My husband and I will be vacationing in London in May. Looking for suggestions on sights to prioritize given that it has been a long time since I have been there, and my husband has never been. We were thinking of course some of the main sights, Crown Jewels, Kensington Palace, Tower of London, Take Modern and/or Tate Britain. A lot to do though and we only have Thur – Sun. that is why we are looking to narrow our focus. Ideas welcome. Also any going out at night ideas for pubs, lounges would be helpful. Thanks.

Use www.fancyapint.com for pub recommendations.

Lee ann

Here's a brief overview (by day) of what our family visited in several days last August. May give you food for thought.

Day 1: midday arrival
Walking around Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (didn' tour...probably a mistake), Parliament
War Cabinet Rooms (very interesting)
Changing of the horse guard at Whitehall
Walk through St. James Park to see Buckingham Palace
Visit to Harrods
Walk to Princess Diana Memorial in Hyde Park
Dinner in Covent Garden
Tiring but worth it. Hopped on some busses to help with the feet!

Day 2
Tower of London - got there first thing, went directly to Crown Jewels and there was no line, then a Beefeater tour, then touring on our own

St. Paul's - even climbed to the top

Dinner and a show (Mary Poppins)

Day 3
London Eye
Imperial War Museum
Trafalgar Square
Piccadilly Circus

Day 4
Boat tour on the Thames out to Greenwich
Some shopping
British Museum (really quickly)

I think I wish we had gone into Westminster Abbey. Don't regret not seeing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guard at Whitehall was interesting but not as impressive as our visit to the Tomb of the Unknowns in DC.

We really enjoyed being in the Theatre District/Covent Garden area in the evening but that was pretty close to our hotel. Kids liked all of the activity.

Wish we had made a reservation at Rules. Tried to get in but couldn't and it looked special.

Now that it's daytime and I am more awake...

We arrived on a Wednesday and left Saturday morning, so our time was limited.

Day 1 - checked in at our hostel and rode the hop-on, hop-off bus. We got off at the Tower of London because we were sleepy, but didn't take a tour. Ate dinner, bought some groceries, and collapsed.

Day 2 - took the city boat (the name escapes me at the moment) to Greenwich to see the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory, etc. In the afternoon, we took the verger's tour of Westminster Abbey, then spent the rest of the day at the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. In the evening, we had dinner with one of my favorite London Fodorites, who took us on a tour of the Southwark/Borough Market area.

Day 3 - the "treasures" room at the British Library (fascinating, a quick stop at Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross, and the audio highlights tour of the British Museum. We got half-price tickets for Stomp! at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square; our first choice was Les Miserables, but they didn't have tickets available that day.

Lee Ann

We also were in London on a Thursday-Sunday, and here is what we did --

Thursday - arrived mid-afternoon, checked in, explored the Victoria neighborhood, took bus to Trafalgar Square, then hoofed it to Leicester Square area for dinner with niece.

Friday - Got to the Tower before it opened. No one but us in the Crown Jewels building, and the first Yeoman Warder tour of the day was also uncrowded. More independent touring of Tower, then out to Thameside for pics of Tower Bridge. Lunched on fast food, then walked to St. Paul's. Climbed to the Whispering Gallery. Took bus back to hotel, rested up and saw "Wicked" in the evening.

Saturday - took pics in Westminster Bridge area and were into Westminster Abbey as soon as it opened. Took first verger tour of the day. Highly recommended: this was my favorite thing in London! Walked to St. James Park and Cabinet War Rooms. In the evening, took tube to Earl's Court area to niece's flat and had dinner. (If not for the family engagement, we had planned to do a LondonWalks pub crawl this night, but it got to be too late.)

Sunday - British Museum and British Library. Picked up tickets for next day's train journey at King's Cross Station (practically next door). Spent afternoon and early evening in Covent Garden (recommend Lamb & Flag pub); then walked through Piccadilly area and did a little souvenir shopping for the folks back home.

Monday - early train to York.

Regrets - we never found time to do anything in the South Bank area. We never walked over to Buckingham Palace, though it was just a few minutes from our hotel! Didn't see any of the art museums. But we have lots of good reasons now to return to London!

If you are going to some of the paying attractions like the Tower of London, consider buying PAPER travelcards which then allow you to use the offers on www.2for1entry.co.uk (the dates are in European format BTW).

If you are in London for more than 4 days it's best to buy a 7 day travelcard - but the paper versions of these are only available at London TRAIN station booking offices. Shorter period travelcards are always supplied as paper cards whereever you buy them

Thanks for the helpful ideas, we had a great trip

Wonderful! Please post a trip report.

Lee Ann