Itinerary plan for London--first trip to London

The Imperial War Museum is a little off the beaten track, the nearest tube is Lambeth North and I would try to fit in a single visit one day (allow 2 - 3 hours at a guess). It’s more WW1 than WW2, although it has a lot of WW2 exhibits. Perhaps do this after the Churchill War Rooms (I’d see 4 hours as the upper estimate of the time to spend here).

You seem very much into WW2. Two other things you might like to think about, although I realise your time is limited, are HMS Belfast - a WW2 navy ship moored near London Bridge. And Chartwell, Churchill”s private home which contains a large of his memorabilia. Not the easiest place by public transport, probably easiest to get a train and then a taxi the last few miles. It’s a large family home rather than a mansion but in a lovely location. Probably take up 3/4 of a day though.

Hampton Court is probably a three-quarter day trip, so that would work with the theatre.

You could potentially combine Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral on one busy day if you’re not fussed about breaking for lunch. They’re pretty close. It depends on your tourism style/speed: I’d say TOL is three hours and maybe St Paul’s two.

You’ll struggle to spend four hours at Churchill War Rooms I think unless you’re the type to read every single word on every single item. I’d say more like two hours (but I’m aware I’m fairly speedy).

A pedantic but nonetheless important note on the name “Westminster” - as you seem to be using it in a number of different contexts and it can be confusing. The City of Westminster is the official name for a large part of central London, but “Westminster” is generally used to denote either the specific part of London that’s the seat of government (encompassing parliament [the Palace of Westminster], Whitehall, Downing Street etc) or to mean government (in a similar way to “Capitol Hill.”)

If you are specifically referring to the big historic church, that’s Westminster Abbey and it needs the second word, otherwise - well, hopefully you can see how confusing it can be. There is also a Westminster Cathedral, which is an entirely different church!

For me personally, I don't know if I would spend much more than two hours at any of these sites without needing at least a bit of a break. One thing to flag is that the National Archives are in Kew which is a bit away from most of the tourist areas. It's towards Hampton Court Palace so you could consider combining those into one day (there is a bus that connects them but it takes about an hour) since you will be heading out west.

We spent about 4 hours at Bletchley Park on a Monday in 2023. We signed up for the 1 hour + guided tour on arrival, toured some buildings on our own pre and post tour, grabbed a sandwich at the cafe and had a quick picnic before heading back to London.

This past March I booked entry to Westminster Abbey for 9:30 entry on a Tuesday. After admittance, I immediately signed up for the first Verger tour of the day scheduled at 10:30 lasting about 90 minutes. The next tour was scheduled for 11:00.

If your schedule is tight, I would contact London Walks regarding the actual length of your walk with the scheduled guide. I booked the Sunday Hampstead Village and Heath walk. The office said the guide usually runs about 15 minutes over the scheduled 2 hours. At the start of the walk the guide said his walk is about 2½ hours. It was actually over 2¾ hours. But, of course, you could always leave the walk if you have a scheduling conflict.

We spent three hours each at the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. In both cases, we booked the first time slots available. For the Tower of London, we went straight to the Crown Jewels upon entering, then backtracked for a Yeoman Warder tour. We could have spent another hour there.

For Westminster Abbey, we queued fifteen minutes before opening, then went straight to the far end of the reception desk upon entering to book our verger tour. We wandered around until the tour began. The verger tour is worth it because you can see the tomb of Edward the Confessor, which is not accessible with a general-entry ticket. Since he founded the place, his tomb is a highlight. We also could have spent another hour here.

The Churchill War Rooms don’t need nearly that much time. With their efficient audioguide, we saw the entire place in an hour and a half. We went to the War Rooms midday and queueing was minimal. We did book a ticket beforehand, though, just as with the previously mentioned sights. You could easily combine the War Rooms with a morning visit to Westminster Abbey, since they are so close.

If you’ll wind up at Embankment Station with time to kill, you could spend some time in Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, or the National Portrait Gallery. All are nearby. The National Gallery just opened up it’s new Sainsbury Wing, and it’s great.