London, United Kingdom
London rewards a three day trip more than almost any capital because its biggest museums are free: the British Museum, the National Gallery, and Tate Modern would cost 60 EUR combined in Paris and cost nothing here. That frees your budget for the two paid heavyweights worth every pound, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, and this itinerary clusters each one with everything walkable around it: Westminster and the West End on day one, the City and the South Bank on day two, Bloomsbury and Soho on day three.
Skip Oyster cards and paper tickets entirely: tap any contactless bank card or phone on the yellow readers and TfL caps your day at about 9 GBP for zones 1-2 automatically. The one thing to book before you fly is a West End show if you have a specific one in mind; everything else on this plan can be booked a few days out except Sky Garden, whose free tickets release about three weeks ahead.
The postcard day, and the most compact: Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square all sit within one 2 km walk, ending at the National Gallery and a show.
Westminster Abbey30 GBP online
Book the 09:00 or 09:30 slot online; the abbey where every coronation since 1066 has happened takes about two hours with the excellent included audio guide. Note it is closed to sightseers on Sundays.
Parliament Square and Big BenFree
Walk the square for the classic view of the Elizabeth Tower and Westminster Bridge, then cut through to Horse Guards Parade via King Charles Street.
Changing of the Guard at Buckingham PalaceFree
The ceremony starts at 11:00 on scheduled days (check householddivision.org.uk; usually Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun), but the palace forecourt action runs past noon. Arriving late means watching from the Victoria Memorial steps, which is honestly the better view.
Lunch in St James's or Piccadilly15-35 GBP pp
Walk up through Green Park. The Wolseley on Piccadilly for a grand cafe experience, or grab superior takeaway from Fortnum and Mason's food hall and eat in St James's Park.
National GalleryFree
Free entry on Trafalgar Square. Do a tight 90 minutes: Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Turner's Fighting Temeraire, and the Impressionist rooms in the Sainsbury and central wings. Open until 21:00 on Fridays.
Covent GardenFree to wander
A 10 minute walk: the covered piazza, street performers, and Neal's Yard's painted courtyard. Good pre-theatre window, and the area is full of restaurants doing fixed pre-theatre menus around 25 GBP.
West End show25-90 GBP
Book popular shows weeks ahead on the theatre's own site; for everything else the TKTS booth on Leicester Square sells same-day seats at 25-50 percent off. Most curtains are 19:30.
A thousand years of history along one riverbank walk. Tower of London first thing to beat the Crown Jewels queue, then cross Tower Bridge and walk the south bank west all afternoon.
Tower of LondonAbout 35 GBP online, cheaper than the gate
Be at the gate for opening and go straight to the Crown Jewels before the queue builds, then join a free Yeoman Warder tour (every 30 minutes, genuinely funny). Three hours minimum.
Tower Bridge walkFree to cross
Cross the bridge on foot for free; the glass-floor walkway exhibition inside is skippable at 13.40 GBP unless you love engineering. Best photo of the bridge itself is from the south bank just west of it.
Lunch at Borough Market10-15 GBP pp
A 15 minute riverside walk west under London Bridge. Kappacasein's toasted cheese sandwich and the Bread Ahead doughnuts are the famous orders; go before 13:00 or eat standing. Busiest on Saturdays.
Tate ModernFree
Continue west along Bankside past Shakespeare's Globe. Free entry to the collection in the former power station; the Turbine Hall installation and the level 10 viewing terrace of the Blavatnik Building are the essentials.
Millennium Bridge and St Paul'sFree outside, 26 GBP inside
Cross the wobble-free footbridge for the aligned view of St Paul's dome. Going inside costs 26 GBP and is worth it for the Whispering Gallery climb, but note sightseeing entry closes at 16:00, so swap this earlier if the interior matters to you.
Sky GardenFree with booking
Walk 10 minutes east to the Walkie Talkie building. The garden on floor 35 is free but requires a timed ticket booked online, released about three weeks ahead; sunset slots go first. Fallback with no booking: The Garden at 120, also free, no ticket needed.
Dinner around London Bridge or the City20-60 GBP pp
Padella near Borough Market for exceptional fresh pasta at 10-15 GBP a plate (no reservations, queue moves fast), or Hawksmoor Borough for a proper British steak dinner.
A slower final day in one tight patch of the West End: the world's greatest free museum in the morning, then Soho's food and pubs, with an optional Notting Hill swap if markets are more your thing.
British MuseumFree
Free, but book the free timed ticket online to skip the security queue at opening. Head straight to the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures before the tour groups land, then pick one more wing; the Egyptian mummies rooms upstairs are the crowd favourite.
Lamb's Conduit Street and Bloomsbury squaresFree to wander
Walk 10 minutes east through Russell Square to one of London's best small streets: independent shops and The Lamb, a Victorian pub with original etched-glass snob screens.
Lunch in Soho15-25 GBP pp
Tube or 20 minute walk south. Soho does every cuisine well and cheaply: Koya for udon, Hoppers for Sri Lankan, or the original Bao on Lexington Street. Most run 15-25 GBP a head at lunch.
Soho, Carnaby, and LibertyFree
Wander Berwick Street, Carnaby Street, and the mock-Tudor Liberty department store, worth entering just for the timber atrium. Coffee at Algerian Coffee Stores on Old Compton Street, trading since 1887.
Golden hour on the South Bank or the London EyeFree walk; Eye about 33 GBP online
Walk down to the river via Trafalgar Square and cross the Golden Jubilee footbridge for the best sunset panorama of Westminster. The London Eye is 30 minutes and worth it at sunset if pre-booked online.
Farewell dinner and a proper pub40-70 GBP pp
Book a modern British finale: Quo Vadis in Soho or St. JOHN in Smithfield (nose-to-tail cooking that changed British food). End with a pint at The French House, Soho's tiny half-pints-only institution.
The Tube runs roughly 05:30 to 00:30, with the Victoria, Jubilee, Central, and Northern lines running all night on Fridays and Saturdays. Tap in and out with any contactless card: a zone 1-2 single is about 2.90 GBP and the daily cap is about 9 GBP, so you never need to buy a travel card. Central London is more walkable than the Tube map suggests (Covent Garden to Leicester Square is 4 minutes on foot but two stops underground). From Heathrow take the Elizabeth line to central London for about 13 GBP in 35 minutes; the Heathrow Express costs 25 GBP and only saves you 10 minutes.
South Bank / Waterloo
Walk to Westminster, the London Eye, Borough Market, and Tate Modern, with the riverside path as your commute. Premier Inn County Hall is the reliable mid-range pick and books out months ahead.
Covent Garden / Soho
The middle of everything: theatres, restaurants, and a 15 minute walk to both Trafalgar Square and the British Museum. You pay for the location, roughly 200 GBP and up for a decent double.
King's Cross / Bloomsbury
Better value, direct trains from both Gatwick and Luton, six Tube lines, and a 10 minute walk to the British Museum. The area around Coal Drops Yard has transformed into one of the best food-and-canal evenings in London.
The great museums (British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, V&A, Natural History) are all free; budget your paid entries for Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London and book both online for cheaper rates and shorter queues.
Tap the same contactless card or phone for every journey: TfL caps zone 1-2 travel at about 9 GBP a day automatically, and switching cards mid-day breaks the cap.
Stand on the right on escalators, everywhere, always. Londoners walk on the left and will say nothing while radiating fury.
Sunday changes the rules: Westminster Abbey and St Paul's close to sightseers for services, and many Soho restaurants close, but it is the best day for roast dinners; book a Sunday roast pub by Thursday.
Pre-theatre fixed menus (usually 17:30-18:30 seatings around Covent Garden) get you two courses at good restaurants for 22-28 GBP, roughly half the a la carte price.
London pubs stop serving food earlier than you expect, often 21:00, and many close at 23:00 even on weekends. Eat first, drink second.
Skip the Heathrow Express unless someone else is paying: the Elizabeth line does the same trip for about half the price and drops you at more useful central stations.
Three days covers the core: Westminster, the Tower of London, two or three world-class museums, Borough Market, and a show, provided you cluster by area as this plan does. What you sacrifice is the outer ring: Greenwich, Kew Gardens, and Notting Hill each want a half day. London is a city people return to; treat day three's afternoon as swappable for whichever of those pulls hardest.
Budget 70-130 GBP per person per day on the ground: the free museums keep entry costs to roughly 65 GBP total (Abbey plus Tower), food runs 35-60 GBP a day if you do market lunches and one nicer dinner, and transport caps at about 9 GBP daily. Hotels are the pain point: expect 130-180 GBP a night for a decent double in zone 1-2, and over 250 GBP in Covent Garden or Soho.
Fewer than you would think. Book ahead for: Westminster Abbey (a few days out is fine), the Tower of London (online is cheaper than the gate), Sky Garden (free tickets release about three weeks ahead and sunset slots vanish), and any specific West End show. The free museums only need free timed tickets at busy periods, and the London Eye can be booked the night before.
Usually not for this itinerary. The 3-day pass costs around 129 GBP, but London's best museums are free, so the pass only pays off if you stack three or more paid attractions daily (Tower, Abbey, St Paul's, Tower Bridge, the Shard). On this plan the paid entries total roughly 65-90 GBP, so buying individually wins and keeps your schedule flexible.
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