Every London list ends up looking the same after a while.
Big Ben. The London Eye. Buckingham Palace.
They’re worth seeing, obviously. Millions of people don’t visit them by accident. But after that, I’d probably start looking elsewhere. London gets more interesting once you stop trying to complete it.
These are a few places I’d keep on the list.
1. The British Museum
You can’t do the BM in one visit, that’s just facts. You’re guaranteed to want to go back another time though. And another time. And maybe one last time. Maybe don’t go nuts on souvenirs though.
As for the speed enthusiasts, relax my friends, museums aren’t meant to be completed anyway. Walk around until something catches your attention. Ignore the rest if it doesn’t.
I’ve watched people trying to speedrun museums before. Looks exhausting.
2. Borough Market
Go hungry.
Only bit of advice I’d give is don’t over-plan it.
People seem to turn Borough Market into some kind of mission, with lists of exactly what they’re going to eat. I’d rather wander around for ten minutes first. Something usually catches your eye anyway.
Fair warning, you’ll almost certainly leave fuller than you expected.
Most people do.
3. Tape London
Tape London is one of those venues people tend to hear about before they actually visit.
The location helps. If you’re already around Mayfair, it’s not one of those places where you need to start planning taxis and journeys across London.
Every visit feels a little different as well. Some evenings you’ll find yourself next to some insanely famous person. Others will have you following a bunch of strangers you just met to an after party at some penthouse.
4. The National Gallery
This is another place where people put pressure on themselves for no reason.
Sometimes one room is enough. You don’t even have to understand half of the works in there.
I remember standing in front of the same painting for about fifteen minutes once while someone next to me walked through four rooms in the same amount of time.
Not sure either of us was doing it the right way. Maybe there isn’t one.
5. Dishoom
People will argue over whether Dishoom is overrated.
They do every year.
Go anyway.
At least then you’ll have your own opinion instead of borrowing somebody else’s from the internet.
Yes, there is a queue, but who cares. If you’re with friends, the time goes fairly quickly. Half the conversation usually starts before you’ve even sat down.
6. St James’s Park
It sounds almost too obvious.
Then you walk through it and remember why people keep recommending it.
You don’t need a plan here.
Sit down for twenty minutes if the weather behaves itself. Watch people wander past. Feed absolutely nothing, despite what the pigeons seem to think.
Sometimes that’s enough for an afternoon.
7. The Wallace Collection
This one gets forgotten quite a lot.
The perk here is that you can actually stop for a minute without feeling like you’re blocking twenty other people. It’s like that insanely good artist that no one knows about, and for a while, you get to have them for yourself.
I’d still pop in even if you’re not massively into art.
You might last twenty minutes.
You might end up staying two hours.
Bit difficult to know beforehand.
That’s Probably Enough
You could write a list with fifty places instead of seven.
Someone probably already has.
The problem with those lists is they start becoming homework.
London isn’t really a city you finish.
You’ll leave things out. You’ll miss places people swear are essential. Then you’ll discover somewhere completely random that never appeared on a single recommendation list.
That seems to happen quite a lot.
Honestly, I’d rather have one unexpectedly good afternoon than tick ten famous places off a checklist and barely remember any of them a month later.
