Please check my 5 day LONDON itinerary
 

We will be in London June 13th (arriving from the U.S. at 8:25am at Heathrow) and will leave London Wednesday morning, June 18th on the Eurostar to Paris.

PLEASE REVIEW THIS ITINERARY AND MAKE SUGGESTIONS/CHANGES. THANKS!!

Day 1 FRIDAY
- Arrive at Heathrow - 8:25am
- Check-in at hotel and get settled
- Lunch (ANY SUGGESTIONS in this area?)
- Parliament/Big Ben (walk by and take pictures)
- Royal Observatory Greenwich (mainly just to see the park and the time line)
- Greenwich Market
- Walk around Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus/Trafalgar Square at late afternoon/night

Day 2 SATURDAY
- Westminster tour (opens at (9:30am for a 90 min. tour)
- Lunch Cruise – Board from Waterloo Pier at 12:35 and return at 14:15.
- London Eye
- British Museum (only plan on spending a few hours in here….not all day.)
- Free night to do whatever

Day 3 SUNDAY
- Tower of London (arrive before opening at 10am – go straight to jewels and then tour)
- Hampton Court Palace (only plan on spending about 3-4 hours here)
(I KNOW THIS LOOKS LIKE A LONG DAY, BUT DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE OK SINCE WE ONLY PLAN A FEW HOURS AT EACH?)

Day 4 MONDAY
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Millennium Bridge
- Lunch with co-workers (over by Lloyd’s)
- Lloyd’s Tour (couple hours at most)
- Leadenhall Market (next to Lloyd’s)…won’t take long
- Tower Bridge Experience
- WICKED MUSICAL

Day 5 TUESDAY
- Buckingham Palace (changing of the guard….what time? 11?)
- Harrods ?? (maybe just for the fun of it)
- Free night to do whatever

Just a few comments:

Day 2
- British Museum (only plan on spending a few hours in here….not all day.)

The Museum is only open until 17:30. Your cruise ends at 14:15 and then you'll doing the London Eye. By the time you disembark and get over to the Eye, even if you don't have to wait in line, it'll be close to 15:30 by the time you're done with the Eye. Then you'll need to get to the British Museum, which leaves you just over 1 hour there.

Since the Eye is open until 9pm, I'd suggest you go to British Museum after your cruise, then do the Eye afterwards.

Day 4 MONDAY
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Millennium Bridge
- Lunch with co-workers (over by Lloyd’s)

First, you'll have to cross the Thames to St Paul's, then cross Thames via the Millennium Bridge, then cross Thames again to get to Lloyds.

I'd suggest you do the following:
From your hotel, take the RV1 bus which stops half a block from Tate Modern. Cross Millenium Bridge to St Pauls, then go to Lloyds from there.

Besides what yk mentions:

Friday doesn't make much sense. You want to go to Greenwich after Big Ben/Parliament and before Leicester SQ - when Parliament and Leicester Sq are walking distance from each other. Plus -- Parliament and Big Ben are <u>directly</u> across the street from Westminster Abbey and you will walk by them on Saturday morning.

Sunday is crazy too. The Tower is in one direction and HCP is all the way across London in the opposite direction. When travel time is considered - each will take more than 1/2 a day so you really can't do both on the same day.

Need a bit of re-thinking/re-organizing . . . .

well crap....I have tried about four different itineraries and none have worked perfectly and I guess they won't.

I will try to rethink....about to say the heck with it and just go. ha!

by the way - don't take my post the wrong way. THANKS SO MUCH for all of your help....it is just frustrating when I think I have it planned right and then I find out....I don't. Better to find out now than when I am in London

Janis - you said:

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Friday doesn't make much sense. You want to go to Greenwich after Big Ben/Parliament and before Leicester SQ - when Parliament and Leicester Sq are walking distance from each other. Plus -- Parliament and Big Ben are directly across the street from Westminster Abbey and you will walk by them on Saturday morning.
----

I did that because I want to go to the Greenwich Market and Big Ben/Parliament is just a walk by to take pictures. We would get on the tube at Westinster and head out to Greenwich for a few hours. Then we would come back and walk around Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus/Trafalgar Square at late afternoon/night

Aren't you staying at the County Hall?? Don't worry about &quot;scheduling&quot; Big Ben, Parliament, the Millenium Bridge and things like that. They are basically on your doorstep so you will see them just in normal moving from place to place.

You'll probably walk across Westminster Bridge 8 or 10 times, and the Millenium Bridge 2 or 3 times -- just to get from your hotel to other sites in your 5 days.

Now go have a glass of wine and relax and quit worrying :)

I think the OP has been shuffling his schedule around many times in the last month, trying to fit as much in as possible. B/c of the Eye/Cruise package plus the Lloyds, some things aren't switch-able.

As for Tower/HCP, I suppose it is do-able. Say, 3 hours at the Tower from 10a-1pm. It'll take probably 1.5 hr at least to get from Tower to HCP, so they'll arrive at 2:30. That still gives them 3.5 hrs at HCP. (This does not include any time to stop for lunch.)

I personally don't think it's ideal, but I think the OP will be happy with it given the time constraints.

To the OP, is seeing Changing of the Guards that important to you? I've seen it a couple of times (involuntarily) and really don't think it's such a big deal. Unless you get there really early for a spot in the front, otherwise you'll be standing in your tiptoes trying to peek behind people's heads. If you skip it, you'll free up pretty much your whole Tuesday for something else. Just my opinion.

How about if you go to Hampton Court on Tuesday and go to the British Museum on Sunday? (And skip Parliament/Big Ben on Friday)

Also, did you say what hotel?

Our posts crossed -- Just go to Greenwich. Skip everything else on your arrival day. You'll be too tired to schlepp all over London and the boat trip will be relaxing.

(It is too bad you are tied into a lunch cruise and the Eye on a specific day -- or the lunch cruise at all -- since that really limits your flexibility. But what's done is done)

Sorry, we were all writing at the same time...

I'm pretty sure OP is staying at Marriott County Hall, based on his other posts.

All our posts are crossing - we ALL want to help you so much.

The lunch cruise is the biggest problem IMO. And maybe if you had posted here first we could have talked you out of it. It will take a big chunk out of your already limited time. There are lots of other ways to see/ride on the river. Is there any way you can cancel the cruise/Eye package or is it a done deal??

Thanks again for putting up with me! Man - so greatly appreciated!

I will be staying at the County Hall Marriott.

Good idea noe847.

I could do:

Day 3 SUNDAY
- Tower of London (arrive before opening at 10am – go straight to jewels and then tour)
- British Museum

Day 5 TUESDAY
- Maybe changing of the guards...not sure
- Hampton Court
- Harrods ?? (maybe just for the fun of it)
- Free night to do whatever

i guess I could see if I could cancel it, but I would have to sell it...I paid $102 for the package for 2 people....I can't get a refund. I thought a cruise would be fun and it was a good deal....guess not. :)

Whatever you decide, and whichever way you end up doing, I hope you'll write a trip report after you come back from your trip. You owe us a TR after all these *great* advice we gave you! ;)

Dang right! A nice trip report will be provided! I should be paying you guys/gals!

If your EYE/Cruise is not cancellabe and nonrefundable, then don't worry about it. Just go and enjoy yourselves.

I think your new itin looks better and more do-able.

Don't worry if you are &quot;stuck&quot; w/ the cruise. It is just that there are sooooo many other boats. The main problem is being tied to taking that particular boat in the middle of that particular day. Even if it was a dinner cruise - then it wouldn't take up so much daylight sightseeing time.

But you will enjoy it, so if you must -- you must.

Go with what you've planned. You'll never get to do everything in London. Make sure you know what your absolute priorities are and do one each day. Fill in with the rest and/or leave a bit of time for serendipity. Chances are you will get enough of a taste that you'll want to return. At least that's how it's worked for me.