Use these jumps to navigate to a specific day or just keep scrolling to read the full itinerary!
London 🇬🇧
There’s a quote out there that I love and believe to be true: “A bad day in London is still better than a good day anywhere else”.
London has to be one of my favorite European cities. There are so many things I look for in a city and London has all of them. It has culture, history, beauty, and so much more! London is a great city to explore as a couple or with a large family. The city is huge; I think you could spend a year there and not experience everything it has to offer. It’s definitely a challenge when building an itinerary choosing what activities to do. I hope this guide gives you some insight into what we found to be the best use of our time!
When I am researching activities and things to see in a new city, I wish I found more itineraries that ranked the list of activities they recommend. Everyone’s time is different in a new city and it’s important to be able to prioritize activities that are a MUST versus activities that are nice, but could possibly be skipped. I like to schedule my days and build an itinerary with one MUST item, one TRY TO DO item, and one SKIP item a day in case something happens or we are too tired, we can always hit the MUST item and SKIP the item that’s not as important.
★★★ MUST SEE
★★ TRY TO DO
★ SKIP (BUT WORTH IF YOU HAVE TIME)
★★★ Tower of London
★★★ Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
★★★ St. Paul’s Cathedral
★★★ Windsor Castle
★★★ Westminister Abbey
★★★ Churchill War Rooms
★★ London Eye
★★ Parliament Square and Big Ben
★★ Imperial War Museum
★★ British Museum
★★ Bike Ride through the streets of London
★★ Borough Market
★ Chinatown
★ Greenwich Area
★ Shakespeare’s Globe
★ Hype Park
★ Harrod’s
Use these jumps to navigate to a specific day or just keep scrolling to read the full itinerary!
When: June 2019
Who: My Family and I (so we purchased 5 adult tickets and 1 teenager ticket)
Where we stayed: Covent Garden/Theatre District (highly recommend!)
Day 1 information ~
⚠Airbnb ~ where we booked our accommodation
⚠Uber ~ we used this rideshare app Uber
⚠Gatwick Express ~ train from Gatwick Airport to central London
Arrive in London: We flew from Houston, TX to London, UK with one stop in Orlando, FL. We used Southwest for the first leg and the now out of business Thomas Cook Airlines for the second leg. We landed pretty early in the morning in London.
Our flight took us into London Gatwick Airport which is the second largest airport in the London area behind Heathrow.
I really liked Gatwick; even though it was just as massive (lots of walking to get to C&I), it wasn’t as busy so we got through customs and immigration very quickly. It is about 30 miles outside of London.
Get to Airbnb: we decided to use Uber to get into London instead of trying to navigate the train with our luggage. Uber was fast and took us right to the doorstep of our Airbnb. It was a bit expensive though (I think ~100 USD for a van) 😳
The train from Gatwick to Central London is called Gatwick Express. It takes you to Victoria Station in Central London. If you are wanting to save money, this option is good as one ticket one way costs ~20 pounds (you can purchase ahead of time online or when you arrive). You just have to figure out how to get to your accommodation from Victoria Station (and pay for that too).
Eat Lunch: we ate lunch across the street from our Airbnb at a restaurant named “Côte Brasserie”. It was pretty good and offered pub food.
Unpack/Rest: We took some time after lunch to rest and go through our itinerary for the week. I recommend doing this so you are aware of your plans, organize your tickets, etc. This way you have a smooth vacation and no hiccups.
★Dinner in Chinatown: our Airbnb was about a 7 minute = 0.3 mile walk so we went for dinner. We ate at a restaurant named “Ichibuns” which served dumplings, sushi, and mochi for dessert. I recommend checking out Chinatown in London if you have time
Day 2 information ~
⚠Big Bus London ~ buy tickets ahead of time
⚠London Eye ~ buy tickets ahead of time; timed entry
⚠Churchill War Rooms ~ buy tickets ahead of time; timed entry
★★★Changing of the Guard: this is a free 45 minute ceremony that takes place 10:45AM at Buckingham Palace. Most of the year it takes place only on certain days (M, W, F, and Sunday), but in summer, it takes place every day of the week. This ceremony features a precision drill and bands playing music.
Big Bus Tour: we did this as soon as the Changing of the Guard was over. I downloaded the map and found the nearest pick up spot; we walked there and waited for the Big Bus. It was crowded, but we were able to snag a spot up top. It was great driving around and seeing some of the sights we never got to fully explore. We purchased a 24 hour ticket for around 40 pounds each. This was a big pricey and we only used it the one time so I don’t think we would purchase this again. We got off the Big Bus near Parliament Square.
★★Parliament Square: Unfortunately when we went to London, Big Ben was under construction. 🙁 We walked around Parliament Square though (didn’t go inside), took pictures with the iconic red phone booth, and walked across Westminster Bridge to the London Eye and lunch.
Lunch: We enjoyed lunch at Locale Southbank which had yummy Italian food. It was very close to the London Eye.
★★London Eye: The London Eye is a 135 meter observation wheel and offers a 360 degree view of London. The ride takes about 30 minutes and costs ~25 pounds. I recommend purchasing a ticket ahead of time; you have to choose a day and time. Once you arrive at your scheduled time, you join the queue which moves decently quick.
★★★Churchill War Rooms: We walked from the London Eye back across the bridge over to the Churchill War Rooms (16 minutes = 0.7 miles). I recommend purchasing a ticket ahead of time; you have to choose a day and time. The War Rooms took about 3 hours to explore and costs ~27 pounds a person. This is a MUST SEE attraction! After we were done, we went back to the Airbnb. We rested and ordered dinner to be delivered there since we were exhausted.
Day 3 information ~
⚠ Tower of London ~ buy tickets ahead of time; timed entry
⚠The London Bicycle Tour Co ~ buy tour ahead of time
★★★Tower of London: we purchased tickets ahead of time for a 9AM entrance time for the Tower of London. Each ticket includes walking around the grounds, getting a tour by the infamous Beefeaters, and best of all seeing the 💎Crown Jewels💎. In total we spent about 3 hours exploring the Tower of London and each ticket cost ~33 pounds. After we were done, we walked to lunch.
Lunch: we ate lunch at a restaurant named Coppa Club. It was only a 2 minute walk from the Tower of London. We had some pizzas and enjoyed the view of the riverbank.
★★★The London Bicycle Tour Co: After lunch, we took the tube over to the HQ of the Love London Bike Tour Group which took about 30 minutes. We did the “Love London” tour that took about 3 hours and cost ~38 pounds per person. They only have one tour a day departing at 2:15PM. I highly recommend this tour as you get to see so many London sights. Our tour guide was awesome in making sure we were safe and stayed together while giving us the history of London.
Dinner: we rested a bit at the Airbnb then went to dinner. We got burgers at Bryon’s. It was quick, cheap, and yummy.
I. I mention a lot about resting on our vacation. Resting is important because:
Day 4 information ~
⚠ St. Paul’s Cathedral ~ buy sightseeing ticket ahead of time; timed entry
⚠British Museum ~ buy tickets ahead of time; timed entry; but FREE
★★★St. Paul’s Cathedral: We arrived here right at opening (which was around 9AM) so it was less crowded. We booked our timed entry just one day ahead. I would say total time we spent here was ~3 hours and each person’s sightseeing ticket cost ~20 pounds. We did receive audio guide headset’s for the main cathedral which was nice. Something optional you can do but I HIGHLY recommend would be to climb the dome to the observation decks at the top of the cathedral. It is difficult though; it’s over 500 steps to climb the dome 🫣
★★Borough Market: We walked over the Millennium Bridge from St. Paul’s Cathedral to Borough Market. This was a bit of a walk; it was about 20 minutes = 1 mile. This walk is worth it though to see Shakespeare’s Globe. We didn’t purchase tickets to tour the venue, but we took pictures on the outside. We ate lunch and got treats here at Borough Market. We mostly all got the fish and chips and it was outstanding!
★★★ British Museum: After we ate lunch, we took the tube to the British Museum. This museum is one of the world’s oldest and largest museums. It is actually FREE, but I recommend reserving a day/time ticket online ahead of time; also you could spend a whole day here exploring, but we spent around 2-3 hours. We did not so we stood in line for regular admission tickets (even though it was free there was a wait). The wait wasn’t too long, but we would have gotten in immediately if we had booked a ticket ahead of time. This museum is amazing! Best part was seeing the Rosetta Stone.
★Hyde Park: After the British Museum, we stopped at a convenience store and bought some bread. We took the tube over to Hyde Park (we went here the day before on the bike tour and wanted to come back to spend more time). There were giant swans and geese that came on shore to greet us and take the bread from us. It was such an experience and something no London itinerary mentioned as a thing to do.
Dinner: we were pretty tired after our long day so we picked up some food to-go on our way home and ate it back at the airbnb (rest is important!)
Day 5 information ~
⚠ Imperial War Museum ~ FREE; just walk up and enter
⚠Windsor Castle ~ buy tickets ahead of time; timed entry
★Harrods: GIRLS: Today, we decided to do something a little different and the boys and girls of our family split up to do different things in the morning. The girls went to Harrods. Harrods is a famous, giant, and fancy shopping mall. It was fun exploring all the different floors and trying some tasty macarons. After we stopped at a sandwich shop and got sandwiches for our tube ride to meet the boys.
★★Imperial War Museum: BOYS: The boys went to the Imperial War Museum London which is one of the leading military and conflict museums of the world. The boys enjoyed the museum very much and wished they had a whole day to explore. The War Museum opens at 10AM so the boys were there from 10AM to around 1PM. The admission is FREE!
Transportation: The boys and girls met up at Paddington Station. You need a different rail ticket to get from Paddington Station to Windsor Castle. Once we arrived at Paddington station, we bought roundtrip tickets on a kiosk. It cost ~30 pounds and the trip takes about 40 minutes one way.
★ ★ ★Windsor Castle: Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world and it is open year round. We booked our tickets ahead of time for ~2PM and left around closing which is 5:15PM (summer time); we paid ~28 pounds for each ticket. Even though it’s a longer ride to and from Windsor Castle, it is worth it. The state apartments were amazing and the architecture was stunning.
Dinner: We ate BBQ at a restaurant named Bluegrass BBQ across the street from Windsor Castle. I know we actually found BBQ in the UK 😱 then we headed back to our Airbnb which took about an hour and a couple switches on the tube.
Day 6 information ~
⚠ Westminster Abbey ~ buy tickets ahead of time; timed entry
⚠Harry Potter Studio Tour ~ buy tickets ahead of time; timed entry
★ ★ ★Westminster Abbey: We started the day pretty early heading to Westminster Abbey to be there when they opened. We had a timed entry ticket for between 9:30AM and 11AM. Even though we had timed tickets, we ended up waiting in line for a good amount of time. I recommend booking the earliest tickets possible and arriving early to get in line. We spent around 2 hours in here and each ticket cost around ~27 pounds.
Lunch: we just picked up some sandwiches and went to the Airbnb to eat and relax.
The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour: my family and I are HUGE Harry Potter fans so this was my absolute most favorite thing we did in London! Can’t recommend enough if you love HP ⚡️
Transportation to Harry Potter is quick complicated. You have to take the train starting from London Euston station to Watford Junction where you take a bus to the Harry Potter Studio Tour location. You can find out more information HERE!
We purchased timed entry tickets ahead of time for 4PM entry since we knew we were doing Westminster Abbey in the morning. They don’t close until 8PM so we got to spend 4 hours there (which was a good amount of time) and it wasn’t too crowded. Tickets purchased ahead of time online cost around ~50 pounds. They have so many events year round and extra activities you can pay for like Afternoon Tea or Hogwarts After Dark.
THATS IT! Thank you London!
You can either head home or do like we did and head to Europe!
We decided to take the Chunnel to Paris. It is a complicated process so I definitely recommend reading these tips and tricks.
You will need to book a Rail Europe ticket linked above. You will need to schedule a day and time. It’s important to realize the Chunnel is like a flight; you must go through extensive baggage checks, security checks, and it will leave you behind if you are late so I recommend getting there a few hours early.
It took ~2 hours to get from London to Paris. The London train station you want is London St Pancras. The Chunnel was very pleasant and comfortable. I recommend this method of transportation to anyone trying to get into Europe.
London experiences a temperate maritime climate with mild temperatures and moderate rainfall throughout the year. We only got rained on once during our 5 day stay.
Spring: Highs will be around 52-63
Spring: Lows will be around 37-46℉
Summer: Highs will be around 66-73℉
Summer: Lows will be around 52-57℉
Autumn: Highs will be around 56-66℉
Autumn: Lows will be around 46-54℉
Winter: Highs will be around 46-50℉
Winter: Lows will be around 36-39℉
Choosing the right place to stay in London for your vacation depends on your preferences, budget, and list of activities you want to do. London is a vast city with many diverse neighborhoods, each offering a unique atmosphere. Here are some popular areas to consider:
I 100% recommend using public transportation to get around London.
Public transportation in London is called the Tube. It is extensive, efficient, and well-developed, making it one of the most accessible and convenient transit systems in the world. It is probably still to this day my favorite city public transportation I’ve used.
To use the tube, contactless payment credit cards make using public transit effortless. Before using your smartphone for contactless travel in London, ensure that your payment card is compatible with contactless payments and that your mobile wallet is set up correctly. You can also get a physical oyster card at any train station that you can reload as you use it.
