London when we have been before.

[Dancingtimesquare]

Can you help me plan London? Its myself and DH, kid free Sunday and Monday. We have done London a few times before so have seen many of the sites such as Buckingham Palace, London Eye, HOHO bus etc as well as Harry Potter, Shreks Adventure with the kids etc. These main sites we don't particularly want to see again.

We fly into Stanstead early on the Sunday morning so straight onto the train into Liverpool Street. We have a hotel booked near the Tower of London and will drop our bags off. I hope to be in the city for around 10 or 10.30. I want to see St Pauls. Likely a walk by as DH has no interest plus its £26 to get in. Happy enough just to see it and keep on walking towards the Tower of London. I will pre-book this and I will also pre-book Tower Bridge as these are two sites we haven't seen before. I think we could be done here around 3 ish. What next? I have dinner booked at a restaurant called Vicinity in the Tower Hotel at 6 pm but I am open to changing this time or changing restaurant completely. Its not set in stone. I was thinking a drink in the Shard or possibly the Sky Garden or may be Borough Market? I have done Borough Market before but its been 15 years so not sure if its worth another visit or not?

On Monday, the plan is breakfast in the Sky Garden, if we haven't been the day before for a drink. Open to other breakfast suggestions in the area as well. Then we are heading to the Churchill War Rooms. DH is massively into war history so this is for him more than me. I believe that tour takes a couple of hours so we could potentially be done here around lunchtime. I'd then like to go to Harrods Food Hall as I love it in there. Before that we may take another walk up towards Downing Street, Horse Guards etc.

We do like to do a bit of shopping but aren't going to London specifically for that. As we have done much of London before, we don't want to find ourselves aimlessly walking around thinking what can we do now. Is a Thames Cruise worth it? If anyone has any other suggestions or recommendations, we would appreciate it. Our flight home from Stanstead is not until 10 pm on the Monday night so we really don’t have to be back at Liverpool Street until approx. 7 ish.

Thanks for helping.

If you like walking, you could easily do breakfast at the sky garden, walk up through to monument (worth 5 mins to see where the great fire started) up King William Street see the Bank of England. Can pop into the royal exchange for gentle shopping/browsing then walk up to St Paul’s, can stop at one new change if you want more shopping or have a drink/coffee at madisons.

From there you can either get the tube into soho etc for the rest of your day or cross the millenium bridge for the Tate/south bank etc

Then we are heading to the Churchill War Rooms. DH is massively into war history so this is for him more than me

We balked at the price a few years ago - I've just double checked and it's now £33 per adult! Gulp.

Only mentioning this as you have ruled out St Paul's because of the price.

How about doing Tower of London and Tower Bridge first as your hotel is there?
Then if you walk past St Pauls you could cross over the wobbly bridge and pop in to the Tate Modern, then on to Borough and you would be back near your hotel for dinner.
For Monday after the Cabinet War Rooms you could go to the National Portrait Gallery which is a short walk and then to Fortnum and Mason rather than Harrods so you minimise travel time between venues ?

We go to London a lot - and tend now to go to smaller museums (Sir John Soame's, Old Operating Theatre, the Wallace Collection - or book to see a specific exhibition). Anyway we'd never been to the Churchill War Rooms - and yes it's pricey but very good indeed - even I found it fascinating but DH thought it was great.

I was in London on my own the other Sunday afternoon and went to see a matinee of Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall - fab building and the play was good.

Ahh actually if you do go to the Bank of England area as suggested above they have a quirky museum and its free entry.

I would check the website for the Stansted to Liverpool Street train in advance of travelling. You cannot use oyster or contactless cards; you need a ticket to travel. On Sunday 22 March Liverpool Street station is completely closed to all trains.

The Ivy at Tower Bridge could be alternative to eating in the hotel.

the Food hall at Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly is worth a look around too.

You can go in to St Paul's without paying for the tour and it's lovely.
Book sightseeing tickets | St Paul's Cathedral
I'd do the tour. You won't regret it.

Tate Modern is brilliant.

Fortnum's is different to Harrod's Food Hall and I love it. Have a cup of tea or coffee while you are there.

Other suggestions: V&A, British Museum.

And this is worth a visit and is by Bank too

London Mithraeum | Bloomberg SPACE https://share.google/pA0FUGYiDNTZbsRTQ

You would also need to book the sky garden in advance and requires a ticket to enter. Breakfast there is basically coffee and a pastry and costs just shy of £13.00. Opens at 8.00am.

Only mentioning this as you have ruled out St Paul's because of the price.
It seems a lot, but would probably be about the same as a couple of large G&Ts each in a bar.

You don't have to be religious to enjoy church architecture.
It's Wren!

Why don’t you arrange to attend a service at St Paul’s - by yourself if necessary. It is a church, after all, so there’s no charge to attend services.

(I’m actually pretty appalled that all the up front tourism disguise the fact that anyone can go into a cathedral for free to attend any sort of worship. You don’t even have to be any sort of believer.)

https://www.stpauls.co.uk/whats-on

I love how people who have "done" London list things like Shrek's Adventure.

Borough Market for lunch or dinner is still good and you could pick up a clipper boat from near there. I wouldn't bother going again just to look.

Sky garden for drinks (at sunset?!) is something sounds like a nice adult treat seeing as you're without the kids so would choose that over breakfast.

If you've got tours of Tower and War museum, a smaller art exhibition might be nice.

What I like about St Paul's is the way the light in there changes depending on when you go.
If it's not busy it feels so peaceful.
If there's a choir practice it feels magical.

Sounds like a great itinerary! My big tip is to hit the Thames Clipper between one of sights and hotel. You'll see more on the river and you can tie it in with your sightseeing!

When the young in our family were small I always made choral evensong in the cathedral a feature of any new city I took them to. (And I do that even without a child as a plus one.)

Greenwich? Take the Thames Clipper from Tower Hill which takes you into the heart of the "village" just down from the Cutty Sark.

The maritime museum is free except for special exhibitions but there is tons to see. Observatory and Cutty Sark have to be paid for but you can walk around both and there are lovely views of Canary Wharf and over to the City from the top of the hill.

Greenwich market runs all weekend but not on Monday. Lots of places to eat and drink in the area too. You can hop on a train into London Bridge and walk home via the market.

I would save the war rooms for Monday if you haven't bought tickets yet.

The Imperial War Museum is brilliant. I lived in London for 35 years and never got bored of the back streets round Covent Garden, lovely architecture, quiet and feels 'local'.

One of my favourite walks ( when I lived there) was from Waterloo to Houses of Parliament along the river.

You could get the boat up to Greenwich and back.

When we went to Sky Garden for breakfast, we couldn’t go on to the viewing balcony as it didn’t open until 11am so I’d always suggest evening drinks would be better.

Some fabulous ideas here. Thank you all so much. I do appreciate it. Even the comment about Shrek! We loved it when we went. Still talk about it years on but I dot get your point about doing London and including Shrek. Thanks all again. Will take time to read through everything.

I love Camden market and the canal ride from Camden lock to regent park is lovely and very interesting especially watching them turn the wheel to open, close the locks to raise/lower the water

The Sky garden was a bit of a let down.

Use 2for1 London for cheaper entry to things, and also Tesco club card points. The Whispering Gallery in St Paul’s is amazing.

If you’re walking around Monument/Tower Hill area, St Dunstan in the East is nice for a quiet stop off. Also if you’re after views, the Garden at 120 is great and free.

Get a boat to Battersea Power Station interesting posh shops and eateries. The park is nice for a wander if the weather is ok. The V and A is a lovely museum and I’d have coffee in the courtyard and just go to the jewellery gallery which is free and has some amazing pieces. Then walk along to Kensington Gardens, see the Diana statue, then walk along the Serpentine there are a couple of waterside cafes. You can book a free slot at the Serpentine Gallery which has a David Hockney exhibition on at the moment. Then walk through to Marble Arch.

It’s sounds like you’re ready to see some of the other areas of London and possible some less touristy places? You’ve done lots of the main sights but there are so many amazing spots you’ve not seen. Just a few ideas:

I would 100% agree with the suggestion to get on the Thames Clipper (uber boat) to Greenwich -easily combined with Tower area. The short walk up to the viewpoint in Greenwich park is spectacular and your history-buff husband may appreciate the observatory, the maritime museum, queens house and Cutty sark. It’s a world heritage site. Greenwich Market nice for a mooch. I’d do this for a couple of hours one day.

Another thing if you can squeeze it in would be a trip on the northern line up to Hampstead where you can visit Hampstead Heath and see glorious views from Parliament Hill, plus numerous smaller quirkier museums, or the famous Highgate cemetery, and amazing historical pubs. This is a beautiful interesting area but I appreciate there may not be time for this on this occasion.

I would definitely move dinner from the hotel which sounds like a wasted opportunity. Depending on your tastes there are hundreds of amazing restaurants to choose from of all cuisines and types! If you like a good curry then Brick Lane (easy from Tower) is your go-to for example!

A nice walk is along the South Bank between London Bridge / Tower and the Southbank Centre (past Shad Thames, the Clink, the Globe, the OXO Tower, Sea Containers, BFI, National Theatre) all of which are surrounded by nice and interesting restaurants, pubs and bars. You could do this on your way back from Greenwich or after Tower perhaps, or you could do it on Monday morning as a way to walk from your hotel to Whitehall for the War Rooms- it’s a really nice walk with a lot of sights. You would walk as far as the jubilee footbridges by the Royal Festival Hall then cross over the river, up Villiers Street and you’re at Trafalgar Square from which Whitehall branches off.

One thing to note is that the area round Bank / St Paul’s / City will be very quiet and shut up on Sundays. You might like that but I always prefer the vibe and bustle on a weekday where you get a sense of the real place. There are some amazing old pubs in the City which only open during the week due to lack of City workers at the weekend so it can feel a bit dead on Sundays. So you could potentially save St Paul’s for Monday afternoon/evening before you head to Liverpool St. and you could walk it all in that case.

Finally I agree I’d save a sky garden for a night time drink and get breakfast elsewhere. You could try the Duck and Waffle which is close to your hotel and with spectacular views and the fasted elevator ever to the top floor!