London tips for spring trip

[Skywalker3]

DH and I FINALLY have plans to take our dream trip to London. Going in April, and will be there about 10-12 days. We 'might' have a side trip to Liverpool, but that's not definite.
So....currently staying in Leicester Square area. Originally was elsewhere, and we know this area is very busy/touristy, but is it still a good, central place to stay? Easy to get transportation to the other tourist sites?
We are heavy into museums. So far, planning a day at the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and some time at the Churchill room. How long would you estimate for the Churchill rooms? The only tour we've booked is one of those early morning Stonehenge tours w Bath. We do plan to book at tour at the Tower of London. Tentatively planning to visit the Globe, I think they've finally added performances for our dates. Also hope to see Westminster Abbey. and at some point watch the changing of the Guard. Any other recommendations for museums?
We also are planning a date at Portsmouth for the Victory
Please, please share any and all food recommendations. We're fairly open to almost any food types, but since we'll be there so long, not looking for fancy/expensive. But good pub food, British food, etc.
Please also share any other general tips about getting around, or London in general. Thanks in advance!!

 

[BrianL]

Bring your own food! When I went to London last November I had assumed the reputation for bad food was overblown. It is not. At least bring salt, as apparently, they don't believe in using it. My family wouldn't go to an Indian restaurant, though you could probably actually find food that isn't bland there!

We stayed near Tower of London, which was really cool. I do recommend seeing it. They have the crown jewels, but, honestly, for me, that was the least interesting part. It amazes me sometimes to see the heavily armed guards surrounding a bunch of shiny rocks, but then you go to the British Museum and see some amazing sculpture that is like 8,000 years old, and it just has a sign that says " Please do not touch." It really shows where our priorities are as a society!

The British Museum is amazing too! I know it's the plundered cultural treasures of the world, but that's where they all are. Plan to get there early and spend a while. I'd try to check out the area with the Rosetta Stone first as that gets pretty busy. Treat it like rope-dropping Disney and prioritize what you want to see most. Food options there are limited and the lines for the too-few restrooms could be long, so just be aware.

 

[Minnie1222]

Bring your own food!

At least bring salt.

 

[BrianL]

Right? I mean, I thought that at least the fish and chips would be good, but Nope! I can get better here at Captain D's! Potato planks with zero salt? No thanks. Get ready to drown it in malt vinegar!

Also, I hope you don't like water, because good luck. I am pretty sure that British people have somehow evolved to survive without it. If you ask for it, they will look at you like you are crazy and bring you the smallest glass - then you have to get it yourself with said tiny glass. It's wild.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

So....currently staying in Leicester Square area. Originally was elsewhere, and we know this area is very busy/touristy, but is it still a good, central place to stay?

I lived in London for 4 years and visit regularly. My most recent visit was in August 2025.

Leicester Square is the London version of Times Square. Its tourist central and very busy night and day. Its a pedestrian square area right in the centre of theatreland. Walk 5 minutes in one direction and you are at Piccadilly Circus, walk 5 minutes in another direction and you are in China Town, walk 5 minutes in another direction and you are in Covent Garden, walk 5 minutes in another direction and you are in Trafalgar Square.

Its an expensive area to stay in a hotel, and you will get all the chain tourist restaurants and tourist pubs. You will get not so good quality food for high prices.

Easy to get transportation to the other tourist sites?

Leicester Square Tube Station is on the Piccadilly Line and Northern Line
Walk to Piccadilly Circus and you can get either the Piccadilly Line or Bakerloo Line
Walk to Tottenham Court Road and you can get the Northern Line, the Central Line or the Elizabeth Line

A huge amount of bus routes go through that general area, obviously not Leicester Square itself as thats a pedestrian area, but in all the streets surrounding it.

Basically for transport, you can get anywhere in London using the tube and or bus from Leicester Square area.

We are heavy into museums. So far, planning a day at the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and some time at the Churchill room. How long would you estimate for the Churchill rooms?

Nearest Tube Stations to
The British Museum = Holborn or Russel Square
Imperial War Museum = Westminster

Just use Google Maps, put in your hotel, then go to Directions, then Transit and then put in where you want to go and you will get tube and bus and walking directions.

I havent been to Churchill Rooms so I cant give you advice about that

We do plan to book at tour at the Tower of London.

Book in advance and try also to book a Yeoman Warder tour / Beefeater tour. Try to book an early morning timed viewing of The Crown Jewels. The Jewel Room can get very busy.

Please, please share any and all food recommendations. We're fairly open to almost any food types, but since we'll be there so long, not looking for fancy/expensive. But good pub food, British food, etc.

For food recommendation, my main advice is you are in a major tourist area, the West End theatreland, Leicester Square Piccadilly Circus area so it its all over priced not good quality. The pubs are tourist pubs, not locals pubs. People who live in London go to Leicester Square Piccadilly Circus area for the theatre, the cinema, partying etc so its not the foodie area of London. You will see a lot of bachelor and bachelorette parties, UK people out drinking as there are a lot of clubs in that area.

Its very hard to recommend where to go for food, as London is huge, with so many different areas , types of food for all sorts of budgets. Theres no point in me recommending a place, as you might not be in that area when you want to eat a meal.

You can eat amazing food in London, everything from Michelin Star Fine Dining to streetfood, bakeries, and supermarket food but you just need to know whats a tourist trap and whats not. It frustrates me when tourists disparage food in London, as having lived there I experienced something totally different.

 

[irlandaise]

Tentatively planning to visit the Globe, I think they've finally added performances for our dates.

Oh, I hope you can do that! I was so thrilled to be able to attend a performance there once. Of course you'll want to prioritize the main theater, but if by chance you have enough time, do consider seeing a play in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, where productions are done by candlelight. I've seen some of those plays on the Globe's streaming service, and they're stunning.

Also check the National Theatre's schedule in case something appeals to you there:

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/event/type/theatre/

Have a great time!

 

[tennisfan]

Most restaurants, just ask for a jug of tap water, its perfectly safe to drink and its no issue. I live in the UK and we always do it. There are plenty of choices to eat in London to suit all budgets.

 

[CynBeth]

In addition to the regular sightseeing things like Hop On Hop Off Bus, Changing of the Guard, London Eye, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, and Churchill War Rooms we were able to get to I forget what it is called maybe the Royal Mews at the back of Buckingham Palace where you see the royal carriages and maybe a horse or two, a sightseeing boat to Greenwich and went up to the institute to stand with feet on either side of the Prime Meridian. We also got to Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, Station 9 3/4, the WB Harry Potter Studios, London Zoo, Madame Toussaud’s, and Harrod’s where we looked around and had dinner. We also had dinners at Hard Rock Cafe and a restaurant at Piccadilly Circus I forget the name.

 

[Mommb]

If you go to Westminster Abbey (which we saw on the same day as the Churchill War Rooms and the National Gallery, as they were within walking distance of each other) don’t miss the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries upstairs. I think we spent between 1 and 2 hours at the Churchill rooms and museum.

I second the recommendation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

An area that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Kensington (near Hyde Park and Harrods) with the Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum, and Natural History Museum across the street from each other. All 3 have free admission for permanent exhibits, though reservations are recommended and special exhibits may have a fee.

 

[China Expat]

The Warner Bros Studio Tour is exceptional!

 

[Praying Colonel]

DH and I FINALLY have plans to take our dream trip to London. Going in April, and will be there about 10-12 days. We 'might' have a side trip to Liverpool, but that's not definite.
So....currently staying in Leicester Square area. Originally was elsewhere, and we know this area is very busy/touristy, but is it still a good, central place to stay? Easy to get transportation to the other tourist sites?
We are heavy into museums. So far, planning a day at the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and some time at the Churchill room. How long would you estimate for the Churchill rooms? The only tour we've booked is one of those early morning Stonehenge tours w Bath. We do plan to book at tour at the Tower of London. Tentatively planning to visit the Globe, I think they've finally added performances for our dates. Also hope to see Westminster Abbey. and at some point watch the changing of the Guard. Any other recommendations for museums?
We also are planning a date at Portsmouth for the Victory
Please, please share any and all food recommendations. We're fairly open to almost any food types, but since we'll be there so long, not looking for fancy/expensive. But good pub food, British food, etc.
Please also share any other general tips about getting around, or London in general. Thanks in advance!!

We spent 10 days in London in Sep-Oct 23. The best advice I can give is to think of it like your 1st trip to WDW: you can't see it all, so don't try. We over-programmed ourselves big time but realized it after the first 3 days. We cut it back to 1, maybe 2 major things/day and we enjoyed our trip a lot more.

We got a London Pass that gave us entrance at many attractions and priority entrance for some.

https://londonpass.com

We thoroughly enjoyed the Churchill War Rooms. We did the Changing of the Guard in the morning, had lunch and then an early afternoon reservation for the War Rooms. We spent 3 hours there and felt like that was a good amount of time.

All the museums are good, but I'd say my 3 favorite were Churchill War Rooms, Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. I know the Abbey isn't a museum but there's so much history there to see. We didn't really give the British Museum a fair shot due to over-programming--we'll definitely allot more time there next time.

We arrived at "rope drop" for the Tower, went right to the Crown Jewels and there was no crowd whatsoever. Rick Steves recommends that strategy and it worked great for us.

Don't know if you're thinking about visiting Greenwich, but we spent a day there and loved it. Took a boat down the Thames, walked up to the Observatory, had Sunday Roast at a pub there, then visited the Maritime Museum and Greenwich Market. There was more to see there but we were pretty much done by that point.

We enjoyed The Ship and Shovell pub, down the street from Benjamin Franklin House, the Plume and Feathers in Greenwich for Sunday Roast and The Ivy for a nice, reasonably priced afternoon tea with a view of Tower Bridge. But we thought the food was good just about everywhere we went. Borough Market is a great food visit, too.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We did a trip to London and Paris last summer. My best advice is to check which attractions require advance reservations and book before you go. We had tickets for everything we wanted to do, except Westminster Abby. By the time we tried to book, reservations were full. We checked to see if we could get tickets at the door, but they weren't selling them. There were timed entries throughout the day that were completely filled. We were able to walk around the grounds but not go inside.

We did the London Eye, a cruise on the Thames, Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace (not there for changing of the guard), Harrods, saw Evita at the Palladium Theater, walked around by Parliament, Big Ben, etc. DS has a friend who lives there and she walked us through Covent Gardens and the surrounding area. The food was fine. We didn't go for the fancy or expensive stuff. We mostly ate in the touristy pub-like restaurants and we stuck to the kind of stuff we eat at home (entree salads, burgers, chicken, pizza, etc.). It was nothing special but it did the job.

 

[cheryl.UK]

I think one of the issues that people from the US have when coming to London is that street food is great quality and tasty but moderately priced restaurant, especially chains, are dull with mediocre food. If you want great food, go cheap (street food) or pricier (Think WDW sit down prices of around $35+ for a main course)

We like to season our own food at the table when it comes to salt so food does not come out of the kitchen overly salty. I find US food way too salty, especially fries at some places. If you visit a chain restaurant the you also have in the US food will to be as salty. Less is more people.

For Sunday lunch, I would recommend the Blue Boar Pub which is near the Houses of Parliament which is our favourite now that the Duke of Greenwich has closed. High Tea at Harrods is amazing but book in advance. If you fancy some Indian food, try Mowgli's Street Food, (It's a small chain restaurant and the food is delicious_ try the Chat Bombs and the Butter Chicken). L'Oscar is a bit of a splurge but the food is delicious. Rockwell bar and Bistro has amazing small plates , tapas style and also Wagu beef. There are tons of chain restaurants but the food is generally bland. The exception is Franco Manca which I quite like for Italian food. I wouldn't recommend the Hard Rock Cafe as the quality of the food is not great. We also like Locatelli which is at the National Gallery - book this one for just after the Gallery closes if you're intending to visit it.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I'd recommend using Visit a City to plan your time. I attached our itinerary it created back in 2019.

We only had a couple of days in London, and it really helped plan my time. It also gave suggestions as to how long stuff should take. If I recall, the War Rooms (my husband is a HUGE history guy) took about 1/2 a day.

If you like the Harry Potter movies at all, plan a trip to Warner Brothers studio -- it's amazing.

Hope this helps!

 

[irlandaise]

I second the recommendation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

@Skywalker3, in case you aren't aware, the exhibits at the Royal Observatory include some of the clocks that revolutionized maritime navigation in the 1700s by enabling sailors to accurately determine their longitude. Imagine being in the middle of the Atlantic and not being quite sure where you are in relation to the land you want to find! (Latitude is pretty straightforward using celestial navigation, but longitude is a human invention and much trickier.) The book Longitude is a fascinating history of John Harrison's work, should you want to read up before your trip.

Here's one of the Observatory's web pages about the Harrison exhibit:

John Harrison's marine timekeepers

 

[LKing]

For Sunday lunch, I would recommend the Blue Boar Pub which is near the Houses of Parliament which is our favourite now that the Duke of Greenwich has closed. High Tea at Harrods is amazing but book in advance. If you fancy some Indian food, try Mowgli's Street Food, (It's a small chain restaurant and the food is delicious_ try the Chat Bombs and the Butter Chicken). L'Oscar is a bit of a splurge but the food is delicious. Rockwell bar and Bistro has amazing small plates , tapas style and also Wagu beef. There are tons of chain restaurants but the food is generally bland. The exception is Franco Manca which I quite like for Italian food. I wouldn't recommend the Hard Rock Cafe as the quality of the food is not great. We also like Locatelli which is at the National Gallery - book this one for just after the Gallery closes if you're intending to visit it.

Thanks for the food recommendations. We'll be in London for three days this spring so I jotted down your recommendations. We keep hearing recommendations for Dishoom. How does Mowgli Street Food compare to Dishoom?

 

[starvenger]

I think Leicester Square is ok if you've never been to London. But as mentioned, it is in a very busy area.

I stayed near Paddington Station at Point A, which is kind of a budget hotel with small rooms, so I can't really recommend it. But location was good since we could walk to the station, a Greg's and a Tesco close by for quick eats, and it made for easy access to the Heathrow Express (buy that in advance if you plan to take that).

We had a couple of very nice dinners - Tumeric Kitchen (relatively inexpensive Indian) near Paddington, and Fallow (modern British, kind of pricey) right by Leicester Square. I wanted to try out the Mei Mei Singaporean food stand because of "Auntie" Liz (from the Uncle Roger videos) but the timing never worked out for us.

We'll be in London for three days this spring so I jotted down your recommendations. We keep hearing recommendations for Dishoom. How does Mowgli Street Food compare to Dishoom?

Oh, and funny six degrees (ok, four) of separation thing about Dishoom. One of my wife's best friends - she was a bridesmaid at our wedding - is married to a man who was one of the original owners/founders of Dishoom. He got bought out before they got really big though. Unfortunately, I ate there in 2015 or so, so I can't really say how it is now.

Finally, if you go to Greenwich, I'd say to take the boat over there and the Metro back. You'll probably get a narrated journey (whether you wanted one or not), and it's a nice, relaxing way to see the city.

 

[iona]

I second the recommendation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

An area that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Kensington (near Hyde Park and Harrods) with the Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum, and Natural History Museum across the street from each other. All 3 have free admission for permanent exhibits, though reservations are recommended and special exhibits may have a fee.

If you’re going to the Royal Observatory it’s also worth popping in the National Maritime Museum (which is also in Greenwich Park) - it’s free (unless you choose to go into one of the paid exhibits so you can just have a little wander rather than feeling like you have to get your money’s worth.

We like to season our own food at the table when it comes to salt so food does not come out of the kitchen overly salty.

Plus it helps those on a low/no salt diet.

The exception is Franco Manca which I quite like for Italian food.

We’ve got one of their pizzas for dinner tonight! Other chain restaurants that we think are safe bets (as in it’s not going to be great but it’ll be ok) are Itsu (for a light meal), Wagamamas and Nando’s.

We keep hearing recommendations for Dishoom. How does Mowgli Street Food compare to Dishoom?

I’ve not been to Mowgli Street Food but we like Dishoom for a late breakfast!

 

[TiggerTrigger]

It's been a while since we've been, but another vote for the Tower of London. Now, I enjoyed the entire experience but I have a mild obsession with the Cullinan Diamond. Cullinan I sits atop the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross (530+ carats) and Cullinan II (317+ carats) is in the front of the Imperial State Crown. So, it was probably my favorite part of the visit. DH made a single pass with me on the conveyer belt and then watched me go by another 4x because I was in awe. Still, seeing the guards, talking to some of the Yeomen, learning about the ravens as well as the history was very cool as well. The setting is also great for pictures with the bridge in the background.

We also toured St. Paul's when we were there. As a fan of Mary Poppins, it was kind of neat to see that cathedral in person.

 

[iona]

Also, for two adults I’d second the recommendation for the Victoria & Albert Museum.