5 Days in London
Europe Travel || Tags: England, Europe ||I love London
We went to London on our honeymoon & we LOVED it. I didn’t think my husband would get on the plane back home. Here is our 5 day itinerary, of course you can take out and add places depending what you want to do!
Day One
This is a full day in London, so if you arrive in the middle of the day you might not be able to fit everything in!
Start with breakfast in your neighborhood and head to the Natural History museum, it opens at 10am and it’s free! I love any natural history museum, we have been to several, especially the dinosaurs. We spent about 3 hours here, and ate lunch in their cafeteria
Lobby of The Natural History Museum
After you’re done with the natural history, a short walk down the road is the Victoria and Albert Museum (also free!) The art was amazing and almost overwhelming. We spent around 2 hours here.
lobby of Victoria and Alberts
A short walk (0.8K or ½ a mile) down the road is Harrods, a luxury department store. It’s worth checking out even if you are window-shopping like we were! The food section had us drooling and we picked up some souvenirs to take home. There are also 27 restaurants if you’re ready for dinner! You could spend as much time as you want here, there are 7 floors!
After dinner I definitely recommend checking out a local pub for a drink.
Day Two
Grab breakfast and take the tube (or taxi, or walk!) to Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery opens at 10am and is free (noticing the trend? Museums are free in London!). After spending some time in Trafalgar square start walking down Whitehall, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the way. It is about 1km or 0.7mile to Westminster Abbey.
The National Gallery
Trafalgar Square
One of the highlights of our trip to London, I loved Westminster Abbey! It is £20 if bought in advance or £22 at the door. I recommend buying in advance (or getting the London Pass) to cut down on waiting in line to get in. Be sure to check the opening times for your specific date because the hours change! We spent about an hour and half here.
Walk across the Westminster Bridge, getting the best view at Big Ben along the way. Fun fact: Big Ben is actually the Great Bell of the clock. The tower is called the Elizabeth Tower, which is all part of the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Parliament.
Parliament Building
Right over the bridge you’ll spot the London Eye. If that’s your thing, the price is about £35-40 and it takes about 30 minutes to go around.
We enjoyed the half an hour walk (2.25km or 1.4miles) along the south bank all the way to the Tate Modern Museum (also free!).
Tate Modern Museum
There are lots of places for dinner along the waterfront.
Day 3
Start your day at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. This happens only on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and it starts at 10:45. I would get there early to get a good spot to see! The ceremony is about 45 minutes. If your there during the summer Buckingham palace is open to the public, the rest of the year it is closed. We missed it, but a short walk away we toured the Royal Mews (£10). I LOVED seeing all the carriages, we spent about 2 hours here.
Gold State Coach, which was built for George III in 1762. Weighing almost four tonnes and requiring eight horses to pull it, it has carried every monarch to their coronation since 1821.
It’s also worth taking the time to wander the parks surrounding the palace. Especially with a coffee!
Take the tube to the British Museum (free!). I love the architecture of this building! We spent about 2 hours here.
The Rosetta Stone (The British Museum)
If a play is your thing, book a ticket to a show after dinner!
Day 4
Start your day at the Tower of London (£21.50, buy online to save time), probably my favorite place in London! It opens at 10:00am Sunday and Monday, and 9:00am Tuesday through Saturday. Start with the tour from the Yeoman Warder, aka Beefeater! Tours start every 30 minutes and last an hour. There is so much to do here we spent about 4.5 hours walking around exploring. The Crown Jewels were of course a highlight!
Memorial To The Executed
Leaving the Tower it’s a very short walk to the Tower Bridge. Tickets are £8.70 online or £9.80 at the door. You can check out the engine rooms, a museum and the super cool glass floor, which is the walkway between the two towers. Plan to spend about 2 hours here
Tower Bridge
There are plenty of places for dinner close by if you’re ready to eat!
Day 5
Grab a coffee and walk through Hyde park and then head to Kensington Palace, it opens at 10am! Buy your tickets online (£15.50) because there are a limited amount of general admission at the door (£17.00). I loved our visit here. The Kings staircase and King’s State Apartment were a highlight! Right now there is a super popular exhibition of Diana: Her Fashion Story. We spent about 2 hours here.
King’s Staircase
Princess Diana’s Dresses
Take the tube to the Borough Market to walk around and grab lunch! I loved how colorful the market is, and there are lots of treats to try!
A short 10 minute walk will take you to Shakespeare’s globe (£17.00). Tours depart every 30 minutes but be sure to check the schedule in case there is a performance going on! We sadly missed the tour by not checking ahead of time!
End your evening in Piccadilly Circus for dinner and some shopping
Hope this helps you plan your time in London! There are SO many other things to do you can definitely add on quite easily.
What is your favourite thing to do in London?
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22 responses to “5 Days in London”
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You crammed a very good amount for London; so glad you enjoyed it! Ashamedly not been to Kensington Palace yet but your pics make me want to go!
Hope you get there, it is beautiful!
A great and easy-to-follow guide! I had only one day in London at all and if I ever go back, I’ll surely use your post as a help to make the most out of my visit!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed it Pina 🙂
London is such a great city ! I agree there’s so much to do in London is just add up and you ran out of time to visit everything ahah.
There were several things we had to skip – Next time!
This is the perfect itinerary. And very practical. I didn’t know museums were free in London. Way to go! Can’t wait to visit even if just to get the cliche red phone booth photo. Haha.
haha of course, need a photo with the phone booth! Museums being free is a great perk!
London is by far one of my favorite cities. We actually did the Museum of Natural History and Harrods our first day as well; unfortunately, hsd to miss out on Victoria & Albert’s as we had booked tickets for Lion King that night.
So many things on here I wish we had fit into our itinerary!
Oh I LOVE the Lion King. We saw it on Broadway in NYC!
So many things to do! I was in London before but I don’t think I covered as much ground as you have here in that week. Saved some for next time. Great recommendation! 🙂
Oh, not sure if it’s your thing, but you can get in the Parliament and watch/view the meetings of the public office there. I remember thinking that I will just stay for 30 minutes and ended up staying more than 2 hours because of the discussions they had (about education, budget, etc). 🙂 Loved to listen to smart stuff with the accent. Lol
Oh and westend too!
That sounds interesting! I didn’t know you could do that! I will add it to my list for next time 🙂
You are making me homesick reading this! I love the natural history museum!
I love the Natural History Museum too!
Sounds like you have a fabulous trip!! you definitely visited many of the cities best spots – I love Kensington palace 🙂
I Love Kensington Palace too! We stayed closed by and imagined living there and running through Hyde Park!
We took our kids to London a couple of years ago, and it we loved it. My one daughter, in particular, keeps asking to go back, and now my mom is asking. I think we may do a 3 generation trip next time! Pinning this for future reference! 😀
That’s amazing! My husband can’t wait to go back too. There’s so much to do you could never be bored!
whaa thank you for sharing your easy-to-follow itinerary. will be my guidance later!
You’re welcome!
Can you believe I live in London and I’ve not done all these things, the Yeoman tour at the tower of London is so good though x
haha! You never take advantage of everything in your own town! Tower of London is by far my favourite!