My husband and I went to London for part of our honeymoon in August of 2017, the following itinerary is based on that experience. Additional information & tips along with a link to a video of this trip can be found at the end of the post.
Day 1 (½ day): Piccadilly, Waterloo and London Eye
Arrived at Heathrow Airport at 13:30. We pre-booked tickets for the Heathrow Express: price depends on day. It was an easy and comfortable ride and the fastest way to city center. My advice; check to see how many transfers are needed and the estimated travel time for the specific time of day. For some people it will be totally worth the price, for others, not so much.
(Note on travel: get an Oyster Card. It's £5, you load the card with money so no worrying about buying a ticket at every stop and they last forever - I have gone back to London multiple times since this trip, and have used the same Oyster Card every time!.)
Checked into the Z Hotel Piccadilly Circus; tiny rooms but breakfast is included, clean and modern rooms with friendly staff. Set off for sightseeing to stay awake (recommend to not go to sleep until at least 20:00, to kick most of the jet lag). Walked around Piccadilly Circus: referred to as London's Time Square. Headed toward Trafalgar Square: a beautiful fountain and lion statues. Headed to the London Eye: ferris wheel/observation deck, adult @ £27. We bought tickets and while waiting for our time slot, we headed through the The Graffiti Tunnel: a pedestrian tunnel covered in legal street art & graffiti.
We then stumbled upon The Walrus Bar & Hostel; very cool and comfortable vibe and where I had my first ever English pint and crisps! We headed back and wandered around the Jubilee Gardens; then sat on the hill taking in the views of London while we waited. After the Eye, we walked across the Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges: great views, a must do. Headed to the Lamb & Flag: a pub from 1772 for another pint and finally to the The Ship Tavern: a 16th century pub for dinner.
Walk Total 6.4 mi / 10.3 km
Travel Day(s);
The next morning we headed to the airport as we spent the next five/six days in Ireland (see blog). Upon our return, we got into London late, checked into our hotel, Kingsway Hall Hotel; which I would say was pretty outdated, but at time of posting the website said they are closed for renovations, so I bet it will be great once those are done. We were pretty out of it, as it was our 7th day of our trip, we were hungry and ended up at Maxwell's; it was one of the only places that seemed to be open that was still serving food, they had crazy milkshakes which were awesome.
Day 2: Hyde park, Harrods and Hackney
After a good night sleep, we started our day with traveling (by Tube) to Hyde park and wandered in the direction of Harrods; the biggest department store in Europe. While we were waiting for it to open, we grabbed a late morning snack at EAT.; a little to-go coffee/food chain that had great beans. After wandering through endless rooms, we grabbed the Tube to go east. We got off at Liverpool St. but went the wrong way out of the exit and ended up walking around the Broadgate Tower area (business sector), caught a view of the Gherkin, and finally found our way to the Old Spitalfield's Market; a Victorian-era market hall with stalls for food, apparel and art & crafts. We wandered through and then found ourself in the middle of the Sunday Upmarket (Brick Ln.); again just wandered and enjoyed the cool hipster vibes of this area of London.
We met our friends for a round of pints, snacks and mini-golf at JunkYardGolf; (since posting, has moved to a different location). We then moved onto Bounce (Old Street): a ping-pong bar which was fantastic. Finally ended at Dinerama; a street food market (we did not eat, but our friends said it was great). After our goodbyes, we hopped on a bus to King's Cross for Harry Potter at 9 3/4. I am a huge fan, so I had to (If you desire, you can stand in line to get your picture taken). We then headed back to near our hotel and put our name into and put our name in at Flat Iron; (they do not take reservations), I am still talking about how good this meal was 2.5 years later. A must do. While waiting, we wandered around Covent Garden, listened to street performers and grabbed some tea at Whittard of Chelsea.
Walk Total; 8.1 mi / 13 km
Day 3: London Highlights
Started the day by taking the Tube to London Bridge, and walked along the waterfront admiring the view of the Tower Bridge and then of course walking across, which is probably the most iconic thing to do. Next stop Tower of London: medieval castle, home to Crown Jewels, adult @ £26.00. It is on the pricey side, but I found it to be a great tour, and say it's worth doing once in your life.
After the tour, we took the Tube west to Buckingham Palace: the queen's official London residence and a working royal palace, walked down The Mall and wandered through St. Jame's Park. I made a point to take a classic photo by a red phone box, and continued on toward Big Ben: a 16-story Gothic clocktower (currently under renovation until 2021 and cannot be seen due to scaffolding. We were actually there on the last day the bells rang), the Palace of Westminster: encompasses the two houses of the Parliament and Westminster Abby: a gothic abbey church. We only admired these sights from the outside.
We wanted to end our trip in the best way we knew how, catching a few more historical pubs. Ye Olde Mitre: from 1547 and the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese: which was rebuilt in 1666 - known to be frequented by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.
Walk Total; 10 mi / 16 km
Notes:
Watch the video of our full trip.
Things I would change:
I would not have done the London Eye; it was expensive, and the views we got from the bridge were just as good (you get less of a birds eye view, but there is no glass in the way and you get the Eye in your photo).
With deleting the Eye from our itinerary, we would have changed the entire itinerary; day one would have been Hyde Park, Harrods and Buckingham Palace/ the Mall. Then on the day three we would have explored the London Eye area. This would have saved us time, energy from walking and money from taking transit all around the city.
Utilizing google maps. I didn't know you could save/mark all the restaurants and sites and after figuring that out, I honestly don't know how I survived without it.
Foods to try:
National dish is chicken tikka masala (basically try Indian food when you are in London). Others to try; fish and chips, full English breakfast, steak and kidney pie, Yorkshire pudding, shepherd's or cottage pie, bangers and mash and scones. Drinks; beer (ales) and tea.
Travel tips:
Figure out an idea of sites you want to see; this will determine a centralized area for where you should stay. Especially if you are only there for a few days, you don't want to waste time getting into town.
Google reviews seem to be the most accurate rating system for restaurants around Europe. If you want good food, stay away from main streets with lots of neon signs, go a few streets over.
Mark everything on your google maps. This also seems to be the best (walking) navigation app.
Get up early(ish). Especially for major sites, so you won't have to fight crowds or have a million people in your photos.
Other:
This trip happened over two years ago, so there are gaps; apologies for this.
The goal of my blogs are to give as much information in as little words as possible. Planning for a trip, especially overseas, can be stressful and overwhelming and a lot of blogs are an overflow of information. I try to do as many quick links as possible, to send you directly to the website of the attraction, restaurant, hotel etc. so you can get the most accurate and up-to-date information possible (fees and timetables).
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Safe and Happy Wandering.
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