London: How to Visit and What to Know
Here’s the fact that changes how you should plan: London’s five biggest museums, the British Museum included, cost nothing to walk into, while the paid sights everyone assumes are walk-up, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace’s summer State Rooms, Big Ben’s tower tour, actually need booking weeks out. Three to four days covers the highlights properly, and this city rewards planning around bookings far more than its old-London, wander-and-see reputation suggests.
London at a glance
| Best time to go | April-May or September-October, milder weather and thinner queues than peak summer |
| Time needed | 3-4 days for the highlights, a week to add Greenwich and slower neighborhood time |
| Getting around | Zone 1-2 daily cap £8.90 (2026); contactless card or phone works like Oyster |
| Typical cost | £45-65/ |
Book the marquee ticket first: the Tower of London runs £37 adult, check current availability on GetYourGuide before you fix your dates.
Getting in and around
Heathrow is the airport most long-haul visitors land at, and the Elizabeth Line is the best default from there, a flat £15.50 into central London through Paddington and Liverpool Street. A contactless bank card or phone charges the identical fare as an Oyster card and shares the same caps, so most visitors don’t need to buy an Oyster at all. Check current fares on tfl.gov.uk before you travel.
Do I need a car in London? No, and it would actively work against you. The Zone 1-2 daily cap runs £8.90 in 2026 and covers essentially every sight in this guide by Tube, bus or the driverless DLR out to Greenwich. One rule matters more than any other on the Underground: stand right, walk left on escalators, or expect a pointed “excuse me” at a busy station like Bank or King’s Cross.
What to see and do
The British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, the V&A and the Natural History Museum all carry permanent, no-charge general admission, deliberate national policy, not a promotion. Book a free timed slot for the British Museum online, especially once the Bayeux Tapestry’s first loan outside France opens there in autumn 2026. Beyond the free museums, the Tower of London (£37), Westminster Abbey (£31, closed to tourists on Sundays) and the London Eye (£29-33 dynamic) are the paid anchors most first-timers build a trip around. Our full London guide covers the complete sight list, current prices and booking windows, and the 2 to 7-day itineraries lay out a day-by-day route.
Where to eat
A Boots or Pret meal deal runs £3.60-7 and is one of the city’s best-value lunches, genuinely, not a gimmick. Borough Market, near London Bridge, is a working food market since the 13th century that’s also become a serious eating destination, core hours Monday to Saturday 10am-5pm plus a shorter Sunday session. A casual sit-down dinner runs £15-25 per person, and a splurge afternoon tea at The Ritz starts at £95.
Where to stay
What’s the best area to base yourself? Westminster or the South Bank. Westminster puts you inside walking distance of the Abbey, Parliament and St James’s Park; the South Bank puts you on the river between the London Eye and Borough Market, with easy Tube access everywhere else. Compare current rates for both on Booking.com before prices climb closer to summer.
Straight talk
Skip the London Pass unless you’re genuinely stacking 4-5 paid attractions across 2+ days; since London’s biggest draws are free anyway, most itineraries don’t clear enough paid admissions to make the £99-259 pass worth it, run your actual costs first. Watch for the three-cup shell game on Westminster Bridge, rigged and unwinnable by design, just keep walking. And if a day trip is on your list, Windsor, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath and Stonehenge are real there-and-back trips covered in our London England guide, while Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland need an overnight, not a day trip, covered separately in our London United Kingdom guide.
Book the Tower of London and your British Museum slot before anything else, then build the rest of the trip around whatever’s left over.