Five days in London: a sightseeing guide

Two thousand years of history, some of the world’s finest museum collections and several selfie-tastic design icons, including black cabs, double-decker buses and red telephone boxes, makes London one of Europe’s most desirable city breaks. While it can be tempting to limit your time in #TheBigSmoke to just a couple of days, there’s so much to see and do in London that we’d recommend at least four days – and ideally five – to wring the very best out of the capital. Our suggested five-day London itinerary is here to guide you on your way, and includes…

• Westminster Abbey
• Windsor Castle
• The London Eye
• St Paul’s Cathedral
• Buckingham Palace
• Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
• The Tower of London
• The View from The Shard
• Kensington Palace
• Portobello Road Market
• The Cutty Sark
• Little Venice
• …and  more!

But before we set off

Serious sightseers, take note: the Go City London pass snags you entry to many of the must-see London attractions listed above (and then some), all while saving you money versus direct ticket prices. It’s quite simple really: the more attractions you visit the more the pass will save you. Plus you get the convenience of having all your tickets stored safely in the Go City app (alongside maps, opening times, directions and more). Bonus: you’ll be able to use the hop-on hop-off Big Bus sightseeing tour and Thames cruise river pass for getting around the main attractions. Ready now? Great, let’s go!

Morning

Memorably described as a ‘dirty old river’ by The Kinks in Waterloo Sunset, the Thames – despite its muddy brown color – is actually now one of the cleanest urban rivers in Europe. And, having played a significant role in the development of the city, it’s fair to say landmark sites Thames-side aren’t thin on the ground.

To take in the full spectrum of attractions, use the hop-on hop-off City Cruises boat, which allows you to glide along one of the world’s most important waterways, taking in vistas that include the Houses of Parliament (hello, Big Ben!), the London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral and the painstaking recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe at Bankside. Heck, you can oven go as far as Greenwich – of which, more later.

Our tip? Start at Westminster Pier and mosey east along the river, taking in the sights before hopping off at Tower Pier.

Afternoon

Now, the obvious attractions at Tower Pier – they’re right there in the name – are Tower Bridge and the neighboring Tower of London. And these are certainly worth your consideration. Think historic tales of royal murder and mayhem, headless ghosts, ravens and a knee-knocking glass walkway that looks straight down onto Tower Bridge from 138 feet above the Thames.

But there are also many other major attractions to pick from hereabouts, making it a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure kind of an afternoon. You could amble west to Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, St Paul’s Cathedral, with its soaring dome, spooky crypt and fun whispering gallery, as well as his Monument to the Great Fire of London, where you’ll get a certificate for climbing all 311 steps, as if the views from up there weren’t reward enough.

Or cross the river to Bankside, where even loftier vistas await at The View from The Shard and you can take tours of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and some of the highlights of the Tate Modern’s permanent collection.

Evening 

Make your way back west along the Thames to the South Bank Centre, where multiple dinner options await and sundowners on the elevated terrace at the Royal Festival Hall overlooking the river is practically a London rite of passage. There’s also (since you’re here)  the tantalising prospect of an after-dark ride on the London Eye, with the Thames and the whole city beyond lit up in twinkling lights right beneath your feet. Magical.

Morning

We’re sticking with Central London today because – quite frankly – it’s absolutely chocker with historic buildings, monuments and museums. Start your day on The Mall – the epicenter of state ceremonies ever since Buckingham Palace became the monarch’s official residence in 1837. Stretching for approximately 1.5 kilometres in a perfectly straight line – unusual for London – it links the Palace to Trafalgar Square via Admiralty Arch and has hosted more regal processions, celebrations and protests down the years than you’ve had hot dinners.

You can catch the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at 11AM most days before heading through St James’s Park to Parliament Square and the gothic melodrama of Westminster Abbey, scene of multiple regal hatches, matches and dispatches in its near-1,000-year history and home of the legendary Poets’ Corner.

Afternoon

Set your watch by Big Ben then head along Whitehall, ogling lofty parliamentary buildings including the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street, en route to Trafalgar Square. You can’t miss it really. That towering monument with a little dude standing sentinel on top of it? That’d be Nelson’s Column, just one of the many public sculptures on this grand plaza. Look out too for the ‘fourth plinth’. Left empty for decades, it was decided to open up its platform to temporary works of art. A giant blue cockerel and melting ice cream cone have each taken a turn.

You’ll get a more comprehensive study of European art across the centuries at the National Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Square, where walls are festooned with masterpieces by a near-unending list of recognisable names, from Turner to da Vinci. This one’s free to visit too. You’re welcome.

Evening

It’s just a hop and a skip to Covent Garden for your pick of great dinner options and the chance to enjoy the famous piazza’s carnivalesque atmosphere, as street performers – singers, dancers, jugglers, conjurers and human statues – all vie for the tourist dollar. Suitably inspired, treat yourself to a West End show. You’re right in the heart of London’s Theatreland here, so just choose your flavour; Matilda, The Lion King and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap are all perennial faves around these parts.

Morning

Greenwich is one of the few London neighborhoods ‘south of the river’ not unilaterally dismissed by those living in the traditionally well-to-do areas of north London. Situated beside Greenwich Pier (of City Cruises boat tour fame), the neighborhood welcomes visitors ashore then immediately invites them back on board (well, sort of) beneath the distinctive masts of the legendary Cutty Sark. The last surviving sailing ship of its kind in the northern hemisphere, this iconic tea clipper long held the record for the fastest voyage between Shanghai and London, a journey of around 3.5 months. Which is about as long as you could reasonably keep the famously tea-loving Queen Victoria waiting for her favorite hot drink. The ship now provides fascinating insights into 19th-century life on the high seas as well as, of course, having its very own cute tearoom.

Afternoon

Grab lunch at the excellent Greenwich Market, which is bursting at the seams with street food vendors, coffee joints and more, then take your quarry to the top of the park for elevated lunchtime panoramas that take in the Old Royal Naval College, 17th-century Queen’s House and the Thames and space-age Canary Wharf skyline beyond.

Suitably inspired, spend an afternoon exploring the jewel in Greenwich Park’s crown. We’re talking the mighty Royal Observatory, where you can ogle magnificent maritime navigational instruments of yore, check out a telescope so large it requires a building all to itself and pose with a foot either side of the Prime Meridian line, like some sort of hemisphere-hopping giant.

Pro-tip: if you wolf your lunch and make it to the Royal Observatory’s iconic Flamstead House just before one o’clock, you’ll be right on time to catch the Time Ball doing its daily thang. At bang on 12.55PM the great big tomato on the roof travels halfway up its mast, before continuing its journey to the summit at 12.58 then dropping all the way back down at exactly 1PM. You really can set your watch by it.

Evening

Stick around for dinner in one of Greenwich’s many restaurants and gastropubs or scooch over to neighboring Blackheath for similarly refined suburban dining. Heck, why not cap off your evening with a sunset ride on the cable car that links the Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks. You could even take in a show at The O2 should the evening’s roster of entertainments – pop concerts, comedy legends, sporting events and more – tickle your fancy.

Morning

Think of London as a series of small villages – Notting Hill, Kensington, Covent Garden and our old pal Greenwich for instance – that eventually formed one vast metropolis of over nine million people – and you can best understand why the atmosphere in one part of the capital can be so different from another. Build on your Greenwich experience by heading west to Notting Hill, where a guided walking tour that takes in the bustling market and candy-colored townhouses of Portobello Road, the high-street mecca of Notting Hill and the leafy environs of Kensington Gardens is as good a way to get your village vibes fix as any. 

Afternoon

As you’re already in the area it would be something of an oversight not to tick off another of London’s royal palaces. This one – Jacobean manor beloved of Queen Mary, Queen Anne and Diana, Princess of Wales – is (whisper it) arguably more elegant and refined in its grandeur than its more celebrated central London counterpart, with stunning gardens to boot.

Kensington Palace was originally built in 1605 in what was then the quaint countryside village of Kensington. And some of that village feeling still survives in the neighborhood today, with bandstands, pocket-sized squares and pubs festooned with floral hanging baskets to be found among all those grand palaces, mansions and embassies.

Evening

Weave your way back north past Notting Hill and Portobello Road to Little Venice which is, well, pretty much what it sounds like: a mini network of waterways complete with prettily painted barges and canalboats. From here, you can cruise east to Camden for a lively night out – there may be more bars, clubs and music venues here than in any other neighborhood in London.

You’ve seen the guard change at Buckingham Palace, and strolled the gardens and grand State Rooms of Kensington Palace. Now for one of ‘the big two’ out-of towners*. Maybe you already spotted the distant turrets from atop The Shard or even the London Eye as your pod crested the highest point. We’re talking of course about Windsor Castle. Easily accessible via trains from Paddington and Waterloo stations, Windsor’s is the oldest inhabited castle on the planet, having provided a roof over the heads of the British royal family since the days of Henry I nearly 1,000 years ago.

Spend the day exploring its dramatic Round Tower, vast art collection and stunning gothic chapel, final resting place of no less than 11 former monarchs, including gouty serial monogamist Henry VIII himself.

You can catch a Changing of the Guard ceremony here as well as at Buckingham Palace and the castle grounds themselves, including lush terraces, landscaped gardens, sprawling lawns and huge swathes of parkland are worthy of several hours’ exploration all on their own. Our advice? Leave London early, pack a picnic and – should you be so inclined – a sketchpad – and make a day of it. 

(*The other being Hampton Court Palace, also included with your Go City London pass, natch.)

Evening

Five days in London without a night out in Soho? Unthinkable. So let's put that to rights straight away. Take the train back to town and make your way into London’s beating heart. Soho is a relatively compact district that centers largely around Dean Street, Frith Street, Greek Street and Old Compton Street, and it’s here you’ll find the area’s highest concentration of bars and restaurants, everything from Korean chicken joints to French fine dining and good ol’ fashioned British fish and chips. Seek out one of the secret speakeasies at Greek Street’s northern end for illicit late-night cocktails and – if you’re still hungry at the witching hour – meander back down to Chinatown for midnight noodles and dumplings, a satisfyingly umami finale to your whirlwind five-day London adventure.

Enjoyed this? Discover the best things to do in London’s Shoreditch area and check out our favorite markets around town.

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