Top 5 Things to See and Do in London

1. Go museum hopping

London has more museums than you could see in one visit, and many of them are free. From the Tate to the City Museum to the National Gallery to the Historical Museum, you’ll be able to spend days here without spending a penny! At the Natural History Museum, you’ll find over 80 million items, including specimens collected by Charles Darwin. It also has a great collection of fossils, making it a fun and educational stop if you’re traveling with kids. The Victoria and Albert Museum (named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) is another favorite of mine. It’s home to over 2,000 works of art covering over 3,000 years of human history.

2. Grab some food in Borough Market

With more food stalls than you can imagine, Borough Market has something for every eater. It is home to some of the best British and international produce and dishes. Come here hungry and leave satisfied. Already ate? Nibble the free samples being given out at most stalls. Open for lunch Mondays and Tuesdays, all day Wednesday-Saturdays and closed on Sundays. The crowds are terrible on Saturdays, but if that’s the only day you can fit it in, I’d go anyway!

3. Take in the theater

London is known for its’ famous theater scene. Attend a show while you’re here and see some of the shows that make London famous. Tickets can be pretty cheap, and something is playing every night (check out TKTS for discounted tickets for shows in the West End). Otherwise, catch a Shakespeare show at The Globe in South London — tickets start from £7 ($10 USD).

4. Stroll along Brick Lane

On Sunday, this little street, and the car park becomes a great place for cheap food. You can get a wide variety of food here, spend the day at the outdoor market, or have some great local curry. It’s a popular place with the locals and has some of the best food in London. This street is also a great place to bring a camera, as its’ walls are basically a gallery for London’s best graffiti artists.

5. Ride the London Eye

The London Eye is basically a 500-feet tall ferris wheel, and it has become the most popular paid-for UK visitor attraction. It’s across the street from Parliament and gives you great views of London, especially on a clear day. But honestly, for £27 ($35 USD), you are better off spending that money on other attractions.

6. Visit the London Dungeon

The London Dungeon calls itself “the world’s most chillingly famous horror attraction.” It covers 2,000 years of London’s gruesome history and is a morbid but interesting museum to see about England’s past. Although you’ll learn about popular torture methods in Old England, to be honest, this place has turned into more of an “amusement park” type attraction. But if you like things like escape rooms and scary boat rides, you’ll enjoy it. Ticket prices start from £24 ($31 USD).

7. See St. Paul’s Cathedral

St. Paul’s is a striking cathedral with a world-famous Dome. Inside you’ll find glittering mosaics and elaborate stone carvings. You can also climb to the Whispering Gallery or higher still to the Stone Gallery or Golden Gallery for panoramic views over surrounding London. Admission is £24 ($31 USD) when you buy online, which is cheaper than the London Eye and with similarly breathtaking views.

8. Explore Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a fun place to just hang out, with lots of quirky stalls, busking musicians, an artsy market, and a selection of unusual pubs and coffee shops. Covent Garden is also walking distance to all the big musicals, so it is a great place to spend a few hours before catching a show. Also, visit Covent Garden Market – it was opened in the 1830s and is another good market to grab a bite to eat at as well as shop at some of the artisan craft stalls here. It’s open Monday to Saturday from 8am-7pm and Sunday 11am-5pm.

9. Go to Shakespeare’s Globe

An integral part of England’s history, the Globe Theatre is a must-see for lovers of Shakespeare. The performances here are considered to be a near-perfect replica of Elizabethan staging practices. You can even sit in front where the groundlings did, for shouting and heckling! The theater is open-roofed, so bundle up in the winter. Tickets start from £7 ($9 USD).

10. Explore Camden Market

This place is home to 1,000+ shops, stalls, cafes, restaurants, bars, buskers, and everything in between. It’s enormously popular and busiest on the weekends, particularly Sunday, drawing crowds all the way from Camden Town. Camden Market is actually composed of many separate markets, so you can literally wander for hours and not see it all.

11. See the Royal Observatory

Since its 17-million USD renovation, this observatory is now divided into two sections. The Northern half is intended for time, whereas the southern half is devoted to astronomy. In the Meridian Courtyard, you can actually stand on either side of the meridian line straddling the two hemispheres of the Earth. The Peter Harrison Planetarium is also housed here. It’s £24 ($31 USD) to visit.

12. Walk around the Strand

In the 12th century, rich noblemen built elegant homes and gardens along the shore (the strand) of the Thames, making it one of the most prestigious places to live — even now. Walk around here, and you’ll be treated to a grand display of wealth and beauty. It was dubbed “the finest street in Europe” by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in the 19th century. There are a lot of nice little shops and pubs here as well.

13. Drink beer at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

This old pub has been around since the great fire of 1666 (and there has been a pub at this location since 1538). It’s surprisingly large inside, and in the winter, fireplaces keep pub goers warm. When you step into it, you feel like you’ve actually stepped back in time. Famous literary geniuses like Charles Dickens, R.L. Stevenson, Mark Twain, Oliver Goldsmith, and others used to frequent (and write about) this particular pub.

14. See the Churchill War Rooms

Located beneath the Treasury Building in the Whitehall area of Westminster, the Churchill War Rooms includes the government’s command center during WWII and a museum about the life of Winston Churchill. The centerpiece of the whole place is an interactive table that enables visitors to access digitized material from the Churchill archives. If you are like me and a huge history nerd, this is one of the best attractions in the city and I highly, highly encourage you to visit. It’s worth the price!!! Admission is £22 ($29 USD).

15. Explore Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

If you’re looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, head to Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens for some reprieve. Hyde Park is the most famous park in London. Originally the private hunting grounds of Henry VII, it opened to the public in 1637 is is a great place to stroll, picnic, or catch one of the many events that are hosted here throughout the year. Kensington Gardens are a Royal Garden of London and is home to the Serpentine Galleries as well as Kensington Palace. The park and the gardens cover almost 250 acres!

16. Take a walking tour

London is a megacity filled with a mega amount of walking tours. From free tours to specialty tours to paid tours to literary tours to quirky tea tours, London has it all – including lots of free tours. Free London Tours and New Europe Walking Tours are some of my favorite companies to go with. If you’re looking for more in-depth and specific tours, check out Take Walks.They have a number of affordable group tours for 15 people or less that last about three hours.

17. Take a Jack the Ripper tour

Every night, you’ll find tons of people in the East End learning about Jack the Ripper on a ridiculous number of similar tours. My favorite is the original Jack the Ripper Tour. Get Mick as your guide; he’s obsessed with Jack the Ripper (he even wrote a pretty decent book on the subject) and will fill you with arcane knowledge. Very animated too! Tours start from £15 ($19.50 USD).