London Itinerary HELP planning....

Bev,
Double check the closing hours of each site to see what you can squeeze in after the other sites have closed and try to group sites geographically. For example, I think Harrods is open later on Wednesdays. You might do something in the area of your hotel (Kensington Palace? Natural History museum? Albert Hall?), then grab a bite at Harrods before taking the Underground across town to Tower Hill for the Ceremony of the Keys. (For seeing the rest of the Tower of London, I'd recommend a morning, perhaps the next day.)

I'm having trouble getting on the walks.com website, so you'll have to determine when the Beatles walks take place and schedule around one. You might do St. Paul's and then Westminster Abbey on Thursday afternoon so that you are in the area for evensong afterward.

You can pass Buckingham Palace anytime, but if you must see the changing of the guard (waste of time, IMO) maybe you could do it on Friday morning* on the way to Parliament and the Churchill War rooms. Maybe take a spin on the London Eye early evening on Friday, before taking a nice walk along the South Bank to Shakespeare's Globe for the show.

I think you can take a river cruise to the Tower of London (day or night?), but I've never done so. I'm not sure how/when you fit in Hampton Court or Windsor Castle as they are further from the city.

*EDIT: Changing of the Guards doesn't happen everyday, and I don't know which Friday you'll be there. Check the schedule. http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/ChangingtheGuard/Overview.aspx

Everything you have on your list is doable. Everything except Hampton Court and Windsor Palace which are out of town. If you really want to go to Windsor you are closer when you are at Heathrow. Allow at least half day for Hampton Court Palace. Do not take river boat to HCP; it takes too long. You can take a one day return ticket on the train. Best tour there is Tudor era. My advice is to stay in London: Tower of London,Churchill Rooms, St. Paul, Covent Gardens 1st Day. Harrods, Natural History plus V & A if open, Albert Hall, Westminster Abby 2nd day. London Eye, New Tate Gallery, River Thames Cruise Daytime, London Walk, Globe 3rd day. After reviewing all that, skip Hampton Court and Windsor until next trip. Bon Voyage.

Here are the hours for Harrods~~~Main Store...Mon-Sat. 10:00-8pm Sunday 11:30am-6pm (browsing only 11:30-12:00pm) Selected food halls...Mon-Sat 9am-9pm Sunday 11:30am-6pm.

After checking into your hotel, you could go to Kensington Palace, then maybe have a sit down at Thr Organery for a cup of tea, walk thru the parkto West Carriage Drive (which is in Hyde Park) turn to your left cross over Kensington Road and you will be on Exhibition Road which will take you to Natural History Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum they both close around 5:45pm if you aren't to tired you could walk Cromwell Road to Harrods (or take a taxi) have a look around and get something to eat.

I strongly suggest you getting to The Tower of London no later then 9:15pm. They let people in right at 9:30pm and they close the gate right away. If you are a minute late they will not open the gate for you...I have seen this happen twice.

As for Windsor it is a 30 minute train ride from Paddington Station, I would get an early train out, tour the Castle and grounds have lunch and then you could be back in London by early afternoon. From Paddington train station walk to the tube station get either the Circle Line or District Line, take it to Westminster tube station. When you exit the tube station you will be able to see Big Ben, Parliament. The London Eye is there so before you go to the Abbey you might want to cross the bridge to the London Eye. It's a short walk to Westinster Abbey, after seeing the Abbey if you walk back towards the tube station when you get Parliament Bridge Street turn left and walk up to Horse Guards Road turn right, right there would be Churchills' Cabinet War Rooms. After you finish at the Cabinet War Rooms if you turn right as you exit and walk down Horse Guards Road you will pass Downing Street. You could either continue on that road to The Mall, turn right and Buckingham Palace would be straight ahead, or you could walk thru St. James Park to Buckingham Place.

With only three days and so much to see I wouldn't plan an seeing the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. In order to see anything you need to get there at least an hour before it starts.

You could do Tower of London and St. Pauls on the same day, it's about 1.4 miles between the two. About a 25 minute walk.

Bev,

If you plan on seeing Buckingham Palace in the morning, then by all means stick around to see the Changing of the Guard. It is even more majestic when the Guard leaves the Palace doing the slow march with the appropriate music being played. Upon entering the Palace the Guard does the quick march. You have to see this scene more than once while in London.

Instead of doing Changing of the Guard- which is always crowded and you cant see anything. I always do Changing of Horse Guards just short distance away. The guards are in spectacular uniforms on horses- in summer usually with a mounted band. Also very few people attend this so you can see and photograph what is going on three days is tight, but a trip to Hamton Court is worth it. Dont spend time doing both Windsor and Hamppton. Buckingham Palace is just a walk past, but a pleasent walk from kensington Palace through the parks to Buckingham, the Mall and trafalgar Square

I second the changing of the Horse Guards. We were just walking towards the Palace and all of a sudden we saw these beautiful white horses and the guards upon them in full uniform. We missed the actual changing, but I will definitely schedule it for next time. There was hardly anyone around. When we arrived at the Palace, there were already hoards of people - and we were relatively early. I would recommend the cruise. I don't like touristy things, but it was our first time in London. We took the cruise from Westminster bridge after completing RS self-guided walk, which included Westminster Abbey. It was right before sunset, so during the cruise the light was perfect, and we have some spectacular photos at sunset of the Parliament, the Eye, Westminster bridge, and the Tower of London. (Last Tower entrance is at 5pm).

I agree with skipping the changing of the guard at Buckingham. You could do the Horse Guards, or get to Windsor early enough to watch the changing of the guard there. A bit smaller group, but very nice and not nearly as big a crowd of watchers. Personally, I'd also skip Harrod's- it's just a department store, really.

The food halls at Harrods are worth seeing...you may want to skip the rest of Harrods.

Bev, your itinerary sounded similar to ours last year when we were in London. We arrived at Heathrow around 11:30 a.m.; got settled in our room and rested a bit and then made our way to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys. We had time to eat dinner first - across the street is a Wagamama Noodle which was good and priced well. We took the Tower Hill Tube back to our hotel and we were in bed before midnight. The next morning we took the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour and stopped at Westminster Abbey for the tour. Beautiful!! Oh - about the Beatle Walk. I believe the one we took was called a Day in the Life and it starts at Marylebone Station at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It is a 2 hour walk, so you get your exercise for the day, but well worth the 7 pounds a piece. Feel free to email me for any details. Have fun! cindy

They also do a small changing of the Guard at St James Palace- a small platoon splits off from the Buckingham Palace group and goes to St James (maybe only 5 or 6 guards); but this is the place you can actually get your photo standing next to the guardsman. Still vote for Hirse guards though

Please make sure you put St Paul's at the top of your list. I loved everything we saw, but St Paul's touched me deeply. We took a tour and our guide gave us the history[INVALID]- it is beautiful. Also, try to leave yourself a little free time. We did not and we regretted it.