One day in London, what to do?

[DisOrBust]

Hello all! My DD arrives Sunday at Heathrow 5:30am and staying at the Hilton at terminal 4 for one night for a business trip. Any thoughts on a day a day trip or place to eat?
Thanks!

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Hello all! My DD arrives Sunday at Heathrow 5:30am and staying at the Hilton at terminal 4 for one night for a business trip. Any thoughts on a day a day trip or place to eat?
Thanks!

I used to live in London and Ive recently been back for a few days and flew home from Heathrow.

When you say for one night for a business trip, the first thing we need to know, is what free time will your DD have?

Heathrow is about an hour by Tube from Zone 1 London, the main touristy part that people associate with. Its very easy to get there from Heathrow, but then London is huge. Even after living there for 4 years, and being back for visits, theres still so much I haven't seen or explored.

Once we know approx how much on your own time your DD will have, then we can suggest things to do. Also what kind of things she would be interested in? London is a modern bustling city intertwined with 2,000 years of history.

 

[DoraBA]

Assuming she has all day - I would drop my luggage at the hotel then take the train into London. Take two London Walks, one morning one afternoon - each walk is two hours and the guides are the best. Lunch and wander around in between, depending on which walks she takes. She can also make a quick visit to the British Museum, just make sure to reserve a time slot.

 

[fla4fun]

It really depends a lot on her interests. London has something for everyone from historical sites, to royal sites, to all sorts of museums, to world class shopping and dining. However, it is a huge city, so she needs to narrow it down to what she would specifically like to do and then Google how to accomplish it.

Personally, I would do some shopping in Mayfair, a quick walk by the palace, spend a few hours at the Tower of London, and take a ride on the London Eye, grabbing food at one of the street markets. I have spent two weeks in London on vacation and still barely scratched the surface of what is available.

I hope she has a good time!

 

[hardcorestitch]

Hello all! My DD arrives Sunday at Heathrow 5:30am and staying at the Hilton at terminal 4 for one night for a business trip. Any thoughts on a day a day trip or place to eat?
Thanks!

Of course pay a trip to the Disney store in London! There are plenty of exclusive items that you can find there.

Grab some Gregg's as well if there is one near her hotel. Plenty of savory pastries and rolls.

 

[hopemax]

Of course pay a trip to the Disney store in London! There are plenty of exclusive items that you can find there.

Grab some Gregg's as well if there is one near her hotel. Plenty of savory pastries and rolls.

Speaking of, there is also a Disney Store pop-up in Selfridges for the holidays. It's just down the street from the actual Disney Store.

https://disneyparksblog.com/product...ches-in-disney-store-at-selfridges-christmas/

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

As everyone has said, so much comes down to her interests and what she has seen already. Does she want a laundry list of “must dos,” or to get lost wandering around somewhere new and cool? What does she like to eat? IMO Indian food is your best bet, but maybe she wants a more classic fish and chips experience. Or she’d want to eat her way through a department store.

I will have a few free hours in London in a few weeks and I plan to explore a park, but I have visited plenty of times before so I don’t need to do the classic tourist sites again.

 

[hardcorestitch]

Speaking of, there is also a Disney Store pop-up in Selfridges for the holidays. It's just down the street from the actual Disney Store.

https://disneyparksblog.com/product...ches-in-disney-store-at-selfridges-christmas/

I consider Selfridges to be a third party retailer. I NEVER buy anything Disney unless it’s from a REAL Disney store or from certain conventions like D23, MomoCon or others.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We had about a day and a half in London in 2024 and did Tower of London (and walked the lower part of the Tower Bridge) the second day before leaving early evening to Belgium and the first day did the Harry Potter Studio Tour in the afternoon after landing in the morning in Heathrow. But for us we stayed in London proper itself at a Hyatt Place that was very close to a tube station so that does matter with how easy and early we could get to Tower of London.

If she's into historical sites Tower of London is great and the bonus is they've been doing recent excavating finding new things and opening new parts to the public (I'm jealous of this as we were there in 2024 and this is all new). It was cool seeing the crown jewels too.

I had wanted to see Borough Market but we didn't have the energy after the Harry Potter tour nor the time after Tower of London. We actually just went back to London earlier this month but opted to not do anything there and leave immediately after landing for a drive/stay in Salisbury for Stonehenge otherwise we would have probably done a thing or two in London maybe gone to the London Eye or looked into going to a museum or two, definitely walked around a bit

 

[hopemax]

I consider Selfridges to be a third party retailer. I NEVER buy anything Disney unless it’s from a REAL Disney store or from certain conventions like D23, MomoCon or others.

It's like the Target / Disney Store partnership. It's *actual* Disney Store and Disney Parks product, tags, etc.

It's not like a licensed Disney shirt or something. That's why I posted the official Disney Parks blog post.

There is a UK DisneyStore.com page for it too https://www.disneystore.co.uk/Selfridges.html

 

[McCrae]

Hello all! My DD arrives Sunday at Heathrow 5:30am and staying at the Hilton at terminal 4 for one night for a business trip. Any thoughts on a day a day trip or place to eat?

If it’s his first time the hop on off bus a boat trip is an easy and good way to see the city and the main sites.

In the evening head to Covent Garden for somewhere to eat.

 

[DisOrBust]

Thank you all! She and her co-worker ended up taking an uber to Big Ben walked to parliament, Westminster and the palace. They got brave and took the "tube" and had a great experience! We are from the midwest so we have experience with L in chicago and that gets sketchy fast if you don't know what safe. They really felt safe and surprised how clean and friendly everyone was. Had dinner at some random place and the food was great and very reasonable.

She will be back, solo in 5 weeks for 2 full days. She is definitely a Downton Abby type of girl! Tower of London is first on the list, does it matter what time you get there? Really wanted to do the Marie Antionette exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum but it is sold out unless you're a member. Anyone think it's worth a membership to be able see it? She waffling on the Eye, not sure if it's worth the time. What about the Garden's? Is anything blooming this time of year? Borough Market was a thought but it sounds crazy with crowds. Is the National Gallery doable for a short visit or is it also a zoo?

Any suggestions are welcomed!
Thanks again!

Also she hasn't booked a hotel yet so I would love any recommendations!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Tower of London is first on the list, does it matter what time you get there?

You have to pre-book and it's a timed entry meaning you enter in the time slot that you book. If it's a high priority on your daughter's list I would recommend she book that pretty soon although I don't know the crowd situation in late fall/early winter as we went in the month of May. As far as I can see November and December have high availability but if you look at October it's already at medium availability (which makes sense as it's October now).

From our experience the earlier time slot the better because the Crown Jewels can get a long queue to enter that. Plus you have more wiggle room to join a guided tour, we did a Beefeater tour (tells the tales of the place) which was great. We also did an audio tour, which you book during the ticket process, and enjoyed that.

As for hotel that depends on where she may want to stay in London. Our hotel was Hyatt Place London City East. There are many hotels, for our purposes we were booking on Hyatt points so we narrowed it down by that but she should probably do some research into the places she wants and a hotel that would suit her needs, obviously recommend being within a relatively close distance to the Tube but the line does matter in hotel location too.

Here's a screenshot of where our hotel was in location to Tower of London and IIRC we entered/exited via the Aldgate East entrance to Tower Hill entrance; this is me going off memory so I may not be fully correct. I remember it being super easy.


But really have her do some research on the locations she wants to visit and the Tube stations nearby and the lines. Normally when we've travelled and relied on public transit walking distance to a subway station in a safe area without having to connect a ton is how we narrow down our choices but it also has to make sense in what places we want to visit.

 

[zavandor]

November, when she'll be back, is far from peak tourist season she shouldn't find anything you mentioned uncomfortably crowded. Depending on her tastes, but I'd go to the British Museum before the National gallery. Borough market will be crowded for lunch and dinner any time of the year, but with a "there's a lot of people and everyone is having a good time" vibe, not crazy and unconfortable. However, I don't think it's worth the trip if they're not already in the area.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

I agree about doing research on the proximity of hotels to Tube stations. When I look for a hotel in London I search the following chains

• Travelodge
• Premier Inn
• IBIS

I pick the cheapest one for the days I will be in London.

My most recent trip in August 2025 I stayed at ibis Styles London Southwark which is near Borough Market and London Bridge Tube Station. It is a mid priced themed hotel, based on Wicked stage show / film .