This post was originally written in 2016 and updated after a recent multi-day visit to London.
I lived in London for three years. As more and more time separates me from that period, I find myself feeling increasingly nostalgic. Which is rather surprising given that London is technically not my kind of town in terms of walkability – in a vast city with seemingly unlimited options of paths to take, there are too few visual delights that are tucked away from main routes. Nice pockets, eye-catching buildings, and welcoming squares do exist, but the ratio to “just ok” is not very high.
On the other hand, London offers so many impressive points of interest that it is impossible to do them all justice even in a week. If you come to London for just 3 or 4 days, you will have to make some hard decisions regarding which sights to skip in your itinerary.
Should
Some hot spots in the center are unmissable, and you will find yourselves there regardless of my recommendations. You should linger on Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square, check out Piccadilly Circus, regain a measure of serenity in St. James’s Park, or lounge for a while in Green Park. I am also partial to the lively Covent Garden area. You should definitely take a stroll on the Thames Path along the South Bank (it is called Queen’s Walk on a stretch).
You should stop by a market. Borough Market used to be our favorite for food browsing and sampling. Camden Market is great for clothing and other goods for sale. If you are in town on a Saturday and do not mind crowds, you should go to Portobello Market to look at antiques and bric-a-brac; some shops and stalls operate all week long, but it’s a more subdued experience on non-Saturday. After checking the market, you can explore the surrounding streets of Notting Hill, which is one of the more walkable pockets of the city.
The Tube may be your main mode of transportation around town, but you should find a way to traverse central London on the upper deck of a double-decker bus. I don’t mean the tourist-circuit bus of the kind you can find in all major cities of the world. I mean a public transport route of the kind that exists only in London. For my money, it is the most interesting way to navigate the city.
You should stop by Westminster Abbey. Architectural majesty aside, the place is chock-full of memorials to famous Brits. Try to keep track of how many historical figures you recognize. This is also a location for every royal coronation for several centuries, as well as many other important ceremonies. Time investment: 1 hour-plus.
You should see the Tower of London. So much history is concentrated here, it can easily take a good part of a full day to see it all. The excellent audioguide will take you on a couple of trips around the grounds and through all exhibitions, including prison cells, armories, and, of course, the royal jewels. Crowds and hustle notwithstanding, do not skip the always entertaining Yeomen Warder tour. Time investment: At least 2.5 hours.
You should visit St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is one of the most impressive Christian churches in the world, with a number of fascinating features. Do not miss climbing up to and experimenting at the Whispering Gallery under the dome. It obviously works best if you are not alone, so one of you can quietly speak close to the wall and another of you can hear what is being said on the opposite side. If you do not have a companion, you can attempt to intercept other people’s conversations, if that does not make you uncomfortable.
Climbing all the way up to the dome opens up sweeping views over the city, but you have to go all the way to the highest level for unobstructed views. Time investment: 90 minutes.
You should visit the British Museum. It is an incredible collection of treasures from all corners of the formerly mighty empire. There is a certain connotation of a number of artifacts having been plundered from conquered lands, but as hard as it is to condone such happenstance on a moral level, it is equally hard to miss an opportunity to see them up close. Time investment: 2 hours-plus.
Could
Quite a few of the sights listed in this section are practically unmissable in my book, and if you have a week or more, you should see them all. But for a shorter visit, you will need to pick what is most important to you.
Keep in mind that many of the largest museums offer entirely free entry to their permanent exhibitions. Unfortunately, London these days can only do either free or exorbitant – expect a large outlay at paid-entrance attractions.
If you agree that the major art collections cannot be dropped from any reasonable itinerary, you could visit the National Gallery. Although it is probably a notch below places such as the Louvre, Hermitage, or Vatican Museums, it is still a magnificent collection of classical paintings. There are also regular special exhibitions that may or may not require a fee to enter. Time investment: At least 2.5 hours.
If you want another perspective on British history, you could visit the National Portrait Gallery. I am not an ardent fan of portraiture as a genre, but the appearance in portraits of seemingly every person of note in the last few centuries is quite captivating. Time investment: 90 minutes at a canter, could be several hours if you look at every portrait and read every inscription.
If you want more art, you could go to the Wallace Collection, an amazing assemblage of paintings, supplemented by a whole wing of armouries, extensive porcelain sets, furniture, and other artifacts in palatial settings. A room of Venetian views by Canaletto, Guardi, and Belotto is probably my favorite room of art in the whole world. Time investment: At least 1 hour.
If you can’t get enough of art, you could see if there is an interesting exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. There will certainly be a fee to enter, and exhibitions rotate. Time investment: At least 1 hour.
If your tastes in art lean towards contemporary, you could visit the Tate Modern. A connoisseur will surely appreciate its significant collection. Time investment: At least 90 minutes.
If you are interested in decorative arts and design, you could visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. There are so many fantastic collections on display, I suspect every visitor will find something to their liking. Time investment: At least 2 hours.
If you are fascinated by natural history, you could go to the Natural History Museum, which boasts a famous dinosaur display. Time investment: At least 2 hours.
If you want a close-up exposure to various scientific discoveries and technological progress, you could visit the Science Museum. This is one of the most kid-friendly points of interest in town, with many interactive displays and hands-on activities. Time investment: At least 90 minutes.
If you want to explore one of the most iconic London landmarks, you could see the Tower Bridge Exhibition. Views over London, the glass floor above the Thames, and Victorian engine rooms are among the highlights. Time investment: 1 hour.
If you are interested in learning how the governments function, you could visit the Westminster Palace, home of the British Parliament. The excellent audio guide is well executed, interesting, and not overwhelming. The interior spaces themselves are amazing. Time investment: 1 hour.
If you are a WWII buff, you could visit the Cabinet War Rooms and the Churchill Museum. Well-preserved quarters of the wartime leadership and personnel feel sufficiently claustrophobic, and the audioguide narration is very compelling. Time investment: 1 hour.
If you want more history of military endeavors, you could go to the Imperial War Museum. Tanks, planes, all kinds of weaponry, and detailed exhibitions on both World Wars will impress any enthusiast. In addition, the museum hosts one of the most bone-chilling Holocaust exhibitions that I have ever seen – that section is probably not to be visited in the company of young children. Time investment: 2 hours.
A separate part of the Imperial War Museum is HMS Belfast, a Royal Navy cruiser. You will learn a tremendous amount of stuff about life on a naval vessel, and your kids will have a chance to climb all over various gun stations. Time investment: 1 hour.
If you are a fan of one of the most famous detectives in literary history, you could stop by the Sherlock Holmes Museum at the fictional location that has been made real on Baker Street. The apartments are furnished and decorated as they might have been in Arthur Conan Doyle’s imagination. There is an actor dressed like and pretending to be Dr. Watson who would engage you with reminiscences of his and Holmes’s adventures. Time investment: 30 minutes.
If you want a famous piece of history of the performing arts, you could visit Shakespeare’s Globe. It is an active venue in the spring and summer, so you may choose to procure tickets for an open-air performance at the replica of the original Elizabethan theatre. Taking a guided tour will allow you to appreciate the simplicity and ingenuity of the centuries-old venue, and you may even be able to observe a rehearsal in progress. Time investment: 1 hour.
If you enjoy theater in general, you could – and probably should – go for a play or a musical at one of the West End theater district establishments. Just like going to see a Broadway show in New York City is sort of a rite of passage, so is the West End in London.
If you want to see one of the most luxurious royal palaces in Europe, you could visit Buckingham Palace. It opens for visitors for only the second half of the summer, so the timing of your stay in London is key to being able to see it. The palace has a somber exterior, so it will be even more of a surprise how exuberant the interiors are. Time investment: 2 hours-plus.
If you are a fan of classical music, you could get tickets to a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. You could also go on a guided tour, but make sure to combine that with a performance. If you are in town between mid-July and mid-September, you could partake in the 120-year-old tradition of proms, performed daily at the famous music venue. The standing tickets to a prom cost nominal amounts of money and can be procured in the hours immediately prior to the show; reserved seating – with purchase in advance, in this case – costs what you would expect from a leading concert hall. Time investment for guided tour: 1 hour.
You could – and probably would – take a spin on the London Eye. It quite obviously offers opportunities to see London from above without having to climb the stairs of a church tower. The full circle takes about 30 minutes. The cheapest tickets are for entry at specific time intervals, so on busy days, you may not be able to get on until a few hours later. There are more expensive options, including “any time” and “fast track”, the latter allowing you to skip most of the queue of people with tickets for the same time interval. Buying tickets in advance may lock you into bad weather, so consider your options carefully. Time investment: 1 hour-plus, including the queue to get on.
I usually recommend various churches for architecture buffs, but the nature of the Anglican branch of Christianity is such that, outside of the major cathedrals, the churches are often understated and rarely exhibit surpassing features in design or art. Which is not to say that you should completely skip them. If ecclesiastical architecture is among your interests, you could step into a large number of churches throughout town for a few minutes.
If you are interested in more macabre bits of history, you could visit the London Dungeon. Occasional “boo” effects aside, it is not exactly a “haunted house” but rather a visual history museum with the focus on epidemics, executions, famous crimes, etc. Buy tickets in advance, or you could be in for a 2-hour wait. Time investment excluding ticket lines: 90 minutes.
If you are into high-end shopping, you could visit Harrods, one of the most famous department stores in the Western world. Or you could opt for a more narrow focus and peruse Fortnum & Mason and even have your afternoon tea there (which, unsurprisingly, is considered to offer the best selection of teas).
In fact, this is a borderline should item (except not everyone likes tea), but you could go for an afternoon tea at a number of high-end hotels or restaurants. Partaking in a traditional aristocratic activity has got to become one of the highlights of your trip.
If you have enough extra time and are adventurous enough to venture beyond the city center, there are many remarkable points of interest further afield, each of which would require at least half a day, if not a full day. You could go to Greenwich to see the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian. You could admire Windsor Palace or Hampton Court Palace. You could explore the vast variety of flora at Kew Gardens. And this is not an exhaustive list.
Wouldn’t
I wouldn’t spend my time and money on Madame Tussaud’s. Some people may cherish their only opportunity to have their picture taken with a celebrity or a famous political figure, but the cost-to-value proposition is just not there for me. It is also one of those locations where, on a busy day, you will interminably wait to get in if you don’t buy tickets in advance. Time investment excluding ticket lines: 1 hour-plus.
You may be a die-hard fan of the late Princess Diana, but I wouldn’t specifically recommend visiting Kensington Palace, where she lived for a decade and a half. There is very little that is exceptional in the State Rooms and among the exhibitions. Time investment: 1 hour.
I wouldn’t bother to see the ceremony of changing guard at Buckingham Palace. Most of it happens in the palace courtyard beyond the fence, so unless you come hours in advance to secure a spot right by the fence, you will not see much more than the guards marching up the Mall before the ceremony. Even on a rainy day, with fewer gawkers, once the company enters the gates, your line of vision towards the ceremony is likely to be non-existent.
A Harry Potter tour is a borderline item in this classification, obviously more interesting for children who may be real fans. If you are a fan, it may be an unmissable activity for you while in London, but it is only mildly interesting. Half a dozen locations that briefly featured in the movies or served as inspirations will be your main stops, of which the majority would not really be of any touring interest otherwise; only one on our tour was something that I rate as a nice discovery. A few other major sights along the way get playing time, and depending on your choice of options, you may end up traversing part of the Thames on a boat. Time investment: 3-4 hours.
There you have it, the sights of London categorized. If your opinion differs from mine or you think that I omitted something of importance, I would love to hear from you.
My original London Travelog entry.