London - First Timer

I stayed in Convent Garden as well and also recommend. It was a few months ago and my first time in a London.

Oyster Card is a must. It gets you around the city easily. Google “Oyster Card London” and watch the YouTube video. Once you master that, it’s all gravy.

As far as what to see, it’s impossible for me to say. So much available and not sure what you in to nor who you going with. I watched docs on Amazon/Netflix and planned my trip from there. Lots of the museums are free, so include stops.

I went by myself for a wkend (London was a jumping off spot for a longer trip) and saw

The Shard
Piccadilly Circus
Tower Bridge
Tower of London
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
Parliament
History Museum
Art Museum
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Bars/restaurants

I’m sure I’m forgetting some places. It’s such an easy city to get around....with an OYSTER CARD!

Go to Winston Churchill’s bunker.

I stayed in Covent Garden last time and it was a perfect location, especially with first-timers like my stepdaughters that were with us. You can take the tube straight there from Heathrow. Not sure how much space you need, but we stayed here:. Covent Garden apt

For such a short trip you should avoid doing it all in at once.

Churchill war rooms is great (reserve a time slot online otherwise lines are stupid long)

Avoid Camden lock and Camden town. I went for the first time about 15 years ago and t was still kinda cool (I was in my teens tho) but today is worse than Decatur St

Do a fancy pants afternoon tea. It’s silly fun if you’re with friends. Try and get a place that does unlimited finger sandwiches

Pubs. If there on a Sunday, do a quality Sunday roast. But ALWAYS get cask beer from the firkin engines. You can’t really find them outside of the UK, so live it up (half pints are available almost everywhere)

I highly recommend the Fullers Brewery tour. Top notch.

Kebab. Do it.

Don’t forget to go to Roti King late at night

I love this place called Barbary. I go almost every time I’m there. Google it

Good shopping around Seven Locks. Pretty cool looking too. And the Barbary place I mentioned is in a cool hip back alley.

British museum. Free and you could easily stay there for 10 hours. It’s amazing. My favorite museum in the world...and I live in France

Imperial War Museum is pretty decent, the WWI section is the best and Aline would be an amazing museum. The other sections pull it down

Go to Regency Cafe and get a Full English breakfast. Add black pudding.

I like the Southwark (South bank of the Thames) area around London Bridge (not Tower Bridge). It puts you in close proximity with Borough Market (oldest food market in London, with dozens of food stalls selling cooked & uncooked provisions), Shakespeare’s Globe, the promenade along the Thames, the London Eye, Tate Modern, the Shard. Southwark has good transport connections to the Tube as well (London Bridge station & Borough).

Southwark area includes Bermondsey, home to a good Saturday street market and a nice array of shops/restaurants.

What I liked best about Southwark—it wasn’t completely touristy. There were lots of locals going about their business, supermarkets, drug stores, schools, etc. You didn’t feel like you were on a film set of Ye Olde LondonTown.

I’m an AirBnB fan, but if you’re a solo traveler, you might prefer a hotel for amenities/security.

You could go get Tea at Sketch. Awesome place to see.

I personally love this bar called The Alchemist.

Will be heading there in April. Bringing my elderly mom, inlaws, along with wife and 6 y/o daughter so we'll see how that goes.

Staying at Hilton Conrad St James, which is a prime location, a few nights then taking the Eurostar to Paris for 5 nights, then Belgium.

I'm actually considering the Big Bus hop-on hop-off due to having our parents with us. It seems to be pretty efficient and hits all the hot spots for first timers.

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then Belgium.

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Where in Belgium?

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(South bank of the Thames) area around London Bridge

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I would absolutely agree with this. In hindsight we stayed out by Kensington north of Hyde Park, we wanted to be in a residential area which it was. It was a great area with kids which we had. But in hindsight we were further from almost everything we did. Every day we would go to the Thames basically.

I'd stay around the Thames to the South in the future as almost all of the big things are there close to the river.