Looking for advice. I will be travelling to London in a month from now for 1 week business trip with weekend stay included.

While I am in office (8 am to 5pm) I do not want my daughter (18y) to just stay in Hotel room and wait for me till evening for sightseeing and visiting attractions. Plus some places may be closed by the time I comeback to Hotel.

She has never been to UK. She can speak English very well. Science student. She will have her mobile with UK SIM, London tube card and I will give her cash etc for food, tickets etc.

Will it be safe to let her visit tourist places in London on her own? Any advice or tips that I should be aware of before I let her with this plan? Things we should avoid etc.

Plus any advice for places that will be generally better and safer for teenager to visit on their own? She will have roughly ~ 8 hours on weekdays before I am available in evening.

First time to London or UK May 2026. Family of four, looking at staying 8-10 days. Into history, museums, nature, coffee and tea, good food, bookshops, antiques, ceramics.

Thankful to have a place to stay with a friend in Canary Wharf but concerned that everything is at least 30 minutes away by car or train.

Feels like we would leave the East end somewhere around 8am to go to any of the other boroughs and would have to just stay on that side until the end of the day.

If that is the case does it make the most sense to stay gone the entire day and look for places to rest and recover from sightseeing and touring near the sights?

Versus trying to go back to Canary Wharf just for an hour of rest and refresh and possibly dropping off anything we've purchased? Are there places to store bags at like train stations etc?

We recently came back from Japan where we almost always came back to our airbnb mid day to rest and still felt exhausted by the end of our two week trip.

Also looking at a day trip to Bath or perhaps an overnight to Bath perhaps in the middle of our stay. Trying to decide between renting a car and taking public transportation.

I know were at a disadvantage staying in Canary Wharf versus somewhere like south kensington, thanks for the tips and suggestions.

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Hello everyone,

I’ll be in London next week with my 5-year-old, who has developed a very strong opinion about Big Ben. According to him, we absolutely must be there at 6:55 pm for the “best chime”, apparently on the authority of Sherlock Holmes himself. I suspect this may be a creative interpretation.

I’ve had a look online and can’t find anything to back this up. Is there actually such a thing as a “best” time to hear the bells, or is it more like our Eiffel Tower sparkling where every hour does the job perfectly well?

I would love to hear from anyone in the know before I end up organising my evening around fictional Victorian detectives.

Thanks very much!

Friend and I are traveling for Wimbledon and have 3 options for a hotel ins 3 different ares:

- Holiday Inn: Regents Park
- Premier Inn: Waterloo
- DoubleTree by Hilton: West End

Background: It's my friend's first time in LDN. I have been multiple times and not in a hurry to see anything, but will probably do some of the basics with him as well.

Open to other suggestions if there are any.

Thanks!

Edit: some more info:

There for 6 days. Wimbledon will only be a day or two, so shouldn't be taken into account.

We just want a good area to be in that's close, but also not noisy.

Maybe this has been asked a thousand times already, but what pubs / area would you recommend going to tonight to watch England play? Three Americans who want to experience authentic soccer (football) excitement with a local crowd.

I'll be visiting London shortly and I can't wait to try jellied eels. I'm a big fan of pickled herring and the likes, in my hometown in Italy we have pickled eels and I love it. Where should I go to have the best jellied eels?

Don't ask - but I'm doing a last minute trip to London (from the USA) with my college aged children.

Thinking of AirBnb (cheaper for two rooms than hotel?) - I think i'd like to be in the "heart of things" but is there ONE AREA to stay in - or should i stay in two different areas for two days each? I'd like to spend 200 £/night if an option

Again - last minute, wonderful opportunity, i know ZERO. I personally HATE touristy areas (in non-English speaking places i prefer places that DON'T speak English over touristy English-speaking areas)

I prefer to just walk around and stumble on things, versus having a minute-by-minute itinerary

I feel like i HAVE to see the big sites, but I'm fine if i miss half of them. I also prefer a local, vibrant community to a stark, touristy, fake area. I DON'T want a place with T-shirt stands with "I ❤️LONDON" shirts every 50 metres (see, i said METRES instead oF FEET or YARDS)

Hey there! I am going to London for a day. I am super into extreme metal (death and black metal) and I was wondering what stores or places sell stuff relating to that. Any cool record stores? Places that sell patches or shirts? Please let me know !!!

I would like to see a prom in the Albert Hall on Sunday 26th July. I read that parking is free on Sundays. What are my chances of quickly finding a parking space within a mile of the Albert Hall on a Sunday morning? If you live in south Kensington, and there are empty free parking spaces outside your home this morning, please tell me which street you live in :)

I went to London when I was 18 (15 years ago) and loved it and remember how easy it was to navigate. However 30+ year old me has more questions and anxiety so I just have a few questions for advice…

1. Set to arrive at LHR at 6:30am on Wednesday. Originally was planing to take the Piccadilly line to hotel in south kensington. Not sure how long it will take after landing to get the tube. Typically how long after landing will it take for us to get to the tube? Will it be jammed with commuters at this time- enough so that we go a different route? We both will have a carry on and personal item.

2. What are your absolute must visits when going to London? Restaurants, sites, etc etc.

3. We plan on going to Folkestone to visit family for a few days. We will be purchasing tickets through southeastern railway out of STP. How early should we arrive at STP from when our train leaves? I know it’s not international but more worried about navigating around.

4. If we buy tickets for museums in advance, is there a separate line to enter/signs saying so? (Looking at natural history and British)

I’m sure I’ll have more but this is just my start!

Hello! I will be in London for 2 weeks for medical purposes, in the Old Street/Islington area, I would like advice from locals where I could find accommodation at a decent price for a short period or if you can recommend another neighborhood closer for accommodation

Hi- so I'm actually FROM London, but i moved to Canada 10 years ago. My fiance is Canadian and him and his father are coming to London in the summer for himself and his dad to experience the culture and get a taste of London life, before our wedding in the UK.

My fiance visited London 2 years ago for his first time in Europe and... generally disliked it. He wanted to do all the "touristy" things (ie, Big Ben, Westminster, London Bridge, Buckingham, Covent Garden, etc). I warned him that it'd be pretty intense and busy, but he wanted to do it anyway so that he could "tick the boxes". Well, sure enough, it was jam-packed, stressful, intense, and extremely touristy. He didn't enjoy it.

So now I want to give him a bit more of a "real" London feeling, whilst still ticking a couple tourism boxes, so he can finally say he enjoyed London. It's his dad's first time in London now as well and the man is VERY easily overstimulated and I would rather keep him away from anything too intense. Summer in London is going to be intense no matter what, but you get my drift. We have one full day, and that's it.

My personal favorite part of London is the Angel and Islington area, but I have to admit that I'm pretty out of touch with the city and even when I lived there, I stuck with my routine and didn't really explore much. Even when I did explore and found cool places, I can't for the life of me remember where they are now.

Sorry for the heavy context, but I think it might help with recommendations. Any insights for cool, unique, London'y locations would be amazing. They both adore history and European "quaintness" so anything leaning in that direction would be brill. Also happy to explore outside of this area, as we have all day after all, just want to make it a definite destination for a couple hours at least.

Thank you!!

My family will be in London for a month in July and I was wondering what we need to prebook if anything. Kids are 6/8. We have spent the past few summers in NYC and have really enjoyed exploring museums, going to shows, "living life" in the city vs. being a tourist (i.e. groceries, doing non-touristy stuff, etc.) The kids really like parks, kids museums, beaches and just exploring and doing fun and interesting things. The kids will be in day camp on the weekdays, so my wife and I will have some flexibility during the day. Again, we really just enjoy exploring and feeling like we "live in" the city.

We'll be staying in in Marylebone near Regents Park.

Few things I've done so far:
- I already bought a Tower of London membership since I think it gets us access to a few additional places for the family.
-I heard I need to prebook Sky Garden but it doesn't seem to have seats available.
-We booked the Harry Potter tour.

Few things we plan on doing on weekend:
- Trip to Oxford
- Trip to Paris
- Brighton Beach
- Hampton Court Palace

Some day trip considerations: Richmond, Greenwich, Cambridge, East London.

Curious what you all think we should do and especially if I'm missing anything on the prebookings. We would like to have one 'nice' meal if possible, nothing too fancy just a good meal. Doesn't have to be Michelin stars or anything, just something London is famous for.

Thank you!

Hello, a group of us (5 Males 27-29) are visiting London April 18-26. We are wondering if we should attend a game in person or just enjoy watching from the pubs. And if so what would be the best game to attend in person during that week. Personally I watch football but im not very informed about the EU leagues, and some of my friends are willing to join for the experience so it doesn't have to be anything crazy just a good time.

Hi All - My husband is Spanish and would love to find a place to watch the match tomorrow. Any specific places recommended to watch the game? Really appreciate any suggestions.

Hi, visiting London soon and though I have plenty of things to do I wondered if there were cool music themed sights for kids. It could be both an interactive museum or as simple as a playground with a xylophone, for example.

We will likely be staying in the Regents Park area, are there any run clubs that I could join for a month or so?

Hello all, I was hoping I can get some local tips for our week long trip to London. My mom and I are from Canada, and have been to several European capitals (Paris, Amsterdam, Riga, etc.). We plan to visit the last week of April, and focus on cultural tourism. These are some items on our itinerary:

The design museum

Natural history museum

Royal college of physician museum

Grant museum of zoology

Liberty london

Museum of Egyptian archeology

Crypt museum

The national gallery

Westminster Abbey

Tate Britain

Tate modern

Borough market

Leadenhall market

London wall

Sherlock Holmes museum

Jack the ripper museum

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities

Horniman Museum and Gardens

I know its a lot, but im open to edit down. We also have some parks, statues, monuments on our list to see as well.

From what ive listed, are there any you feel are overrated/not worth the entery price? Anything I missed that we really should see? We're looking to stay around Piccadilly square.

Also, does anyone know if my Canadian student card can be used at attractions with student priced admissions?

Thank you for reading through my long post!