London itinerary recommendations

You might have a look at a recent discussion of a six day London itinerary and the feedback provided on it:

version 1: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/six-days-in-london-please-critique-my-itinerary

version 2: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/revised-london-itinerary

Do you think I can realistically see everything in 4 days or is that
too ambitious a plan?

That really depends on how you handle jet lag, logistics in a big city, logistics while jet lagged in a big city, etc. How many nights and full days will you have? If you're counting arrival day as one of them, then you may only have 3 days which is pretty tight. Hampton Court Palace will suck up a good chunk of one day. You'd want to make reservations for things you definitely want to see, especially if you're there over a weekend.

mparker, is the first day of arrival counted as a part of those four days? It would help to know that. One way to really combat jet lag on that first day is to try to schedule outdoor time, hopefully with a bit of sun. I would not want to spend my first day trying to cram in too many of indoor sites you have mentioned.

If you look at Rick Steves guidebook to London - doesn’t have to be recent even- he gives some good 3 day, 4 day, etc. itineraries. There are many other experienced travelers out there online as well who have their ideas. Another suggestion is to do a search on this sub forum and type in “4 days in London”, “5 day itinerary London” or something to that effect. You can glean a lot of information from the replies to the question posed by someone trying to plan as you are.

Lastly, look at a map of London and try to identify places you want to see that are relatively near each other to help with time. For example, if you can pair visiting the Tower with St. Paul’s on one day, The British Library with the British Museum, etc. Everyone has different levels of stamina, but one low end rule of thumb some suggest in order to get the most out of what you are seeing is attempting two big iconic sites per day. If you schedule the ones close together, you could stretch that a bit I think, especially since you are able to go when there still is a decent amount of daylight.

Anyway, do a bit of online research and come up with a rough draft. Then return back here and you’ll find a great group of very seasoned London travelers who can help you tweak your plans. Glad you are getting to go! It’s one of my favorite places in the world!

It can be done:
Day 1: Tower of London, St. Paul's cathedral
Day 2: British Museum, British Library
Day 3: Hampton Court Palace
Day 4: Westminster Abbey, Victoria & Albert Museum

Everyone has a different traveling style; you will need to figure out what pace you enjoy. Does your 4 days of sightseeing include the first day with jetlag and low energy?

How fun that you will get the whole month to travel around in England! Enjoy!

Arrival day is about settling in and adjusting to the time change after a night of no sleep. Visiting a museum on arrival day can be daunting. The Tower of London or St Paul’s Cathedral might be more doable than the other places you listed but not both in the same day.

A key factor is how much you want to see at the mostly-large sights you've listed. It takes more than a full day to see the V&A, and the British Nuseum is even worse (or better, depending on your point of view). If you just want to see a few areas of particular interest, you can manage to be in and out in hours rather than days, but travel time must be factored in, and the legendary crowds on the the ground floor of the British Museum will limit how quickly you can pop in and out.

You may be able to stretch your sightseeing time a bit by taking advantage of an early opening time somewhere, and I believe both the V&A (I think just the ground floor) and the British Museum are open late in Friday.

On the other hand, there's the matter of lunch. Are you willing to wolf down something like a pre-made sandwich on the go, or do you want a sit-down meal at mid-day? My lunch yesterday at a museum restaurant in Oxford cost me at least 90 minutes. I'm heading back there today to see the rest of the museum.

Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions. The 4 days does not include my day of arrival. I’ve decided the smart thing to do on the day of arrival is to get my baring and recoup from the flight. So I’ll have a full four days to see the sights. Also I think I may see Hampton Court Palace later in the trip. Thanks for the suggestions about searching the forum for threads on 4 days in London. I’ll re-read Rick Steves suggestions as well. .

Try to stay outside in the daylight as much as possible the first day, enjoy strolling through parks or along the South Bank of the Thames. Do not even think about a Hop on Hop off bus, that will just make you sleepy sitting in traffic.

As acraven said, the V & A and British Museum can soak up a lot of your time. Keep in mind these museums have free admission, so you could visit them several times during your stay if the crowds get overwhelming. Or sign up for one of their tours. The Around the World in 90 Minutes tour at the British Museum hits the highlights efficiently without having to navigate the museum on your own.

it can be done if you don't need to go the bathroom or eat/sleep. Less is more. Leave something to come back to. Enjoy your trip!!!!!!