the Wilton Music Hall during the days you are there.
http://www.wiltons.org.uk

Discovered this hidden gem years ago and try to go each time I’m in London. Love have a pint at the venerable Princess of Prussia pub before hand and then walk over to the Music Hall. Afterwards as I walk back to Tower Hill station I always stop to enjoy the beauty of Tower Bridge lit up.

I love Emma’s suggestion of which busses to take. For as many times as I’ve been to London I’m still a bus riding newbie so recommendations such as hers are always a plus!

Have fun!

If you do use the half priced (but not always half price) TKTS booth in Leicester Square, either you or your wife can stand in the long line and the other half can sit down at the Moon Under Water pub and relax. You can buy tickets for up to three days in advance in case you're seeing multiple shows.

The Citymapper app is a godsend for figuring out London bus routes.

It's up to you if you want to see the London Bridge Experience, I haven't been, but it kinda falls into the tourist trap department, according to many. I might suggest the Tower of London instead, an authentic London experience and you can see the far more scenic Tower Bridge. If you want to see the old London Bridge, you'll have to go to Lake Havasu Arizona.

I've been to London 5 times and only seen the Changing of the Guards once and that was by accident as my friend and I were wandering through St James' Park and ended up at Buckingham Palace. It was fun, for a few minutes. I'd suggest perhaps Westminster Abbey as a good pairing with the Churchill War Rooms for that day. You could also do the National Gallery that day as a free museum if you don't want to pay for two attractions on the same day.

I agree completely that the hop on hop off bus isn't worth the money. I know my joke is stale, but you'll seriously spend more time looking at bank buildings stuck in traffic than you will at actual sights of interest to tourists. I'd suggest instead a walking tour by London Walks. www.walks.com They're excellent, just pick one that interests you and show up. No reservations needed and it is 10 pounds per adult.

May I ask, what is Evensong? I’ve seen it mentioned in several different threads. Sorry to hijack post.

Evensong is the Church of England’s (Episcopal Church in the US) liturgy of Evening Prayer set to choral music. Choral Evensong is sublime. At Westminster Abbey, the choir of Men and Boys sing. The boys attend a choir school that is part of Westminster Abbey.