I'm in London for 18 hours. What are the can't-miss sights?

jdarksun

Hey folk, I'm gonna be in London for 18 hours as part of an overnight layover. I'd like to make the best use of my time, and I'm looking for recommendations for sites in and around London. Thanks!

I'm also a fan of beer; I spent a week and a half driving across Belgium drinking. Any can't miss places for a pint?

Elvenshae

I'm pretty sure everywhere in London counts as a "can't miss place for a pint."

When I last visited London, I had ~1 day to myself to walk around after I arrived in the morning. First, catch the London Express train to downtown; way faster than taking the Tube. I ended up taking the Tube a couple of stops to my hotel in London City.

For my tour, I started in Barbican, walking towards the river. This brought me to the London City museum (which is free; donations encouraged) and the old Roman walls. From there, I continued towards the river to St Paul's Cathedral (absolutely beautiful), and then the London Fire Monument. From there, you're basically at Millenium, London, and Tower Bridges, which are all super cool. I crossed to the south bank of the Thames on London Bridge, walked along the water (decent restaurants, the HMS Belfast light cruiser from WW2), then back across on Tower Bridge. From there, you can do the London Tower tour.

I then walked back to Barbican (where my hotel was), cleaned up a bit, and walked over to Fleet Street for dinner at The Port House (Spanish tapas and port wine flights).

The whole thing, including museum time, took me from ~1100 to ~2100 or so, but didn't include the Tower tour because I was getting kinda toasty at that point.

Fiendishrabbit

jdarksun wrote: »

Hey folk, I'm gonna be in London for 18 hours as part of an overnight layover. I'd like to make the best use of my time, and I'm looking for recommendations for sites in and around London. Thanks!

I'm also a fan of beer; I spent a week and a half driving across Belgium drinking. Any can't miss places for a pint?

If you want good beer then The Harp, The Rake and the Euston Tap are three great pubs. The Harp is in Soho, the Rake is just west of Southwark Cathedral and the Euston tap is right off Euston station. They're all pretty packed though so Earl of Essex is a beer garden if you need more fresh air though it's a fair walk from the nearest station.

CelestialBadger

Avoid Wetherspoons pubs. They are a pretty bland chain, equivalent to TGI Fridays in the USA.

BlindZenDriver

London is a huge place so 18 hours not much time. As a general notion I'd say do not make a long list of must see things, because you'll find yourself rushing all the time and not really being able to remember much afterwards.
Anyway here are some suggestions of mine.
I considered insisting on British Museum, but with so little time the trouble is you can not spend anything near to the time it deserves. The same goes for the other big museums unless there is a specific subject you're into.
Instead I'd recommend more focusing on getting a feel for London by walking round in the center seeing Trafalgar Square, Tower of London, Tower Bridge and also getting up somewhere high like taking a spin on the London Eye (the big Ferris wheel) or going to the top of The Shard. While walking near the river you could go on the HMS Belfast - if ships, engineering and history interests you that is time well spend.
After that take advantage of the tube system to only check that out as it certainly part of London, but also to check out a different part of London.

Shadowhope

I second @Elvenshae, and really recommend taking a walk by some of the major sites.



This route will have you start at the Borough's Market and near the Shard, and finishes in Trafalgar Square.

It touches on or passes by:

• Borough's Market, one of the prime foodie places in London.
• The Shard, a new and fairly interesting looking skyscraper - there's a super-touristy trip through if you're interested, and it gives amazing views of London.
• London City Hall, and views across the Thames at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
• Tower Bridge itself.
• And the Tower itself! I really recommend making this a stop along the way.
• London Wall - the remains of the Roman wall protecting the city.
• The Monument to the Great Fire. There are some OK views up top.
• Leadenhall Market - a very pretty covered market.
• The Bank of England, one of my favorite levels in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate.
• Saint Paul's Cathedral.
• The Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey).
• Millennium Bridge - some great views from this walking bridge across the Thames.
• Tate Modern museum - on the south side of the Millennium Bridge.
• Shakespeare's Globe - another neat tourist trap, a reproduction of one of the theaters used by Shakespeare.
• The London Eye - more great views of London.
• SEA LIFE London Aquarium.
• Palace of Westminster and Big Ben.
• Westminster Abbey.
• St. James Park.
• Imperial War Museum Churchill War Rooms.
• 10 Downing Street.
• Banqueting House.
• Trafalgar Square - note St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the National Gallery. And so ends the route!
• If you've made it that far and can make it a bit further and it's still open, the British Museum is only a few blocks away, and is well worth the time.
• If it's later in the day, London is a great theatre city, and most of the big productions are within a few blocks of Trafalgar Square.
• Or if you prefer ultra-touristy shopping, go through St. James Park and past Buckingham Palace and Green Park and the Wellington Arch and then follow Knightsbridge to Harrods. Or keep going and see the Victoria and Albert museum and/or the Natural History museum.

I'd say that the biggest things to hit while in London are the Tower of London, to swing by Westminster to see Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and then it's personal preference - I strongly recommend the museums (the British Museum is my favorite, followed by the Imperial War Museum and the Imperial War Museum Churchill rooms, followed by the Victoria and Albert, followed by the Natural History museum), but your millage may vary.

Fiendishrabbit

Shadowhope wrote: »

Trafalgar Square - note St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the National Gallery. And so ends the route!

That route ends two blocks south of The Harp. Go past St.Martin-in-the-fields, turn right on William IV street and then turn north on the second crossing.

ceres

If you're a Sherlock Holmes nerd, I thought 221b Baker St was pretty fascinating. It's not very big, but there are a ton of little details and items to look at. I don't know that it's really on the way to anything else though, and that might make it less doable.

I can tell you though that it's right near a place that does some pretty great Jewish corned beef. Really great.

djmitchella

Third(fourth?)-ing "just walk around and see stuff" as a general approach -- the center of London is very walkable, even though the tube maps may make it look like things are further apart than that.

If you want to see museums, the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs! blue whale! etc), the Science Museum (Stevenson's Rocket! Babbage's Engine!), and the Victoria and Albert Museum (too much art by far!) are all within a block of each other, if you just want pure density -- but they're on the far side of Hyde Park from most other things, and while walking through Hyde Park is really great, it's also a fair time commitment.

Also, it would be worth looking in Time Out (https://www.timeout.com/london) to see if there's anything on at the time you're there that you'd especially be interested in. (galleries and museums have varying exhibits as well as the main collections)