London is the ultimate metropolis, a megacity with more than a thousand years of history, dozens of distinct neighbourhoods and an endless number of things to see and do. This itinerary for 5 days in London is based on my most recent trip and includes major attractions like The Tower of London, Borough Market, St Paul’s Cathedral , Kensington Gardens and Westminster Abbey, as well as iconic neighbourhoods like Marylebone, Mayfair, Chelsea, Kensington, Soho, Covent Garden, Shoreditch & Neal’s Yard and Notting Hill. I didn’t include Buckingham Palace, since I’ve been before, but you could easily swap it in!

Naturally, I also visited a few fabulous London restaurants & as many bookshops as I could squeeze in!

This is a great London itinerary for first time visitors to London, but there are also a few ideas for things to do in London that you might have missed on your first trip, and want to see as a return visitor, such as Borough Market, Regents Park, the Notting Hill mews and Primrose Hill. We visited London during our trip of one month in Europe & the UK. We’d come from Edinburgh via train, and after London we took the Eurostar to Paris.

Getting to London from Edinburgh

We caught the LNER train from Edinburgh to London, which I’d highly recommend. Comfortable, easy and it feels quick! We arrived at St Pancras, from which it was easy to transfer onto the Tube to get to Paddington station.

We took the Eurostar from London to Paris, which is also very easy and comfortable. I WISH train travel was as efficient in comfortable in Australia as it is in the UK & Europe. Dream!

London hotel & transport

Hotel: Rove Hotel in Paddington. Lovely street, small but modern and comfortable rooms, close to Paddington Station which meant we almost always could get a direct line to where we wanted to go. Perfect if you’re doing sightseeing all over town.

Getting around London: We took the tube everywhere, except at night when we got Ubers (out of laziness, not for safety reasons).

Day 1: Notting Hill & Kensington

We arrived in London at around 1pm, so rather than trying to jam in any major sights on our first day, we explored Notting Hill & Kensington Gardens.

Notting Hill

The picturesque streets of Notting Hill was one of the things I was most excited to see in London, so we started there. When we arrived, the Portobello Road Markets were winding down for the day. Notting Hill is famous for its pastel-hued architecture, giving it some of the prettiest streets in London.  There are several notable streets within a short walking distance of each other – my favourite are the Colville Houses and St Lukes Mew’s, the latter which were a filming location for Love Actually. I’ll share a post soon with some of the prettiest spots in Notting Hill. 

After we’d finished exploring, we had a late lunch (or early dinner) at Gold, a new neighbourhood restaurant. I hadn’t made a booking, as I wasn’t sure what time we’d stop in, and so we were seated at some tables outside.

Gold has a seasonal, produce-driven menu, with most of the dishes cooked in a woodfire oven. The food was so good, and it was easily my favourite meal in London, but I would definitely recommend booking so you get a better table. The outdoor tables on the street aren’t anywhere near as nice as the tables inside or in the back courtyard. Worth booking!

Kensington Gardens

It was a gorgeous summer evening, so we walked from Notting Hill through Kensington, to reach Kensington Gardens. We arrived just before sunset, so the park was absolutely glowing. Kensington Gardens were my favourite of London’s gardens, and we visited quite a few! We’d each put a drink in the backpack, so we had a mini picnic as the sun went down.

Day 2: City of London & Covent Garden

Our first full day in London was one of the best! The weather was beautiful, and the long summer days meant we had plenty of time to see & do so much, without feeling rushed. We visited the Tower of London, Borough Market and St Paul’s Cathedral before exploring London’s West End, Soho and Covent Garden.

Tower of London

We started bright and early to make it to our first big “sight” at the start of the day. The Tower of London is a historic castle on the bank of the Thames, founded in 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest.

The Tower is a Royal Palace, and has been used as a royal residence, a fortress, a prison and a mint. Under the Tudors, it stopped being used as a royal residence, and became primarily used as a prison in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Its prison has hosted many famous prisoners, including Elizabeth I, and it is the final resting place of Ann Boleyn, among others. Today the Tower is home to the Crown Jewels, and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in London.

To my delight, we were greeted at the Tower by a sea of wildflowers. To celebrate the Queen’s Platnium Jubilee, in 2022 the Moat of the Tower of London was planted with more than 20 million wildflower seeds to create a beautiful biodiverse landscape. Every summer, there is a super bloom of red and yellow poppies and bright blue cornflowers.

Yeoman Warders, also known as Beefeaters, are the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. Their ranks are made up exclusively of retired serviceman from the British Armed Forces, who must have at least 22 years service. In addition to guarding the Crown Jewels, they also offer free guided tours of the Tower of London. 

We joined a tour – along with nearly 100 other people – which was one of the highlights of our visit. Be prepared to look alive on the tour – the Beefeaters don’t have microphones, so if you’re at the back of the crowd it can be nearly impossible to hear. If you can’t hear at first, don’t worry as there’s a chance to get closer to the front at every stop of the tour.

After the tour finished, we visited the chapel where Ann Boleyn is buried, the White Tower and the Crown Jewels. I loved seeing the Crown Jewels – they are absolutely incredible. The most treasured pieces are lined up in a long glass case, which flat escalators on either side to keep the crowd moving – a brilliant idea. We did a few laps on the escalator.

Buy tickets in advance & arrive early.

Tower Bridge

After the Tower, we admired the Tower Bridge, which is one of the most beautiful places in London in my opinion. We grabbed ice coffees to go from underneath the bridge, and made our way across to South Bank.

Borough Market

The Borough Market is easily one of the best things we did in London. It’s London’s most historic food market, with a market on this site since the 12th century. I love visiting food markets, so we came hungry and had an absolute feast.

We started with some cheese from L’Ubriaco Drunk Cheese, which sells artisan cows milk cheeses which have been steeped in alcohol to aid the aging process. Fat rounds and wedges and cheese have a wine grape crust.

Next was a hard apple cider slushie, as we browsed more stalls. The current halls of Borough Market were built in the 1850s, and create a delicious maze of market stalls.

Our next stop was Shellseekers, which had a queue snaking around their stall for shucked-to-order Dorset Oysters – the largest in the UK! We both love oysters, and often go to our local South Melbourne Market to eat fresh oysters, so this was a must-visit for us.

I thought a giant oyster could be a bit difficult to eat, or potentially even a bit gross, but it was, not surprisingly, divine and went down like a treat.

Dave bought some jerky, and I bought a Scotch Egg from Scotchtails, to takeaway. A scotch egg is a traditional English dish, of a boiled egg encased in sausage mince & breadcrumbs, then baked or deep fried.

They are heavy, hearty and absolutely delicious! We ate the last of our snacks on the riverbanks at Southbank, enjoying the sunshine.

St Paul’s Cathedral

We crossed the Thames into The City of London, and headed towards St Paul’s Cathedral. St Paul’s is a London landmark, built in the 17th century.

Tickets to St Paul’s are expensive – they were around 26 per person if you buy them at the door, whic is around $50 AUD. They’re cheaper if you buy them online, so we stood outside and bought them on our phones for 20 pounds per person. It was worth every pound.

We visited Westminster Abbey a few days later, and obviously it was also impressive and special, but St Paul’s takes the cake.

Fleet Street

Fleet Street was the centre of London’s media landscape from the 16th-20th centuries, and is still used as a byword for the media to this day. From St Paul’s we strolled down Fleet Street, towards a historic bar I was curious to see.

Ye Old Cheshire Cheese is a Grade II listed public house, on Fleet Street. There has been a pub on this site since 1538, but the current building was rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire of 1666.

The Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was a favourite haunt of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, and walking through it’s doors is like stepping back in time – even once you’re inside!

The ground floor is 19th century, but head downstairs to the cave-like basement, which is built inside a former 13th century Carmellite monastery. Easily the most memorable spot we stopped for a drink in London!

Afterwards, we stepped into the opulence of the 19th century at The Old Bank of England, a bar built in the former Law Courts Branch of the Bank of England. It was built in 1866, and served as the bank into the 1970s, until it was converted into a bar in the early ‘90s.

Neal’s Yard & Covent Garden

Neal’s Yard is one of the most Instagrammable spots in London. This colourful courtyard is part of the Seven Dials neighbourhood in Covent Garden, and transformed from an 18th and 19th century slum into a vibrant hotspot of shops, bars & restaurants.

Top spots in Neal’s Yard include it’s namesake, the wellbeing shop Neal’s Yard Remedies, a bakery by the legendary St John restaurant group, an outpost of my favourite wine bar in New York – Compagnie des Vins Surnaturals, and The Barbary, a critically acclaimed restaurant that takes inspiration from the 16th century Barbary Coast, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean to the Middle East. 

We walked through Neal’s Yard, and then headed into the Seven Dials Market. Seven Dials Market is a modern food hall, home to twenty independent traders. I wanted to visit Seven Dials Market for Pick & Cheese, a cheesebar that operates like a sushi train.

Instead, I filled up on Uzbeki dumplings at Oshpaz Dumplings, which were delicious!

Regents Canal

We ended our day on Darcie & May Green, a floating bar & restaurant on Regents Canal in Paddington, near our hotel. The bar is built across two barges, which have been beautified in bright colours by pop artist Sir Peter Blake. We snagged a table on the top deck, and enjoyed a drink in the last of the sunshine.

Day 3: Mayfair, West End, Soho & Kensington

Hyde Park Picnic

I didn’t really want to be eating in a cafe or restaurant for three meals a day while we were overseas, and breakfast/brunch was the easy choice to cut. The best brunch spots in the world take inspiration from Australian cafe culture these days, so I wasn’t going to get any FOMO by skipping a sit down breakfast. Instead, we found cheap & cheerful breakfasts to enjoy outside.

From our hotel in Paddington, we walked through Hyde Park Estate, a pretty village, to a Pret-A-Manger near the top of Hyde Park. We bought a couple of Pret’s takeaway porridge cups – which are unreasonably delicious – and had a picnic breakfast in Hyde Park. 

After breakfast, we hit Oxford Street, London’s most famous shopping destination. Our first stop was Selfridges, one of London’s most iconic department stores.

I have to admit, my favourite part of any luxury department store is the food hall. Selfridges has a Champagne & Oyster bar, a cheese counter, an array of gourmet foodstuffs, and cabinets of freshly prepared baked goods, including the quintessentially English pork pie.

We did a little bit of shopping on Oxford Street, and then headed to London’s West End for a department store of a different kind – and era – Liberty London.

Liberty London is unlike any store I have ever seen in the world. The half-timbered building is like walking into a collab between a department store and Tudor England.

Even inside, it’s all timber beams and carved wood. I would love to have more of a shopping trip in London, and imagine that Liberty would be a go-to for decadent homewares.

We walked through Soho and Covent Garden, and into Carnaby St. Carnaby St was the heart of London’s counter culture during the Swinging 60s, and today it’s a pedestrianised shopping street.

It was fun for a quick stroll through, and we stumbled upon another impressive food hall, called Kingly Court. We were going to stop for a drink at Cahoots, a tube-themed bar, but there was a giant queue of people who have booked a ticketed experience – we weren’t keen enough to wait, and it did look a little bit touristy. Instead, we carried on to Piccadilly.

Piccadilly

Piccadilly is home to some of London’s most beautiful shops, and we hit two of them. First up was Hatchards, which is the most beautiful book shop I have ever visited – a new favourite!

Hatchards is the oldest bookshop in London, and has the Royal Warrant, meaning it is the official supplier of books for the Royal Family.

It is a gorgeous store of six floors, with delightfully specific shelves, like Agatha Christie or The Tudors. I could have spent all day in here, and spent a long time deliberating over which beautiful editions I’d further weigh down my suitcase with.

Our next stop was Fortnum & Mason, which can only be described as a luxury food emporium and gourmand’s paradise. Spanning several floors, Fortnum’s is a feast for the senses.

Established in 1705, it’s one of London’s most historic and unique department stores. I couldn’t resist a giant, traditional marshmallow, the likes of which I haven’t seen in years.

Green Park Picnic

We were getting hungry, and had decided on another picnic lunch because I wanted to try one of Marks & Spencer’s famed takeaway sandwiches. We also had dinner plans at St John, which I was looking forward to, and wanted to make sure I didn’t spoil my dinner! 

Much like Pret, an M&S Simply Food offers delicious and inventive takeaway lunches, for a steal. One of my favourite writers, Dolly Alderton, has waxed lyrical about the M&S sandwiches on the High Low, so I was keen to try one.

We were totally overwhelmed by the delicious options available, and took our lunch across the road to the Green Park to enjoy more of the sunshine. I wish we had such fresh, and delicious casual takeaway options in Australia!

An evening in Marylebone

We had a reservation at the Marylebone outpost of St John, a critically acclaimed restaurant by famed chef Fergus Henderson, who was a trailblazer for nose-to-tail eating.

Before dinner, we dropped into Daunt Books. Daunt has blown up on Instagram for its Edwardian interiors, but what I really loved was the way the shelves are arranged by region. Books about a place rub shoulders with books set in the same place, creating a wholly unique browsing experience – especially for a bookworm like me!

At St John, we were seated at the bar. I enjoyed our meal, but wouldn’t say that it was as memorable as some of the other dining experiences we had on our trip. St John opened its first restaurant in Smithfield in 1994, so it’s fair to assume that many of the similar dining experiences I’ve had in Melbourne and New York City, stand on the shoulders of trailblazers like St John.

After dinner, we decided to get a drink before we went home. The Chiltern Firehouse was jammed, not surprisingly, so instead we sat outside at a pretty wine bar, Clarette.

Day 4: Regents Park, Primrose Hill & Shoreditch

Our fourth day in London was spent farther afield, in the city’s inner north and east.

The Regent’s Park

The Regent’s Park is one of the Royal Parks of London, spanning 400 acres across Westminster & Camden.

The main reason for our visit was the Queen Mary’s Gardens, which is home to the largest collection of roses in London. There are more than 12,000 roses across 85 varietals, in a seemingly never ending 

We were very lucky as we visited in early June, and the best time of year for the roses are the first two weeks of June. We spent nearly two hours exploring the park, before heading to Primrose Hill for coffee.

Primrose Hill

Primrose Hill is a pretty and bucolic inner north London neighbourhood, on the edge of Regent’s Park. There are a number of pretty pubs here, but it was too early in the day for that so we wandered around for a while before stopping for a coffee and pastry at Ripe Kitchen.

It was a Sunday, and there was a street party / mini carnival on along the high street, which brought out lots of residents.

Shoreditch & Brick Lane

I have to say, I did not get Shoreditch. It’s described as being similar to Williamsburg, but I couldn’t see much of a resemblance and I found it quite underwhelming. When I asked my friend who lived in London if I’d missed something, she agreed that it was over-hyped – and today, is mostly home to tech bros.

We walked around for a little while before heading to Brick Lane, which was bustling with Sunday markets. We had lunch at Brick Lane Brasserie, which is recommended as one of the best and most authentic Indian restaurants on Brick Lane. We had a lovely meal, but I couldn’t taste much of a difference between this restaurant and the delicious Indian food we have in Melbourne.

A big bar fail

We’d been walking around all day, so we decided to stay close to the hotel in the evening and try a bar nearby. I found one on Google Maps, and thought from the photo that it looked okay. Wrong!

It was a cavernous bar, that gave the impression of the Mediterranean in the thumbnail photo but looked pretty cheap in the harsh light of day. It was really designed for 18 year olds, but when we went there were tables of all ages…who I assume were as lost as we were. I have never felt so old. We had one drink & then hit the road. 

We tried to go to the Cheese Barge, but they’d closed very early. Paddington is a bit of a desert in terms of bars & restaurants – there are a few pubs around but nothing particularly charming. Darcie & May Green is definitely the pick of the bunch.

Day 5: Chelsea, Belgravia & Kensington

Our last day in London, we took a slower pace and enjoyed the pretty streets of some of London’s most well-heeled neighbourhoods, Chelsea, Belgravia & Kensington. We visited Westminster Abbey, saw Big Ben and got as close as we could to 10 Downing Street. Our trip ended on a high note, by catching up for dinner with one my lovely friend Bridget, who lives in London.

Chelsea

Chelsa is one of London’s most affluent neighbourhoods, and the setting for the guilty pleasure reality TV show, Made in Chelsea. We were a month too late for the famous Chelsea Flower Show, which is held every May and attracts 150,000 visitors every year. Instead, we hit Chelsea’s famous high st, King’s Road.

We stopped for a light breakfast at Charlotte’s Cloud, a sweet little cafe on King’s Road, and dropped into a Waterstones bookshop, which is the largest bookshop chain in the UK. We didn’t have firm plans, and were basically heading towards Belgravia.

We stumbled across Cadogan Gardens, a charming street lined with ornate, red brick Victorian townhouses. They were built by Lord Chelsea in the 19th century, and today are part of the Cadogan Estate. I love the architecture in London!

Our next stop was Pavilion Road, a pedestrianised shopping street lined with independent shops, boutiques and cafes. I had wanted to have dinner at an Ottolenghi restaurant while we were in London, but we’d run out of time, so I wanted to visit the Ottolenghi Chelsea deli on Pavilion Road.

Harrods Picnic in Hyde Park

Our next stop was Harrods, the most famous department store in the world. Harrods is in Knightsbridge and its 330 luxury departments span 5 acres. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m almost never in the mood for clothes shopping when I’m travelling, but I love the Harrods Food Hall.

We browsed for a while, before heading to the food hall to pick up the makings of a decadent picnic lunch. David got a rare beef salad, and I picked up a set of mini brioche rolls, with lobster, crab and prawn fillings. Harrods is just a few blocks from Hyde Park, so we found a bench & enjoyed lunch by the Serpentine.

Belgravia

As we were walking to Belgravia, is started bucketing rain. We didn’t have an umbrella, so we sought shelter at a beautiful neighbourhood pub, The Alfred Tennyson. It was still quite warm, so we sat on the patio, undercover and enjoyed a drink while we listened to the rain.

It’s moments like these that are some of the most enjoyable on a trip, when you’ve got nowhere to be and can afford to stop and enjoy the rain. Funnily enough, we’d be caught out again by a surprise shower in Paris a few days later (luckily, this time we already had prime front row patio seating!).

Westminster Abbey & Downing St

Westminster Abbey is one of London’s most famous landmarks, with a history dating back nearly 1000 years, to 1066. It’s hosted at least 40 coronations, 16 royal weddings and is the final resting place of 18 monarchs.

It’s not just royals who are buried here – dozens of famous writers, scientists, philosophers, artists, aristocrats and politicians are buried here. Parts of it are like a who’s who of English literature. We had purchased tickets already, so it didn’t take long to get in.

We spent over an hour inside, but could have spent much longer had we not been a bit tired. If you’re a keen history buff, go at the start of the day when you’re fresh.

Dinner & drinks in Kensington

One of the highlights of my time in London was catching up with my lovely friend Bridget, who I met when we both lived in New York City. We met for dinner at Jacuzzi in Kensington, a very popular restaurant from the trendsetting Big Mamma Group, which is renowned for its maximalist restaurant interiors – Ave Mario, Circulo Popolare, Gloria, Carlotta to name a few. 

We had such a great time catching up, the food was fun and delicious and the service was refreshingly unpretentious. Highly recommend it!

After dinner, we had a nightcap at Dishoom, before it closed. Dishoom is another restaurant I’d have loved to try if we’d had more time  in London – maybe next time!

Final thoughts

It was my third time in London, but the first time I’d spent more than 24 hours there – and after being a little underwhelmed on previous, fleeting visits, I fell head over heels for the city with a little more time to explore.

I loved London so much that within the first 24 hours I felt genuinely panicked that we didn’t have any plans to move there. I got over it after a couple of days, as the novelty of being in a giant city wore off – I used to live in New York City, and while London is different to New York City in many ways, giant western cities are at their heart, the same. Once the familiarity returned, I felt more comfortable with leaving, but with plans to return for many more visits & maybe even an extended stay.  Another international move isn’t on the cards right now, but I will definitely be back!

It’s impossible to do everything you want to in London in one visit. I’ve already got a list going for next time, let me know in the comments if you’d recommend adding anything else.

Next time in London

I’d re-visit: Borough Market, Hatchard’s, Fortnum & Mason, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park

Want to visit for the first time: A show in the West End, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, The Tate Modern, The National Gallery, Serpentine Galleries, The British Museum & The Museum of London

Bars & restaurants to try: The Red Room, Clove Club, Petersham Nurseries, Quo Vadis, Rochelle Canteen, Gymkhana, Padella, The Barbary, an Ottolenghi, The Connaught Bar, Scarfe’s Bar, Audley Public House

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