How can you make the most of your time in London if you only have one or two days here? This is what I suggest.

If it’s your first trip here, or a long time since your last one, I highly recommend a guided walk through the central areas of Westminster. I say walk, rather than use a car, because the distances between Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace are short; and the walk passes through a lovely park with magnificent flower beds – and squirrels, swans, even pelicans! I can guarantee some memorable photos and some lasting memories.

You can find more details and a short video HERE

You can – in the case of a small group or a family – go a little further afield, if you wish, by taking a taxi or one of the famous public double-decker buses to the mediaeval fortress called the Tower of London. Your vehicle becomes a time machine, whisking you through two thousand years of London’s present and past.

For a larger group, a hired bus would be suitable for this kind of excursion. Your photos of Tower Bridge will counterbalance the ones you took earlier of the Household Cavalry – you can find a detailed description and route HERE

The walk described above will take about three hours. If you have time for a full day excursion, we’d suggest extending the morning with a visit to the Tower of London, with the amazing collection of the Crown Jewels, or a tour round Westminster Abbey, our Coronation church and a place of royal weddings and funerals. These two locations can, without doubt, be considered the quintessence of England: you will get a feeling for the history of this country, its monarchy and its capital city, and the way it has grown and developed over the last two thousand years.

In the morning, I recommend a visit to the Tower or Westminster Abbey, if you didn’t have time to do this on your first day. Your plans may be determined by events – for example, the Abbey is closed for tourist visits on Sundays.

The afternoon? Maybe devote it to looking at the artefacts of ancient civilisations (Greek, Roman, Assyrian and – always a favourite – Egyptian) in the British Museum, or to canonical European art in the National Gallery. It is a particular point of pride that these world-class collections have always been, and remain, free to visit.

Alternatively, you could spend half of your second day inside a royal palace. Hampton Court Palace – just 40 minutes by direct train from central London – is open all year round. If your London trip falls in August or September, the main London royal residence, Buckingham Palace, is open for those who would like to follow in the footsteps of the monarchs’ guests over the last two hundred years and stroll through the magnificently opulent royal apartments.