Tips for a Great Trip to London

Samuel Johnson once famously said, "if you are tired of London, you are tired of life." These days, the same applies to this world-class city that is constantly changing, offering new things to see and do, and which attracts workers and tourists from every corner of the globe. So the short answer is, there's no maximum limit to a trip to London. Give London as much time as you can.

Naturally, that's impossible for most people, so we're going to get to grips with some real-world plans for a trip to London. While it's not ideal, a 2 day trip can provide a burst of historic attractions and a taste of the city's food, theaters, and sporting venues. But don't expect miracles. A 4-5 day trip will let you cover the central attractions (well, the major ones), while if you have 10 days or more, you can start exploring properly.

While a 2-day trip might not provide enough time to really get to grips with the city, there's no reason why it shouldn't be rewarding. However, before you go, you'll need to accept that you won't be able to see or do everything. London is like New York: it's big enough to keep vacationers busy discovering new sights, tastes, and neighborhoods for months.

What are the key attractions that beg to be seen during a 1 or 2 day trip to the Capital ? Well, obviously that depends on your aims and whether you're traveling solo, as a couple, or with a family (we'll get to that later, by the way). In general, there are several sights that can be easily worked into a micro-break.

Firstly, let's think about history. During a trip to London, most people will want to see Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Horseguards Parade, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, and the Houses of Parliament. Luckily, all of these attractions are in central London, with only the Tower of London and possibly St. Paul's being a bit out of the way. So you might want to leave the Tower and St. Paul's for Day 2, if you have one. That way, you can also pop over to Borough Market for some lunch, and see Tower Bridge while you're there.

Secondly, there's shopping and culture. Harrods is usually on the agenda for serious shopaholics during a trip to London, as are Liberty and Fortnum and Mason's. Again, they are all in the West End or just outside it, and you can move between them fairly quickly. Oxford Street is just to the east, and makes a good evening shopping venue. However, if you want antiques, Portobello Road Market is over in Notting Hill. That's a little outside the center, so keep that in mind.

If you really want to get as much fun as possible out of a quick trip to the city, you don't want to waste time traveling from poorly situated accommodation to the main attractions. So think about which activities really matter to you and choose a hotel that's as close as possible to those locations.

For instance, given that most of the luxury stores are in the western part of central London, it makes sense to look for a hotel somewhere like Knightsbridge or Park Lane. The St. James Hotel in Mayfair is well-situated, as is the Mercure in Kensington. The latter option is also near the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum - all excellent family attractions.

If you're sticking to a central London history tour, somewhere like the Novotel Waterloo will do just fine and has great views of Big Ben across the Thames. The Savoy on the Strand is another upmarket option close to Trafalgar Square, while the Mercure London Bridge is handy for the Tower, Borough Market, and the Tate Modern - making it ideal for an art-based trip to London. These hotels are conveniently located, helping to save time when whizzing between attractions.

Now we're starting to think about getting under the skin of the city a little bit more during your trip to London. If you give yourself five days or a week to explore, you'll stand a good chance of packing in all of London's major sights, and a few other cultural treats as well. Even a 4 day trip can be pretty comprehensive if you schedule everything carefully.

Don't just turn up without an idea of what you want to do every day during your stay. Well, you could do that, and you'd probably have a great time, but it from a sight-seeing perspective, we want you to see everything important without heading home disappointed. So get creative, make a list of the five to ten attractions that are "must-sees" during your trip, and add a few more "maybes", then, work around the core of attractions.  Pencil in two main attractions per day, and a couple of possibilities, and try to keep them geographically close together.

For instance, if you're visiting the British Museum, you may want to add St. Pancras Station as a possibility. It's a beautiful building, and definitely worth seeing, with the added bonus of hosting plenty of artisan food stalls where you can fill up before hopping on the Tube to your afternoon activity. Or, if you're visiting London Zoo, why not spend some time in Camden Town at the market, pubs, and fashion stores in the late afternoon and evening? Thinking smart about scheduling helps to pack much more in during a trip to London.

One of the great things about spending a week or even taking a 10 day stay in London is the chance to add some suburban attractions to your itinerary - and there are some very appealing options. For example, Windsor Castle is about 30 minutes away by train, and is an essential sight for fans of royalty. The same goes for Hampton Court, Henry VIII's palace in South London.

Over in the east, Greenwich hosts the Royal Observatory (hence Greenwich Mean Time), as well as the National Maritime Museum, (close to Novotel London Canary Wharf) the beautiful expanse of Greenwich Park, and the O2 Arena. To the north, Hampstead Heath is fun to explore with kids, while Highgate Village is picturesque, and there are EPL grounds like the Emirates and White Hart Lane to attend. You might even go further to Canterbury or St. Albans.

The key thing is to give every excursion a day of your time. Don't think you can head to Windsor in the morning and do the British Museum in the afternoon. Sure, by American standards the distances are tiny, but the attractions and travel will absorb most of your time, and nobody enjoys being hurried during their vacations, do they?

If you have a favorite out of town attraction like Windsor Castle or Canterbury Cathedral, it may well be a good idea to stay closer to it and then take the train into London to see the sights. If this sounds good to you, accommodation options like the Sofitel Castle Hotel in Windsor, the Ibis London Greenwich, or the Brook Kingston Lodge Hotel could come into play.

When you choose this kind of accommodation, you'll most likely find yourself in a pleasant, leafy suburb with great pubs, stores, and parks. But you will be distant from Westminster and other central London highlights. That's not a problem, as you can catch trains or subways into town and be there for the day, before returning. However, beware: try not to travel before 10:00 a.m. or between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. as the transport can become jammed with commuters. Unless you're there over the weekend, of course.

If you need somewhere that will keep young children and teenagers entertained, a trip to London is the perfect travel idea. But if this is the case, simple sight-seeing might not do the trick. Instead, you may want to work in child-friendly attractions in between the historic sights. Thankfully, that's not hard to do, with plenty for youngsters to enjoy.

Madame Tussauds and the nearby Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street are two attractions that are very close together, and you can easily add a trip to London Zoo as well. South of the river, the London Dungeon gives kids a scare and has a fascinating history lesson to teach, and you can combine it easily with the Tower of London, where tales of "Traitor's Gate" will add to the horror.

If you have a few more days during your trip to London, there are some excellent suburban family attractions too. Legoland Windsor is next door to the Castle, and you can probably do both in a day, while there's the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in north-west London, which is an absolute must for Harry Potter fans. You can get there via King’s Cross, where Platform 9¾ is the jumping off point for Hogwarts in the books.

Couples also have needs and interests of their own, which mean their trip to London will be very different to that of a boisterous family. If you are heading over the Atlantic for a romantic getaway, you'll want to make everything special, particularly if the trip to London is being arranged as a Valentine's Day or birthday surprise. So let's think of some attractions and tips to help make that happen.

If you are both fans of the movie Love, Actually, why not take a tour of some of the film's key locations? These include some iconic London sights that others might miss. For example, there's Somerset House on the Strand, with its elegant architecture and stellar art collection. The South Bank also plays a big part in the movie, and the walk from Waterloo to the Tate Modern provides fantastic views across to St. Paul's and Westminster.

Then there are ways to make a standard sight-seeing tour more unique and memorable. Booking a table at one of the capital's elite restaurants is a good place to start. Kaspar's at the Savoy is a good example, where you can dine out in style and then wander arm in arm along the Embankment, or dive into Covent Garden to find a cosy pub. Another achingly romantic destination is Columbia Road Flower Market. If you're in Shoreditch on Sunday, you'll win points by taking your partner to this gem of a market.

But what if you are planning a group trip to London with friends? In that case, romance and kids' activities are hardly going to be top of your list of priorities. Pubs, museums, galleries, and partying till dawn may be much more your cup of tea, as the locals say. But be realistic. Don't plan to party every night and hope to see everything during the day. If you're on a 10 day trip to London, don't burn out after a week. Rest every other day, and you'll have more fun when you do hit the bars and clubs of London town.

London has a deserved global reputation for nightlife, but picking the right places to go still isn't easy, and picking the right time to go out can stump some people as well. Generally, Shoreditch is a reliable place to bar-hop and find all-night dance clubs, although there's a vibrant scene in Vauxhall, Camden, Hackney, and Borough as well. There are great pubs in West London, but the clubbing scene tends to die off around Marble Arch and Mayfair (where you'll find some of the swankiest places of all).

Dance floors don't tend to fill up before midnight, which can be a problem if you've been hopping bars and pubs all evening, so be sure to slow things down and eat a hearty meal. Then there's getting home. If you aren't confident about using the buses and Tubes, there are black cabs and companies like Uber (although their status is under negotiation). Arranging a cab in advance usually helps, particularly on Friday or Saturday evenings when demand goes through the roof.

Whatever your aims are for a trip to London, it's really helpful to get the layout of the city straight before you arrive. Unfortunately, London didn't grow up around a grid pattern, so it's hard to describe, making it more useful to talk about various neighborhoods and boroughs when navigating the city.

For example, if you want to find the highest concentration of restaurants, you're probably best to head for Soho, just north of the West End, and close to Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. If you are looking for vibrant bars, we've already noted the appeal of Shoreditch, but Dalston (in Hackney), Camden Town, and Borough are all popular places to enjoy a few ales, cocktails or whatever takes your fancy.

Shoppers looking for clothes should look to Knightsbridge, Kensington, and Mayfair, which have thousands of upscale boutiques and tailors. If you want a tailored British suit, that's the place to go. The same applies to shirts, dresses, and hats. But if you want something more artistic, the South Bank (directly across from the Houses of Parliament) is the city's hub. It's home to theaters, galleries, cinemas, second hand book markets, and much more. To get there, the best idea is catching the Tube to Waterloo, which is right next door.

One thing that can pose a problem people planning a trip to London is transportation. Before you go, become acquainted with the London Underground (commonly known as the "Tube"), and be prepared to purchase what's called an Oyster Card. These prepaid cards let you pay for buses, Tubes and trains, and most services don't take cash. However, you can use contactless payment cards, so bear that in mind as well.

If you're on a longer trip to London, it might be sensible to purchase a 7 day travel card. This goes straight onto your card, and provides travel for a whole week. Many visitors will only need to buy a "Zone 1" travel card, which covers most of the main attractions. If you want to go further afield, you can add money to the card as and when you need it.

Well, by now you should have some idea how long your trip to London needs to last, the parts of town to focus on, and some of the attractions that simply have to be seen. Now, it's all about planning. Book those theater tickets or EPL seats. Find a hotel that's perfectly situated, and pick restaurants that excite your tastebuds. And lastly, relax: it's going to be an amazing trip.