What to see in London in 4 days, a question that you ask us many times and that although it might seem difficult to answer, thanks to the more than 10 years that we have been living in London, we can give you the perfect route to see the best of London in 4 days . If you are going to spend 4 days in London you will be able to visit the most famous and exciting attractions and places of interest in London without any problem. Above all, you can do it calmly and without haste. Below we propose a different route for each of the 4 days you will be in London. The routes are the same ones that we do with friends or family and we have done them many times so we know that they are realistic distances and can be done calmly during the day. What will you find in this article?
Itinerary to know what to see in London in 4 days
This itinerary will allow you to know what to see in London in 4 days including places as important as the London Eye and Big Ben, passing through the squares of Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden. You will see something as symbolic as the changing of the guard, we will not forget the Tower of London, or Saint Paul’s Cathedral. But in addition, we will see some of the best museums in London and some of the best markets in London.
What to see in London – First day: Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square
Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
The first day of our visit to London in four days we are going to start with one of the most famous places in the British capital: Buckingham Palace. Here we are going to see the famous Changing of the Guard that takes place at 11 in the morning. From here we will cross the beautiful park of St James to reach Whitehall, where we can see the Royal Guard and walk to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.
Westminster abbey
Visiting Westminster Abbey is something I recommend if you are going to visit London in four days, since it is one of the places that I personally liked the most in London. It will take around 2 hours to visit Westminster Abbey, and you can use the London Pass to get in, or you can buy tickets in advance to save money.
Big Ben and London Eye
From here, we will go directly to one of the most important sites in London: Big Ben . Big Ben is the name of the bell in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London, and it is, together with the London Eye, one of the most important icons of London. Although Big Ben is the bell inside the tower, the tower is known as Big Ben throughout the world. The neo-Gothic style tower was completed in 1859 and is 96 meters high. After seeing Big Ben we will cross the Westminster Bridge and head to the London Eye . Crossing the bridge we can take some spectacular photos of these two icons of London. Riding the London Eye is another of the most important attractions in London and the truth is that if you do not have tickets you will consider buying them here when you arrive. And honestly, it is much better to buy tickets in advance , otherwise the queues can be very long. By having the tickets already purchased you will simply have to exchange them, this process being much faster than buying the tickets at the box office since there are no purchase procedures. From the London Eye I recommend you continue walking along the riverbank, as it is a very pleasant walk, and there are usually street artists and markets in this section. This is the area called Southbank, and we will find here several restaurants and cafes where we can recharge our batteries.
Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Soho
>We cross the river again to go to Trafalgar Square , the square of the 4 lions and Admiral Nelson. This is also where the National Gallery is, which is free to enter. From Trafalgar Square we walk towards Piccadilly Circus , the famous square of the giant screens, one of those places that we definitely cannot miss on our visit to London in four days. And from here we can walk along Piccadilly Street, to admire the world’s largest bookstore, Waterstones, the Fortnum and Mason store and the Ritz Hotel before entering the Burlington Arcade, a gallery of shops from the s. XIX with traditional shops that are worth seeing.
What to see in London – Second day: Oxford Street, Carnaby Street, Soho and Covent Garden
The second day of your visit to London in four days is going to be dedicated to seeing some of the most important shopping streets and squares in the center of the British capital that are essential on a visit to London. I suggest you start your day at Hyde Park Corner, and take a short route through Hyde Park , seeing its wonderful lake and savoring the grandeur of this beautiful park.
Speaker’s Corner and Oxford Street
We will then go up to Marble Arch, passing before Hyde Park’s famous Speaker’s Corner. From Marble Arch we start our tour of the most important shopping streets in London: Oxford Street and Regent Street. On Oxford Street we will find the Selfridges department store , a historical icon of London. In addition to Selfridges, we will find other department stores, such as Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and House of Fraser. Here we will also find many fashion stores, such as Zara, Mango, Pandora, Swatch, Topshop, Monsoon, Coast, Next, New Look, among many others. I recommend you visit one of our corners on Oxford Street: St Christopher’s Place . Being a little hidden, it is one of the places that many tourists do not see, and it is the perfect place to eat or have a coffee, since there are numerous restaurants and cafes, and there is always a place.
Regent Street, Carnaby Street and Soho
When we reach Oxford Circus we turn right to go down Regent Street , one of the streets in London that you will not easily forget. Here is Hamleys , the largest toy store in the world, and therefore the most famous in London. At Regent Street we deviate a bit to enter Carnaby Street , an area of London’s Soho that will leave you speechless. And from here, we’ll tour London’s Soho a bit, we’ll enter Chinatown to then head to Leicester Square , the square where London’s film premieres take place .
Leicester Square and Covent Garden
From Leicester Square we walk a few minutes until we reach Covent Garden , one of my favorite places in London, a magical square like no other, with its old apple market and its street artists. In Covent Garden we find the London Transport Museum , one of the museums that I recommend visiting, especially if you come to London with children . And we are in the perfect area to end the day in an unforgettable way: seeing one of London’s famous musicals .
What to see in London – Third day: Tower of London, Borough Market, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Southbank
For the third day of a visit to London in four days, we recommend following a very nice route that we have designed and that we ourselves do every weekend. This route will give you the chance to visit the Tower of London , the Tower Bridge in London and walk along the south bank of the River Thames towards London Bridge. We start this route at Monument, and walk towards the Tower of London. Visiting the Tower of London is one of the essential visits on a trip to the British capital, and it will take between 2 and 3 hours to visit it. Then we recommend that you go to another of our secret corners of London, St Katharine’s Dock , an oasis of tranquility in one of the most visited areas of London. We will continue our route crossing the famous blue bridge of London, the London Tower Bridge. It is possible to climb the Tower Bridge and walk along its glass walkway, a unique experience. Once we have crossed the London Tower Bridge we will walk along the river bank passing in front of the London City Hall and we will arrive at London Bridge. Here we have the option to interrupt our route to make the most of the day if we want, and we can get on the tube and go to Camden Town to visit the Camden Town flea market . It can take about 2 hours to visit the Camden Town flea market, but it’s worth going if you have time. After visiting Camden Town, it’s a matter of taking the tube back to London Bridge and continuing our route along the river. We will pass in front of Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate Modern, the OXO Tower… and we will see the Millennium Bridge and Saint Paul’s Cathedral .
What to see in London – Fourth day: Museum of your choice, Hyde Park, Harrods or Harry Potter Studios
The fourth day of your visit to London in four days you can take advantage of it to take a walk through the area of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens that you have not yet seen, visit one of the best museums in London and finally visit the famous Harrods department store .
Museum and Hyde Park
Where to start the day depends a bit on the museum you want to visit. If you want to visit the British Museum, I would surely recommend you visit this museum first and then take the route through Hyde Park and South Kensington. If instead, you are interested in visiting the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum, then I recommend going to Hyde Park first. Then you can go to the museum area in South Kensington, since it will catch you practically everything on the way. In Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens I recommend you go in search of the statue of Peter Pan and see the beautiful Italian gardens of Kensington Gardens as well as see Kensington Palace . After the walk through Hyde Park you can visit the Knightsbridge area, passing by the famous Harrods department store , where you can buy a typical London gift .
Tips to spend 4 days in London:
Another option is to visit another London market instead of a museum, such as Notting Hill if you are in London on a Saturday, or the Columbia Road or Spitalfields and Brick Lane flower markets if it is Sunday. Another option for the fourth day is even to take a day trip to some other city in England, such as Oxford , Cambridge , or Stratford Upon Avon . Many people also take advantage of this fourth day to spend the morning at the Harry Potter Warner Bros studios . and then make the route through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and visit Harrods in the afternoon.
| What to see in London in 4 days? |
|---|
| Changing of the Guard |
| westminster abbey |
| london eye |
| Piccadilly Circus |
| Carnaby Street |
| Speaker’s Corner |
| leicester square |
| Borough Market |
| San Pablo’s cathedral |
| south bank |
| Harry Potter Studios |
| Hyde Park |
Using the Tourist Bus to visit London
If you are going to visit London in four days, one of the things to consider is whether you want to use the London tourist bus . Using the tourist bus for the first day or two is a good idea. Being such a big city, I think that the tourist bus is used to see many of London’s attractions and then locate them more easily on the map during the rest of the days. You can get on and off as many times as you want from the different tourist bus routes. For me one of the biggest advantages is that they also offer a free cruise on the Thames. And with the ticket you can also join a free walking tour. I almost consider the cruise on the Thames essential in a first visit to London, since personally it is what I liked the most when we visited London for the first time and I recommend it to everyone.
How to save when knowing what to see in London in 4 days
With four days you will be able to visit many things in London, walk quietly through its parks and visit several of the attractions without haste. If you plan to visit several attractions, it will surely make up for you to buy a three-day London Pass , the most famous tourist pass in London, since with this card you will save money and you will be able to skip the queues at the time of entering, and I consider that it is very important don’t waste time queuing to get in! If, instead, you only want to visit a few attractions, then I recommend you take a look at the possibility of buying combined tickets . By buying tickets you will save a lot of money.
Recommendations for using public transport when seeing London in 4 days
If you are going to be in London for 4 days and you are going to use public transport, I recommend you use an oyster card per person to get around. With this card, metro and bus trips will be much cheaper than buying single tickets. If you are going to travel with children, do not forget that children under 11 travel free on public transport in London. If children are over 11 years old they will need a ticket to travel. In our article: transport in London for children we explain what types of tickets are needed for children in detail.
Recommendations to stay when seeing London in 4 days
If you are going to be in London for four days, we recommend looking for a hotel as central as possible. The ideal is to stay in zones 1 or 2 if possible so as not to spend a lot of time using London’s public transport (See London Transport Zones ). If you haven’t chosen a hotel yet, you can take a look at our list of recommended hotels in London where we recommend central hotels with very good value for money. Please leave us a comment if you really liked (or not…) the hotel you stayed in after visiting London to help other travellers.
Ideas to know what to see in London in 4 days
If you need more ideas to visit London in four days, take a look at our sections:
- Itineraries and Routes in London
- Secret corners of London
- Visiting London
Free Mobile App with London Routes
And don’t forget that you can find our routes in our free mobile App that works offline . And for any questions, here we are. Enjoy your 4 days in London!