We not too long ago spent one week in London and, as you may think about from a journey planner, I spent a variety of time fascinated by our London itinerary earlier than we left. One factor that all the time surprises me about planning a visit to London is simply how a lot there may be to do within the metropolis. While 7 days in London looks like a very long time, you’ll be stunned by how rapidly your time fills up.
With 5 days in London, you’ll have sufficient time to hit the entire highlights in case you are good about the way you manage your time. However, I’d suggest planning every week in London to depart a while for day journeys or specialty excursions as nicely. Based on our personal journey, and my expertise planning a number of London journeys for different households, I’ve put collectively this 7 day London itinerary as your very personal cheat sheet to planning an superior journey.
Wondering how a lot a 7-day journey to London prices? Check out my London journey price range information.
7 Day London Itinerary with Family
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I’ve created this 7-day itinerary with London for households in thoughts, taking care to not overstuff the times racing from attraction to attraction. Trust me, it’s straightforward to fill each second of the day and nonetheless not see every thing in London. But since that may make most youngsters depressing, I’ve tried to stability out sightseeing with some downtime and included the must-see points of interest which might be interesting to households with youngsters of all ages.
We visited London with our teen (see extra issues to do in London with teenagers), however it is a journey that may attraction to school-age youngsters and tweens as nicely. If you do plan on visiting most of the points of interest and historic sights listed on this London itinerary, you might need to have a look at investing within the London Pass.
Day One – Arrival
If you’re coming from the United States, you’ll doubtless arrive fairly early and have a variety of time to kill on not a lot sleep earlier than you’ll be able to examine into your lodge. Ideally, you may ebook a room for the evening earlier than as a way to examine in as quickly as you arrive, however at a minimal attempt to request early check-in.
We stayed in two totally different places in central London, which I’ll clarify extra about later. The first, the Royal Garden Hotel, was close to Kensington Palace and Hyde Park, with easy accessibility to the Tube. The second, the Athenaeum Hotel & Residences, was inside straightforward strolling distance to most of central London in Mayfair. For extra choices, additionally try the high family-friendly accommodations in London on TripAdvisor.
If you resolve on an residence rental, make sure you work out baggage storage with the property managers so that you don’t must lug your baggage round till check-in time.
If you do must kill a while, a hop-on hop-off bus tour is an efficient approach to get a way of the town with out expending an excessive amount of vitality.
You may spend a while enjoyable in Hyde Park. In good climate, you may hire a pedal boat on the Serpentine. Young youngsters will love the Princess Diana Memorial Playground, or you may take a tour of Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens.
We cherished staying on the Royal Garden Hotel, simply steps away from Kensington Palace. We spent our time till our room was prepared taking within the Princess Diana exhibit at Kensington Palace. That evening we took benefit of the lodge’s meals and flicks bundle to look at a film and order up a room service buffet of enjoyable treats.
Whatever you do, don’t overdo it in your first day since you need to save your vitality for the remainder of the journey. This is your day to get acclimated and search out these basic British experiences (like a household photograph in a purple phone sales space!)
Day Two – Royal London
If you begin your day early, you may slot in a lot of London’s most recognizable points of interest for a giant “wow” issue in your first full day. Start off at Westminster Abbey, the coronation church since 1066 and the burial spot for a lot of of England’s most well-known authors, poets, and royalty, together with 17 monarchs. With over 1,000 years of historical past, this has been an necessary historic landmark for hundreds of years.
It is extremely advisable to ebook on-line tickets and ticket gross sales open up two months upfront. If you aren’t taking a formal tour, a minimum of hire an audio information so you may perceive what you’re looking at.
Depending on how a lot time you spend in Westminster Abbey (allot a minimum of one hour) and while you began, you might be able to catch the Royal Horse Guard Parade. This generally is a good various or complement to the extra well-known Changing of the Guard (and it’s a lot simpler to get a greater viewing spot.)
The Queen’s Life Guard adjustments day by day in the course of the Horse Guards Parade at 11:00 on weekdays and 10:00 on Sundays. The Horse Guards go away Hyde Park Barracks at 10:30 on weekdays and 9:30 on Sundays to trip to Horse Guards Parade through Hyde Park Corner, Constitution Hill, and The Mall on their approach to the guard change ceremony.
The New Guard arrives at Horse Guards Parade at 11:00 am and the ceremony lasts about half an hour. The Old Guard leaves Horse Guards Parade at 11:30 and passes Buckingham Palace at 11:45 am. Just make sure you examine the schedules upfront as they’ll range by season and rely upon any royal appearances.
From there, stroll right down to the River Thames for a boat journey right down to the Tower of London. The London Pass will get you into Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and features a Thames River Cruise, or you may simply purchase a hop-on, hop-off boat tour ticket.
Or, you may take a sooner water taxi utilizing your Oyster Card. An Oyster Card is a transportation cross for the Underground Metro. You can get a Visitor Pass and cargo it up relying on how a lot you assume you’ll use the Tube throughout your keep. Either manner, arriving on the Tower of London through the Thames is paying homage to how prisoners or guests had been delivered to the Tower again within the day and it’s a cool approach to cruise via the town.
I might extremely suggest a tour of the Tower of London. I do know the primary time I visited, we primarily went to see the Crown Jewels and nothing else actually caught with me, however there may be a lot historical past there to absorb. The Tower of London was constructed within the 1070s by William the Conqueror and has been a jail, royal armory, royal mint, and even a zoo.
For 500 years, the Tower was utilized by monarchs as an expensive palace, however at this time it’s extra well-known for a few of its most notorious prisoners and the mysteries surrounding a few of them. With all of the historical past, you may see why I like to recommend visiting with a information. Walking round by yourself is ok in case you simply need to see the Crown Jewels or the Ravens, however the rooms are relatively naked with out the tales that fill them.
You can all the time take one of many public Yeoman Warder excursions, however you might find yourself with a gaggle of 40 folks. We noticed these across the grounds and I think about it will be very onerous to listen to and see in a gaggle that giant, not to mention ask questions.
What we did was take a half-day tour that included Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, which labored out nice. If you’re visiting London round Christmas, like we did, you may anticipate actually lengthy strains to get in. Luckily your information can navigate strains and get you fast-tracked.
If you want lunch beforehand, take a stroll over to Leadenhall Market. This lined market is full of boutiques, retailers, eating places, and bars, and was even utilized in filming Harry Potter as the doorway to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley.
If you don’t need to exit of your manner, there may be additionally a small cafe on-site on the Tower of London that serves meat pies and small snacks.
After spending a few hours exploring the Tower of London, I might suggest strolling throughout the Tower Bridge and visiting the Tower Bridge Exhibition. Tower Bridge is the enduring bridge that many people consider as “London Bridge.” Today you may stroll throughout the Bridge on high-level glass walkways for gorgeous panoramic views.
You may go into the magnificent Victorian Engine Rooms and see the engineering magic behind this landmark.
Day Three – City of London
If you didn’t catch the Horse Guard Parade yesterday, ensure you get to Buckingham Palace early for the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Be positive to plan forward and examine the schedule, particularly in case you are visiting within the winter because the ceremony doesn’t occur day-after-day within the winter.
If the ceremony is happening at 11 am, I might suggest arriving on the Palace NO LATER than 10:30 am (10:15 and even 10 am can be higher to get primo spots by the fence.) Expect massive crowds so regulate your youngsters and your purses/baggage.
You could need to deliver a selfie stick with take photos above the crowds. You may collect by the monument throughout from the palace and nonetheless get an excellent view of the guards as they march in.
After the parade, stroll via the Mall over to Trafalgar Square. It is all the time enjoyable to pose with the lions in entrance of Nelson’s Column. You may cease on the National Gallery within the Square (admission is free!)
From right here, stroll via Leicester Square (you might need to try the enormous Lego Store) and over to Covent Garden for lunch and a few buying. Try Chez Antionette for contemporary soup, tartine, and charcuterie, or make a reservation at Dishoom for some glorious Indian meals (you MUST attempt the Black Daal!)
If you aren’t too drained, proceed on to St. Paul’s Cathedral. You can go to and see the place Prince Charles and Princess Diana had been married. St. Paul’s is open to guests Monday via Saturday. It opens for guests at 8:30 am on most days and 10:00 am on Wednesdays and the final guests can enter at 4:00 pm.
You can purchase tickets proper up till the time of entry, however it is strongly recommended that you simply buy them upfront. You may even climb to the highest of the Dome for views over London.
Day Four – South Bank
Start your day at both Westminster or Waterloo station and get some good views from the South Bank facet of the Westminster Bridge of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
After catching your photograph alternative, head over to the London Eye. I’d extremely suggest reserving upfront so you may skip the road while you arrive.
If you don’t need to fear about arriving at a sure time, you may all the time purchase a Flex ticket that allows you to skip the road at any level in the course of the day that you simply reserved.
This could possibly be a good suggestion to provide you extra flexibility to work across the climate. When we visited we booked a timed-entry ticket and it was nice to skip the road, however there wasn’t a really massive line anyway as a result of it was wet. The rain undoubtedly impeded our views from the highest, nevertheless it was nonetheless a enjoyable expertise.
Stop for lunch at Black & Blue close to Waterloo or Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe. If you may proceed to stroll alongside the waterfront, you’ll cross the Millennium Bridge and arrive at Shakespeare’s Globe.
You can cease in for a guided tour of this reconstructed theater or go to the Tate Modern museum.
End your exploration of the South Bank on the implausible Borough Market. Just ensure you avoid wasting room after lunch to pattern a few of the tasty meals stalls and retailers. Borough Market is the oldest and largest meals market in London, with a concentrate on high quality meals, sustainable manufacturing, and social interplay. Nearby, you may see filming websites for each Harry Potter and Bridget Jones’ Diary.
There are additionally loads of different issues to do on the South Bank, however some are actually touristy (e.g. SEA Life Aquarium) and these gives you a extra genuine expertise. If you could have some additional time, you might need to attempt to catch the sundown from the viewing gallery at The Shard, a skyscraper comprised of workplace house, residences, and eating places and bars. The viewing platform is on flooring 68, 69, and 72, virtually twice the peak of some other viewing platform in London, providing 360-degree views for as much as 40 miles.
Day Five – Museums and extra
There are many museums in London (and so many are free!) however one that you would be able to’t miss is the immense British Museum. There are eight million artifacts to see, so it’s best to discover the museum with a information. I ought to acknowledge that many of those artifacts had been taken from their native houses and that’s one thing to discover as you discuss to the children about colonialism (and rewatch the museum scene within the Black Panther.)
If you’re visiting London with youngsters, be certain that to discover a family-friendly information that may orient the excursions to seize the imaginations and spark the curiosity of youngsters of all ages.
Set apart a minimum of half a day to discover the museum. Afterward, cease into Hamley’s, the world’s largest toy retailer, to please the children. Or, get pleasure from some ice cream sundaes on the Fortnum & Mason division retailer.
Today may additionally be an excellent day to schedule an afternoon tea. After all, that could be a must-do when in London and there are such a lot of choices which might be kid-friendly. There is the science-themed afternoon tea on the Ampersand Hotel, the Arcane Wizard’s afternoon tea on the Wands and Wizards Exploratorium, and the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tea at One Aldwych, together with many others.
Day Six – Shopping and Special Interests
You gained’t run out of issues to do with 1 week in London, however ensure you go away time for the belongings you actually get pleasure from. As main Harry Potter followers, we loved a day trip on the Warner Bros. Studio Making of Harry Potter tour. Between transportation and time on website, this actually finally ends up taking practically an entire day out of your London itinerary.
Just be certain that in case you plan on doing this that you simply ebook your tickets months upfront as a result of they promote out actually early!
We additionally spent a part of one in every of our days taking a Harry Potter Black Cab driving tour to see all of the Harry Potter points of interest in London. See my publish about Harry Potter websites in London for my full assessment of each the Studio Tour (spoiler alert: completely a must-do for Harry Potter followers) and the Black Cab Tour (spoiler: just for true die-hards.)
If you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, I’ve to say I discovered that museum fairly disappointing. There are so many choices relying in your pursuits from a Beatles strolling tour, Dr. Who strolling tour, ghost excursions, a avenue artwork tour, and even a Paddington bear tour.
You may additionally need to go to a few of the basic London malls like Harrod’s or Claridges. And take time to go to the theater. This may be an excellent day to go to another London points of interest like Churchill’s War Rooms, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Kew Gardens, or Nottinghill.
If you get pleasure from food and drinks (who doesn’t?), you might need to have a look at a gin tasting tour or an night SoHo meals tour.
Day Seven – Day Trip
If you could have one week in London, you need to have sufficient time to plan a minimum of in the future journey. Popular day journeys embody Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Oxford, or Bath. You can go to Oxford or Bath as a day journey by prepare by yourself, or ebook a guided Stonehenge and Bath day journey.
We wished to do one thing on our personal however didn’t need to drive. So we took a customized day journey with British Tours to Stonehenge and Oxford. Our driver-guide Michael did a wonderful job explaining Stonehenge’s fascinating historical past and confirmed us all of the Harry Potter tie-ins at Oxford.
Stonehenge
Located about 1.5 hours from London, a Stonehenge day journey is among the hottest for households. There is simply one thing about these mysterious prehistoric stones that fascinates youngsters and adults alike — particularly households like ours which have a particular curiosity in sci-fi and fantasy. After all, isn’t it enjoyable to think about that these stones had been positioned there by aliens? (But don’t fear, they weren’t.)If you’re visiting Stonehenge by yourself, you’ll want to spend a while within the customer middle to grasp its historical past. You will park on the customer middle up the highway after which take a shuttle over to the stone circle. You can now not stroll proper up and contact the stones, as limitations have been erected to protect this historic website.
Our driver-guide Michael from British Tours stuffed us in on the historical past of Stonehenge on the trip up from London. We don’t actually know the aim of the stones, since they’re 5100 years previous (constructed across the identical time because the pyramids) and pre-date written historical past.
We don’t know what’s particular in regards to the space, however we’ve to imagine that the entire space was thought of sacred as there may be additionally one other mini Stonehenge close by. The smaller stones are 5,000 lbs. they usually got here from Wales 125 miles away. It is mind-boggling to contemplate how the traditional Druids crafted and moved these stones when the wheel hadn’t even been invented but and there was no metallic but to make use of to form the stones. The bigger stones got here from solely 25 miles away however they’re tens of 1000’s of kilos!
Oxford
Oxford is one other nice day journey choose for households. There is sufficient to see that you may spend a weekend in Oxford. This college city is each quaint and wealthy in historical past. In hotter climate, households can get pleasure from taking a punting boat out on the river. But one of many major attracts for us (and different households) is that it was the filming website for a lot of scenes within the Harry Potter films. If you go to by yourself, you may be part of a Harry Potter strolling tour. But since I instructed British Tours that this was necessary to us, our driver information Michael was capable of focus a lot of our go to on seeing these websites.
Oxford was once known as Oxenford (the place oxen crossed or forded the Thames to be delivered to market), nevertheless it turned a spot for research after college students had been thrown out of the Sorbonne in France due to a warfare within the 1200s. They got here to Oxford to review and it grew till it was granted standing as a University. Today, the University of Oxford has 38 particular person schools.
There is a lot to see in Oxford you may actually spend a minimum of a full day however our Oxford tour began off at New College, the place Michael identified the Cloisters, which had been used for a lot of hallway scenes within the Harry Potter films. You may see the tree the place Draco Malfoy was changed into a ferret.
After lunch we visiting the Great Hall at Christchurch College, which was the place they filmed scenes for the eating corridor at Hogwarts. And the staircase was the place McGonagall greeted all the primary yr college students within the first film. Something about it simply makes you need to placed on a gown, head into the library and begin finding out (magic or one thing else!)
Oxford is such a beautiful place to go to for these with a literary bent. Famous authors like C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, Lewis Carroll and others have hung out in Oxford and it’s enjoyable to observe of their footsteps.
Visiting each locations was a full day, departing at 8am and returning to our central London lodge by 6pm. In the summer season, it will be gentle longer and points of interest would keep open later. If that was the case, we’d have included a cease within the village of Lacock within the Cotswolds, one other Harry Potter filming website.
So there you could have it, a London itinerary with 7 days jam-packed full (however not too full) of enjoyable!
Getting to and round London
Most airways from the USA will fly into London Heathrow (LHR) airport, though you might discover some that go into London Gatwick (LGW.) If you’re in search of low cost flights to London, you might need to have a look at low cost airways like Play Airlines via Iceland, or use miles and factors on JetBlue or American Airlines (or different OneWorld Alliance Members.)
We truly discovered low cost flights (underneath $500 per particular person simply earlier than Christmas) on Aer Lingus via Dublin. While it took just a little longer, it was price the associated fee financial savings and when you have extra time, you may all the time mix a visit to London with 3 days in Dublin.
If you fly into Heathrow, the quickest approach to get to Central London is on the Heathrow Express prepare. This high-frequency prepare service offers a 15-minute journey from London Paddington Station to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3, with an additional six minutes to Terminal 5. A free switch is on the market to Terminal 4.
Alternatively, the common worth of a cab from Heathrow to central London is £90. If you need to prepare a personal switch as an alternative of ready in line for a cab, it’ll solely value just a little bit extra.
Once you arrive in London, you’ll want to learn to use the Underground metro to get round. The “Tube” as it’s known as in London is straightforward to navigate. The Underground is split into 9 zones and all of central London is roofed by zone 1. There are 11 Tube strains in all, so that you simply must determine the road you need to take, the endpoint of the path wherein you’re touring, and the station you need to get off at.
The Tube fare depends upon how far you journey, the time of day, and the way you pay. The Oyster card or contactless funds are the most affordable approach to pay for single fares. An grownup money fare on the London metro for a single journey in zone 1 is £5.50. The identical Tube fare with a Visitor Oyster card, Oyster card or contactless cost card is £2.40.
A Visitor Oyster Card is a smartcard that allows you to pay for journeys on the bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail, River Bus, and most National Rail providers in London. You put cash in your Visitor Oyster card and use it to pay as you go. You can buy the Visitor Oyster Card earlier than you journey and it is going to be delivered to your private home and able to use while you arrive.
Where to Stay in London with Kids
Note: We acquired a media bundle on the Royal Garden Hotel and hosted keep on the Athenaeum, all opinions are my very own.
Royal Garden Hotel
The Royal Garden Hotel is situated simply exterior of Kensington Gardens, nestled between Hyde Park and Millionaires Row on a sought-after piece of actual property on Kensington Road. With some rooms overlooking the park, the placement actually provides one of the best of each worlds.
It is handy to all main points of interest (Tower of London, London Eye, and many others.) with the Kensington High Street tube station only a five-minute stroll from the lodge. Yet you even have the peaceable views of the park with easy accessibility to enjoyable and play. It is a five-minute stroll to Kensington Palace and simply 10 minutes to the Princess Diana Memorial playground. The Royal Garden lodge even provides loaner scooters to households that need to spend time having fun with the park!
The Royal Garden Hotel décor has the texture of an upscale enterprise lodge – clear and stylish and not using a ton of character. We stayed in an Executive Room and it was surprisingly spacious for the three of us. I didn’t have an opportunity to tour different rooms however the Executive Room with a king-sized mattress and full pullout couch mattress is loads of room for a household of 4 with two young children or a household of three with an adolescent.
The lavatory was additionally fairly massive with each a bath and stand-up bathe. Of course, it all the time makes me completely happy when a lodge provides a heated towel rack, robes, and slippers – particularly after I need to heat up after a cold, moist day exploring London. Some of the opposite luxe perks that I appreciated had been the turndown service with complimentary bottled water, complimentary shoe shine, and no further cost for breakfast room service – this actually helped us get out the door on time within the mornings!
Since we stayed for 4 nights, we had time to get pleasure from all three of the Royal Garden Hotel’s eating places. The kid-friendly Park Terrace restaurant provides fairly views and a beneficiant breakfast buffet (so it pays to ebook a bundle that features free breakfast), in addition to choices for lunch and tea. Bertie’s Bar provides gentle bites, excellent for while you want just a bit snack after indulging at excessive tea. For a splurge, the Min Jiang restaurant on the tenth flooring provides genuine Chinese delicacies with stunning views over Hyde Park.
Athenaeum Hotel & Residences
For the latter a part of our keep, we converted to the Athenaeum Hotel & Residences, on Piccadilly within the Mayfair neighborhood. This is a superb location within the coronary heart of London, simply a few minutes’ stroll to the Green Park tube station. Buckingham Palace, Fortnum & Mason division retailer, Hamley’s toy retailer, and Trafalgar Square are all inside a five-to-ten-minute stroll.
The Athenaeum actually prides itself on making you’re feeling at dwelling. Every time we walked in, it was “Welcome home Mrs. Gruber” and after we left “Have a good day Mrs. Gruber.” The deluxe rooms are a bit tight for a household of three when you deliver within the rollaway mattress, however the Athenaeum additionally provides household rooms and luxurious serviced residences with fully-equipped kitchenettes.
The design and decor are luxurious and trendy, whereas nonetheless feeling comfy and child-friendly. The foyer is small however a comfy spot to get pleasure from a cup of tea and watch the foot visitors alongside Piccadilly. It was particularly stunning all decked out in its Christmas finery.
Just off the foyer is 116 on the Athenaeum, that includes native produce from unbiased farmers throughout the United Kingdom for a contemporary tackle basic British dishes. We had dinner on the restaurant on our second evening and loved the braised venison shoulder, Dingley Dell bacon chop with bubble and squeak, and the parsnip and cider soup. For pickier eaters, there may be additionally a youngsters’s menu.
Upstairs, it was all about consolation. Our deluxe room was cozy and the toilet was additionally a lot smaller than the family-sized lavatory on the Royal Garden, however the decor and touches had been all about fashionable luxurious. You couldn’t beat our views over Green Park and, for overlooking Piccadilly, the room was surprisingly quiet.
The Athenaeum additionally offers the facilities you’ll anticipate from a luxurious lodge — robes, slippers, turn-down service, a espresso maker, and a mini-fridge with free espresso, tea, milk, juice, and water. With such luxurious comforts, stand-out service, and a handy location, I might have cherished to remain even longer on the Athenaeum.
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