We had visited London before but it had been so long ago that we could barely remember enough of the trip to do a write-up with enough detail to do it justice.
Since we had a trip planned to Scotland and were flying through London, we opted to add a couple of nights at the end to at least revisit the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace along with whatever else we could manage to fit in.
Our timing was actually pretty good. When British Airways cancelled our afternoon flight from Inverness replacing it with a morning one, at first, we were disappointed about cutting our Scottish adventure short.
But, as luck would have it, we discovered that a Fawlty Towers production was starting in London. This was based ON a British comedy with Jon Cleese from Monty Python that we used to watch and found hilarious. So just like that, we got tickets, and we were booked to see Fawlty Towers in London at the famous Apollo Theater. Very cool!
Getting into London
Traffic being what it is and Heathrow being quite far out of the city, it’s actually more convenient and faster to take the train from the airport into the city instead of a cab.
There are fast trains that go straight into London but since we were staying on a different line we opted for the Tube (London Underground) which cost us only £5.60 one-way. This route took about an hour with one change of train and about 20 stops. It was well marked, easy, and fast. Paying was simple too, no need to buy tickets, just tap with the phone going in and going out.
Perhaps we got a lemon but the train on the Piccadilly Tube line kept announcing that it would no longer go to the last station but end at an earlier one, then it announced it would go to another stop, then again it would go to the end. We opted to get off at the first station that connected to our District line, and the rest of the trip went smoothly.
Tip: When traveling with luggage be aware that there are many stations with no escalators and unless you want to wait for a lift (Only in the stations marked as accessible with a wheelchair on the guide) you may have to carry bags up and down the stairs.
A lovely evening in London
There is so much to do in London, and we knew that with only two nights we’d have to be pretty selective, but we were determined to fit in as much as we could. Upon arrival we checked in and did a little exploring around the Theater District before heading to our show.
On the way we stopped at Trafalgar Square with the Nelson’s Column and the four bronze lion statues for pictures. An iconic place and those lions are huge!
We also found a great pub, the Sherlock Holmes. This was actually a place where they filmed some of the movies, so the pub has kept Sherlock Holmes’s office intact and put it behind glass as a tribute and a museum. They made some excellent fish and chips and let’s not forget the delicious sticky toffee pudding!
The Fawlty Towers Show
The Apollo Theater is a beautiful venue and we were able to get tickets in advance to the popular Fawlty Towers show. This was a TV show we used to love with John Cleese and the theater production brought some of the first three episodes back to life for us.
It was a beautiful venue and a great show. Somewhat like Broadway in NYC there are multiple shows in multiple theaters in this area. A wonderful experience if you should be in town for a few days. Our show, Fawlty Towers, was just hilarious! The performers did a remarkable job.
Next day in London
We had purchased well in advance tickets to two of London’s main attractions and we had planned what would be our only full day around these iconic attractions in London.
We started our day with walking along the waterfront towards the Tower of London so that we could get some good views of the city skyline. There were definitely more modern buildings that had gone up since our last visit from what we remembered.
We were amazed by the number of restaurants and attractions that had been added along the waterfront as we made our way along the Queen’s Walk. One new section was a graffiti-covered skateboarding area under one of the bridges.
It was about an hour’s walk from the iconic Big Ben that we could see from our balcony along the Thames River to arrive at the Tower Bridge. This is of course another iconic viewpoint in London just outside the Tower of London site we were heading to.
The Tower of London
We arrived at the Tower of London with our pre-booked tickets for the first entry between 10am and 10:30am and there was already a long line. The Tower of London being a royal palace is deserving of its own post and we’ve written it up here: His Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London
After spending a good part of the morning at the tower, we started heading off towards the royal palace and residence, Buckingham Palace.
There are a number of significant places to visit and see along the way and while some needed advance booking others were either free or could be accessed with tickets bought at the door.
St Paul’s Cathedral
This famous and amazing 17th century cathedral used to be free to enter but now we were charged £26 each.
Knowing we just had an hour to spare before our pre-booked tours at Buckingham Palace we almost opted out, but my husband really wanted to go in, so we did.
You can easily spend a few hours here exploring the crypt and museum as well as climbing up the 365ft-high dome. That would make the ticket price worthwhile, but we didn’t want to risk missing our entry slot at the palace.
Even so, this is a beautiful and very large cathedral, and we were glad to have been able to enter and revisit it.
Westminster Abbey
On the way to Buckingham Palace, we also passed by Westminster Abbey located behind Big Ben, London’s iconic clock tower. Those wanting to visit definitely need to buy tickets ahead of time and even then, we saw a long line just waiting to get in. We had visited this important landmark on a prior trip, but we knew that this time around we wouldn’t have time to visit.
St James’s Park
We strolled through the beautiful St James’s Park admiring the flowers and the ponds as we made our way toward our last stop which would be Buckingham Palace where we had booked an East Wing tour as well as the usual State Apartments tour.
Our entry was the last one at 4pm which was the only way to really do both the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace in one day. Those with more time would definitely want to split these two attractions into different days.
Buckingham Palace
We wrote up Buckingham Palace separately in keeping to our theme of making separate posts for royal palaces. You can read more about it here: Buckingham Palace, a Royal Residence in London
Where we stayed
We opted for a nice Big Ben view room at the historic County Hall Marriott. Just outside Westminster subway station, this huge building next to the London Eye (a huge Ferris wheel) used to house London’s Old Town Hall.
The room was nice and modern with a comfortable bed and we were lucky enough to get upgraded to a balcony suite.
It was nice to be staying in town so we could enjoy a show and walk back as well as see the city all lit up at night.
Near the hotel you could pretty well go in any direction and stumble into a pub that has been there for hundreds of years. We had a tasty fish and chips dinner at the Sherlock Holmes pub, visited the Red Lion pub for traditional English pies and even had a drink in a pub named the “Hung Drawn and Quartered”. The name coming from the punishment that was awarded those that conspired against the King.
Tips:
- Try to get in a show in the Theater District
- Take the Tube (London Underground)
- Give yourself extra time (August had lots of crowds and traffic)
- Stay in town so you can walk around and enjoy the nightlife
Conclusion
While one day in London certainly doesn’t do it justice, London just seems like a place we could return to more than once and enjoy a day to a few days.
There is a lot of choices in activities and restaurants, and this action-packed itinerary would probably work better over two days anyway. We did 25,000 steps and walked 11 miles and have the blisters and sore feet to prove it. Perhaps with only a day it would be better to just focus on one main attraction and take it a bit slower. Still, sore feet aside we loved our short time here and would definitely come back and not run out of things to see and do.