Speedrun through London: The UK Capital in 2.5 Days

We visited London at the very end of April to kick off our Europe trip. I had originally planned to visit the city after finishing my course in 2020, but due to COVID I had to travel back to Canada far soon than anticipated. Nearly four full years after I had planned, I made it to London.

We had only a few short days in London before flying to Athens, so we did lots of planning in advance to make the most of it. I have found that while I don’t love following a strict itinerary on trips, making a general plan along with saving destinations in a dedicated Google Map helps to ensure you get to see everything important to you. It also helps you avoid awkward or disappointing situation in which certain museums, restaurants or other sites aren’t open when you arrive.

Heathrow to Central London

As with most international flights, we flew into the Heathrow Airport. We arrived from our overnight flight around noon and made our way through customs. To my disappointment, the airport primarily uses egates, meaning you don’t get a stamp in your passport. This did make the line move very quickly, though.

We followed the signs to the Underground where we loaded our Oyster cards. We boarded the Piccadilly Line to Picccadilly Circus just south of Soho. The ride took about an hour and cost £5.60.

Once in Soho, we found a place to eat before heading to our hotel in Vauxhall. We got brunch and given a bit of a rude awakening at the exchange rate between the British pound and the Canadian dollar. We were also reminded that you must specify “tap water” to avoid being charged when ordering “water”.

Travelling Around London

One thing we struggled with when planning our trip around London was comprehending the size of the city. Many European cities are easily walkable, having most of the historic sites within the city centre. London, however, surprised me. Although we did try to get an understanding of the size by mapping out routes with walking estimations, we spent a lot of time of transit. Buses were usually our preferred form of transportation as they were less expensive than the tube and we were able to watch the city as we travelled.

Staying in Vauxhall, we usually chose to take the bus to our first destination of the day. We chose Vauxhall because we were able to cover our entire stay in London with reward points, saving us a lot of money. It was a little bit out of the way for many of the most popular sites though.

Battling with jet lag throughout our stay in London, we were often up early. I was more affected by the jet lag and was up around 5 am the first two days, waiting for shops to open. Our first morning in London, we grabbed breakfast from a cafe near our hotel, then boarded a bus for Westminster which took around 25 minutes. Buses cost £1.70 and usually come every ten to fifteen minutes which makes them easy and reliable.

We got off the bus at the Westminster Station/Parliament Square stop and walked across the street to get a good view of Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. This was not only our first true tourist stop on our trip, but also one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in London. We managed to make it here in time to listen to the bells ring for 9:00. We walked about halfway across Westminster Bridge to get a good view from the other side, and then began our walk to Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square, St. James’s Park, and Buckingham Palace

We walked to the impressive (and mostly empty) Trafalgar Square. We took some pictures here and learned that the National Gallery was free to the public. However, it didn’t open for another 30 minutes. Rather than waste time, we decided to continue our tour and circle back once the gallery was open.

We walked towards St. James’s Park where we took a leisurely stroll amongst the birds and other park-goers. There are signs here that indicate the different species of waterfowl that live in the part and we spent a few minutes trying to count how many we could spot. The sound of drums and bag pipes made us curious and we followed the sound towards the Guards Museum where a display was just ending. From the Guards Museum, it was a short walk around the end of the park to the gates of Buckingham Palace. According to the signs in front there would be no changing of the guards that day, but the area around the Victoria Memorial and in front of the Palace itself was still very busy.

After we had taken in the palace and admired the Canada gate, we made our way back to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. We waited in line for the gallery for about 10 minutes before entering around 11 am. You can skip the line by booking your space in advance on the official site. However, we didn’t have the National Gallery on our initial itinerary and found the walk-in tickets to be just fine. The gallery holds the works of many famous painters including Cezanne, Monet, and da Vinci. We only saw a handful of the available rooms before we succumbed to the need for lunch.

Notting Hill and Hyde Park

We took the tube to Notting Hill Gate switching lines once. I had bookmarked a couple restaurants in this area before the trip, and we decided on Japanese food. We went to a restaurant called Eat Tokyo that served great food at much more reasonable price than our previous day’s brunch in Soho. There were lots of options for vegans and vegetarians, I got some vegan rolls and miso tofu. We’d definitely recommend the bento box for lunch, but make sure you’re hungry as the portion is very large.

We went to Hyde Park as our next destination. We walked passed Kensington Palace then continued along the south part of the park until we encountered the Albert Memorial commissioned by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband. It towers over the Kensington Gardens and certainly catches you off guard if you’re not expecting it.

After walking to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial, we left Hyde Park around 2:30 pm. My poor night’s sleep had caught up with me, so we headed back to the hotel to rest for a couple hours.

That evening we walked to the Brixton Market for dinner. The walk took around 30 minutes and we arrived at the market just after 7:00. Although the market is open until 11:00 pm according to Google Maps, many of the shops and stalls were already closed when we arrived. We chose a Lebanese restaurant called Mezza Me and loved the food. I’d definitely recommend this spot if you’re in Brixton as there are many options for both vegetarians and non-veg alike.

London Eye and the British Museum

Our second day was arguably busier than our first. We had a slow morning with takeaway breakfast at the park. Then we made our way to the London Eye. We took the bus up to the Eye, and got in line almost right away. Our ticket was for 12:30 pm and it was only around 11:30, but the line was quite long and we weren’t sure how long it would take (we had a time booking but not a skip the line ticket).

We ended up boarding the wheel around noon. Each car takes around 30 minutes to make the full loop and the journey is accompanied by sparse comments from an audio recording. The Eye was one of the most recommended activities by friends and family who’d been to London, but we were disappointed. While the view was interesting, I have to say that for the price, it wasn’t a worthwhile excursion. It was the most expensive admission we paid during the entire trip. I would recommend putting that money towards other sites such as the Tower of London which we sacrificed based on time.

After the aerial tour, we stopped at Tunisian Street Kitchen to get a small snack (smoothies) before continuing back through Leake Street to catch the tube at Waterloo Station. The staff at Tunisian Street Kitchen were very kind and I’d definitely recommend coming here for a meal as their menu looked very good.

From Waterloo, we got off the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road. We made a quick detour to Soho Square where a mock-Tudor cottage sits and a statue of Charles II is kept. Then we walked back in the direction of the British Museum. We had booked our free tickets online, so we skipped the line and went straight through the bag check. If you want to book tickets in advance, you can book through the museum website here.

We spent almost three hours in the museum (and could have spent more, time and museum stamina permitting). We saw many artifacts I studied in my art history course in university, which is always very interesting. We were awed by these artifacts but also very aware that most of them had been stolen from their original homes and their countries of origin were trying to have them returned.

St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge

After our afternoon at the museum, we took a bus to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Before heading to the cathedral we bought a quick snack, then walked around the cathedral to the other side. We considered going in, but the cost of £25 per person was far too steep for us.

We caught a bus on the other side of the Cathedral that brought us to the Tower of London. Because we disembarked our previous bus only a few minutes prior, this trip was considered a continuation of our first trip and therefore free. We walked around the Tower of London, but were too late to enter as it was after 5 o’clock. This is the second of four UNESCO World Heritage Sites found in the London area.

We walked across the Tower Bridge, before deciding to get dinner from the Wagamama in Tower Place. Thus we completed a full tour around the outer walls of the Tower. This was one site I wish we had added to our itinerary, and yes, I would have replaced the London Eye with the Tower of London (it would have been less expensive too!)

On our bus ride home, I caught a a glimpse of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre from Southwark bridge. As an English major, I would have liked to stop here, but our schedule didn’t work out for that.

Borough Market and London Gatwick

On the morning of our flight to Athens, we decided to stop first at the Borough Market. I had hoped to stop here for lunch the day before, but based on the time we were able to get tickets for the Eye, it didn’t work out. So instead, it was the last stop on our London trip, made with our full backpacks and suitcase in tow. We toured the market, tried some samples, and I got some raclette. Then we were off on our journey to catch the Southern line to the London Gatwick Airport.