The 20 best, in orderBest things to do in London
What to do in London, from the first morning to the last night: the 20 things worth your time, in the order this site would do them, with how long each takes, what it costs and when to go.
- 20
- Things to do, in order
- 10
- Cost nothing
- 12
- Are under a roof, for a wet day
- 5
- Take two hours or less
Best things to do in London
Show
All 20
1Monument
See the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London
Monument, Tower Hill
A fortress, a palace and a prison beside the Thames, nearly a thousand years old. The Crown Jewels are kept here, the ravens live here, and the guards who show you round live here too.
- Time to allow
- 2.5 to 3.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- At opening, and straight to the jewels
4.7122,387 Google ratingsFrom £38
Read the guide2Museum
Walk through two million years at the British Museum
Museum, Bloomsbury
The Rosetta Stone, the sculptures of the Parthenon, the Egyptian mummies and the treasure of Sutton Hoo, under one roof and free to enter. Choose a few rooms and see them properly.
- Time to allow
- 2.5 to 4 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- A weekday morning, or Friday evening
4.53,065 Google ratings
Read the guide3Church
Stand where kings are crowned in Westminster Abbey
Church, Westminster
The church where every English monarch since 1066 has been crowned, and where kings, queens, poets and scientists are buried. Go early: it closes to visitors in mid-afternoon and on Sundays.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 2 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- The first entry of the morning
4.652,803 Google ratingsFrom £32
Read the guide4Museum
See Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery
Museum, Trafalgar Square
Seven centuries of European painting on Trafalgar Square, free to enter: Van Eyck, Leonardo, Holbein, Velázquez, Turner, Constable and Van Gogh, each with the picture everyone knows.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- Friday evening, when it stays open
4.863,758 Google ratings
Read the guide5Monument
Watch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Monument, St James's
The King's house in London, at the end of the Mall. The soldiers in red coats and bearskins change guard in its forecourt to a band, and in summer the State Rooms open to visitors.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Free to watch
- Best time
- A guard-change morning, an hour early
4.5196,187 Google ratingsFrom £15
How to do it6Monument
Ride the London Eye
Monument, South Bank
A wheel 135 metres high on the bank of the Thames, opposite Big Ben. One slow turn in a glass capsule takes half an hour and shows you the whole city.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- The hour before sunset
4.5205,421 Google ratingsFrom £29
Read the guide7Museum
See modern art in a power station at Tate Modern
Museum, Bankside
The national museum of modern art, in a power station on the Thames opposite St Paul's. Picasso, Matisse, Rothko and Warhol, a hall the size of a cathedral, and no charge to walk in.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- Friday or Saturday evening
4.584,088 Google ratings
Read the guide8Church
Climb the dome of St Paul's Cathedral
Church, City of London
Christopher Wren's cathedral, built after the Great Fire, under the dome that has stood over the City for three hundred years. Climb its 528 steps for the view he never saw.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- As it opens, then up the dome
4.758,028 Google ratingsFrom £27
Read the guide9Monument
Walk the glass floor of Tower Bridge
Monument, Tower Hill
The bridge with the two towers, which the world takes for London Bridge. Crossing it is free. A ticket takes you up to the high walkways, over a glass floor, and down to the Victorian engines.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket, bridge free to cross
- Best time
- When a ship is due to pass
4.8186,382 Google ratingsFrom £18
Read the guide10Museum
Lose an afternoon in the V&A
Museum, South Kensington
The world's great museum of made things: Raphael's cartoons, a hall of plaster casts with Trajan's Column in it, jewels, carpets, furniture and a tiger eating an Englishman. Free, and too big for one visit.
11Monument
Hear Big Ben strike at the Houses of Parliament
Monument, Westminster
The clock tower everyone calls Big Ben and the long Gothic palace on the river where Parliament sits. Free to look at from the bridge, and open inside on tour days.
- Time to allow
- 45 to 150 minutes
- Cost
- Free outside, ticket to go in
- Best time
- On the hour, from Westminster Bridge
4.699,474 Google ratingsFrom £31
How to do it12Museum
Meet the blue whale at the Natural History Museum
Museum, South Kensington
A cathedral of nature in South Kensington: a blue whale's skeleton diving through the great hall, the dinosaurs, a slice of giant sequoia and Darwin's own specimens. Free.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- A weekday in term time, at opening
4.639,699 Google ratingsFrom £89.06
How to do it13On the water
Take the boat down the Thames to Greenwich
On the water, Greenwich
An hour by boat from Westminster, past the Tower and under Tower Bridge, to the place where time is measured from: the Royal Observatory, the Cutty Sark and Wren's naval college beside the river.
- Time to allow
- 4 to 6 hours
- Cost
- Boat ticket, much of Greenwich free
- Best time
- A dry day, leaving in the morning
4.622,903 Google ratingsFrom £17.20
How to do it14Underground
Go underground at the Churchill War Rooms
Underground, Westminster
The basement under Whitehall from which Britain's war was run from 1939 to 1945, left as it was the day the lights were switched off. The maps still have the pins in them.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 2 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- First thing, or late afternoon
4.616,029 Google ratingsFrom £34
How to do it15Monument
Look down on London from The Shard
Monument, London Bridge
The tallest building in Britain, a splinter of glass over London Bridge station. The viewing floors are almost twice as high as the London Eye, and the top one is open to the sky.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- Before sunset, on a clear day
4.68,267 Google ratingsFrom £26.66
How to do it16Show
Spend an evening in Covent Garden and the West End
Show, Covent Garden
The old market square of London, full of street performers and cafés, in the middle of the district of forty theatres. Walk it in the afternoon and see a show at night.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 5 hours
- Cost
- Free to walk, theatre ticket
- Best time
- Late afternoon into the evening
From £30
How to do it17Walk
Eat your way round Borough Market
Walk, Southwark
London's oldest food market, under the railway arches by London Bridge, and the riverside walk that leads from it past Shakespeare's Globe to Tate Modern.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Free to walk, pay for what you eat
- Best time
- A weekday, late morning
4.6131,423 Google ratingsFrom £91.99
How to do it18Garden
Walk across Hyde Park to Kensington Palace
Garden, Kensington
Two royal parks that run into one another across the middle of west London, with a lake between them and a palace at the far end where Queen Victoria was born.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3.5 hours
- Cost
- Park free, ticket for the palace
- Best time
- A fine morning
4.532,706 Google ratingsFrom £19
How to do it19Day trip
Take the train to Windsor Castle
Day trip, Windsor, 35 km west
The oldest and largest castle in the world that is still lived in, on a hill above the Thames less than an hour from London. Kings have been at home here for nine hundred years.
- Time to allow
- 5 to 7 hours
- Cost
- Ticket and train fare
- Best time
- A day the State Apartments are open
4.764,833 Google ratingsFrom £32
How to do it20Day trip
Walk the sets of Harry Potter at the Warner Bros. studios
Day trip, Leavesden, 30 km north-west
The studios north of London where all eight Harry Potter films were made, with the real sets, costumes and props left standing: the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the model of Hogwarts.
- Time to allow
- 5 to 6.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket, booked ahead
- Best time
- A weekday in term time
4.8105,255 Google ratingsFrom £92
How to do it
How long each one takes
The time to allow for each, shortest first, so you can see what fits into a spare hour and what needs a day. These are this site's estimates for an unhurried visit.
- London Eye1 to 1.5 hours
- Tower Bridge1 to 1.5 hours
- The View from The Shard1 to 1.5 hours
- Westminster Abbey1.5 to 2 hours
- Churchill War Rooms1.5 to 2 hours
- Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament45 to 150 minutes
- Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard1 to 2.5 hours
- St Paul's Cathedral1.5 to 2.5 hours
- Borough Market and Bankside1.5 to 3 hours
- The National Gallery2 to 3 hours
- Tate Modern2 to 3 hours
- Victoria and Albert Museum2 to 3 hours
- Natural History Museum2 to 3 hours
- Hyde Park and Kensington Palace2 to 3.5 hours
- Tower of London2.5 to 3.5 hours
- The British Museum2.5 to 4 hours
- Covent Garden and the West End2 to 5 hours
- Greenwich by river4 to 6 hours
- Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter5 to 6.5 hours
- Windsor Castle5 to 7 hours
The track is eight hours long. The bar ends at the longest visit, and the line inside it marks the shortest.
What visitors say
Each place's overall rating on Google, and how many people have given one. The longer the bar, the more people have been and said so.
- London Eye4.5205,421 Google ratings
- Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard4.5196,187 Google ratings
- Tower Bridge4.8186,382 Google ratings
- Borough Market and Bankside4.6131,423 Google ratings
- Tower of London4.7122,387 Google ratings
- Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter4.8105,255 Google ratings
- Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament4.699,474 Google ratings
- Tate Modern4.584,088 Google ratings
- Victoria and Albert Museum4.868,775 Google ratings
- Windsor Castle4.764,833 Google ratings
- The National Gallery4.863,758 Google ratings
- St Paul's Cathedral4.758,028 Google ratings
- Westminster Abbey4.652,803 Google ratings
- Natural History Museum4.639,699 Google ratings
- Hyde Park and Kensington Palace4.532,706 Google ratings
- Greenwich by river4.622,903 Google ratings
- Churchill War Rooms4.616,029 Google ratings
- The View from The Shard4.68,267 Google ratings
- The British Museum4.53,065 Google ratings
Read on Google Maps. Ratings change, and so will this.
Where they are
Each number is a thing on the list, where it stands in London: the blue band is the river, the green blocks are the parks, gardens and cemeteries. North is up and each square of the grid is one kilometre, so you can see what is next to what and plan a day on foot.
- 1Tower of London
- 2The British Museum
- 3Westminster Abbey
- 4The National Gallery
- 5Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard
- 6London Eye
- 7Tate Modern
- 8St Paul's Cathedral
- 9Tower Bridge
- 10Victoria and Albert Museum
- 11Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
- 12Natural History Museum
- 13Greenwich by river
- 14Churchill War Rooms
- 15The View from The Shard
- 16Covent Garden and the West End
- 17Borough Market and Bankside
- 18Hyde Park and Kensington Palace
River and green areas: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Off the map: 19. Windsor Castle, 36.7 km from number 1, 20. Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter, 31.1 km from number 1.
Things to do in London: common questions
- What is the number one thing to do in London?
- On this site's list: see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. Then walk through two million years at the British Museum, and stand where kings are crowned in Westminster Abbey. The order is this site's own: what a first visit should do first.
- What can you do in London for free?
- 10 of the 20 things on this list cost nothing: The British Museum, The National Gallery, Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard, Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Natural History Museum, Covent Garden and the West End, Borough Market and Bankside and Hyde Park and Kensington Palace.
- What is there to do in London when it rains?
- 12 of the 20 are under a roof: The British Museum, Westminster Abbey, The National Gallery, London Eye, Tate Modern, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, Churchill War Rooms, The View from The Shard and Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.
- What is there to do in London at night?
- London Eye, Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, The View from The Shard and Covent Garden and the West End are all at their best after dark.
- How many days do you need in London?
- The 18 things on this list that are in the city add up to between 32 and 53 hours of visiting, by this site's estimates, without the time to get between them. At about six hours of visiting a day, that is 6 to 9 days for all of them, and three or four days for the first ten.
- What are the best day trips from London?
- Windsor Castle (35 km west) and Warner Bros. Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter (30 km north-west). Each takes a full day.
Where to eat in London
- E. Pellicci4.8Café, Bethnal Green
- Dishoom Covent Garden4.7Bombay café, Covent Garden
- Regency Cafe4.7Café, Westminster
- Wiltons4.7Oyster and game restaurant, St James's
Where to stay in London
- The Milestone Hotel4.8Five-star hotel, Kensington Court, facing Kensington Palace
- The Savoy4.7Five-star hotel, The Strand, on the Thames
- Claridge's4.7Five-star hotel, Brook Street
- Corinthia London4.7Five-star hotel, Whitehall Place, by the Embankment
How the list is made
The choice and the order are this site's: what a first visit to London should do first. Nobody has paid to be on the list or to be higher on it. The times are estimates for an unhurried visit, not measurements.
Where a row shows a price, it is the lowest price of the ticket or tour its page links to, as its seller showed it on the day the page was checked. The ratings are Google's and change over time.