LONDON | How To Spend 3 Days In London
STAY
EAT
-Fish n’ Chips at the Old Star
-The Wallace Restaurant
-Indian Food
PRO TIPS
-Oyster card
-City Mapper
-cute and super comfy tennis shoes
-Trip Advisor
Route Overview:
-Westminster abbey
-Parliament & Big Ben
-St. James Park
-Buckingham Palace
-The Mall
-Trafalgar's Square
-Borough Market
-St. Paul’s Cathedral
-Tower Bridge
-London Tower
-Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
-Tate Modern
-London Eye
-British Museum
-High Tea
-Hyde Park
-Notting Hill
-Portobello Road
If you're like me, you want to see as many places as possible when you are traveling. This has its ups and downs of course but for me it works but only if you are willing to make the most of the time you have and do it all. In a short amount of time you can't possibly really get a full taste of the culture of wherever you are, but you can dip your toes into it. This summer I did a little venture through the UK, Ireland and Paris and a lot of people have been asking me how I did it....so I thought I would let you all in on my travel secrets! I'll break it up into a few blog posts...but up first LONDON!
Also, through these blog posts you are going to see a lot of airbnb...and friends let me tell you. We loved staying at Airbnb's and would totally give it a 10 out of 10 (except for our London experience which was probably a 5-10 so not even that bad). But what we loved about Airbnb was that we got to meet some of the sweetest people in the places we stayed. We arrived at many homes welcomed by tea and cake and they always were helpful and hospitable. It was a win, and we loved each of our hosts and the cool places we got to stay! BE SURE TO CHECK OUT AIRBNB HERE!
Our first stop was...London, England! This is what we did!
DAY 1:
Arrive and settle into your Airbnb or hostel...we stayed at a pretty mediocre airbnb in London, but the rest of our homes throughout Europe were amazing! So I don't have one to recommend for you here. I always like to arrive at night, when I travel far, so I don't have to fight jet lag right when I arrive. Good thing about the UK in the summer, it doesn't get dark until after 10pm so we didn't have to find our home in the dark, but could crash as soon as we arrived!
Travel Pro tip: download the app called City Mapper! It was amazing for getting around cities like London & Paris on our trip!
DAY 2:
Put on your tennis shoes, no for real, and then head out early for an Eggs Benedict breakfast matched with some delicious coffee to fuel up for the day.
Jump on the underground and head to Westminster Abbey, (We got the oyster visitor card and saved so much money and it was so easy...do it, you won't regret it!), it opens at 9:30am but is closed on Sunday so plan accordingly. We decided to get there early, but we did still wait in line, it was not too bad and the line moved quickly! It’s amazing. Pick up the free audio guide and wander through the history it will sure to awe you, I had no idea how cool it would actually be!
When you are done with Westminster, you are right next to the Parliament and Big Ben, so wander over and explore the River Thames bridge and take it all in, yes there are people everywhere, so don't expect to be alone!
When you are ready to move on, head towards Buckingham Palace along the St. Jame's Park. We wandered down some park paths and got some ice cream and then we wandered just out of the park for some delicious Fish n' chips at this place called "Old Star", its was some of the best fish n chips we had during our stay!
Explore the happenings at the Buckingham Palace and then head up The Mall, the main street decorated with British Flags, towards Trafalgar Square. We looked around, grabbed some medicines for my newly born allergies and then hopped back on the underground to head to The Borough Market, a trendy weekend farmers market that will for sure make you want to live in London!
After exploring the Borough Market for a bit, and trying all the cheese and tea you can handle it is time to hop on a bus towards the Tower Bridge, not to be confused with the London Bridge. The Tower Bridge is the one you want to see. We took a minute to pit stop at the St. Paul's Cathedral and then got on another bus and got off just before the bridge so we could walk across the bridge.
After walking over the Tower Bridge you will find the Tower of London, and the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe! (Though it was closed when we arrived). But we did get to look around at the classic Tudor style architecture! If you have extra time you should see a play there, I wish we had!
By now it’s getting late and you are probably hungry but go wait in line for the tickets to ride to London Eye, unless you were smart and got them ahead of time. Which you totally should do. We then wandered around the area and found some food trucks for our dinner and ate it on the lawn of the London Eye. Something of a dream I tell ya!
After you get off your Journey around the eye you will be pooped and tired. Go out for some drinks or dessert or just call it a night and make your way back to your place.
DAY 3:
Since you went so hard the day before you can get a slower pace going for you today. We woke up early and decided to go to Hillsong London, a local church based from Australia, it was a win and a great way to start our day! Then we hit up the British museum, wandering through all the history finding the rosetta stone and all the other treasures. After a while, cause let’s be honest you will probably never be done seeing everything at the British Museum, you should go to a tea. We booked this awesome place called The Wallace Restaurant, because it was affordable, but it also turned out to be amazing! (Highly recommend this!)
After your tea head on over to Hyde Park and explore the “central park, of London”. Then to make it a little more posh head on over to Notting Hill and Portobello Road to explore the beautiful colorful homes of the more wealthy British.
To end your day find a top rated trip advisor restaurant and then head to bed early. Because if you are like us, it’s just the beginning of your European adventure and you are already tired.
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