One day London Itinerary

I think it may be just about possible to do all this but really you will be rushing from place to place. I’d reduce to say Tower in the morning, National Gallery in the afternoon, Shard for a cocktail. Then you can have a nice leisurely lunch. Your schedule gives no time to sit down! I’d be exhausted.

You need to remove the National Gallery which takes a full day. I would also remove Tate Modern because it’s a disappointment.

Shouldn't that read "you need to remove Tate Modern because it was a disappointment to MaryPat of Irving"? lol

If your visiting on a Sunday. the Tower of London doesn't open until 10am. If you do this trip in this order, i would take out the walk to St Pauls and catch the number 15 bus to St Paul using the old routemaster bus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Buses_route_15_(Heritage)

My suggestion is always to do two major sights in one day and then have some smaller ones in mind if you have time/energy.
Your challenge is that you only have one day. I would still think about what are the absolute two "must dos" on your list, make sure you have given them enough time, and then fit in around.

Is there any part of your plan that you are fully committed to doing? I don't travel this quickly and enjoy more detailed visits so for me 2 hours at Tower of London would not be enough,however I know many want to just see the Crown Jewels and a few of the sights inside the Tower and then move on.

If it were my itinerary, I'd have lunch at Tower of London cafe (usually pretty quick as it's cafeteria style), take the boat to Westminster skipping Borough Market (but this might be a must for you). I'd do your walk as planned to Buckingham Palace and then on to the National Gallery (free admission).

From here, to me, your plan is pretty tenuous. Are you planning to go inside St Paul's or just see from the outside? The entry ticket is 25GBP so that's a lot of money for the very short time you'll have there before you march on.

I've not been to the Tate Modern as I'm not particularly interested in many of the artists displayed here. Your choice of course, but it is free to enter so you could just zip in and see a few preplanned areas.

All the reply’s are very helpful. I know that Sunday’s we won’t be able to go inside Westminster or St. paul’s but I would like to walk by. Also, I’m not sure why, but the Tower website let me buy tickets for 9 am?

Aside from gently ribbing MaryPat, Tate Modern probably isn't worth it getting there at 5pm. That's barely enough time to inhale a cup of tea and buy a souvenir tote bag before closing time. The front of house staff will be gently reminding visitors that the gallery is closing soon from about 5:45pm.

I agree with others that the itinerary is slightly ambitious for one day. Pick a favourite museum or gallery and aim for that. It may be a longer walk from Trafalgar Square to St Paul's than you anticipate if you've never done it before.

I hope you have a great day and you get the weather for it.

ETA: If you did really want to see Tate Modern, best do it after Borough Market. It's only a short walk from there. St Paul's too. It would make more sense to me to do the long walk in the other direction from St Paul's to Trafalgar Square, then coming back later on the tube for your cocktails at The Shard.

Amanda - It looks like the Tower of London is open at 9am for the February school holidays.

FEBRUARY HALF-TERM, 10 FEBRUARY - 18 FEBRUARY 2024
Daily: 09:00-16:30
Last admission: 15:30

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/visit/opening-and-closing-times/#gs.3mu4ry

I really struggle to see how anyone could be disappointed with Tate Modern. It’s such a stupendous building and the art collection is world class.

Setting aside how much time you'd want to spend inside some of the sights, I wonder whether you're adequately accounting for the time needed to walk between them. I checked Google Maps and found the following estimated times (based on 20 minutes per mile, which I consider reasonable).

Tower of London to Borough Market: 17 minutes. (Side comment: It takes some time to walk around Borough Market to see what's available, then to return to the stands where you want to buy your food. Plus you need to eat it, and you may not have a place to do so sitting down.)

Borough Market to London Bridge City Pier: 7 minutes.

Westminster Pier to Buckingham Palace (no exploring of the park or walking around Westminster): 20 minutes.

Buckingham Palace to National Gallery: 20 minutes.

National Gallery to St. Paul's: 32 minutes.

St. Paul's to south side of Millennium Bridge: 14 minutes.

Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern: 4 minutes.

Tate Modern to Aqua Shard Bar: 18 minutes.

That's 6.6 walking miles not counting getting to the Tower of London, walking around the Tower, or walking around the National Gallery (or potentially the Tate Modern). I walk a lot, and I spend a lot of time in museums, but I don't believe I've ever been on my feet that much in a single day. Then again, you may well be half my age!