London is a city Rick and I love going to time and time again – and there’s always still something left on our bucket list when we leave.
Last year, we visited London on our England, Scotland, and Ireland trip with Go Ahead and basically had two nights and one full day in the city. Funnily enough, the time before that we stopped in London before joining our Go Ahead tour group in Barcelona.
While one day is a tight fit to get a lot of London sightseeing done in, we were optimistic and had our Oyster cards loaded up so we could cover more ground quickly during our one day in London.
Here’s what we did during that day.
Westminster Abbey
On our full day in London we started off at 8:30 a.m. with a guided tour of London by bus and got off at Westminster Abbey to hear about the city’s history, hear Big Ben ring out, and of course take a bunch of pictures. We then walked through a park to get a spot to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace
We were near the starting point for the guards’ processional and watched them make their way toward the palace, then followed them and watched as they entered through the gates and swapped shifts.
I’d seen the changing of the guard before but this was Rick’s first time. It is neat to see, but you also are in a giant crowd of people. I’d recommend doing it at least once, but it’s not an activity we’ll have to do again next time we’re in London.
Fish & chips lunch
Afterward, some people in our group departed for the day trip but we opted to stay in the city. We wandered over to Savile Row as that’s been something Rick wanted to do in London and then meandered until we found a pub for lunch. We had some great ciders, beers, and of course fish and chips.
Afternoon tea
Last time we were in London we did an afternoon tea on a double-decker bus and that was a fun experience, but this time we wanted to do something a bit more traditional.
I’ve had my eye on The Shard for a while now and either wanted to do tea or cocktails at Aqua Shard and they had tables available for afternoon tea. So we were booked!
We did rush back to our hotel quick to grab stuff we would need for the evening as we’d have no time between tea and our evening plans. Fortunately, our hotel was right near a tube station.
We then hopped back on the tube back to the Shard for our afternoon tea at Aqua Shard. They had a Peter Pan-themed set menu and it was fabulous. We both added a glass of sparkling rose to our order!
My favorite savory item was the sausage roll though the cucumber sandwich was also very tasty. The desserts were delicious and we had a chocolate cake, raspberry mousse and a shortbread cookie, a coconut cake, and super yummy scones!
But, honestly, we went for the views. They were incredible! Our table had a great view of the Thames and Tower Bridge. The service was also exceptional and we were never rushed and the waiter was very accommodating of my wanting to film the steam coming out of Captain Hook’s ship.
After our tea, we walked across Tower Bridge and simply enjoyed a lovely afternoon walk. Every time Rick goes to London it’s always during a heatwave and he still has yet to experience rainy, foggy London. I’m not complaining as it was lovely to be outside and walking without an umbrella.
The theatre
That night we were off to the West End to get to the theatre district.
On our bus tour that morning we had driven by the Adelphi Theatre which was proudly displaying its current show: Back to the Future The Musical. We couldn’t pass up this opportunity. We got out our phones and immediately checked for tickets. I mean, our blog’s name is in honor of that amazing trilogy, we had to go!
It was an amazing performance and they adapted it to the stage so well! I’m so glad we skipped our Jack the Ripper tour to see this show as it doesn’t look like it’s coming to Denver anytime soon.
It truly was a fabulous performance for us Back to the Future nerds and the special effects were mind-blowing. There were a few changes to the story but Rick and I both agreed they still work within the movie’s original canon and made sense as to why they were changed.
Afterward we hopped back on the tube back to Kensington as we had to pack up for our train ride to Scotland in the morning!
I loved all the things we were able to squeeze into our one day in London. We cannot wait to go back as we still have so much more of the city to see, things to do, afternoon teas to enjoy, and pubs to visit.
What would be a must-do if you only had a day in London? Tell us in the comments!
