please critique my London itinerary

I took advantage of late openings at 2 or 3 London museums last year. In some cases only part of the museum was open past the usual closing time. Check with the information desk when you first arrive at the Bristish Museum (which I didn't have time for) so you know whether there are things you're interested in that have to be seen right away.

Celeste,
I’m with you on the nap issue, I always do better with a 2 hour snooze. Then we head out and stay up till 9 or 10 pm. It short circuits jet lag for me.

I think June 19 might too much. I think Windsor could be an all day outing. Kew gardens and Hampton Court Palace together might be doable. I’m guessing based on their proximity to each other. I have been to Windsor though, delightful town and castle. I loved St. George’s Chapel!

If you don't have plans for that Monday, June 18 at night, I might suggest the London Walks Old Westminster tour, that will take you by the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, as well as some of the surrounding area. It's an excellent tour and only ten pounds per adult, there isn't a lot of walking since the area is very compact. If Parliament is sitting, the tour will also help you get inside to watch the debates. http://www.walks.com/our-walks/old-westminster-by-gaslight-ok-try-to-top-this

You could do Windsor Castle and Hampton Court on the same day. I would get to Windsor by 9-9:15am so you could be in line when it opens at 9:30am. There is a shuttle bus that leaves Windsor Castle that takes you to Hampton Court, it’s a 30 minute ride. You halve to book the shutter ahead of time surbitoncoaches.com, the shuttle leaves Windsor at 12:15pm, 1:00, 1:45 and 2:30pm. Hampton Court is open until 6:00pm. The train station is only a couple blocks from Hampton Court, as you exit turn to your left and walk to the station. As I look today the ticket would be £7.20, the 5:24pm, 5:54pm and 6:24pm trains there isn’t a change. The are other trains that leave the same time, but you would have to change once, so when purchasing your ticket tell them you want the train with no change of you prefer that one.

I’d be prepared to switch days around based on weather. For example, you can do the museums any day but either Kew Gardens or Hampton Court are best done when the weather is nice.

Kew Gardens can easily take the better part of the day. The same goes for Hampton Court. I would not be inclined to do them on the same day.

For a restaurant near Museum of London, the Spitalfields branch of Ottolenghi is a good choice. It is one tube stop away. Make a reservation online.

I see you are going to the Harry Potter tour. If you are an HP fan, you might be interested in seeing the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” which is two parts. I just saw this last week on Thursday and Friday night. It was really enjoyable and had great special effects. I was able to get tickets from the nimax site a week before my trip.

I might be inclined to go to Borough Market for lunch after your Tower of London visit on Friday. Just walk across Tower Bridge and then it is a pleasant 15 minute walk mostly along the river That would open up your Saturday morning to do something else. Also Borough Market can be a total zoo on Saturday. Fridays are still busy, but just slightly less crazy.

That looks great! One rec—consider taking a taxi from the Tower to the British Museum. We were going to head over to the bus stop, but decided to grab a cab instead, and we ended up in one of the black cabs and got a driver who gave us an impromptu tour of the city, complete with commentary on the history of sites we drove past! Best tour of our trip,

I’d probably choose either Windsor OR Hampton Court OR Kew as there is so much to see at all 3. All are full days to me. I just went to Kew earlier in the week and we saw less than half with most of a full day. We did take the boat back to Westminster Pier so had to leave the gardens in time to gat the 530 sailing.

I hadn’t been to Kew in years and it was an excellent way to get out of the city environment. I agree to choose your best weather day for this.

**PS If anyone is lurking and wants to do the boat ride let me know as I’ve got tips for you!

On Wednesday, if you are planning on going to St. Paul's (highly advised), you might want to walk across the wobbly bridge and go to the Tate Modern Art Museum and then take the Thames river boat (use your Oyster card to pay) across and see the wonderful Tate British Museum. If you love art, both are breath taking places to visit.

We will be in London at the same time-- and both at Harry Potter on Sunday! Thanks for posting your plans; it is helping me decide if mine will work :) Happy travels!

If you find yourself in the area or DH wants to venture over while you're at work, the Victoria & Albert Museum actually has some interesting musical artifacts from old pianos to Who guitars in their Theatre & Performance area. (Alas, the good Pink Floyd retrospective show has moved on to Rome for 2018)

Thanks all for the brilliant suggestions! I am considering the options again and need to discuss with DH. So much to see, so little time! :) All the input is really appreciated!

Seconding Laura's comment about not visiting Borough Market on a Saturday - it is absolutely intolerably crowded then.

I'm moving Borough to Friday, for sure. Tower of London first thing, then Borough for lunch, then British Museum ... does that sound better?