London for 4 days: recommended tours, sights, public transport options

What are your interests? Ever been to London before?

As you are close to the Palace why not walk over to see it. Remember if the flag flies atop it means the Queen is in residence. Also remember that around 11am is the Changing of the Guard ceremony and the area in front will be jammed with tourists.
I’d avoid that.

From the Palace walk through and enjoy St James Park. Follow Birdcage Walk to Parliament Square where you’ll find scaffolding covering Elizabeth’s Tower ( Big Ben is the Bell) and a good deal of Parliament. You’ll also find Westminster Abbey, which if you enjoy history, is worth touring. Or the nearby Churchill War Rooms but understand tickets for this are timed and many folks pre book so availability might be limited. Doesn’t hurt to ask especially if WW 2 is an interest.

From Parliament Square walk up White Hall ( past the Horse Guards and 10 Downing Street ) to Trafalgar Square. You can stop at the Horse Guards.

At Trafalgar Square if art is an interest visit the National Gallery or if you like music check the website for the adjacent St Martins of the Fields to see if there is a free noon concert. Or if hungry enjoy lunch in the crypt.

If Theatre people check the 1/2 price ticket booth behind the National Gallery in Leicester Square.

From there walk over to Covent Garden and enjoy the buskers and crowded madness.

You could then enjoy a stroll along the Thames Path back to Westminster Bridge.

Just a small concept of what you can see depending on your interests.

Other ideas:
Tower of London and Tower Bridge
Portobello Road Market
Museum of London
Treasure Room at the British Library
Sir John Sloane Museum
Brick Lane
Kew Gardens
Greenwich
Royal Academy Of Art
St Paul’s Cathedral evensong

Be sure to get your Oyster Cards. Pretty certain there are machines at the St James Park Underground Station to do this. Then use the tfl.gov.uk to help navigate London. Also in the Underground Station look for or if there is a manned ticket booth ask for a pocket sized tube map. Very helpful.

Lastly, right now look at Timeout London online to see if there is an event, gallery opening, church, play, museum you’d have interest in seeing.

Sorry about your cruise but London is a great city to explore. Lots to keep you occupied.

The Tower of London was our favourite. Hampton Court Palace-Henry the VIII's house was a close second. It is about a 45 minute train ride out of town, but well worth it. You're close to Westminster Abbey and I also highly recommend that. Do a London Walks tour of it or you're in danger of just seeing a really old church. A good guide will make the visit much more interesting. I don't think the Museum of London gets enough credit, it follows the chronological history of London. I found it much more interesting than the British Museum. If you're a James Bond fan, the London Film Museum has a permanent display of some of the cars from the Bond movies. Kind of pricey, but a fun couple of hours for fans.

Another "circuit" is to visit The Tower of London, then the Tower Bridge Experience, continue on to the Shard and/or Borough Market. Return along the footpath along the south bank of the Thames taking in Southwark Cathedral, HMS Belfast, The Golden Hind, and the Old Globe as your time and interests dictate. Then decide whether to cross the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's or to continue on the southern walk to the Tate Modern, past the Oxo Tower, Jubilee Gardens all the way to the London Eye and County Hall where there is an awesome view of Parliament across the river. More than a day's worth of activity here, but plenty of places to sit and rest a bit and have a refreshment--liquid or otherwise.

Its not too late to pick up a Rick Steves London Guide that will give you a good idea of the basics. You'll have to figure out what interests you enough to prioritize your visits, but there's more than enough to fill that short time you are there.

Thank you all very much! I have to say that the RS Travel Forum still has the best collection of contributors around. Yes, unfortunate cruise news this last Wednesday, but that just opened up more opportunities to do things that have been on our to-do list. Again, many thanks.

I second the Shard and Borough Market. Also Sky Garden. Access is free but you need to book. You can book 3 weeks out which I recommend, especially if you want to be there at sunset https://skygarden.london/booking

If you want to do the boondoggle that is the Shard be sure to take out a bank loan first.

So much for the promises that the viewpoint would be free if only they got planning permission to build it....

No one has addressed the transportation part of your question. The London Underground (Tube) is an extremely effective way to move around London. Your easiest way to travel is for each to buy an Oyster Card (5 pound deposit) and put £20on it. You can turn the card in for a refund at the end of your trip. There are some great “how to videos” on you tube that walk a person through using the Oyster Card vending machine and the tube in general. I’d take a few minutes to watch them.

One important “rule” in London is that people who are standing on an escalator, stand to the right side and leave the left side free for people who wish to walk up or down the escalator. You will notice that people don’t usually carry on conversations, and certainly never loud conversations, while riding the Tube. (Unless of course they are American Tourists😀).

Thanks Carol, we did about 2 hrs of research through the various links on this website:

https://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/travelcard_oyster.htm

We ultimately decided to buy a Travelcard from a rail vendor in Victoria Station when we arrive. As you probably know, there's a dizzying array of options available, but the deciding factor for us was that the Travelcard has the feature that provides a 2-for-1 entry fee for various attractions we want to visit.

Note that Borough Market is only open from Wednesday to Saturday, and is unbearably crowded on Saturdays.

Two more quick notes for you! :)

I found this page on the London Museum website, and these offered walks look wonderful: https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/whats-on?venue=Museum%20of%20London&activities=Walks

Also, I connected with Borough Market and they are open on Mondays and Tuesdays as well. They have a "limited market" however my friends who lived there in 2018 say there are PLENTY of options on Mondays and Tuesdays and both are good days to visit due to lesser crowds. Maybe someone else on this site can comment.