London calling
Every year, my best friend, Rachel, and I make it our mission to cross off a new and exciting travel destination from our bucket list. For 2024, we decided it was finally time to take a trip across the pond. Ever since watching the iconic scene in The Parent Trap as a little girl (cut to the montage of Hallie exploring London for the first time to the soundtrack There She Goes by The La’s), I had always dreamed of visiting this beautiful and historic city.
Since we were only going to be in London for three full days (we decided to add on a few days in Amsterdam too), I wanted to be sure to plan the perfect itinerary for us so that we got the most out of our British adventure as possible.
With that, let’s dive into my Three Day London Itinerary!
Travel day + First night out in London
Our flight was a direct, overnight flight from Tampa to London Gatwick. After arriving at the airport, we hopped on the Gatwick Express to London Victoria station. From London Victoria, we then took the “tube” (commonly used nickname for London’s underground transit system) to get us to our airbnb. Our airbnb was located in the Paddington area of London and overall we were happy with our stay – comfortable, spacious enough, and was less than a 10 minute walk from the nearest tube station which easily connected us to every part of London we wanted to go to.
We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations that night, so as soon as we set our suitcases down, we immediately headed out the door to start exploring. When planning for the trip, I had seen that Abbey Road (AKA the location for one of the Beatles’ most iconic album covers) was not too far from where we were staying. I grew up listening to the Beatles a lot thanks to my dad and I knew he’d love to see a picture of it. (Yes, we did recreate the photo like the tourists we are).
Note: If you plan to visit, keep in mind that this is an active road and to be respectful of traffic when trying to capture your photos.
After Abbey Road, we walked to a nearby Boxcar Baker + Deli for a coffee and pastry. This was such a cute, cozy cafe — very Instagram-worthy, inside and outside seating, and the pain au chocolat was delicious. In addition to their pastries, they do have other breakfast and lunch menu items as well.
At this point it was about mid-afternoon, so we decided to head back to our airbnb to start getting ready for our first night out in London.
We took the tube to Piccadilly Circus first (which is like London’s version of Times Square), stopped into nearby bookstores Waterstones and Hatchards, strolled down the iconic Regent Street, and then made our way to Soho – a lively, bustling part of London’s West End famously known for its shopping, dining, and nightlife.
We celebrated our first night out in Londontown with a couple of pints in Soho, and then it was finally time to catch our dinner reservations at Circolo Popolare. When researching best restaurants to eat in London, this place came very highly recommended. Known for its glam interior and amazing Italian cuisine (specifically their carbonara pasta which comes served from a big cheese roll), Circolo Popolare is truly the perfect spot for a fancy dinner in London. This place is so popular you literally have to make reservations a month in advance, so be sure to plan ahead!
Tip: It’s recommended to book restaurant reservations, tours, and other activities as far in advance as you can. Many places take bookings weeks and even months in advance and can fill up quickly!
After dinner we were ~exhausted~ so we decided to call it a night and headed back to the airbnb for some much needed sleep.
First Full Day in London: Notting Hill/PRM + Covent Garden + National Gallery
It’s now officially our first full day in London, and with it being a Saturday, we planned to start off the day in Notting Hill and stroll through the Portobello Road Market. The PRM is one of the most popular street markets in London, if not the world, and features over 1,000 vendors selling everything from antiques, to clothing, to souvenirs and collectibles, and of course, delicious street food.
Note: *The PRM is open every day (except Thursdays) from 8:30am-6:00pm, however Saturday is the main trading day and considered the best day to go to get the ~full experience~ *
We arrived in Notting Hill around 8:30am (I highly recommend arriving early to get ahead of the crowds) and decided to grab breakfast before hitting the market. We stopped into Mike’s Café where we tried our first full English breakfast. The food was delicious (y’all the English might be onto something with their beans and toast), the staff was nice, and it was conveniently located across the street from the famous Notting Hill bookstore, so we stopped in there afterwards.
After breakfast and with a souvenir book in hand, it was finally time to hit the market! I had 3 missions I wanted to accomplish while we were here: secure a Notting Hill tote bag, find the vintage watch stall that I had seen on Tiktok, and find the street with all the pretty pastel-colored houses. I ended up spotting the watch stall almost instantly and oh my gosh I wanted to buy them all, they were all so pretty!
It didn’t take long either to find a tote bag as there were tons of vendors selling them. After browsing around a bit, I landed on one that I really liked, and it was the perfect bag to hold all my market finds.
We spent pretty much the rest of the morning exploring the market and it was such a fun time. I highly recommend adding this activity to your London itinerary! As the morning grew later however, it did start to get more and more crowded, and so at that point we decided it was time make our way to the next stop.
Before leaving though, we did complete my last mission of finding the famous street with the pastel-colored houses and it truly was like something out of a storybook. The perfect backdrop for some fun photos, but please remember to be respectful of the people who actually live there!
With that, it was time to make our way to Covent Garden.
Covent Garden is another great shopping hub located in London’s West End and renowned for its luxury fashion and beauty stores. We shopped a bit more here before grabbing lunch in nearby Chinatown (an absolute must for some of the best, most diverse Asian cuisine), and then got in line for the National Gallery.
The cool thing about London museums is that many of them are free to enter (including the National Gallery, British Museum, Tate Modern, Natural History Museum, and more!)
Although the line to get into the National Gallery seemed long, it did move along pretty quick. I didn’t do too much research on the National Gallery when planning our trip so I didn’t really know what to expect, but woah did this turn out to be such a cool experience. I got to see so many iconic pieces including the Arnolfini Portrait, Van Gough’s “Fifteen Sunflowers in a Vase”, and the Execution of Lady Jane Grey. I wish I had planned for more time here as there was so much to see, but we had to leave to catch our dinner reservations at Hobson’s fish n chips (yes, time to eat again lol).
Hobson’s is a highly-rated restaurant serving some of the best fish n chips in London. The batter was cooked perfectly and the chips were really good as well. This spot did not disappoint!
We decided to call it a wrap again after dinner and made our way back to the airbnb for some much needed rest. Another jam-packed day was just upon the horizon.
Second full day in London: Changing of the Guard + Big Ben + Borough Market + Tower Bridge
We’ve arrived at our second full day in London!
We started off the morning in Neal’s Yard – a small alleyway/courtyard area in Covent Garden showcasing restaurants, shops, bars, and cafes. Here, we ate breakfast at The Breakfast Club (sooo good – I highly recommend the pancakes!), and then at about 10am, began our march to St. James Palace where we planned to watch the changing of the guard ceremony.
The changing of the guard is held every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. While it is most common (and indeed iconic) to watch the ceremony take place at the actual Buckingham Palace, you would have to queue for several hours just to get a decent view as it does get very crowded all throughout this area.
