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Here is the question we put before readers several weeks ago:
T.B. in Waterloo, IA asks: I'm turning 50 in September and to celebrate, a friend of mine and I are going to London for a week. (She turns 75 the same day I turn 50.) This is a lifelong dream of mine, as going to London has been #1 on my bucket list for the last 30+ years. To say that I'm excited is an understatement. I was wondering if any of your readers have suggestions for sites to see, or restaurants to visit (perhaps with favorite dishes to try)?
And here some of the answers we got in response:
J.M. in Eagle Mills, NY: Tate Modern on the South Bank. It's a great example of adaptive reuse—an art museum housed in a former electrical generating station. It has a fascinating collection of modern art, some of which is unique to the Tate Modern because of its huge spaces. From it, you can see the bridge destroyed in the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It's close to the New Globe Theatre, and you can cross the Millenium Bridge to Saint Paul's. And it's free!
T.M. in Aldergrove, BC, Canada: Since you are going to be in London during America's 250th anniversary year, you couldn't do better than to drop in to the new "George Inn" in Southwark during its 350th anniversary year (in its present building—the pub is actually over 440 years old, but they rebuilt it on its existing location but in its new building in 1676).
You might also want to drop by "All Hallows by the Tower" to celebrate its 2,001st anniversary, or the Tower of London to celebrate its 1,598th anniversary, or Westminster Abbey (ca. 1517), or St. Bride's Church (ca. 1666), or The Royal Observatory (ca. 1675).
D.M. in Tyler, TX: My family and I have had two recent trips to London, so I am full of recommendations, but will limit it to a short list.
Carradine's Cockney Sing-a-long at Mr. Fogg's Tavern, Thursdays. Guaranteed great time for all involved! Look him up for possible other dates or places. Food is great and they have a gin parlor upstairs.
Walk the Thames. I would recommend starting at the north/east end of the historic district near Tower Bridge and work your way down (west/south) to Bridge St. (next to Big Ben) or even as far south as Vauxhall. Butler's Wharf to the southeast of Tower Bridge will give you a great selfie spot with the bridge in the background.
Borough Market, great place to sample foods and drinks of all kinds. Stop in the Globe Tavern for a pint and say hello to the pub dog whose pet bed is at the end of the bar.
If you are Beatles fans, then Abbey Road Studios is a must. I would recommend going to the crosswalk really early in the morning on the weekends to avoid traffic, if you are trying to recreate the photo.
If you are soccer fans, and can't get tickets to a match, find a team pub close to a stadium on the day of a match to take in the football fever of the Premier League. I'd make a recommendation here, but I don't want to start that war.
R.L.P. in Santa Cruz, CA: See the Rosetta Stone. It's just sitting for all to see close up on the floor of the British Museum.
A.D. in Chatham, NJ: Take a day trip out to Richmond—trains are super easy! Home of Ted Lasso (it barely qualifies as touristy) and depending on your schedule have a Sunday Roast at one of the pubs (be sure to get reservations). The White Cross pub is iconic—right on the River Thames, and at high tide they are one and the same. There are also plenty of parks for a decent hike (or, even better, combine a hike with a pub crawl).
P.W. in Tulalip, WA: Saw this and thought of the lucky E-V readers' 50 and 75th birthdays soon to be celebrated in London. Besides the Sylvia Sleigh exhibit, there are other London art events listed in the article, including a Jimi Hendrix experience: Take a rare chance to see the works of artist Sylvia Sleigh in London.
C.G in Toronto, ON, Canada: Take a Big Bus tour. It allows you to hop off and on at multiple sites of interest, and they run so frequently that little planning is required. Note: Pick a day where the next day is also good weather. They allow you (or, at least, they used to allow you) to buy the second day at a reduced rate as long as you opted for it before you started the first day. Good luck, and lots of sunscreen this year.
R.S. in Bedford, England, UK: September is a good month to be visiting—the weather should be mild and not oppressively hot as at present. Decide how best to get from the airport to where you are staying. If you are coming into Heathrow, the Heathrow Express is expensive and lands you in Paddington, which is not well-connected for onward travel. Gatwick and Luton have the Thameslink line, which goes right through the center of the city. I would use Google maps for suggestions.
After you have checked in, catch one of the hop-on, hop-off buses, which gives you an overall view with commentary and helps you get your bearings. Another day, take a river cruise down to Greenwich. The Docklands Light Railway (an experience in itself) can bring you back to Bank in the city center. You can also book a tour of Buckingham Palace and/or the Palace of Westminster. (Parliament will probably not be in session, but that's no real loss in my view.) Take a break in St James's Park before wandering through Horse Guards to Whitehall and turn left to Trafalgar Square.
Pub lunches are generally good value, Wetherspoons (their app will show you where they are) especially, but they can get VERY busy. Find a bit of peace and quiet a block away from the main tourist drags a block North of Oxford Street. For getting around, forget taxis, which will be held up by traffic. Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk) offers various passes, but you can also use your regular Visa or Mastercard (make sure you always use the same one) which will cap your fares to the daily limit in the same way as their Oyster card does. Paper tickets on the tube are much more expensive.
M.M. in San Diego, CA: If you or your friend have ever served in the U.S. armed forces, or any other NATO country's military, you may stay at the Victory Services Club in London. Little rooms but at a big discount, and the dining room had a fantastic kitchen, probably French. The only drawback is that I was there during an August heatwave, and the only air conditioned parts of the building were the ground floor lobby/dining room, the elevator shafts, and the hallways on each floor. Rooms had windows that opened. An autumn stay should work well.
J.C. in Fez, Morocco: Only one place to see, must see, in Greater London, formerly Kent, in Bromley, in Downe—you know where I'm going with this. I was two when I lived in Bromley, and 50 years later, I recently visited again for the first time. I saw a giant mural, and had a thought. Looked it up, hopped on a bus, arrived just half an hour before closing—only to be told they do not take new visitors in the last half-hour. Then they found out I'd come all the way from Mongolia, and gave me a quick private super-speed tour.
You must visit the home of the greatest scientist who ever lived, whose books changed the world more than any other non-religious text—Downe House, the home of Charles Darwin. It is... overwhelming, to walk the sandwalk where the master's feet trod, to see the study where he illuminated his vision of true reality. Yes, he was but a man—but what a man.
D.B.G in Minneapolis, MN: Best wishes on your London trip! I was there in May 2022. I've confirmed these venues have current websites so are still around.
Restaurants:
Brix (Southwark) current menu is meat heavy, but I had and loved pan-fried halibut, summer squash (twice), buttermilk chicken flatbread. They'd just opened and I wound up meeting the owner because she had seen me and my friend multiple nights in a row. She plied us with a shots of tequila rose liqueur. Lovely woman.
Aubaine (Bayswater, north side of Kensington Gardens) breakfast--croissants, pain au chocolat, and porridge.I enjoyed the Museum of London (currently closed until November this year) and the Museum of London Docklands the most, and they were definitely the museums I wish I'd started with, for I found the British Museum (as a first stop) too overstimulating. Also the food at the first two museums (sweet potato, cauliflower, curry wrap!) was great.
A great opportunity and very much worth it is the tour I took of the British Museum: It focused me and provided a lot of interesting context.
Selfridge's was a must to visit (I loved the PBS series) and had a great lunch at one of its restaurants: Kale salad with roasted acorn squash.
My favorite sites to visit: #1 Hampton Court Palace (within Greater London) was jaw-dropping and full of rich history; #2 Westminster Abbey, majestic and very crowded (with a great afternoon tea within the Cellarium Cafe and Terrace at the Abbey); #3 Tower of London, where I'd go back again because it was chock-a-block with items and way more than one can accomplish in even a whole day, which I did spend; #4 Palace of Westminster, absolutely delightful because the tour was incredibly informative of both the history of the Palace and the history and functioning of Parliament.
Finally, gelato at Amorino with many locales in London, not just the flavor but the sculpting of the gelato on the cone into a rose.
Carpe diem!
J.C. in New York City, NY: The original Twining's store in the City of London dates to the 1700s and is one of the oldest land leases in the city. You can order their most expensive tea, Darjeeling First Flush, for free to sample in the store. The whole experience is under an hour, and a worthwhile stop in the city.
M.S. in Westchester County, NY: I've been to London several times. The first in the early 70's, then in 2003 and finally in 2024. Between the 70's trip (post-college for a week) and the 2003 trip (during my daughter's junior semester abroad), my husband and I have been to the usual guidebook haunts. Of those, I especially liked the Churchill War Rooms.
In 2024, when my husband and I were last there for a few days, we took a different tack. We went on a Thames/Pub Crawl with London Walks. Informative and fun. Another suggestion—take a train to Bletchley Park in the London suburbs. We spent an entire day there visiting the several museums that constitute the Bletchley campus. (The train stop is a short walk to the campus.). The setting is quite lovely, and the combination of math and intrigue made my husband, the physics major, very happy.
L.R.H. in Oakland, CA: I have visited London eight times over nearly 45 years. I have steadily been adding to a public Google Doc sites I have seen and enjoyed or sites I would like to see in the future.
It's here and I will continue to add to it. My personal interest are of course prominent; this list is not remotely complete.
J.D. in St. Paul, MN: I'll leave it to others to offer specific recommendations about things to see and do in London. I want to say two things about finally getting to go to a place you've been thinking about for decades. First, be open to the probability that London is not the London of your dreams. Take it for what it is now—it's a terrific place—not for failing to live up to the fantasies that we inevitably build up in our minds about places we've yearned to see. You'll be visiting 21st century London, not 1965, or 1890. Second, stay excited about your trip right up to departure day and beyond. This is a priceless opportunity to learn, which is the opposite of confirming your preconceptions (though I must say it's also gratifying and fun to learn that you were right all along about this or that.)
We've heard from a lot of readers with suggestions, and we've heard from a lot of readers who said something like "This is great! I'm going to London soon, too!" So, we're going to do one or two more weeks of this.