Hi!
We will be traveling to London soon for a week. I am trying to figure out an itinerary that covers everything but that is also efficient. Any suggestions? What is a must do, any tour tips, things that are good on the same day? My friend and I are both first time visitors.
Thank you!
Posted by
Washington DC
30481 posts
There is no hope of covering everything in London in a week or even in a month. You need to figure out what you want to do, based on your own interests. Rick lists some of his top sightseeing suggestions for London here, and it's a good start: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england/london. Click on "At a Glance".
Any decent guidebook should highlight sights that are close together and might be tackled on the same day (but check opening days and hours and consider how much time you might want to spend at each place--guidebooks are good for that, too). One example is the Churchill War Rooms, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. Another is Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. But proximity doesn't matter if you are not interested in the sights. Nothing is a must-do if it doesn't interest you. I've spent a lot of time in London over a 50-year period, and I haven't yet managed to visit St. Paul's, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey or Buckingham Palace. I've hit almost all the many art museums, though, most of them multiple times.
As for tours, if you want walking tours, I highly recommend London Walks. I am not a fan of the cutesy descriptions, but the walks themselves are really excellent. The guides are all licensed; they delivery accurate commentary in an engaging manner. https://www.walks.com/
Posted by
Ashburn VA
1070 posts
Walkative walking tours are fun, inexpensive and a good way to maximize your time and learn something new. We’ve done a few and they were great.
Posted by
Duluth, MN🌲
11632 posts
A lot depends on what your interests are. Acraven mentioned that she is interested in museums, so she has gone to quite a few of them. I like museums (not as much as she does) but I am a huge fan of churches, so I go to every church in London if it's at all significant (i'm really not very religious, but I love the architecture and beauty). 😊 So pick your interest when you're making your decisions. The last thing you want is to be bored looking at something that you're there just because it's popular but not really of interest to you.
I would highly recommend, though, that you do not miss Westminster Abbey and/or St. Paul's Cathedral. Westminster Abbey houses the remains of many kings and queens of England, but also tombs and memorials to a litany of historic figures throughout the time period and is magnificent. Even if you don't have the time to stop in for a full tour, I would suggest going for something like Evensong, which is held every evening at 5 pm. You can find Evensong at that time at both Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's.
There are also other smaller churches that are just as enticing, like St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden, known as the Actors' Church, which has memorials (and some ashes/graves) of many of the well-known British actors. It's a beautiful small church, designed by Inigo Jones, and is a very lovely and peaceful place to stop for a bit.
In terms of planning your itinerary, I first went to London in 1996 for the first-time. When I started planning my itinerary, I was overwhelmed, just like you. So I sat down with a big piece of paper, drew a simple map, figured out where the various areas were and what was in each neighborhood. Then, I planned my itinerary around that and basically worked it out so that I was in a separate area each day. Sometimes they'll overlap, and it might be a little difficult, but it's really much easier to do it that way. The last thing you want to do is to be jumping all over town without rhyme or reason. And it's much easier to do now with internet than it was back in 1996, lol! Here's a few below that you can look at for starters.
The City of Westminster has Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Churchill War Rooms, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery and of course Buckingham Palace.
Covent Garden has St. Paul's Church, St. Martin in the Field (and the Cafe in the Crypt; my favorite eating place), and is home to many theatres.
Bloomsbury has the British Library and the British Museum, both packed full of treasures. I think it's also worth a visit to see St Pancras train station, which is an absolutely gorgeous building.
The City of London has the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Leadenhall Market and Barbican Centre and more.
The South Bank (across the Thames) has a lot of options - the London Eye, Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral, And the old Globe Theater.
Of course, there are places a bit outside of the city center that you might want to make day trips to, like Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle, Greenwich, Bletchley Park, and Kew Gardens among others.
Anyway, you get the gist of this, I'm sure. It makes it easier to plan your day if you do it neighborhood by neighborhood. I would start off with Google Maps and ask it for a list of sites in each area and go from there. Of course, many guide books will also have their information separated by neighborhood, so you might want to look for some of those. I can't remember if the Rick Steves Guide does or not.
Posted by
Chicago
4188 posts
You might find my trip report helpful from my first trip to London in 2024.
It’s important to pick things that sound interesting to you and your friend as everyone has different interests.
I’m returning to London later this year with my mom (and sister) and it’s been interesting for me to see her list of what she would like to do and see. She’s been watching the Rick Steves London videos which you can find here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIyXmROJluw