London in 3 days April 2027

I was in London last November for 4 days and visited all of those sights. You should have plenty of time to visit them all. Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's are both easily accessible via the tube (in fact, they both share a name with their most convenient stop), and the British Museum a little less so (I used the Holborn stop, not too far of a walk although it was not fun in the cold rain...April might be a little better!). Westminster Abbey and the British Museum were both great (the highlights of my trip!), St. Paul's a little less so, although I might have been a little jaded at the end of my trip. If interested in the subject matter, I would recommend visiting the Churchill War Rooms along with Westminster Abbey, nearby, and I enjoyed that as well. Also consider a concert or a musical while you're there - musicals aren't really my thing, so I didn't go, but upon looking, one of my favorite bands happened to be playing while I was there and it was a great night out. You never know what you might see if you look.

I would not recommend staying near Heathrow; it would be a long trip into the city for each day of sightseeing. As for transport to/from Heathrow and lodging, I can only speak to what I did, but I booked the Heathrow Express in advance and was able to get a ticket for 20 pounds round-trip, much cheaper than if I had bought one the day of. That will drop you at Paddington station. Rick's guidebook recommends several hotels on nearby Kensington Gardens Square. They looked OK, but I stayed at a small (and cheap) hotel closer to the station that I neither recommend nor advise you to avoid. I'll decline to name it. There are other options to get into central London; I'm sure other posters will chime in.

Have a great time!

Your priority sights are in downtown London, so I’d stay downtown, and not out at Heathrow. Does your cruise line provide the shuttle that departs from Heathrow, on a specific schedule? Getting back to the airport from downtown is easy, with several options.

We’ve used the Heathrow Express (HEx), the train that gets you from Paddington Station in northwest London to Heathrow in 15 minutes. It’s also our favorite way to get into London from Heathrow. Taxis are more expensive, and you can also take the Tube (the Elizabeth or Piccadilly lines), but they take longer and likely will be much more crowded - not fun when you have luggage.

HEx tickets are cheaper if you buy them early. HEx has an App, or the Website is https://www.heathrowexpress.com/en-us#

Where is the cruise ship docked? When we did a cruise out of London, we took a regular bus from Liverpool station to Harwich. Returning to the airport is an hour in the wrong direction. We always stay in the Victoria Station area for easy access to the tube.

The first question is where does the cruise start? It could be Southampton, Dover, Tilbury, Harwich, Liverpool, Newcastle, Greenock or Edinburgh or even others, although it’s likely to be one of the first 4 if you’re flying into London. All of them will be quicker to access from central London than from Heathrow, especially if you’re going to start your day in town and go out to the airport to get a shuttle first.

For 3 days staying at the airport will quickly pall - an hour each way and you’re coming back to an anonymous airport hotel rather than staying right where all the restaurants, pubs and theatres are.

The Heathrow Express will get you fairly quickly to Paddington, which isn’t very convenient for central London or any of your 3 priority sights. I would be looking to stay somewhere central and close to where you can get a train to your cruise. If you tell us where that is you will get some good advice on hotels and transport from Heathrow and to the cruise.

The cruise departs from Southampton. Where to stay in London - wherever is located centrally to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's and the British Museum. Possibly Victoria Station, but I don't know London - never been there.

You just might that find you’ll want to go back to London on another trip. There’s so much to see and do, and it’s an exciting place. There’s no place that’s truly out of the way, as the Tube system (and the double-decker buses, too) can whisk you around, and so many major sights have stops nearby. On foot, many street corners have standing maps, with a “you are here” at the center, and a radiating circle that shows what’s within that circle, highlighted in yellow, five minutes or less away. Those help with navigating around the city.

Our go-to place to stay has been a B&B in the Fitzrovia neighborhood, called 122 Great Titchfield Street (located at 122 Great Titchfield St), which is a few minutes’ walk from the Great Portland Tube stop, which then gets you to Paddington Station in two stops for the Heathrow Express. It’s within walking distance (15 minutes) from the British Museum.

Westminster Abbey is in Westminster, the “suburb” to the west of the original square mile of Old London. It’s also across the street from Westminster Palace, where Parliament meets, and has the Elizabeth Clock Tower that holds the Big Ben bell. Westminster palace sits right along the River Thames.

A couple of miles down the Thames sits St. Paul’s, at the western edge of the City of London, and east of both the British Museum and Westminster Abbey. So your three places form a triangle, with points northwest, southwest, and east. Victoria Station is west of all of them, convenient for Buckingham Palace, but if you truly wanted to be smack in the middle of those sights, it would seem to be the St. Giles area. There’s a Travelodge at 10 Drury Lane, but you’d want to determine what you want to pay for lodging, and if there’s any special place you’d want to go and eat or drink, or any other activities (theatre? music?) that might make one place more attractive than another. Again, if you’re in downtown London/Westminster, no place you stay is truly inconvenient to your top three sights.

This was raised by another poster earlier, but to get to Southampton, are you committed to that shuttle from Heathrow? Would getting there on your own possibly be easier/cheaper/faster?

You could look at staying near Waterloo station. Fairly straightforward to get to, a range of hotels at all price points, just across the river from Westminster and direct trains from Waterloo station to Southampton in about 75 minutes. You would be in Southampton at about the same time you got back to Heathrow for the shuttle.

If you have the budget the Marriott County Hall sits right on the river opposite the Houses of Parliament. If you need something cheaper the Premier Inn County Hall is in the same building but does not have river views. Or the Premier Inn Waterloo is also well located. Premier Inn is a well respected British budget brand - nothing fancy, no room service etc but very reliable and comfortable. You won't find it on the likes of booking.com.

To get to Waterloo from LHR take the Elizabeth Line to Tottenham Court Road and the Northern line to Waterloo - all step free.

There are many different ways to get from the airport to London. Before deciding on which one, first find a hotel.

What is your budget keeping in mind London is not a cheap city?

London's public transportation system is very good and extensive. You can easily get to any of the sights listed. All have Underground stops no more than a five minute walk away.

It seems to me that a good location for you would be:
1. Take the coach from Heathrow airport bus/coach station(s) to Victoria station area.
2. Stay at one of the many good hotels in that area. The Resident Victoria hotel is a favorite of several forum members.
3. Take the coach from Victoria coach station back to Heathrow if you wish OR take it from there directly to the cruise terminals of Southampton.

The Victoria coach station/ Victoria train station area is a convenient area for seeing the sights. You can walk to Westminster Abbey from there. Buckingham Palace is just up the street. Victoria station has several Tube lines to get you to other parts of London.

You can walk to Trafalgar Square from your hotel (The Resident Victoria) and catch the number 15 London bus, which travels east along The Strand/Fleet St./Ludgate Hill to St. Paul's. When finished at St. Paul's get on the number 15 bus and travel west back to Trafalgar Square. Easy.

You will need an Oyster card to tap in (when you get on the bus) or just tap in with a credit card or Apple phone.