4 Days in London

Four days is enough to see London's headline sights at a walking pace if you group them by area: Westminster and the West End on day one, the Tower, St Paul's and the South Bank on day two, the free museums of Bloomsbury and South Kensington on day three, and Greenwich by river on day four. Book the Tower and Westminster Abbey a day or more ahead, stay somewhere central on a Tube line from Heathrow, and keep Sunday free of the two big churches.

The plan suits first-timers, couples and families with children over about eight. It assumes four full days on the ground. If your overnight flight lands on the morning of day one, see the arrival day below and push the plan back a day. For the full background on neighborhoods, transit and costs, see our London guide.

How the four days fit together

Central London is compact: Westminster, Covent Garden, the South Bank and the City sit within a 2-mile (3 km) circle. This plan keeps each day inside one part of town and uses the Tube or the river only to jump between areas.

Swap the order freely, with two rules: do day one or day two on a Sunday only if you are happy to attend a service rather than tour, and keep day two off Mondays, when Borough Market is closed.

Day by day

1. Day 1

   Westminster, the palace and Covent Garden

   Morning. Be at Westminster Abbey for its 9:30 am opening (Monday to Saturday). Admission is £32 (about $43) for adults, £29 ($39) for seniors and students, £14 (about $19) for ages 6 to 17, and the multimedia guide is included; allow two hours. Step outside for Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament across Parliament Square. From there you have two choices for late morning. On a Changing the Guard day (in November 2026, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 am), walk 15–20 minutes through St James's Park to Buckingham Palace and claim a spot by the railings or the Victoria Memorial by about 10:15 am. On other days, go underground at the Churchill War Rooms on King Charles Street, five minutes from the Abbey: £34 (about $45) for adults, about two hours.

   Afternoon. Walk up the Mall from the palace to Trafalgar Square, about 15 minutes, and spend two hours in the National Gallery (free, 10 am to 6 pm, Fridays to 9 pm). Some rooms are closed for building work, so check the online floorplan for the paintings you care about.

   Evening. Covent Garden is a 10-minute walk from Trafalgar Square. Eat around Covent Garden, Seven Dials or Soho, then see a show; same-day discounts are at the official TKTS booth in Leicester Square, and London theatre explains rush and lottery seats.

2. Day 2

   The Tower, the South Bank and St Paul's

   Morning. Take the District or Circle line to Tower Hill and be at the Tower of London when it opens (usually 9 am, 10 am on Sundays and Mondays; check the day's hours on hrp.org.uk). Adult tickets run about £37 (about $49), and under-5s are free. Go straight to the Crown Jewels before the line builds, then join a Yeoman Warder tour, included in the ticket. Allow three hours.

   Midday. Walk across Tower Bridge (free; the walkway exhibition is extra) and west along the river on Queen's Walk to Borough Market, about 20 minutes. It opens Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm, and it is closed on Mondays. Graze the stalls for lunch; Southwark Cathedral is next door.

   Afternoon. Continue along Bankside past Shakespeare's Globe to Tate Modern (free, about 15 minutes' walk), then cross the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral. Sightseeing tickets are £27 (about $36) for adults and £10.50 (about $14) for children, Monday to Saturday from 8:30 am, with last entry usually at 4 pm, so get there by 3:15 pm. The climb to the Golden Gallery is 528 steps with no elevator.

   Evening. Either stay in the City for a pub near St Paul's, or walk the South Bank west to the London Eye, about 40 minutes via Blackfriars Bridge. Tickets are from £29 (about $39) online and £39 (about $52) at the booth, so book ahead; in winter the late-afternoon slots give you dusk and the lights coming on. Eat near Waterloo or on the South Bank.

3. Day 3

   The British Museum, South Kensington and Hyde Park

   Morning. The British Museum in Bloomsbury opens at 10 am daily (Fridays to 8:30 pm) and is free; a free timed ticket is advised in busy periods, and the Montague Place entrance at the back usually has the shorter line. Pick a route rather than trying to see it all: the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, the Egyptian mummies and Sutton Hoo fill a good three hours. Large bags and wheeled cases are refused.

   Afternoon. Eat in Bloomsbury, then take the Piccadilly line from Holborn or Russell Square to South Kensington, a direct ride of about 15 minutes. Choose one museum: the V&A for design and fashion, or the Natural History Museum (10 am to 5:50 pm) for the blue whale and dinosaurs. Both are free. The Science Museum is next door and also free, but it needs a pre-booked ticket. Do not try all three in one afternoon.

   Late afternoon and evening. Walk up Exhibition Road into Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, past the Albert Memorial toward Kensington Palace (paid; check its opening days). Dinner in South Kensington, or ride the Piccadilly line back to Leicester Square for Soho or Chinatown; see London food for neighborhoods.

4. Day 4

   Greenwich by river, then the East End

   Morning. Ride the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers from Westminster or Embankment pier to Greenwich, about 40 minutes, with views of the City, the Tower and Canary Wharf. Tap a contactless card at the pier reader; Central zone singles ran about £10–12 (about $13–16) through October, and Uber Boat says some fares drop for the winter. See the Cutty Sark (£22, about $29, for adults) and the free Queen's House and National Maritime Museum.

   Midday. Climb Greenwich Park to the General Wolfe statue for the skyline view, free and unbooked. The Royal Observatory closes from November 2, 2026 for refurbishment, so check its reopening date on rmg.co.uk before planning around the Prime Meridian. On weekends, Greenwich Market has food stalls.

   Afternoon and evening. Take the DLR from Cutty Sark station toward Bank and change for Shoreditch, or ride the boat back to London Bridge. Spend the late afternoon around Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane and Shoreditch's street art, and eat there: Brick Lane for curry or a salt beef bagel, Shoreditch for bars and newer restaurants. If day four falls on a Sunday, start the morning instead at Columbia Road flower market and do Greenwich after lunch.

The arrival day

Most flights from the US land at Heathrow between about 6 and 10 am, and hotel rooms are rarely ready before 3 pm. Drop your bags at the hotel (almost all will hold them), then keep the day outdoors and light so you stay awake until about 9 pm.

• Walk the South Bank from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge, about 2.5 miles (4 km), with coffee stops.
• Or ride the front seats of the top deck on bus 11 from Liverpool Street past St Paul's, along the Strand and through Westminster, for the price of a bus fare, £1.75 (about $2.30).
• Skip timed tickets today. A delayed flight or a long passport line turns a 1 pm Abbey slot into a wasted £32.

What to book now

Only a few things in this plan sell out. Buy from the attraction's own site; copycat ticket sites rank high in searches and charge more. Prices are 2026 adult prices; see London sights for children, seniors and passes.

What four days cost

These are rough daily figures per person, excluding your hotel, built from the typical London prices on our London page. Transit assumes you hit the Zones 1–2 daily cap; sights average the plan's paid tickets over four days.

Add your room: two people in a central budget chain such as Premier Inn usually pay about £110–220 (about $146–293) a night, more on summer weekends and in the week before Christmas. Prices on menus, tickets and shelves include 20% VAT, and many restaurants add a 12.5% service charge, in which case you do not tip again. Our budget tool builds a total for your own dates.

Where to stay for this plan

The best bases sit in the middle of the plan's circle and on a line that runs straight from Heathrow.

• Covent Garden and the Strand: walk to day one and to the theatres; the Piccadilly line from Heathrow stops here. Pricey.
• Bloomsbury: the British Museum on your doorstep, quieter nights, better value, and Russell Square and Holborn on the Piccadilly line.
• South Bank and Southwark: the best walking for day two, on the Jubilee and Northern lines, with Waterloo and London Bridge for trains.
• King's Cross: best if you are adding a day trip north or the Eurostar to Paris.

Our where to stay in London page compares ten areas with prices by season and example hotels.

Getting in from Heathrow

Every option below takes a contactless card or phone, but tap the same one each time so the daily cap works.

• Piccadilly line: about £5.90 (about $8) to central London, 50–60 minutes to Leicester Square, direct to South Kensington, Covent Garden, Holborn, Russell Square and King's Cross. No luggage racks.
• Elizabeth line: about 30 minutes to Paddington and 35–40 to Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street, up to £15.50 (about $21).
• Heathrow Express: 15 minutes to Paddington, from £10 (about $13) booked 30 or more days ahead, £26 (about $35) standard. Not covered by the TfL caps.

Most transatlantic flights land in the weekday morning peak (6:30 to 9:30 am), so expect peak fares on the Tube and Elizabeth line. Gatwick arrivals take the Gatwick Express or Southern to Victoria, or Thameslink through London Bridge and St Pancras. Our flights page and London guide cover every airport. Before you fly, every American needs an ETA; see the UK ETA.

Variations

With kids

Swap the National Gallery for the Science Museum (free, pre-book) or the Natural History Museum, keep the Tower (children under 5 are free and the Yeoman Warders are a hit), and add the London Eye. Children under 11 ride the Tube and buses free with a paying adult. For a fifth day, the Harry Potter studio tour at Leavesden is about 20 minutes by train from Euston to Watford Junction, then a shuttle bus.

On a rainy day

Day three is already indoors. On a wet day one, trade Buckingham Palace for the Churchill War Rooms and the National Gallery; on a wet day four, the National Maritime Museum and the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College keep you dry in Greenwich. Any service at St Paul's or Westminster Abbey, including sung Evensong in the late afternoon, is free.

In winter

From November to January it is dark by about 4 pm, and in December the sun sets before 4 pm. Put the outdoor parts (the guard change, Greenwich Park, the river walk) in the morning and save the museums and the lights for the evening. The British Museum, National Gallery and Natural History Museum all close December 24–26, and the National Gallery also closes January 1. For the festive version of this trip, with markets, ice rinks and the Christmas Day shutdown, see Christmas in London; for the season, see November, December and January.

A fifth day, or a slower four

With a fifth day, take the train to Windsor (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays), Oxford or Cambridge, each about an hour, or Bath from Paddington; see day trips from London. For a slower four days, drop the London Eye and the Churchill War Rooms, take a long lunch every day, and spend day four on Hampstead Heath or at Kew Gardens instead of Greenwich.

Mistakes to avoid

• Touring the Abbey or St Paul's on a Sunday. Both open only for services; go to Evensong instead.
• Planning Borough Market for a Monday. It is closed.
• Mixing your card and your phone at the ticket gates. They count as two payment methods and break the daily cap.
• Buying a London Pass for a museum-heavy trip. The national museums are free.
• Crisscrossing town. A plan that puts the Tower and the V&A on the same morning loses an hour to the Tube.
• Bringing a suitcase to a museum. Large bags and wheeled cases are refused; use left luggage at the station on arrival and departure days.
• Holding your phone at the curb. Phone snatching by thieves on bikes is London's most common street crime against visitors; step back from the road. See safety.

Bottom line

Four days gives you Westminster, the Tower, St Paul's, two great museums and Greenwich without rushing, as long as you group the days by area, book the Tower and the Abbey, and keep the big churches off Sunday. If you only have three days, cut day four; if you have five, add a day trip. Comparing cities for a first trip? See London vs Paris, or pair this plan with 3 days in Paris by Eurostar from St Pancras. To shape your own route, try the trip builder. Want this planned for you? Tell us your dates.