What to do with 12-24 hours in London
On 5th October 2017 by AdminLast Thursday I spent the day in London. I was there to go and see my good friend Jo who I met in Sydney who was home for three weeks and then in the evening I was meeting my friend Emily who’s birthday it was and we were going out for dinner. It got me thinking because I had about three hours to spare between seeing both of them I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do a blog post. I wanted to see how many famous landmarks I could get to in the time I had between seeing the girls, so here is my ultimate London walk if you only have 12-24 hours in this beautiful city.
I met Jo at Goodge Street station and we took a short walk to Charlotte Place to find a little cafe I had seen on The Gluten Free Bloggers website called Beyond Bread. It’s a totally gluten free cafe and lets be honest I’ll always try somewhere new if it’s gluten free. It was such a cute little place tucked down a side street. The food options were vast and it was so nice to know that I could eat absolutely everything off the menu should I wish. I took a chance on a gluten free red pepper and artichoke panini and I was very happy with my choice. I’ve had some pretty dodgy gluten free paninis in my time but this one was the closest to the real deal. Jo had poached eggs and avo on gluten free sourdough. The coffee was good and it was so great just catching up about what we’ve been up to since we last saw each other in May whilst in Perth.
After lunch we took a walk to Tottenham Court Road and then down Oxford Street and this is where I will start my walk. We continued down Oxford street which is full of every single shop you could imagine, high and low end high street prices and it’s home to some very well know department stores including Selfridges. We walked as far as Topshop before taking a left down to one of my favourite places in London, Liberty. Liberty is an old department store split over many levels. The outside is Tudor style and the inside is circular in shape. The main reason I wanted to come here is because from August (and I can’t believe I’m about to say this) the Christmas department is open! It’s incredible, lights on the ceilings and everything you could possible want to deck your home. Prices range from low to high and honestly you can get anything your heart desires from food to decorations, stockings and calendars, it’s awesome.
(Take the entrance by the florist)
The rest of Liberty is very pricey but you can if you wish buy furniture, designer clothes, handbags, make-up, flowers, jewellery and stationery to name a few. It’s totally worth a look around.
A very short walk from Liberty (literally around the corner) is Carnaby Street. This once again hosts many shops and bars and is a great night out. If you’re in London at Christmas there’s always great Christmas lights on Carnaby Street. If you take the first left off Carnaby street you will find the London store of Choccywoccydodah, remember my Brighton blog? Here’s what the London store has to offer:
This is the point where I left Jo at Oxford Street station to continue my walk. I grabbed the Victoria Line south by one stop to Green Park. Once out of Green Park station I walked to the main road and turned right, where, facing me was The Ritz, the iconic London 5 start hotel. It’s beautiful and you can look in the windows at all displays they have. It’s just a nice place to say you’ve seen. After a quick photo stop I walked back towards the station and through the park. I love London parks in the summer/autumn there are always deck chairs you can sit in and it’s always surprising that in the middle of such a busy city there is so much peace. As you emerge at the other side of Green Park you’ll be faced with the most famous of the London landmarks, Buckingham Palace. It’s so busy but directly in front of the Palace the road is pedestrianised do you should be able to get a fairly good photo and good spot to view it. The big long road leading up to the Palace is called to The Mall but I decided to walk through St James park to the right as you look up the road. I haven’t walked through the park for years and it’s so pretty, there’s a massive lake with loads of wildlife and lots of benches to sit down and admire the view which is exactly what I did.
I continued my walk through St James park onto Horse Guards Parade. I walked over the gravel parade square and through to the front. The crowds were big here so I couldn’t get a photo but as the name would suggest there are soldiers on horseback guarding the area. It’s an impressive sight.
Walking literally straight ahead down the road facing you (with your back to Horse Guards), you will end up in Westminster. Here is where The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and across the river Embankment and the London Eye are situated. Big Ben wasn’t looking it’s best as it’s covered in scaffolding due to maintenance but it was still an impressive site. It was the first time I’d been there since the awful London attack on the bridge in March this year. It’s sad to see the bollards up along the road to stop cars driving onto the pavement but I’d rather they were there to keep us safe than not.
Walking across the Bridge you’ll see the London Eye. I love the London Eye, it’s expensive to go on but the views you get are spectacular, as is the queue! I’d recommend fast track or pre booking your tickets. Also along Embankment are the London Dungeons, Shrek’s World (no idea what it involves but I’m sure it’s pretty self explanatory) as well as street performers, funfairs and a skate park.
Along Embankment I walked to my favourite bridge in the city. I know that sounds strange but ask anyone and they’ll usually have a favourite bridge. Mine is Waterloo Bridge. I like it because you get incredible views of the city in both directions. You can see all the way to the financial district and all the way down past Embankment and Westminster. Also at the end of this bridge is The Strand, which is where this walk heads next.
Turn left down The Strand and you’ll come across more gems the city has to offer. The Savoy Hotel with the only road in the UK where you drive on the opposite side of the road and carry on straight down and you’ll come to Trafalgar Square where you can see Nelson’s Column and the National Portrait Gallery. I turned off just before here and cut through to one of my favourite places, Covent Garden. This is such a beautiful area. All the streets around it are cobbled and it’s essentially a big covered market. There’s general market stalls under separate coverings, but the main area of Covent Garden plays host to a number of well known shops such as Chanel, Links and Whittards to name a few. There are cafes on the lower part where usually there is music playing, be that an opera singer to an orchestra. The atmosphere here is lovely.
This is where the walk ends. In total it took me about 2.5 hours but I did know where I was going and I wasn’t spending too long standing to properly admire the views. If you took your time with this it would be a great walk to spread out over the course of the day.
If you wanted to extend you day you could go to Covent Garden tube station and take one stop south to Leicester Square where there is China Town and of course M&M world.
I hope you enjoyed the blog and it’s given you some ideas for when you visit this gorgeous city? Where’s you favourite places in London, I’d love to know?
As always disclaimers are in the About section!
(Sorry about poor lighting with some photos my iPhone 6 was all I had for the day)
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