My husband and I are heading back to London in early May. Most of our trip is buttoned down but we’re still looking for some meal suggestions based on our locations each day. I’ve listed an abbreviated itinerary in the first response below for reference. We are booked at the Locke at Broken Wharf for the entirety of our visit.

We’re fine with either grab-and-go or sit down/full English style breakfast. As for supper (by supper we mean dinner/last big meal of the day,) we enjoy most foods – Indian, Italian, Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, gastropub, etc. Not so much Mexican. Cost-wise, breakfast in the £30 range total, and suppers up to £150 all in (could go a bit higher for very special.) We like our pints and ciders but are not big drinkers. TIA for any advice!

Day 0/1: Monday/Tuesday –Fly overnight to Heathrow; shower/breakfast in United lounge. Check in to hotel/drop bags. Go to Tower Hill, walk across Tower Bridge. Queen’s Walk to Borough Market for strolling and lunch (suggestions welcome.) Queen’s Walk/Bankside to supper at Doggetts Coat & Badge. Back to Blackfriar’s Bridge, cross. Paul’s Walk back to hotel.

Day 2 (W): – Breakfast: in room or near St. Paul’s Cathedral (ideas??) Visit SPC through early afternoon (climb inside dome, Triforium Tour, etc.) Next, Imperial War Museum: late lunch here then stay until closing. Leadenhall Market for pix then supper: Darwin Brasserie, reviews mixed (opinions?) so also considering Horizon 22 with different restaurant (ideas??) nearby.

Day 3 (R) – Breakfast: Speedy’s or Salt and Pepper (others ??) Brit Museum, full tea there for lunch. Stay until close or leave earlier and do British Library/Treasures Gallery. Snacks for supper at Pret or ?/ (near)Play that Goes Wrong (Dutchess Theater)

Day 4 (F) –. Breakfast on way to or near Hampton Court Palace (??) Snacks for lunch at Palace. Stay until close. Supper the Mute Swan. London Eye (if weather is good).

Day 5 (S) – Breakfast on way to or near Bletchley Park (suggestions?) Lunch inside Park (is the food here good?) Stay until close. Supper: the Ships Tavern. London Walks “Ghosts of the Old City”

Day 6 (Sun) – Leisure breakfast: full English somewhere close to hotel (??). Play (Palace Theater) Harry Potter pt 1. “Supper” Sunday roast, Hawksmoor 7 Dials, 16:30. Harry Potter, pt 2.

Day 7 (M) – Breakfast near or on way to Windsor Castle (??). Possibly stay until closing. (Are lunch or snack choices at Castle decent?) After Castle, walk through town. Back to London and Trafalgar Square for pix or London Eye if prior day wasn’t weather-friendly. Supper: possibly eat near Castle (ideas?)

Day 8 (T) – Harry Potter studios tour, breakfast along the way (??). Lunch: grab something at grocery store to take with us? Supper: Ivy Tower Bridge. Ceremony of Keys (fingers crossed)

Day 9 (W) – Breakfast in hotel room. Tower of London with lunch at Tower; stay until near closing. St. Dunstan in the East. Supper: Dishoom (ate at Kensington location last time/was awesome; are other locations closer to Tower as good – service/quality?) or other Indian restaurant suggestions (prefer some meat based.)

Day 10 (R) – Old Spitalfields (antique market); quick grab breakfast there (ideas??) Plan to get back to hotel/check out by 11, then to airport (allowing 1 ½ hr on tube.) Most likely, timewise, lunch/snacks will have to be in United lounge. Flight leaves 4p to home

Your trip seems planned to the minute, which does give you a feeling of predictability and security. Are you by any chance an analytical personality? ☮️

Journalist by trade, but (and not trying to say this in a snarky way or anything) curious why you think it's so regimented? I was thinking it was rather free flowing. We plan to visit a site for the day and if we end quicker than we think then we are free to go somewhere else. Having been to London several times already, we know how we will react to certain sites, and have left plenty of time for those that will be new to us.

We do need a basic framework, as some sites aren't open certain days, etc. And obviously, we need to plan for things like our Harry Potter play, since we have a limited amount of time between the two halves in which to eat our Sunday roast, and they only serve it for a limited time. Within constraints like that, though, I thought it was rather loose. Could you explain more what you meant? I'd really like to know!

No snark intended! I too am an old reporter...now retired. I recall our obligatory HR training on personality "types" that we encounter and how each exhibits his/her traits....I laughed because I am probably the polar opposite of you! They called me an "expressive" as I recall.... Viva la difference! I tend to be much looser, and in turn miss many things that better planning would provide, but I just can't quite get there. I do know travel is not entirely predictable or linear and prone to disruption. In any case, planning is part of the pleasure of travel and it sounds like a great time. Enjoy!

We really quite enjoyed Gunpowder in Spitalfields (reservation); and got lucky at Bedales in Borough Market with a table overlooking the market side.

Good Heavens, that's quite a plan you have. I don't mean that in a bad way as it's good to have a rough idea of what to do, and in many situations you have to buy tickets in advance so planning is good. But why not leave a day or two open and let fate decide what you will do? My DH and I spent 10 days in London a few months ago and some of our best experiences were the unexpected things we discovered.

That said, I will give you one dining recommendation. This was something completely unplanned that was delightful. We found an area near the Tower Bridge called St Katharine Docks, with a lot of good restaurants. I don't recall the name of the one we went to, but there are so many in that area and I'm sure you will find a good one. If you're on the Tower Bridge, it's not on the same side of the bridge as the Tower of London.

Have a great trip!!

I'm loving all these replies! Thanks everyone!

I will certainly admit, I am the planner of the our family, and do like to flesh out our itineraries well ahead of time, since (as the saying goes) there is so much we want to see and do and so little time to do it in. (You should have seen my itinerary for our 14 days in Scotland last May - the trip report is floating around over on the Scotland forum, I think. Now that was much more regimented by far! From Edinburgh to Orkney to Mull and back.)

But traveling to London this time of year? I've been told early May is when the tourist season really starts to ramp back up (we've mostly been to London in the fall), not that it ever slows down much, and I'd not like to miss anything because of that. We've booked or will book the places we absolutely had/have to - the Harry Potter studio tour, the plays, Ceremony of the Keys (if we're again so lucky), etc. And now, I'm just trying to bulk up our list of possible eateries, so that if one doesn't work out we have backups.

Wildiowa - No worries! Interesting that I might have a personality "type!" Will have to ponder over that a bit. Viva la difference, indeed! And yes, I think you hit upon part of it! For me, planning is a great part of the whole experience, one I very much enjoy. Although, this has been the least planned trip of all our recent ones, probably because we've been to London a bit already.

Fourfortravel - exactly what I was hoping for! Thanks so much! We might not get to enjoy a sit down place at Spitalfields, since I'm super excited to revisit the antiques market that Thursday and I need to keep in mind that it is our travel home day. But I'm adding it to the list. Now, Bedales - a wine bar? Excellent!

PM - Ahh, if only we could add a few more days on to this trip. But we really splashed out last May, and are trying to keep the budget in check this time. I will say, we usually find at least one unexpected unplanned treasure each trip; more so when we drive, but even in the city, too. For me, the last time I was in London (with my adult daughter) we found the beautiful, peaceful St. Dunstan in the East ruins - hence why it made it back on our list to visit for this trip. And we love to just meander and poke into quiet corners, so I'm confident we'll find more this time! I'll make sure to scope out any restaurants around the St Katharine's docks area on Google maps before we leave!

We’ve been to London a lot in the last 15 years and my favorites are The Barbary (located in the scenic Neal’s Yard), Barrafina a great tapas place that has 3 or 4 locations, Koya for excellent udon in soho, Hoppers in Soho and have eaten at Indian restaurant Dishoom many times but lines have gotten too long. Wanted to try St. John’s and Rochelle Canteen but never got there. Have eaten at Bocca di Lupo for good Italian and a delightful Bill Nighy sighting. Borough market is a fun activity and good food to pick from the many stalls. For lunch I love eating at the stunning Victoria and Albert tearooms (also one of my favorite museums) and sitting at the counter at Tate Modern and gazing over across the Thames to St. Paul. Check out Hungryonion and Eater.com for more foodie recs.

Well this is a terrific, completely scheduled itinerary. I am a scheduler / planner of trips, complete with Excel spreadsheets, maps, distances, tickets all purchased in advance, etc. but I have only once in my numerous trips to Europe made a single reservation for lunch that didn't include a play or cruise added to the lunch. (Jules Vern). We're not fussy eaters and not considered foodies, so we fly by the seat of our pants and have some bad meals as well us some terrific meals and then continue on our day. We'll eat in the museum restaurants, or at street vendors if that's what's available when we're hungry. We do, however, usually pay the extra price to add a breakfast to our hotel stay, so we're not looking for a place before we get on with our day. We didn't do that in our hotel in Paris because of the high added price, so we kept it simple and just ordered coffee and a basket of bakery goods each day. When we got the bill at the end, it was literally more money than a full breakfast. Live and learn!

I don't have time to read the entire plan nor all the responses just now since my day is scheduled about as full as yours Will get a chance to read it in detail later this evening. But just a quick skim a few things jump out. Your day 1 -- UNLESS the Tower/bridge are musts for some reason it would be easier/better IMO to cross either the Millennium Bridge or Southwark Bridge for your visit to Borough Market. Unless visiting the Tower there is no reason to walk nearly that far. When at Boroung Mky be sure to visit Southwark Cathedral

Your HCP day will be long and probably tiring. I personally would want more than snacks at the Palace. I'd either eat a full meal in the Tiltyard Cafe on site or at the Mitre on the river next to the bridge.That day I'd probably have breakfast at Waterloo station before catching the train.

Day 2 seems all over the place . . . St Pauls, the it he IWM then Leadenhall Mkt. Since you are staying so close to St Pauls I would not schedule it on a day you are visiting other far flung parts of the city. Myself - I'd probably do St Paul's on Day 9. Tower in the morning / early afternoon and St Pauls in the mid afternoon.

Unless you get Ceremony of the Keys tickets (not a given) have a definite plan B.

The #15 bus will be very useful for you -- it runs east/west from the east end, the Tower, past St Paul's, the Strand and ending at Charing Cross/Trafalgar Sq.

Macdogmom - lots of suggestions for us to look over, so thanks for that! Udon is a favorite, so we'll look into Koya. We were trying to keep a list of places around each days' sites, but are certainly not adverse to traveling around the city for good eats. You mentioned eating many times at Dishoom - would you say they are all pretty much equal is service and quality then? We felt both the one in Edinburgh and the Kensington one in London were just as good, but it's helpful to get a first hand recommendation, too. It is annoying that you can't reserve Dishoom for supper unless you have a larger party, thus making for long lines. We enjoyed our visits to Borough Market, but really only tried out the mushroom risotto stand (yum!),a pie stand and Bread Ahead, so any recs there are welcome. And the V&A cafeterias, wow, right?! Beautiful! And tasty. I'll keep checking Hungryonion and Eater.com too.

Challenger - interesting how differently people go about getting ready for their vacations! You say you plan so much for your trip, but then not in regards to food. That's where I just can't leave it so much to chance. As it stands now, there isn't a lot I'm booking ahead, mostly just what I mentioned above (like Hawksmoor on a Sunday), but I would rather get some recommendations of food others have enjoyed, then spend a bit of time checking out online menus and ratings, and making a list of ones we think sound really good. That way we also are prepared if we end up wanting to eat somewhere on the spur of the moment.

And we don't really consider ourselves foodies either, but I am constantly and pleasantly surprised by the wonderful quality of food at some of the museums in London (V&A, Tower, etc.) Of course, I have been warned away from some others as well (quality going downhill, etc.) And truth be told, we do have a kitchenette in our hotel room, so could eat in more, but well, part of vacation for us is not making so many of our own meals. A few . . . ok. Not all. Yes, agreed - live and learn.

At Borough Market, Mei Mei was a favorite (Singaporean Hawker type food)
and across from Liverpool St station there is Roti Kings with excellent Malaysian food. They have a couple of branches all over town I think.
I came across Singapulah in China town. Also excellentBeautiful! And tasty. I'll keep checking Hungryonion and Eater.com too.

Janis - I just had to laugh over your response! When I made my initial post I had a feeling some would want to critique our itinerary, which wasn't the point of the post.

Not that I don't appreciate the advice, but we're pretty set by this point (unless it would impact our plans - say, something is closed or slated to close by May, or on a certain day, etc) But I posted our itinerary, because so many times I've seen posters on these travel forums ask for food recs, then get slammed because (as many forum members are happy to point out) "there are thousands of restaurants in London, and you just don't give us enough to go on to answer your question." Well, I did try to forestall that.. . . . . .

But let me quickly answer your suggestions, so others don't wonder as well. Yes, we are specifically crossing Tower Bridge on Day 1 because it and the area around the Tower are our favorites; we especially love the Bridge up close. I walked across it with my (adult) daughter in 2023 taking hundreds of pix, and want to do the same with Mr. Scraphappy in May. And we are great walkers, especially if it will help us stave off jet lag! Although, if we feel the need, we aren't above taking the tube from, say Blackfriars to Tower Hill to save our legs for the equally awesome Queen's Walk later. And after more thought, I think we'll backtrack to cross the Millennium Bridge on our way back "home," hopefully as night falls, for that magnificent view up Peter's Hill, of St.Paul's. I'm sure we'll have a bit of time to pop into Southwark Cathedral after Borough Market; good suggestion. We only got pix of the outside last time.

We opted to go with just snacks on our Hampton Court Palace day, since several people have told me how they feel the Tiltyard has gone way downhill in quality lately, with only mediocre lunch at best. If we limit ourselves to a few snacks there, we should be fine until we leave. Once onsite, we don't want to have to leave the Palace to eat, then come back in (if that's even possible.) And I had several people who recently ate at the Mute Swan recommend it, so we'll just grab an earlier supper there if need be. I'll be sure to check out Waterloo station for a quick grab and go bite for breakfast; appreciate that suggestion, too.

Unfortunately, there seems no good way to link IWM with other parts of our plans, as it's location is a bit of an outlier to our entire visit. From prior experience, we know we won't get to see even half of the sections there, and it closes later than some of the other sites, so it seemed like a good plan to slot it into the afternoon of Day 2. With a night time play, nighttime London Walks, night time London Eye and hopefully Ceremony of the Keys again, we were running out of nights to see a view from above (Horizon 22), and we weren't exactly in the area any other night, so why not group that and Leadenhall together on night 2? As I listed in my initial posts, the Tower is a full day visit (based on past experience) and St. Paul's will last into early afternoon, so they wouldn't be compatible on the same day.

Appreciate the rec for the #15 bus. Can't always rely on Google Maps or City Mapper to tell you the most useful routes.

A few observations on some of your choice and a few suggestions based on locations. We spend around half the year in London and before I retired, I used to work in Tower Place overlooking the T of L and still go back there occasionally to meet with ex colleagues for lunch dinner or drinks

Around the Tower area there are a couple of mid range places I would recommend, both small chains Coppa Club and Cote Brasserie, Copa has excellent views especially if you snag one of the glass pods. I used to love The Ivy but less so these days, expensive for what it is. We actually walked out of the St Johns Wood restaurant before xmas as the service was so bad! Not sure about the Tower Bridge venue. We do still love the Ivy Asia though for mixed oriental food but that is over in Mayfair. In Byward Street is All Bar One who do great breakfast and brunch but they don't open that early - 10 on weekdays and 9 @ weekends .

I am a fan of Dishoom as I like their take on Indian Cuisine and the quality is pretty high across all their outlets. My faves are Kings Cross and Soho ( also Canary Wharf but that's a long trek out east) , the once near Kingly Court, Soho, is also good but Covent Garden I am not so keen on.

In Borough Market a Sri Lankan friend recommended Rambutan in Borough Market for Sri Lankan food and we loved it! Modern and traditional and very inventive - get a seat at the counter!

One of our more recent outings was to Cay Tre a Vietnamese place in Soho - excellent and authentic Vietnamese food.

Menachem - thanks for the recs! MeiMei looks promising - not a huge selection but we both found a few things that sounded good. Hadn't really considered Roti King, having heard mixed reviews from friends who went there, but might just add it to the list. Appreciate the info!

Crellston - I really appreciate the suggestions (some different tastes that we rarely get) and the observations!

Glad to hear you liked the Cote Brasserie. That one is actually on our possibles list already. I had not heard of the glass pods at Coppa. Will have to look into that. As for the Tower Bridge Ivy, we have mixed feelings. Dd and I tried the Ivy Market Grill once, and while the food was very good, the service was exceedingly slow. And this was even after we told them we were heading to a play directly afterward. Still deciding on that one. Most mornings we hope to be up and out early, but I will keep All Bar One in mind for a sit down place.

Good to hear you think Dishoom is pretty consistent across all locations. It looks like Dishoom Shoreditch would be the closest to where we would end up that day. We took a look at Rambutan; not a huge menu, but some interesting offerings! Making a note to sit at the counter if we go. We also like the menu offerings for Cay Tre. Trying to remember if we've ever had Vietnamese food; it looks familiar, so I think so.

Thanks again!

I am not one for planning where I might stop for lunch in advance or sometimes even dinner as sometimes disappointed with restaurants we reserved in advance. My husband likes to scout out an area usually close to either hotel or location such as theatre to see what is available and then make a reservation which admittedly doesn't always work.

With Windsor, the town is very sweet and it is a pleasant walk to the Castle from the train. We took the train from Waterloo. There is a pedestrian shopping street with many cafes and we stopped on the way back to the train for hot chocolates and scones. There were also full service restaurants we saw as well.

I have to admit I didn’t really read over your itinerary and just threw out my favorite places to eat. Our last visit to London in 2023 was mainly eating, seeing a great immersive David Hockney show and my husband getting ready for a conference in Paris. Again, every London trip in the last 10 years we go to the Barbary, Barrafina and Koya-three of my favorite restaurants anywhere! I love london’s multiculturalism and tbh we haven’t tried too many of the more English food restaurants. Another Indian place that I tried to go to on our last trip was Gymkhana. Have a great time and May is a nice time to go.
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