We're arriving to London on Sunday morning and was wondering what's the best thing to do (first trip to London) on a Sunday afternoon. RS guidebook mentioned the British library and Tower gets very crowded on Sundays so we'll visit them on another day. My husband likes the idea of walking around and seeing things outside (rather than being cooped up in a building) for our first day in London.
Posted by
Los Angeles, California
1986 posts
Walk Westminster, Horse Guards, Trafalgar Square, Embankment, South Bank, London Eye; Tower Bridge and Tower from outside (at least). British Museum, National gallery. Covent garden is lively but not my favorite place in London, St James/Green/Hyde parks are great on weekends, see Londoners at play. walk past Buckingham Palace. Maybe visit Hampstead Heath. If you have time- a good day to visit Windsor. The City and the shopping streets Regent/Bond/
Piccadilly/Oxford are dead- dont bother Not sure whether you can visit St Pauls or Westminster Abbey (I would wait until during the week when you can spend time). Attend a sports event- maybe a casual game in a park Where is your hotel? What time of year?
Posted by
NC, United States
970 posts
Walking is a good way to plan on spending your first day. It's open-ended, which is good after an overnight flight. Plan on it it taking 2 hours or so to get into the city once your flight arrives. Let your hotel hold your bags and go out for a stroll. You can take the Tube to Westminster station. When you come up from the depths, you see Parliament, Westminster Abbey across the street, the Thames, the London Eye, etc. You can walk around Parliament (there's a nice little park on the south side), around the Abbey, or up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross. You can walk across Westminster Bridge, take a left down the steps, gawk at the London Eye, then stroll leisurely along the South Bank, stopping for a drink or a bite. None of this is "make work". First time visitors owe it to themselves to take these walks. The nice thing about doing it on day one is that when jet lag kicks in, you can just head out to the hotel and crash.