My wife and I are first time visitors to London, but unfortunately have only 36 hours there and we are not sure how to best utilize our time. We are landing around 11 am at Heathrow on Saturday and have another flight at 2pm Monday. We are staying at Earl's court and are mainly interested in historical and traditional London. We definitely intend to see Buckingham Palace, Westiminster Palace, London Bridge, and Borough Market, but are not sure what else we should see to make the best use of our time.

London Bridge or do you mean Tower Bridge? London bridge is a fairly new undescript bridge Tower Bridge is the landmark you are thinking of - and to see it from afar - hard not to or go ujp into if and climb on top. British Museum and Tower of London may be on many lists but with limited time those two can take a lot of time.

Sorry i did mean Tower Bridge. We definitely want to see Tower of London but are not sure we have time to actually go in - is it possible to get a decent view from afar? Like you said, we are not sure we have time for a museum - maybe an hour or two but it has to be close to the area we will be visiting anyways.

Yes can see The Tower from vcinity but it is only really neat if you go in and do the Beefeaters' tour - book a time slot amd spend about two hours. That said I'd rather spend your precious time just strolling around - Coven Garden is a great place as our London's sweet parks.

If you are "mainly interested in historical and traditional London" I can't imagine skipping the tour of the Tower of London. I consider it the #1 historical attraction in London. And you do need the (beefeaters) tour to appreciate the history, IMO. No reason you need to climb the London Bridge; this is a landmark easily appreciated from afar.

#1 . . .Why are you staying in Earl's Court? Can the booking be canceled? Nothing wrong with the neighborhood but it is not near any of the sites you mention. On such a short visit I'd want to stay more central.

• Unfortunately Borough Mkt wil be a zoo on Saturday afternoon and doesn't operate on Sundays. Unless you plan on actually touring the Tower of London You might consider dumping things in the east end (the Tower, Tower Bridge, Borough Market, etc)

• Buckingham Palace is merely a (semi boring) walk-by so you can fit it in in the evening when sites are closed.

• 'Westminster Palace' . . . Do you mean the Palace of Westminster i.e. Parliament? If so - it is also a mere walk by.

• With an 11 AM arrival you might get to your hotel by about 2 PM So you have Saturday afternoon, all of Sunday, and early Monday morning (with a 2 PM flight you'll have to leave central London by 10:30 or 11AM -ish leaving plenty of time for an early morning walk. That would be a good time to hit the Palace and Parliament, and Trafalgar Sq, etc.

Sat afternoon you could visit the V&A or British Museum, or National Gallery or ?? have an early dinner and got to a play. I'd head to the Tower Sunday morning so you can tour the Tower and see the bridge and be ready to head elsewhere by early afternoon.