Over 30 million tourists visit London every year. 30 million. That’s nearly half the UK population (and doesn’t even take in to account the residents). One city with so many people? Somehow it works.
As a Brit, I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the city, and after brief breaks to the place I’ve always been happy to retreat back to ‘normal’ England. Now, though, I was seeing it through tour guide eyes, showing D-man around and trying to pack in as much as possible within a short amount of time.
So here is a list of what you could do in a day. More realistically, you will probably want to spread the activities out over a couple of days. I’ve not even included museums or galleries, gardens or markets or shops. The Science Museum, Tate Modern, Kew Gardens, Brick Lane, and more and more and more. So much more. Ah, another time, another list.
For now though, let’s run with this very standard tourist list of things to get the London experience started:
1. Start your day by swinging by some famous streets, sights and places
Watching the shooting of a Bollywood music video in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square cliché?
Picadilly Circus curves
Of course it exists. At King’s Cross train station.
Big Ben put into perspective
2. Squish in amongst the crowds to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace
When did this become such a HUGE tourist attraction?
Crowds start to gather outside of the palace
Fighting our way through the crowds at Buckingham Palace
Perfectly in time.
3. Boat trip down the River Thames
Let’s go join to procession
Spying St Paul’s Cathederal
Tower Bridge and the Shard
One less thing to worry about at the Tower of London
Where every room has a river view
4. Watch the sun set over the city from high on board the London Eye
Ready to join the queues?
Views down on to the South Bank
Time it right to get the best dusk views.
5. Wind down in one of London’s many theatres
Cultured. We can but try.
And then you could finish the day and party on until daybreak at Fabric or one of London’s many clubs or squat parties. We didn’t. Wiped out from a day of flights and now a day in London, D-man, me and my mum headed back to our comfy airbnb find.
My guess is that at the end of the day you too will be tired. Your feet will hurt. You may decide that you don’t like the shuffling crowds, that this city of 8 million people and hoards of tourists is too chaotic and the depths of London’s underground belly too claustrophobic. You may groan about high prices, about sold out shows, about the fact that this city doesn’t seem to sleep.
But stop. Take a breath. You can’t really deny that London is a bold, beautiful city, alive with diversity and culture, can you?
travelola 
Nice! I like the shot with saris!
A bit of movement gives it some life, right? It was interesting to watch the process of a music video being filmed, particularly in such a public, tourist packed space.
Love this post. What a wonderful city London is 🙂
Thanks 🙂 Anything you’d add to the mix?
We love hanging out with the Squirrels in the park at Greenwich and, given we travel with kids, you can’t beat a double decker red bus ride (especially good in the glow of a sunny afternoon – they do have them
)
Ah yeah, Greenwich is always a winner with the park and the GMT timeline and the food and randomness of the indoor market. The double deckers are a must 🙂
I was in London last week and I’m sad to say that I’ve still never seen a changing of the guard! Ah well, next trip. Thanks for the post, I’ll definitely take some of your recommendations next time I’m in town.
Ah, it’s such a touristy thing these days… I’m sure you saw and experienced plenty of other stuff 🙂 I see from your blog that you also visited Bristol (oh, and that you’re a poetry slam champ! – nice work!) and that you didn’t get to see any Banksy work. I was there back in June last year and am soon – finally – to publish a post to do with a Banksy treasure hunt. Just in case you’re interested. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.