London. You have one day. To go or not to go? That is not the question. To go is the answer.

London is definitely one of the most interesting and worth visiting places around the globe. If you have a chance, we recommend you to stop over for more than a day. London has so much to offer, that there is always something more to see and do before heading on.

What are the things that you can see in one day in London?

Whether you like museums, galleries, literature, movies, parks, recreation, fashion, shopping … you will always find something for yourself.

But what to see if you only have a day in London?

Let’s start by the river Thames where Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben nest together. It is a rich historical and cultural place worth visiting, even if only from the outside.

Over the Westminster Bridge, you can see the London Eye. As many say, it offers the view you’ll never forget. The tour takes about 30 minutes and we highly recommend to book tickets online.

If you continue down Whitehall, you will pass Government Offices and you will pass the famous Downing Street. Unfortunately, you cannot access to 10 Downingtown Street itself – the home of the Prime Minister – due to security additions over the years. Continue along the street and after having passed the Household Cavalry Museum on your left, you will soon come to the famous Trafalgar Square. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory over France and Spain in 1805. At the top of the column is a statue of Horatio Nelson who commanded the British Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Next to the square stands the National Gallery which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.

From here on, you can decide whether to turn right to visit Convent Garden, the Royal Opera House and the Film Museum which stand almost literary next to each other, or to turn left to Pall-Mall towards the Piccadilly Circus which is a major traffic junction boasting with its video display and neon signs mounted on the corner building on the northern side.

Both Piccadilly and Pall-Mall lead to the St. James’s Park where the Buckingham Palace awaits its many, many visitors. Most visitors come to see the Changing of the Guards – the ceremony takes place at 11.30 AM.

Most probably you feel a bit tired so far. But you want to check more of the things you can see in one day in London? Why don’t you take a break somewhere in the park? There are many places to sit and relax. You can feed squirrels at any time and watch many other animals, esp. different sorts of birds, in or by the lake. The Park is a really great place to watch bats as dusk falls.

Once you have regained some energy, we propose to take the tube to the Tower of London – the very place where the Crown Jewels are displayed. Take a stroll over the Tower Bridge. Here you can see London through a glass floor, from a viewpoint 42 metres above the River Thames. If you get lucky, you can even see the bascules being raised beneath your feet.

To close the day, take a double-decker – a must experience in London – and head to the last point, to the St. Paul’s Cathedral with its world-famous dome. As the Cathedral stands on the brinks of The City, you can take a walk to see the major business and financial centre with many skyscrapers and tall buildings.

Even though you’d like to see as much as possible, take some time to eat as well. London offers a great variety of all kinds of cuisine from all over the world. Try fish and chips or a burger in one of many pubs, if you want something “local”, but note that you can actually get anything you want. We recommend checking TripAdvisor. Don’t select only one restaurant, it may be full, as it happened to us.

If you want to travel light and don’t want to carry your bags around for your last day in London, let us take care of that and deliver them to your next destination.

Besides, you can discover all the things to do in the city with our short video guide below. Do not hesitate to visit our Youtube channel for more destinations!

Are you moving to London?

Check our relocation guides for more information.

Read more about the things you can see and experience in other European cities, like Amsterdam and Copenhagen.