London is easily one of my favorite cities in the world - there's so much to do & see! To me, it was like a classy, historical New York City. It's a must-do if you've never been.
I'd recommend timing this trip for when you're starting to hit a wall or abroad fatigue & need a taste of home. We went right in the middle of the semester which, in my opinion, was perfect. It was a nice break from the language barrier & had a lot of American fast food chains that we'd been missing.
It sounds random, but you have to get Indian food at least once. There are so many amazing places for it, and the hands-down best meal of this trip for me was Indian!
Most likely, you will need a new plug converter. I have one that was supposed to be versatile for all of Europe, and it still didn't work here. I knew a lot of other people that had to buy new ones as well.
Only Heathrow Airport is close to the actual city. Ryanair was only flying into Stansted, which requires a 40£, 40-minute high-speed train or a 1.5-hour coach bus to get into the city.
The Tube & double-decker buses were easy to use & really efficient. This was one of the first places we went where you could just tap your card at a station gate instead of having to buy an actual ticket.
STAY
Zedwell Piccadilly Hotel
A really nice hotel in the center of Soho
Automated check-in, so even though I got in super late, no one had to come back/stay back to let me in; I was able to print my own key just with the booking confirmation code
Had a nice, quiet hotel lounge & great wifi; was a great place to take a class I had on Zoom
The Generator Hostel
Stayed in a twin private room with a shared bathroom since it was a lot cheaper, but in hindsight, I definitely would’ve paid more for a private bathroom since ours was ~scary~
Nice enough overall, but definitely the most hostel-like hostel I had stayed at so far
Really nice front desk staff & have hairdryers, plug converters, and other essentials available at the front desk which was amazing
Generally, I'd recommend staying as close to Soho as possible; it's really similar to the Times Square area of NYC in that there is a lot happening and it's where a lot of pubs/restaurants are. It's also a great central location for sightseeing.
EAT
Tattershall Castle - Literally floating on the river so the whole restaurant would shift occasionally which was trippy, but it was neat being right on the water and had a great ambiance/pub vibe inside; good place for lunch or afternoon pit-stop
Old Swan - Perfect location for walking through Hyde Park to Notting Hill; everything we ordered was really good for lunch; classic pub vibe
Churchill Arms Pub - A pub with a Thai menu (??) so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend eating there, but it’s been around forever and has a beautiful outside with lots of flowers & a super cool inside; would be a good place to stop for a drink or snack on the way to Notting Hill
The Square Pig - Great location for classic Fish & Chips, & they also had sweet potato fries which is always a plus; really great ambiance and good location
Pataka (Indian) - The best Indian food I’ve ever had, absolutely unreal; tried Indian street corn, a charred cauliflower dish, and then got Tikka Masala “tacos” which were unbelievable; right in the middle of Soho so this was a great location for dinner before heading to the bars across the street
NIGHTLIFE
O’Neill’s - Really fun pub! Live music, multiple floors, & rooftop area
ROXY - The night we went they were having a pitcher deal, so entire pitchers were only 20£ instead of 9£ per drink (cheap drinks are apparently hard to find in London so this was a big win); definitely a smaller club & young crowd, but it was really fun with all of the BC people there together
Ministry of Sound - Definitely the night-life highlight while here; different areas with different vibes and also huge
Opium Cocktail Bar - Multi-floor speakeasy with a really cool vibe; really great cocktails too
THINGS TO DO
London Eye - Really cool to do, but definitely a “check the box” attraction; also would attempt to do this in good weather, as we did it when it was foggy & raining so wasn’t as cool of a view as I’ve heard it usually is
Big Ben - Lowkey underwhelming in size but a lot prettier/more ornate than we expected; there were telephone booths like 2 blocks off the river which made for a great photo op with Big Ben in the background
Buckingham Palace/Changing of the Guard - PSA: changing of the guard only happens August-May on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, & Sunday
Notting Hill - Colorful, pastel townhouses which make for fun photos; nice area to walk around & an excuse to walk through Hyde Park
Tower of London/Tower Bridge - Where the Crown Jewels are on display and lots of really neat exhibits; there was lots to see here, so worth going especially if you're into history
Afternoon Tea - We went to Keepers Kitchen & Bar for ours after doing the Tower of London; we went for tea at literally like 6pm, so that was one of the only places we could find that was still serving it
St. James Park
Hyde Park
Kensington Palace
SNAPS
Big Ben & my photos from that spot I mentioned
The London Eye from afar & then us at the top
Left & Center: Notting Hill | Right: Churchill Arms Pub
Center: In front of Tower Bridge, right outside of the Tower of London
Left: The Tikka Masala Tacos that I still dream about | Right: Afternoon tea !
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