LONDON · ENGLAND
Old city, bright lights, the river running through.
River cruises and open-top buses, the Tower and the Palace, Harry Potter and Jack the Ripper, and the day trips out to Stonehenge, Windsor and the Cotswolds. Every great London day, in one place.
Only in London
Three days out you can only have here.
Open-top buses and river cruises run in every big city. The guard changing at Buckingham Palace, the Ripper's Whitechapel streets, and the studio where they actually built Hogwarts do not.
Since 1660
The Changing of the Guard
The King's Guard has mounted at Buckingham Palace for centuries, in bearskins and scarlet tunics, marched on by a regimental band. The crowds stand three deep at the railings, so most people take a tour that walks them to the right spot before the gates open.
- 1 Buckingham Palace: The State Rooms Entrance Ticket
- 2 London: Buckingham Palace & Changing of the Guard Experience
- 3 London: Changing of The Guard Tour
Leavesden, north of town
The Making of Harry Potter
Every film in the series was shot at Warner Bros. Studios just outside London, and the sets were never taken down. Walk the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express where they were actually built, then ride back into the city the stories were set in.
- 1 Harry Potter: Warner Bros. Studio Tour from King’s Cross
- 2 London: Harry Potter Studio Tour and Oxford Day Trip
- 3 London: Harry Potter Movies Walking Tour (Kids Go Free)
Whitechapel, 1888
Jack the Ripper's East End
The most infamous unsolved case in the city's history played out across a few dark streets in the East End. Guides walk the real Whitechapel sites after the lamps come on, with the police files, the suspects and the alleys the murders happened in.
- 1 London: The Original Jack the Ripper Walking Tour
- 2 London: Jack the Ripper Small Group Tour
- 3 German Language : Original Jack the Ripper Tour
Start here
The one nearly everyone does first.
Of everything in the city, more travellers begin with this than anything else. If you book only one thing before you land, make it this.
The big-hitters
London's Most Popular Tours & Tickets
The London Eye, the Tower, the Palace, Westminster Abbey and the open-top loops. The things almost every first trip is built around.
Where to start
The London a first trip is built around.
The icons, the river, the studio tour, the ghost walks and the day trips beyond the M25. The handful of days most visits are planned around, and the best way to do each.
Beyond the city
How far do you want to go?
Some of the best days near London are not in London at all. Three directions out of the city, each an easy day return by train or coach.
After dark
The city has a darker shift.
When the museums shut, London leans into its ghosts. Dungeon thrills under the railway arches at London Bridge, lantern-lit ghost walks through the old City lanes, and the Ripper’s Whitechapel once the lamps come on.
Ghost, dungeon & horror tours →The table
Tiered stands and long lunches.
Afternoon tea is a London invention, taken in grand hotel lounges, glasshouse atriums and on boats along the river: scones, finger sandwiches and a pot that keeps coming. Add the food tours through Borough Market and the city’s curry houses, pubs and bakeries.
Afternoon tea & food experiences →The river
The city was built to face the water.
London grew up along the Thames, from the Roman wharves in the City to the palaces at Westminster and Greenwich. Sightseeing cruises, evening dinner boats and the fast river clippers all read the place the way it was meant to be read, from the water.
Thames cruises & boat trips →On screen
You have seen these streets before.
Bond and Bridget Jones, Paddington and Sherlock, and a hundred films besides have used London as the set. Location tours walk you between the doorways, bridges and squares you half-recognise, with the scenes that made them famous.
- 1 From London: Day Trip to Downton Abbey, Oxford and Bampton
- 2 London: Harry Potter Filming Locations Walking Tour
- 3 London: Downton Abbey, Cotswolds, and Highclere Castle Tour
Day one
See the whole city before you choose.
The open-top loops string every landmark together, from the Tower to the Palace to the museum quarter, with commentary and a ticket that runs all day. Most throw in a river cruise. The fastest way to get the lie of the land on a first morning, and to work out what you want to come back to.
See all 23 bus tours →By landmark
Pick a London icon.
Each one is its own half-day. The Tower for the Crown Jewels. Westminster for the Abbey and Big Ben. The British Museum for the world under one roof. The Palace for the guard, the studio for Harry Potter, Whitechapel for the Ripper.
By type
Or pick how you want to see it.
On foot with a guide. From the top deck of a bus. Along the river by boat. Round the museums, out on two wheels, or pub by pub after dark.
Plan it
Three perfect days in London.
First time in the city? Here is a long weekend that hits the essentials without a wasted hour.
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