London, despite being a bustling, modern metropolis, is deeply immersed in history. It is this synergy between the past, the present and the future that makes this city so popular among tourists from all over the world. Wander down the narrow alleys and admire the iconic landmarks, such as Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, and marvel at the traditional architecture which will send you back in time, even if for a few days. If tradition is not your cup of tea, then you will be mesmerised by the modern face of London, as objects like the Shard, the planned Garden Bridge and the Tate Modern extension are ones of the most impressive examples of contemporary architecture. The city’s diversity affects more than architecture – often called the city of ideas and imagination, London has a vibrant art and culture scene, with both traditional and avant-garde sides to it. From charming pubs, leafy suburbs, and quiet river banks, to the wildest clubs in Europe, London is a city of many faces, with a welcoming atmosphere which makes every visitor feel at home. This deeply multicultural, tolerant city, consisting of 270 nationalities and 300 tongues, welcomes everyone with open arms.
If you’re a resident of the United Kingdom and are only visiting London during your vacation, you may apply for a free guided tour of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Westminster Hall via the “democratic access tour” option.
One of the best ways to save money while visiting London is getting yourself a travel smartcard for the city's public transport. Not only does the card half the price of regular one-day travel cards and paper tickets, but you also qualify for a range of special discounts.
While traversing large distances may be difficult on foot, when in the city’s centre, you may use the Santander Cycles scheme instead. Santander Cycles provides bikes for travelers and the first half an hour is free. Such a solution may be even faster than taking commute during busy times.
The London Pass allows you to get into over sixty different attractions for free, often without the need to wait in line. The attractions include the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge and the Thames River Cruise, and is overall cheaper than buying tickets one at a time.
If you carefully plan your sightseeing journey ahead, you might save up quite a bit of money. Not only do you save more than 10% of the regular price, but by booking online, you also skip the lines. As the tickets are very often issued in time slots, you can arrive precisely when an event or tour begins.
You will probably want to visit different pubs and clubs, which come to life at night. To save some money while at it, look online for places which offer happy hours, or choose one of many student nightclubs, which offer special drink promotions. You can ask around at your hotel for tips.
London can be a big money drain if you don’t watch carefully where you do the shopping. Make sure you are not going to the biggest, most popular places, but instead try to find more affordable options, such as Primark or the vintage emporium. You can also try the wonderful markets of London, where you can further haggle for a better price.
When visiting London, you might want to keep a watchful eye on your food expenses. If you would rather not prepare your own meals and prefer to eat out, try some smaller diners in one of many parks of London. Food trucks are also a great option, with street food becoming even more popular than ever.
Most of the events, concerts, tours and other attractions in London have early-bird tickets available on sale, which are a lot cheaper than their regular versions. Keep an eye on various offers and make sure to book a place as soon as possible, but keep in mind this type of tickets is usually very limited.
Late spring and summer is the prime tourist season in London. This is when the city is teeming with life, but also when the crowds are the thickest. Fall and winter are when the crowds subdue, so if you’re after the intimate atmosphere and a relaxing sightseeing, that’s your time to visit London. However, take that with a grain of salt, as London is never really empty – it’s just a bit less crowded during these months. December is an exception to that, as the city is packed during the holidays.
The mild climate of London makes the city attractive throughout the entire year. Extreme weather, no matter on which end, is not what London is known for. The warmest months of the year are June, July, and August when the temperature hovers around 20 °C – 22 °C high and 12 °C – 14 °C low. From December to February, London is the coldest, averaging 7 °C highs and 3 °C lows.
The hotel rates and flight prices are substantially higher in the prime tourist season, which is late spring and summer and can be up to 30% higher than throughout the rest of the year. Winter (except for December, due to holidays) is when you can try to scoop some discounts.
London Parade (First of January)
Pancake Day (February/March)
London Fashion Week (February)
St Patrick's Day Festival and Parade (March)
Cancer Research UK Boat Race (March)
Virgin Money London Marathon (April)
London Coffee Festival (April)
Museums at Night (May)
RHS Chelsea Flower Show (May)
State Opening of Parliament (May)
London Fashion Week (September)
Museums at Night (October)
Guy Fawkes Night (November)
The Lord Mayor's Show (November)
Renting an apartment in London for the purpose of your visit may not only be a more comfortable, but also a cheaper alternative to staying in a hotel. Prices for renting an apartment in London start from as low as £40 per night and go up depending on the standard and size. Especially families will benefit from this accommodation choice, as it offers a higher degree of privacy and freedom.
Accommodation in London is never really cheap, but if you’re willing to accept some compromises, it doesn’t have to be awfully expensive. Prices for budget hotels in London start from £40 per night, with around £80 in better locations.
The middle range of hotels in London is a diverse one, as many factors influence the price – location, standard, time of the year, extra facilities, et cetera. Prices per night for a 3-star hotel in London start around £70, with about £130 high. These hotels are usually located in convenient, attractive spots.
London is known for its luxury hotels. Located in the most attractive boroughs of the city, they will satisfy even the most demanding guests. In addition to diverse facilities and impeccable service, luxury hotels in London offer excellent location right in the thick of things. Prices per night start around £300 with around £600 on the higher end.
Londoners are known for their sympathy for cycling, and it’s a very popular way of getting to work each day. To be able to accommodate tens of thousands of cyclists every day, London has been adjusted to be as bicycle-friendly as possible. However, less-confident cyclists can be a bit intimidated by the traffic. Still, if you’re an experienced cyclist, London’s “cycle superhighways” are certainly your cup of tea. You’re not allowed to take your non-folded bike with you into any London Overground train between 07:30 and 09:30, and 16:00 and 19:00 Monday-Friday. Services from and to Liverpool Street are an exception. Bikes can be, however, taken on London Overground trains leaving Liverpool Street Station to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford between 07:30 and 09:30, as well as those arriving at Liverpool Street Station from Enfield Town, Cheshunt or Chingford between 16:00 and 19:00. Folded bicycles are accepted on all means of public transportation at any time London offers a cycle-hire scheme called Santander Cycles, sometimes called Boris Bikes after the city’s former mayor, who launched this initiative. Santander Cycles allows you to pick up a bike from one of the 750 docking stations, conveniently distributed around London, and then drop it off at another docking station. It costs £2 access fee for 24 hours, paid with a credit or debit card. The first 30 minutes are free, and then any additional period of 30 minutes costs £2. One has to be at least 14 years old to ride these bikes, and 18 years old to access them.
If you’d like to do some sightseeing from the boat’s deck, you should try Thames Clippers. This boat company offers regular runs between Embankment, Waterloo (London Eye), Bankside (Shakespeare’s Globe), Blackfriars, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Greenwich, North Greenwich, Canary Wharf and Woolwich pier. All zones cost £9.90/£4.95 for adults/children. The boat runs from 6:55 a.m. to midnight during the week, and from 9:29 a.m. on weekends. Alternatively, you can buy the Thames Clipper River Roamer ticket (£19/£9.50 for adults/children) which allows you to hop-on and hop-off the boats at will throughout the day. Being the pay-as-you-go Oyster Card or the Travelcard holder grants you a one-third discount off the standard price, as well as the River Roamer tickets price.
The red double-decker buses of London are truly iconic. While they offer great views of the city, keep in mind that they are not exactly the fastest mean of transportation, given the traffic jams and the amount of commuters hopping on and off at each stop. Still, no trip to London is complete without riding a red double-decker. Normal bus services operate from 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. There are also over 50 night-bus routers, prefixed with the letter “N”. These operate from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Remember that most of these stop only on request, so always communicate or ring for your stop.
The London Underground also called “the tube,” consists of 11 colour-coded lines. It is also a part of the Docklands Light Railway – DLR and the Overground network, which form an integrated public transport system. It is without a doubt the quickest and easiest way of moving around London, and probably the cheapest. The first trains start from around 5:30 a.m. Monday to Saturday and 6:45 a.m. Sunday, while the last trains leave around 12:30 a.m. Monday to Saturday and 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
• Oyster Card – not only does this card hold pay-as-you-go credit, but also Travelcards and public transportation passes. Owners of the Oyster Card can also enjoy various discounts on public transportation, food, theatre, museums and more. Oyster Card requires £5 deposit, which is given back when the card is returned, along with the remaining credit.
• Weekly/Monthly passes – these alternatives to one-time tickets are worth it if one stays in London for more than just a few days. These can also be loaded in the Oyster Card.
• London Pass – comes in various options and starts at £69.00 for an adult, £49 for a child per day. It also comes in an extended version, with an Oyster Travelcard, which covers all your public transportation expenses and grants you access to over 80 attractions and museums, including the Tower of London. Additional benefits of the London Pass include fast-track entries and free guidebooks.
A perfect choice of attraction for the Harry Potter fans. This luxurious tour allows you to experience the making of a Harry Potter movie independently, without a group. See various props and costumes from all of the movies in a single, hassle-free round trip which takes you from central London all the way to Watford.
Waiting for a couple of hours before you can access an attraction might scare off some tourists, and this is exactly where skip-the-line tickets come into play. This one allows anyone to experience a marvelous panoramic view of the city from the world’s highest observation wheel, and moreover includes admission to the special London Eye 4D Experience.
A great tour if you do not like having strict schedules and would rather discover the wonders of the city at your own pace. This tour allows you to purchase a one-day or two-day ticket for three bus routes, which themselves contain an audio commentary, and one of the routes even has a live guide to tell you about the attractions of London.
This tour is an absolute must-see for everyone visiting London. The Westminster Abbey is one of the greatest abbey churches of the United Kingdom and the traditional place for coronation and burial site for monarchs. This personalised guide allows admiring everything inside at your own pace with an audio guide providing information.
A great way to admire the cityscape of London with all of its gorgeous monuments and attractions is to get a ticket for the View from the Shard, where you can access an inspiring 360-degree view of the capital of England. The Shard is the tallest building in Western Europe, providing an unforgettable experience to any visitor.
An exclusive, insider access to what are probably the two most renowned attractions of the city. The VIP ticket allows you to enter the Tower of London before the public, making for an intimate sightseeing experience. The tour also includes the access to the Triforium of St Paul's Cathedral where you can admire the staircase used in Harry Potter movies.
This unique tour allows you to retrace the murderous route of Jack the Ripper – a famous Victorian murderer, known for hunting women on the streets of London. The tour includes a well-oriented guide who will tell you the chilling story of Jack the Ripper, including the use of a handheld projector to provide an even greater immersion.
The Churchill War Rooms is a special museum dedicated to recreate and preserve the historic underground complex of rooms which housed the British government command centre during the Second World War. The museum also has a special part with a biographical description of Winston Churchill.
This forty minutes long cruise will allow you to relax and unwind after a tough day of sightseeing, while still providing entertainment and attractions to admire. The cruise will take you along the river Thames, passing many historical sites such as Big Ben, St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London and even the modern Millennium Bridge.
A real must-see for any tourist, whether young or adult. The London Dungeon provides entertainment with its dark and spooky corridors, with a specially staged performance with interactive elements, bound to chill your spine as you explore the history of London's most well-known killers and the aftermath of the Great Plague.
It is worth exploring the Natural History Museum during your trip to London, as it does not require an admission fee. Face a famous roaring T-Rex and even have some fun with the unique earthquake simulator which is located in the midst of the museum.
This historic house, which encompasses a museum and a library, was built by the famous 19th-century architect Sir John Soane. The house has been left untouched for almost a hundred and eighty years and is now open to the public to visit at any time, sponsored by the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport.
While a bank may not seem to be the most thrilling place to visit on your trip to a foreign city, there are plenty of exhibits and attractions there to keep you occupied. The most popular display of the museum, which is free to visit from Monday to Friday, is a genuine bar of solid gold which you can hold yourself and take a picture with.
Marvel at the natural history collection at the Grant Museum of Zoology, which covers the entire animal kingdom, including many extinct and near-extinct species. The museum is open Monday through Saturday for all visitors and holds an exhibit of cases packed with skeletons among others.
The Horniman Museum, located in Forest Hill, is a free-to-enter site dedicated to research on anthropology. The museum holds an arrangement of displays on natural history and even musical instruments and houses a gigantic overstuffed walrus for people to see.
Founded in 1753, the British Museum is one of the most well-known museums in the world. Its incredible collection shows the history of mankind spread across over two million years, including the world famous Rosetta Stone.
If you’re into arms and military, the Imperial War Museum is a sure must-see. The museum holds one of the largest collections of military armament in the world, as well as interesting stories of people whose lives were largely impacted by the war, including documents and art.
This park, located in South London, is a place where the glass Crystal Palace exhibition was displayed between 1854 and 1935. Nowadays, the park is a place where you can admire full-size dinosaur models and it includes a range of playgrounds, mazes and plenty of greenery to look upon.
If you're into quirky, unusual attractions that are sure to imprint themselves firmly into your memory, you might be interested in visiting the medical museum of anaesthesia, holding a collection of over two thousand objects which tell the story and development of anaesthesia techniques.
Take a stroll and relax on the Wimbledon Common, a large park which includes a broad variety of ponds, nature trails, and even a windmill. The Common has football, rugby and cricket courts where you can spend your free time while exercising and staying healthy.
A visit to one of the world’s largest parks, covering over 142 hectares of terrain with more than four thousand trees, a sizable lake, and a decorative flower garden, is a necessity for any nature enthusiast who happens to visit London. Those who wish it can even swim in dedicated places.
This park, planted with numerous avenues of tall trees and ornamental flower gardens, covers a hundred hectares and is home to the Kensington Palace, Italian Gardens, a large Peter Pan statue, the gorgeous Albert Memorial and the Serpentine Gallery, surrounded with grasslands and local wildlife.
The St James Park, located in the heart of London and covering 23 hectares, may not be the largest park of the city, but it is worthy of a visit nonetheless. Every day at 2:30 p.m. the local pelicans are being fed, and the park itself is home to a number of water birds, owls, woodpeckers, and bats.
If you’re in London with your kids and family, why not gather up and take a trip to one of the London’s major concert halls for orchestral concerts. While the public tours of the hall have been discontinued, you can still ride the famous singing elevator inside of the hall.
The Vauxhall City Farm is home to a wide range of farm animals, including pigs, sheep, rabbits, ducks and even three alpacas, called Ben, Jerry, and Tom. The farm also has an ecology area as well as a cosy picnic spot.
If you’re a Potterhead and love both the movies and the books written by J. K. Rowling, you just have to visit the famous platform at the King’s Cross station, where you can pretend to put a trolley right through the marked wall to enter the magical world of Harry Potter.
Being a famous art centre in London with a variety of different festivals and events spanning all over the year, the Southbank Centre provides a place to experience renowned art and cultural attractions to stimulate your senses. The Centre also has a skate-park next to it, where you can see death-defying tricks performed by professionals.
Visit the iconic Trafalgar Square with its very popular fountains and unique architecture, and join a special festival that takes place every year around the square. The square itself has a famous Nelson’s Column, the world-famous stone lions, and the Fourth Plinth, which shows the works of modern artists.
The Supreme Court is a true one-of-a-kind attraction, regarded as a must-see when in London. Since the Supreme Court is open to all free of charge, you can visit it from Monday to Friday to watch a court case with your very own eyes.
Our list of the best hotels in London are: Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel London, Sofitel London, Corinthia Hotel London and Hyatt Place London. Discover the full list of best hotels in London.
The finest examples of luxury hotels in London include Radisson Blu Edwardian New Providence Wharf, Park Plaza County Hall London, Amba Hotel Grosvenor, The Tower Hotel London, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel London, The Montcalm at the Brewery London City and The Cavendish London. Discover the full list of luxury hotels in London.
Those trying to visit London on a tight budget will find everything they need in hotels such as Premier Inn London, Ibis London, Hilton Garden Inn London, Motel One London, Holiday Inn Express London, The Clarendon Hotel London and Best Western Chiswick Palace & Suites London. Discover the full list of Cheap hotels in London.
Taking factors such as weather, crowds and prices, the best months to visit London for a city break are April, May, August and December.
London offers plenty of exciting attractions and things to do. Must-sees in London include: Warner Bros. Studio: The Making of Harry Potter, London Eye, Hop-on-hop-off London Sightseeing Tour, Westminster Abbey with an audio guide and VIP tour of the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral.
A city pass in London costs around €69.
24-hour ticket for public transport in London costs around €15.70.
The best night clubs in London include: Fabric, Heaven, Cargo, Studio 338 and XOYO.
Judging on the reviews and customer opinions, the best bars in London are: Satan’s Whiskers, The Lost Alpaca, The Parrot, Passione Vino and The Bar at China Tang.
Your choice of the best restaurants in London may vary depending on your taste, however, Clove Club, Bao Fitzrovia, Kiln and Kricket are some of the most popular choices.
Top 5 restaurants in London include: Santa Maria Pizzeria, Bao, Padella, Flat Iron and Brasserie Zedel.
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