If you are going to visit London on a weekend, you will surely want to make the most of your time and see as much as possible. There is so much to see in London that when you start looking at travel guides to plan the perfect trip it can be difficult to decide what to see in a weekend.
That is why we have designed a perfect plan to see London in a weekend, with suggestions regarding accommodation, transport cards and routes so that you can make the most of your time.
With this weekend plan, we assume that we arrive in London on Friday afternoon and leave on Sunday afternoon, so we propose a plan that includes routes and suggestions for Friday afternoon, Saturday all day and on Sunday morning. If you are going to stay for more days, you can take a look at our section Plan Trip to London according to the number of days .
What will you find in this article?
Plans to visit London in a weekend
Our goal with this plan is going to be to spend the least amount of time on public transport and walking a lot! So wear comfortable shoes and visit London in a weekend!
Arrival day: Friday
If you are going to visit London on a weekend, we assume that you will arrive on Friday afternoon. You will probably lose a couple of hours getting from the airport to the center , but with a bit of luck you will have time to walk around the center for a while.
I propose to start our weekend in London seeing the most important things, and go straight to see Big Ben and the London Eye and take advantage of the afternoon to also see the famous squares of Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Covent Garden.
If you plan to ride the London Eye and want to take advantage of Friday afternoon to do it, I would recommend starting the route at the Westminster tube stop, riding the London Eye and doing the tour in reverse, ending in Covent Garden.
For dinner: You can go to the Southbank area (next to the London Eye) or around Covent Garden, Leicester Square or Soho where there are numerous restaurants. If you want to try something different I would recommend Ping Pong or Bill´s , in Soho (although on a Friday night it can be difficult to find a table, but you can always reserve a table); and in Southbank you will find Wagamama ‘s, Italian restaurants and several more…
Saturday
For Saturday we propose two options:
Option 1: Tourist Bus + Thames Cruise
Really use the tour bus is one of the best options in my opinion if you are going to be in the British capital for a short time, and if you are going to be in London for a weekend, riding the tourist bus on Saturday gives you the peace of mind of knowing that so you will see everything important in a simple way.
Take a tour of all of London and you will pass by Big Ben, the London Eye, the Tower of London, the famous Tower Bridge, St Paul’s, Hyde Park, Harrods… You can get on and off the bus as many times as you want during the day, so we would recommend you get off at the Tower of London area, for example, or get off at Harrods to enter these famous department stores, and then go up again and continue with the journey. In addition, with the tourist bus they give away a cruise on the Thames, which is one of the best experiences when visiting London. Allow time in one day to do the bus tour and the cruise. And also, in this way, during Saturday you will not have to use public transport.
Option 2: Walking route from Tower Bridge to St Paul’s
If you prefer to do a walking route, then I recommend our Route that includes Tower Bridge, London Bridge and a walk along the banks of the Thames until you reach St Paul’s.
It is a route that we have designed with the idea that you can dedicate a whole day to it, entering the famous Tower of London.
Map with our route Monument – St Paul´s
Another option, if you like to run a bit and don’t want to enter the Tower of London, would be to do this itinerary in two parts. So, after having crossed Tower Bridge and walked along the riverbank, I would recommend seeing Borough Market and then taking the tube at Borough Market or London Bridge and going to Camden Town to see the Camden Flea Market.(with the idea of eating there). Keep in mind that you can easily spend about 3 hours visiting this market. Then you can return by tube again to London Bridge or Borough Market and continue with the tour. In this way, the second part of the route will be done in the afternoon. In the area of the river there are usually people walking until quite late. I repeat that this route including tire is dreamed for those who want to walk a lot a lot all day!
Another option is to do the route as we have it on the map and enjoy the route with time.
And don’t forget that you can always make Saturday perfect by ending the night with one of London’s best musicals .
Sunday morning
If you chose the tourist bus on Saturday, you will have already seen the famous shopping streets Oxford Street and Regent Street, so if you have time on Sunday morning you could go see the Camden flea market , go see Hyde Park or St James´ s Park or ride the London Eye if you didn’t have time on Friday…
If instead, on Saturday you did our Tower of London route and others, take advantage of Sunday to see Regent Street, Oxford Street, Carnaby, Piccadilly Circus and this area of Soho, you can’t miss it!
London in a weekend: Recommendations Accommodation
If you are only going to be in London for 2 nights, I recommend that the hotel is quite central, since the last thing you want is to spend time on public transport. I would recommend that you stay in a hotel in zones 1 or 2 of London. You can see our list of recommended hotels if you have not yet chosen one, where we recommend central hotels with very good value for money.
London in a weekend: Recommendations Transport
If you are going to visit London on a weekend, taking into account the number of days you are going to be, I definitely recommend using an oyster card per person to move around on public transport. This transport card is definitely the best option for a few days, and you can use it for the tube, the bus, DLR (docklands light rail) and the London overground.