How should I spend seven free hours in London on Sunday?

[ahsurelookit]

I will have approx 7 hours free in London this Sunday. From 10am to 5pm

Any recommendations on what I should do?

I have been to London many times, I grew up in Berkshire. I loved the Natural History Museum as a child I have also been to many of the other main museums. But I haven't actually ''done'' a lot of other touristy things I have seen them but not been inside - Big Ben/ Westminster abbey/ Tower etc

I'm going for a hen party but everyone else is leaving earlier so I will be alone. I will also have a small over night bag (easy to carry to potentially not allowed in some places). The hotel is very close to Piccadilly.

I was trying to get a ticket to the Sky Gardens but there is no availability I have been checking for weeks.

I fly home from Heathrow at 8pm so I was planning on getting the tube around 5ish.

Ideally I would like some sightseeing and a nice lunch.

Any thoughts?

Agree with this. Life long Londoner - only got to St Paul’s recently. It’s magnificent. Also The Globe. Maltby Street market is a wonderful vibe with great food.

Also Dennis Servers House for an immersive historical experience.

Personally wouldn’t bother with Sky Garden - just rooftops like any other city - which you can catch from your flight later.

@DirtyGertyy did you do the tour of St Pauls? I might just go alone to the sung Eucharist I am Catholic but it should be fine! Doubt I'd burst into flames or anything lol

I've been into a Globe a few times, both for shows and for a private event once. It was very interesting.

@MummyInTheNecropolis that all sounds really nice! I have never been to Fortum and Masons but many of the fictional characters in the books I like have been!

@Moll2020 do you remember which one you did? There are a few and the sound good

Most of the museums have a cloakroom where you can store your bag, or as a pp mentioned leave it at the hotel and pick up at the end of the day. I should think there are still left luggage points at the train stations too which could be an option.

I would suggest the V&A if the weather isn't great, then lunch at the Flatiron steak restaurant just off High Street Kensington.

If there's nice weather, go to Westminster and pick up a boat to Greenwich. You can either get off there and catch a later boat back after lunch, or stay on it, come straight back, and have lunch somewhere nearby. I would recommend the restaurant in the National Portrait Gallery (they also do a great afternoon tea!)

Have a great time!

If there’s a big queue at Skygarden the Garden at 120 Fenchurch Street is a good albeit lower alternative

My main reason for not wanting to drop my bag somewhere is that I would have to go back to my starting point to get it. I was hoping to keep going until it was tube time

OK I've been looking at google maps this is what I am thinking, it is not a rigid plan at all and I probably going to wander:

• start at Piccadilly tube station approx 10am
• Fortnum and Mason - 5 min from hotel
• Walk down towards Trafalgar square - childhood memories
• Look at Admiralty Arch I've only seen it on TV
• Look at Scotland Yard and Downing Street as I walk to Big Ben
• Big Ben
• Lunch somewhere open to suggestions - I don't want to blow the budget since I have already spent a small fortune on this weekend £30 enough?
• I want to go into Westminster Abbey - I think this will take 2+ hours should book I think
• Head for Heathrow

After big ben cross over river to southbank for food stalls or lunch in BFI cafe

If you want a picnic lunch Fortnums have the most amazing takeaway food hall on the lower ground floor - it’s really reasonable!

Go to the Star Trek exhibition at the Science Museum, buy ALL the merch and then send it to me…🖖. LLAP

Couple of other suggestions. Directly across the road from F&M you have Burlington Arcade and the Royal Academy of Arts courtyard - both well worth a look.

When you walk from F&M to Traf Sq - go along Jermyn St (parallel to Piccadilly) a really quaint street out of the traffic (feel like you are in a movie) - then scoot through St James Square and out on to Regent st / St James down on to Pall Mall for a more interesting walk to Traf Square.
https://www.theoniongarden.org/vision

Could look at eating in Gordon’s Wine Bar or The Onion Garden:

https://www.gordonswinebar.com/history/

Re Skygarden, earlier this year we had tickets booked weeks earlier. We still queued for over an hour, on a very cold day. People were leaving as we all had tickets! Then queued again to be able to catch the lift down and leave. Never again! I’m not sure when the other posters visited, but this was a couple of months ago and even the people controlling the queue were complaining that too many tickets had been issued.

you cant take a bag more than 40x30x25 into Westminster abbey and there are no on site storage facilities. Elizabeth line much faster than Picadilly to get to Heathrow

i was going to suggest running the route a week early! 😄

Hah! x

The skygarden is just a view from a soulless building. I remember when Taylor swift was touring the Americans were all going crazy for it. I have zero interest myself! So many better things to do. Strolling round the west end will be pleasant enough (perhaps not with a suitcase) although my pick would always be a good exhibition in town. There are always plenty. I also recommend the NPG restaurant.

I second this - I adore the V&A!

You should be able to book lunch at sky garden.
I keep missing out too on general tickets

There are also two less formal restaurants at NPG - Larry’s Bar (need to book) and Audrey Green (walk in) both are part of the Australian Daisy Green restaurants which are lovely.

Looks fun! Here's a couple of things in case you weren't aware:

F&M opens 11:30am on Sundays, Burlington Arcade opens 11am, Royal Academy opens 10am.

Admiralty Arch was covered in scaffolding a month ago, it's being converted into a hotel. It might have come down by now...

Definitely book tickets for Westminster Abbey, it's huge and one way round so can get stuck if lots of people bunched up round particular memorials. Some of the chapels, e.g the one with Florence Nightingale memorial aren't on public tour route. I really liked the modern memorial to Halley's comet return in 1986/Edmund Halley, in a cloister on the way out.

Thanks for the info on F&M I did mean to look up the opening times! I might try and look at it on the Saturday instead.

Hum.... I'll look into admiralty arch it wouldn't be going specifically to see if it is covered in scaffolding

I see that Westminster Abbey closes on Sundays- apart from for service

I might go a different direction all together now. Still do trafalgar. Then get the tube to st Paul's and go to the eucharist there. Then walk around some of the city of london

City of London area has lots to offer: Barbican, Guildhall and amphitheatre in the basement, St Dunstan’s church remains, Mithraeum, Tower of London, Horizon 22, Monument. You could do a boat there from Embankment/Westminster too. I did a free walking tour about the London Blitz in that area too, which was great. Enjoy!

@ahsurelookit- how did it go? hope you had a great trip down memory lane.

Thats sounds like a perfect day @MummyInTheNecropolis

I lived in London in my 20s (90s) and really didnt see/visit as much as I should have done. Our son lives there now and every time we visit, we walk miles - there's just so many things to see and places to visit.