Timing yourself at sights

To see everything at the Tower of London (including doing a Beefeater tour and having a quick lunch) we were there about 4 hrs. We didn’t have time to do the War Rooms (next visit), but the custodian outside told us...about 2 hrs, unless you are really into war stuff, then prob 3. Def get your tickets beforehand to avoid waiting in line...we didn’t do this, and that’s why we didn’t go in...it was about an hour wait, and we had somewhere else to be in 4 hrs.

The V&A and British museums...we’ve been multiple times...you could spend hours and hours at each...best bet is to look online and see what really interests you and stick to that part. I imagine we’ve spent 5 to 6 hrs at the Brit museum over various visits, and prob 4 to 5 hrs at the V&A over multiple visits.

We did W Abbey - had the audio tour and I want to say we spent an hour or 90 min there...this was a few years ago now.

Last year I made two visits to the V&A totalling maybe 6 hours (could have been more) and covered perhaps half the museum. With huge museums like that (including the British Museum and the National Gallery), your question is unaswerable. However, a lot of people find that their attention wanes after about 2 hours or so and don't ever spend much more time than that at one museum--at least not on the same day. Fortunately--or unfortunately--I don't have that problem.

Thoughts.....
London offers one of the largest most robust menu of opportunities to explore in all of the world.
London is as fascinating for the markets, neighborhood walks, architecture, shopping, parks; as it is for the major tourist destinations.
London offers a wonderful public transportation system which is easy to utilize.
We spent two weeks in London this July and planned two destinations per day with the attitude of investing time into a place for as long as it held our interest. An example would be attending the War museum in the morning and then Westminister Abby in the early afternoon. We stayed in the general vicinity to explore the area. This is a process we repeated throughout the trip.
Tip #1 - pre-purchase tickets on line in order to avoid waiting in lines. Even though you are traveling in an "off season" saving time from standing in line is a wise investment.
Tip #2 - you cannot "see it all" so make a commitment to enjoying what you visit without worrying about what you may be missing. Invest the time to slow down!

Here are my thoughts:

Changing of the Guard,
-->The change itself is about a 30-45 minute thing with a lot of wait time in the middle. You'll want to get there early to get a spot but I'm not sure how much earlier in November. This website gives you down to the minute timings.

https://www.householddivision.org.uk/index.php?action=changing-the-guard-calendar

Westminster Abbey,
--> probably at least 90-120 minutes. You can download the audio guide ahead of time to your smartphone instead of having to use the free ones there. Take your earbuds with you. I saw something recently that Stephen Hawking's ashes were interred in June. When I was there in May the docent I was talking to said he was to be interred right next to Isaac Newton, so look for that new stone on the floor.

War Rooms,
-->I'd say 2 hours if you don't spend much time in the Churchill exhibit rooms or 3 hours if you do

V&A Museum,/British Museum,
-->Agree with a poster upthread. As much time as you want, possibly a lifetime between these 2 museums. I'd go with the approach to look online ahead of time to see what galleries would be of interest and then do some precision touring here. I've made the error of spending 5 hours at the British Museum and just overwhelmed myself. I'd set a limit for 2-3 hours each. It's also easy to get turned around in these museums as not everything seems to connect up.

National Gallery,
-->Again, check ahead and decide what you want to see. The docents here are excellent at being able to tell you how to get from say the Impressionists galleries to Rembrandt, lol.

St. Paul's Cathedral,
-->90 minutes minimum

Tower of London,
-->I'm the one (or one of the ones) that said 2 hours was too little for Tower of London. I'd day 3-4 hours including time for a break for food or a snack. It's very big on the inside which is a slightly dumb statement but what I mean is there is lots of walking. It will depend on the weather as to how much outside stuff you'd like to do as well.

Queen's Gallery,
--> Are you sure the Queen's Gallery will have an exhibit on when you are there? I'm not sure it's open unless they have a special exhibition but I'm not 100% sure of this. When I stopped in there in May (gift shop, hahhaa) they were between exhibits and the gallery was closed.
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/the-queens-gallery-buckingham-palace

Royal Mews
-->Maybe an hour at most.

All of the above is excellent advice.

I'd just add, because you mentioned the dates of your trip, that on the Saturday, 10 November, there will be London's annual Lord Mayor's Show:

For over 800 years each newly elected Lord Mayor of London has made
his or her way upriver to Westminster to swear loyalty to the Crown.
Over the centuries their journey grew into the riotous mediaeval
pageant known as the Lord Mayor's Show, the first outside event ever to
be shown on television and now the oldest and grandest civic
procession in the world.

Modesty does not appear to cloud the vision of this show's organizers, lol. I've never seen the gilded carriages and white horses and men in wigs and all that processional glitz in real life, and I'll be in London 5 - 12 November. So, I snagged a ticket for the Lord Mayor's Show grandstands which will be set up in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. If London's gonna throw a party while I'm in town, I'm showing up for it! There will be fireworks after dark.

If you want to join the fun, the website link above should help you figure it out. If you want to avoid the whole shebang, that will also help. The website also says:

The Lord Mayor's Show shuts down the City of London for most of the
day. There is no road access at all, either in or out, and many bus
services are diverted or interrupted. We regret the inconvenience this
causes but the security of the Show is taken very seriously and no
exceptions can be made.

In your case, unless your hotel is in the City of London (the famous old "square mile") you'll probably not be affected. But it's good info to have for your planning.

Only you know what keeps your interest.

Seeing 2 spots a day is a good use of time considering darkness will begin at 4pm in early November.

Each day start early. Believe most opening hours are 10am. I’d still be out the door by 8am to meander and absorb city life. Leisurely stroll and morning coffee then off to the sites to queue. If you want to add theatre the same day visit the Half Price Ticket booth in Leicester Square.

Suz is right, Lords Mayor Parade is an enjoyable British tradition. Fun to watch. You will also be there for Remembrance Day. Be sure to purchase your poppy and wear it.

If I’ve never been to a sight, I don’t put a time limit on how long to spend there. You may get there and decide it’s worth more time, or conversely, get to a place and decide it wasn’t worth the stop. For example, to me St. Paul’s is a 45 minute stop at most, but others have spent a couple hours there. To me it would be better to simply say I’ll plan on visiting A and B on this day, and C and D, the following day. If you can fit in another sight, great. Stay flexible.

For me? How long ya got? One a day. I am terrible. Plan your biggest "must see" first perhaps? That way if you do find it taking more time than you allotted you won't feel so bad about spending less time on the next stop.

Two a day sounds quite reasonable though, and as Claudia suggests, get going early just to take time to walk around. All the sights are great, but walking the city really makes you feel like you're there.

Great thread, my friends. I'm gonna print this out and use it as a template for our May trip.

Edit: I'm normally OK for about 2-3 hours max at a museum. I think I get a little dazed reading everything, which annoys my lets-keep-moving wife. Well, she reads things but not to the extent I do. I'm always thinking to myself, "What, where, whom, and why?"

I was trying to limit my time to 2 hrs at each site but have read that
2 hrs could be too long at some places and not enough at another,

Yes, yes and yes. To really enjoy yourself, it is so important to be flexible. You may want to spend 1/2 day at the National Gallery and not realize how time is flying. You may think that after 30-45 minutes, you've had it with St Paul's Cathedral or the V&A and want out. Research what really interests you and do those things first. You might not realize this until you arrive that there are other things you might want to do not included on that list like visiting Borough Market, the Tate Britain, Hampton Court, etc.

A small fact, maybe helpful. The tube is crowded early and late. You will quickly see how that might affect your itinerary. Also check TFLs web site to see if delays / outages might affect you. Be sure to check both lines and stations. Sometimes you can’t enter a tube station during rush hour. Enjoy!

Pam's reply is really helpful and I agree with everything she said. I'll elaborate on St. Paul's--you can very easily spend 3 hours there. Even if you don't listen to every section on the audio guide, you can still spend a good 2 hours on the Cathedral floor. If you then want to climb up the dome, that adds at least another 30 min if not more (depending on lines and how quickly you can climb stairs), plus there are the crypts as well.

To address a couple I don't think Pam mentioned:

Parliament Tour: Allow at least 30 min for security in addition to the 90 min guided tour.

War Rooms: Pam's time suggestion is spot on, I just wanted to add that the Churchill exhibit is midway through the war rooms. So if you are pacing yourself while in the war rooms, when you reach the Churchill section, just remember you still have more war rooms to see after that. When you're in there it sort of seems like it might be the end, so it's easy to make the mistake of spending a really long time in the Churchill section (which I think is quite interesting) and not leave yourself any time for the rest of the war rooms.

Kensington Palace: Honestly, there's not much to see here. You can get through it all in less than an hour. I tend not to recommend this to visitors as it's not very substantial.

I agree with Margaret’s opinion of Kensington palace. Very little in the way of furnishings. Had it not been for the Diana exhibit, it would have been a waste of time and monejy, but my wife wanted to go. Not worth the price for what there is to see.

You have to be flexible and be prepared to miss out on some sights. We were in Westminster Abbey for the better part of a day. British Museum in 2 hours?

Thanks Margaret! I've not done Parliament so didn't know timing on it. I'm glad you said what you did about Kensington Palace. It's been 4-5 years since I've been there and that was my opinion then but wasn't sure if things had changed on the tour thru there. I was there when they had silly recordings whispering in window alcoves - very weird.

I also agree with Margaret!

Here is what I have found works well for us: I plan the one thing we really want to see first thing the am and then have an idea of what we want to do next and we go from there is time permits and we still want to do it

War rooms for us was over 3 hours. Based on what I had read I thought it owed be shorter but we all fell in love with the place ( kids included) and I would not cut it short. That meant that we skipped the London eye. Opposite for Tower of London.... I had planned much more time but the line for the crown jewels was so long and none of us wanted to stand in it that we did the rest of what we wanted to see and then were able to go to Greenwich which has been just a maybe.....

I guess my point is that I never want to cut short something that we are really enjoying just to fit one more thing in

Here is what I have found works well for us: I plan the one thing we
really want to see first thing the am and then have an idea of what we
want to do next and we go from there is time permits and we still want
to do it.

I like the way you think! :-)

And of course everyone is different, but I'll typically hit my limit for uninterrupted viewing an exhibit at a gallery or museum, in about 90 minutes. After that my brain can't really absorb much more new info and I start feeling antsy and eyeing the distance left to the exit. There are exceptions, which I can't always predict, where I can happily stay a lot longer.

For setting my travel itineraries, I've taken a lesson from General Eisenhower. To paraphrase, the plan you create may be tossed out, but what you learn in doing the planning is essential. So now when I emerge from a research session with my head spinning? I have also emerged with notes and information about my options even if I haven't made a schedule yet.