London in 3 days

Karen, Win-win time...no matter what you do, it'll be memorable. Now having said that, there's no substitute for a good map of central London and a list of sites you're interested in. Prioritize ("not leaving without seeing", "would love to see" and "if there's time") and then concentrate on the "clusters". For example, Westminster has a lot of "must dos" IMHO. I totally agree with HOHO - you'll get oriented quickly and will adjust your list of places to go (skip some, add some). Also, Google Earth is an incredible planning tool. Use the street view to "walk" the area. Helps add perspective to distances. Hope this helps and good luck!

I always like to get a good city map and use those little sticky flag things to point to where everything is - great to get an idea of the neighbourhoods - I also have an app on my ipod - Tourist Eye - you can put in what attractions you want, and it'll map them out for you...not sure if you can just do it online or only with the app...

Karen, I agree, a good map and the post it arrows you can write on will help you see what things are close together. We post a big map on a wall at home and mark it up while planning a trip. For quick reference however, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben are all close together. Also somewhat close to them is the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, or the Tate in the opposite direction. St. Paul's and the Tower of London are relatively close together, though I have never walked from one to the other on that side of the river. (We went Tower, Tower Bridge, pub on the south side of the Thames, St. Paul's several years back.) British Museum, Imperial War Museum and Portobello Road are not near any of the other sites you list. I would choose British Museum over Portobello Road if I had time for only one (have not been to the war museum), but that's just my opinion. It would be hard to go wrong with any of your choices.
Have a great trip!

There is an excellent map book, The London Mapguide, it's about 5x7 and thin 1/4, it's so easy to use. It also as the tube mape (underground), has all the museums listed and times, places of interest, theatres, etc.,it has 72 pages. You could order one from Barnes & Noble.

mark your sights on a good map, it is amazing how clustered a lot of them are. Choose an area, with one or maybe two must see sights each day. Dont try and see "every" sight. Leave time to enjoy them. I enjoy walking between the sights and enjoy the atmosphere of being in London. Its amazing what little gems you will find by serendipity. Go with it, if you see something interesting stop and explore it- often these turn out to be the sights you will remember.
Obvious clusters- St Pauls/Tower of London/Tower bridge; Westmister Abbey/Trafalgar square/Piccadilly/Horse guards/St James park (this is always on my list each visit).

Since it's at the end of your trip, don't be surprised if you're just exhausted by the time you get there! Take your time, and prioritize your list to the Must-Sees, and only have two a day for those. If you can get to the others, great; but don't push yourselves too much. As for maps, my favorite was the Central London pdf map I downloaded from the Transit for London (London's Tube/bus system) page: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/Central-London-Day-Bus-Map.pdf. I put this onto my tablet and studied it before leaving and every night we were there, and I was able to plan out what buses/tube lines to take every place we went. I even knew it so well that once I was able to direct Londoners on where to go (they commented on how weird it was that they had to get directions from a Yank!!).

Your list looks easily doable in three days. Here's what I'd do: You don't go into Big Ben, just see it from the outside. That's easily combined with Westminster and Rick's walk. Parliament is right there, too, and I think one can go inside if they reserve tickets ahead of time, but generally it's a look from the outside kind of thing. If that's your plan, then I'd go to Westminster Abbey then do the walk and see Big Ben and Parliament. Imperial War Museum is in that area, too. So if you can handle it, I'd clump all those things on one day. You can walk by Buckingham Palace and such on this day as well. The "City Walk" isn't far from St. Paul's, so going to it and then wandering the city would work. Then go to your art museum of choice. If you mean the Tate Modern, that's easy - right across the river from St. Paul's. The National Gallery is an easy bus ride away. The Tower of London isn't on your list, but if you're interested, it's in this area as well. Not sure there'd be time for it, St. Paul's, and an art museum, though. That would be a pick-and-choose situation, IMO. Portobello Road Mkt isn't near the others, per se, but I think the tube goes from there to the British Museum pretty easily. I haven't been to the market, though.

Check on line for London's street markets to see which one has the stuff you are looking for. Portebello is open Saturday. You have to get here really early to get any bargains if they exist...remember the exchange rate. I often found that you pay a pound for what we would pay a dollar for. Portebello tends to have established dealers...meaning pretty sharp. If you want to buy some nice book plate prints...they seem pretty reasonable and some are real antiques. If you want more nitty gritty markets go to the ones south of the Thames. Camden in the NE is a lot more Groovy-Funky. Spitalfields has more clothing. You could go to the different markets early...taking you to many interesting neighborhoods...and then hit the nearest Museum when they open. South of the Thames the Imperial War Museum is housed in the former Sanitarium of Bedlam (Betheleham), which is very near Captain Bligh's house. One trip we enjoyed was taking a boat to Greenwich and seeing the The Observatory with the Monument to Greenwich Meantime International Dateline.

Don't forget Windsor Castle !

Dear Karen, You will love London and walking around absorbing the atmosphere is the best way to see any city. In one easy day you can get off the tube at Green Park, walk towards the Palace (consulting your newly purchased A-Z map), walk down the Mall, turn left through Downing Street, right down Whitehall past the Horse guards and the Centotaph. Now you are in Parliament Square opposite Westminster with The Clock and Parliament to your left. Have a drink at one of the many pubs in the square and walk onto Westminster bridge to watch the Thames go by. If the times are convenient for you, you might consider going to the Abbey for an evensong service which is held each evening. Look up the schedule on the Westminster site. By then you will be ready for the tube from Victoria! Yes, you could,ve continued down the Mall, through the Arch and into Trafalger Square and the National Gallery...all that in one day is over the top. Another walk would be to get off the tube at St Pauls, do that and walk to the Tower, do that, cross the Thames by way of the Tower Bridge or London Bridge, walk through Borough Market (Thur-Sun), stop at The George, walk along the river past The Globe theater and on to the Tate Modern. Another full but not overly taxing day. You can get great London views from the top of St Pauls and also from the Oxo Tower where drinks are encouraged! This last walk takes place in the oldest part of London dating from Roman times. Of course almost all has been rebuilt since the fire of 1666. HOHO buses will give you a wonderful overview along with the A-Z map.
All this is predicated upon the fact that it,s not pouring with rain!!! Never mind, bring rain gear.