Dois mil anos de história, alguns dos acervos de museus mais importantes do mundo e ícones de design, como os táxis pretos e as cabines telefônicas vermelhas, fazem de Londres um dos destinos de viagem mais desejados da Europa. Embora possa ser tentador limitar seu tempo na "The Big Smoke" a apenas alguns dias, há tanto para ver e fazer em Londres que recomendamos planejar vários dias na capital. É fácil preencher 5 dias em Londres com compras, atrações culturais e castelos antigos. A enorme quantidade de atrações pode dificultar saber por onde começar, e é aí que o nosso roteiro de 5 dias em Londres se torna muito útil!
Dia 1 – Conheça o "Velho Pai Tâmisa"
Dia 1 – Conheça o "Velho Pai Tâmisa"
Descrito pelo The Kinks como um "rio velho e sujo" em sua canção de amor a Londres, Waterloo Sunset, o Tâmisa – apesar de sua cor marrom-barrenta – é hoje um dos rios urbanos mais limpos da Europa. Tendo desempenhado um papel significativo no desenvolvimento da cidade, locais emblemáticos não faltam por aqui. Para aproveitar todo o espectro de atrações, existem Hop-On Hop-Off sightseeing cruises. Deslize por uma das hidrovias mais importantes do mundo como um membro da realeza – George III pediu ao compositor Handel que escrevesse Water Music exatamente para isso – apreciando uma vista que inclui o Parlamento Britânico, Patrimônio Mundial da UNESCO, a London Eye e a recriação do Shakespeare’s Globe em Bankside. Quando sentir vontade de explorar mais, basta desembarcar no próximo píer – há quatro opções de escolha que deixam a Whispering Gallery da St Paul’s Cathedral, o espaço de exposição da galeria de arte Tate Modern e as joias da coroa na Tower of London todos ao seu alcance. Se você não tem medo de altura, também pode explorar as passarelas superiores da Tower Bridge para descobrir mais sobre esta obra-prima da engenharia vitoriana, ou encerrar o dia com o pôr do sol na plataforma de observação pública mais alta de Londres – The View from The Shard.
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.
Dia 2 – Descubra centenas de anos de história
Dia 2 – Descubra centenas de anos de história
Logo a oeste do Westminster Millennium Pier, o The Mall tem sido um dos centros para cerimônias de estado desde que o Palácio de Buckingham se tornou a residência oficial do monarca. Com aproximadamente 1,5 quilômetro em uma linha perfeitamente reta – uma ocorrência incomum em Londres – sua extremidade leste está ligada à Trafalgar Square através do Admiralty Arch. Um destino imperdível para os amantes da arte, as esculturas públicas da Trafalgar Square incluem a Coluna de Nelson e aquelas que ocupam seu quarto plinto. Deixado vazio por décadas, decidiu-se abrir sua plataforma para obras de arte temporárias. Um galo azul gigante e um cone de sorvete derretendo já tiveram sua vez no local. Um estudo mais abrangente da arte europeia ao longo dos séculos pode ser apreciado na National Gallery, cujas paredes exibem uma lista quase interminável de nomes conhecidos, de Turner a da Vinci. A National Portrait Gallery, que é interconectada, exibe as figuras ilustres e notáveis da história britânica. Para prestar homenagem aos cientistas e escritores do país – Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking e Jane Austen entre eles, vá até a Westminster Abbey, que serve como igreja de coroação desde 1066. Por outro lado, o Palácio de Buckingham é a residência dos principais membros da realeza há apenas alguns séculos. Ainda assim, a chance de caminhar por suas salas de Estado, como o Banqueting Hall e a Sala do Trono, é imperdível durante os meses de verão, enquanto a cerimônia da Troca da Guarda atrai multidões o ano todo.
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.
Dia 3 – Vá para o oeste em direção a Greenwich
Dia 3 – Vá para o oeste em direção a Greenwich
Greenwich é um dos poucos bairros de Londres “ao sul do rio” que não é sumariamente ignorado por quem vive nas áreas tradicionalmente ricas do norte de Londres. Situado ao lado do Greenwich Pier, são os mastros do Cutty Sark que dão as boas-vindas a muitos visitantes do bairro. Último de seu tipo no hemisfério norte, este navio à vela era um clipper de chá que detinha o recorde da viagem mais rápida entre Xangai e Londres, um trajeto de 3,5 meses. Hoje, ele oferece uma visão da vida em alto-mar nos anos 1800, transportando uma carga que se tornou sinônimo da cultura britânica. Mas a história marítima de Greenwich vai muito além do Cutty Sark sozinho. A uma curta distância estão os grandiosos edifícios que compõem o National Maritime Museum. O local abriga artefatos inestimáveis, incluindo a jaqueta que o Almirante Nelson usava quando foi atingido por um atirador francês na Batalha de Trafalgar. Continue pelos caminhos íngremes do Greenwich Park e você não apenas terá um panorama incrível de grande parte de Canary Wharf, mas também a oportunidade de descobrir como o mundo foi mapeado e estar nos hemisférios oriental e ocidental ao mesmo tempo, sobre o meridiano de Greenwich no Royal Observatory.
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.
Dia 4 – Aproveite a atmosfera do norte de Londres
Dia 4 – Aproveite a atmosfera do norte de Londres
Pense em Londres como uma série de pequenas vilas – Notting Hill, Kensington e Covent Garden, por exemplo – que acabaram formando uma megacidade de mais de nove milhões de pessoas; assim você entenderá melhor por que a atmosfera de uma parte da capital pode ser tão diferente de outra. A Portobello Road de Notting Hill tem um temperamento muito diferente das lojas independentes e dos pubs sofisticados da Marylebone High Street. Seu mercado funciona de diversas formas durante a semana, com barracas que vendem de tudo, desde frutas e vegetais frescos até itens essenciais para a casa. Mas são as áreas famosas por antiguidades e itens vintage que atraem a maioria das pessoas. Para vê-lo em seu melhor momento – e mais movimentado – tente fazer sua visita coincidir com o fim de semana. Para um pouco de paz e tranquilidade após negociar bastante, Little Venice, no Regent's Canal, é um ótimo lugar para recarregar as energias com um café e um doce. Para continuar a maratona de compras, há a Oxford Street e seu conjunto de destinos de compras famosos, incluindo a Bond Street e a Regent Street. Depois, viaje para uma época em que nenhuma das atrações modernas de Londres existia no British Museum. Garanta um audio guide e você poderá explorar o legado de tesouros que incluem a Pedra de Roseta e o sítio funerário anglo-saxão de Sutton Hoo.
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.
Dia 5 – Siga os passos de reis e rainhas
Dia 5 – Siga os passos de reis e rainhas
Dedicar 5 dias em Londres sem reservar um tempo para visitar Windsor também seria um erro. Embora não faça parte da capital propriamente dita, sua história está intrinsecamente ligada à da família real do país. O castelo habitado mais antigo do mundo, o Windsor Castle tem um simbolismo tão grande que deu nome aos membros da realeza quando se considerou oportuno encerrar a dinastia de sonoridade alemã Saxe-Coburg-Gotha durante a Primeira Guerra Mundial. Você pode assistir a uma cerimônia da Troca da Guarda aqui, bem como no Buckingham Palace, e visitar a St George’s Chapel, onde foi realizado o funeral do Príncipe Philip, Duque de Edimburgo, após sua morte aos 99 anos. Participe de um sightseeing bus tour pela cidade e você também poderá ver o Eton College, uma das escolas particulares mais prestigiadas do país, e avistar cervos no Windsor Great Park.
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.
Descubra as principais atrações de Londres com o Go City®
Visitar Londres pode ser caro. Mas não precisa ser assim. Existem várias dicas e sugestões para aproveitar ao máximo a capital, incluindo viajar com o Go City. Nossos passes oferecem aos visitantes economias enormes na entrada de muitas das principais atrações de Londres, para que você possa parar de se preocupar com o bolso e começar a se divertir! Então pegue um London pass e comece a explorar!
