When I was a little girl, I dreamed of visiting London! I was finally able to visit the amazing city I used to dream about and I couldn't be more thankful. Even though my family only spent two days there, we were able to see so much! Here are some tips on how to spend two full days in London:
GO WITH THE FLOW
There is so much to do in London and we knew we wouldn't be able to do everything we wanted to do. It's better to keep your "schedule" open so you aren't running from tour to tour. Keeping your schedule open also allows you to stop if things catch your eye while walking around or riding in a taxi. We only had one tour scheduled when we arrived in London, but we scheduled a few things while we were there. We scheduled tickets for Churchill War Rooms ahead of time because the queue for tickets is usually pretty long. If there's something you REALLY want to see or do, make sure you get tickets for it ahead of time. The queues for most of the attractions in London can get very long (depending on time day and year), although most go by fairly quick.
On our first day, we were able to see Buckingham Palace (we only walked up to the gate because the Queen was home), Churchill War Rooms, New Scotland Yard (again, we only walked up to the outside), Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, St. James's Park, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum. We even rode the hop on hop off bus to some of those attractions.
On our second day, we spent half the day at Tower of London, had afternoon tea, visited Kensington Palace, and finished the day at Harrod's.
BUY SOME TICKETS AHEAD OF TIME
Like I said before, we bought tickets for Churchill War Rooms before we even got to London. While we were in London, we bought tickets for Westminster Abbey and Tower of London. When you buy the tickets ahead of time, you don't have to stand in the long queues.
STAY IN THE CENTER OF TOWN
We stayed at the Nadler Victoria, which is across the street from Buckingham Palace. The location was perfect! Most of the things we wanted to see and do were very close (within a 20 minute walk) and there are plenty of restaurants in the area. We only took taxis to Kensington Palace and Tower of London because they were too far to walk and our feet were tired. If you plan on visiting the typical "tourist" sites in London and would rather walk than take taxis or the Underground, I highly recommend staying in the Victoria/Westminster area or Covent Garden/St. James's area.
DO A HOP ON HOP OFF BUS TOUR
Since we were staying in London for two days, we decided to get a 48 hour hop on hop off bus tour (the 48 hour package comes with a free boat tour and and free night tour also). Not only is the hop on hop off bus tour a great way to avoid walking, you also learn so much by listening to the guide between each stop. Of course there are different companies, but the hop on hop off bus tour we bought tickets for had several routes that went to different parts of London.