5 Days in London: Where I Went, What I Ate, What I Did + My Top Travel Tips & Packing Essentials
NEW YEAR = NEW TRAVELS
I’ve been to London twice, and while I may not be a pro at navigating my way through this beautiful city, I’ve learned a lot from both trips, and I felt compelled to write up my first travel guide featuring my favorite city.
In my guide, I’ve included my ultimate packing list, Europe travel tips, my highlighted itinerary of where I went, what I did, and the places I ate at, along with plenty of photographed experiences! I hope you enjoy this sneak peek into my latest Europe adventure and get inspired to book your next trip to London.
“Travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer”
Places I’ve been throughout Europe:
Ireland + Northern Ireland , Scotland, London (2x), Paris, and Amsterdam
Before we dive into my London Travel guide, I want to first share two important reminders I had on this trip…
To slow down with everything. The way I walk, talk and thought where biggies for me. On my first day in London, I found myself continuing with my faced-paced ways, but on the second day I quickly settled into “vacation mode” and I was able to be more intentional with my thoughts and how I was feeling. This also allowed me to be fully present, surrender, and enjoy the opportunity of letting go of my tight schedule and having the freedom to just be.
The importance and power of presence. I had to remind myself to be fully present because I didn’t want to miss a second of this trip and all it had to offer.
Side note: During this recent trip to London, I had the opportunity to stay at our friend Lee’s flat, who goes to university in London. If it wasn't for his generosity and kind hospitality, I probably wouldn’t have went. Staying at his flat enabled myself, my friend Lauren, and my friend Puneet (who I was traveling with), to have somewhere to stay during our London adventure!
5 DAY HIGHLIGHTED ITINERARY
TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS FROM LONDON:
Staying at our friend Lee’s flat with his British roommates + being culturally immersed, and living like a local.
Going to High Tea at The Sketch.
Our bike tour of London in the rain.
Our first night’s dinner at the Ivy in Chelsea, and then biking through Chelsea on narrow bike lanes (& me being scared of getting hit by a car lol).
Going to yoga @6:30am at The Sky Garden’s + breakfast at the Darwin Brasserie.
Seeing Buckingham Palace.
Getting lost in Harrods and strolling through Hyde Park.
Visiting Tate Modern.
Exploring the (many) famous markets London has to offer.
Walking around Notting Hill and dreaming of living in the colorful homes during our mini photoshoot.
Arrival to London:
Saturday, July 27th
After landing at Heathrow airport around 10pm, we grabbed our luggage and an immunity shot + salads at caffe Nero before taking the Tube to Lee’s flat.
At the tube station we Loaded our oyster cards (5 pound service fee + 35ish pounds for 5 days).
Once arriving to Lee’s we chatted + he gave us a mini tour of his flat. We unpacked, showered, and crashed.
Day 1
Frist brunch @ Lee’s
Sunday, July 28th: Free Day!
Late start @11am (slept in after going 30+hrs w/o sleep). We picked up some groceries at the nearby market (Sainsbury’s), and made avocado toast, along with berries and oat milk for brunch.
After brunch we headed out and explored Brick lane market, and many vintage & antique shops nearby.
Then we headed to the Box Park pop-up shops, and had Lunch at one of the many pop-up cafe’s at Box Park: “Greek On The Street,” located near Brick Lane market.
We walked around the city and visited Primark, along with many other famous shops in London, all located in the Oxford Circus area.
After strolling through Oxford Circus and various shops, we stopped in the Photographer’s gallery (an art museum in Soho).
We spent the rest of the late afternoon/evening in Chelsea (a very posh area of London), admiring the homes during our walk to our first dinner reservation at The Ivy.
We enjoyed dinner at The Ivy. By far one of the best dinners we had in London, couldn’t recommend enough.
Finally, we ended our first day with an evening bike through Chelsea.
Brick Lane Market
Oxford Circus
Chelsea
The Ivy
I ordered the Rainbow Salad + Lavender Jasmin tea
Day 2
Monday, July 29th: High Tea at The Sketch, Buckingham Palace, + Notting Hill
We began our day by walking around and shopping throughout Piccadilly Circus and Carnaby Street, before our High Tea reservation and brunch at the Sketch.
We headed to our High Tea at The Sketch around 11:30am, and we spent a good 2.5 hours there. By far one of the coolest + most interesting experiences we had in London. Highly recommend.
After High Tea, we walked around Oxford Circus, and explored more shops on Regent & Oxford Street, along with Piccadilly circus, before heading to Buckingham palace.
We admired Buckingham palace and St. James park for a while before heading to Notting Hill.
Once we hopped off the tube to Notting Hill we walked to Farmer street, where the iconic colorful homes are located and did a mini photoshoot.
To end our evening in Notting Hill we enjoyed a light dinner, consisting of Spinach avocado toast and Acai bowls at an urban outdoor cafe.
City of Westminster
Regent Street
Carnaby
Sketch
Iconic egg bathrooms
My fav tea was the White Jasmine pearl
We ordered the plant-based High Tea option, which came with various desserts and mini sandwiches.
Buckingham Palace
City of Westminster
Notting Hill
Future home right here
Day 3
Tuesday, July 30th: London Bike Tour + Covent Garden
Woke up early for our 3.5 hour London bike tour starting in Lambeth, Central London at 10am.
During our bike tour (which I recommend doing first thing on your trip), we stopped at multiple famous monuments in London, including; Big Ben, Trafalgar square, Buckingham palace, and crossed the famous London Bridge (amongst many other bridge’s in London)! It was raining during our bike ride, so we stopped to warm up and grab a cup of tea at a small cafe near Westminster abbey. We were also able to talk with our bike tour director about her life journey + travels.
After our 3.5 hour bike ride, we headed to Old Spitalfields market with our friend Lee, and on the way he showed us his university.
After touring old Spitalfields market + shops, we hopped on the tube again and headed to Covent Garden.
We explored Covent garden, along with the Soho district of London: Kingly Court & Carnaby Street, & checked out Seven Dials & Neals Yard.
We had a late dinner around 8pm at Wagamama in Covent Garden, which is an Asian food restaurant inspired by the flavors of Japan. I ordered the “avant gard'n bowl” with a coconut + sriracha vegan “egg.” Highly recommend this place!
Covent Garden
Sadly Big Ben was under construction when we went, so I uploaded this photo from my last trip to London in 2017
London bike tour: Trafalgar Square
Wagamama: “avant gard'n bowl” with a coconut + sriracha vegan “egg.”
Day 4
Wednesday, July 31st: Sky Garden Yoga, Tate Modern, Fashion + Textile Museum, Borough Market, + departing for Paris
Woke up bright + early @5:30am for our 6:30am yoga flow at the top of the Sky Garden’s.
We walked to the Sky Garden’s from where we were staying, and met Alice Maisetti, who’s an amazing traveling yoga instructor! She led a blissful class, and afterward we enjoyed complimentary breakfast on the same floor, at the Darwin Brasserie.
After our yoga sesh + breakfast, we walked back to Lee’s flat and changed + took showers and decided to head out on the tube to visit Tate Modern. (Most of the modern art there I studied in my honors modern literature class, which is why I insisted we went).
We walked across millennium bridge to the Tate Modern museum and grabbed an oat milk + matcha latte on our way.
After exploring Tate Modern, we headed to the Fashion + textile museum in Bermondsey (so much cultural fashion)!
We stopped for lunch at the world famous Burough Market, not too far from Tate Modern and explored the market and all it had to offer.
We headed back to Brick lane, and explored more vintage shops before packing up + departing for our mini Paris & Amsterdam excursion.
After packing our backpacks we departed for Paris at St. Pancras International station, and took the Eurostar train at 8pm. We arrived to Paris that evening around 10:30pm, and checked into our Airbnb by 11pm.
We stayed in Paris for 2 nights, then took another train to Amsterdam, and spent one full day in Amsterdam. We then took a 10hr bus back to London, where we spent our last full day before departing back home to the U.S.
Oat milk matcha latte plz
Found this gem at the cutest vintage shop near Brick Lane market
Wandering through all the vintage shops
Tate Modern
Marcel Duchamp!!
Borough Market
& the Shard in the background
Day 5
Sunday, August 4th: Last day in London = Arriving back from Paris + Amsterdam and enjoying a Free Day!
After getting off the bus from our long journey + ferry ride from Amsterdam, we took the tube back to Lee’s, showered, then took a quick nap until noon.
After resting for a bit we took the tube to Covent garden again to explore the Soho district of London, Covent garden, and see China Town.
We enjoyed a beautiful lunch at Avobar London, located in Covent Garden (my new favorite lunch place)!
After lunch + Covent garden, we took the tube to Chelsea, so we could visit Harrods.
After exploring Harrods we took a long peaceful walk through Hyde Park and admired the garden’s beauty.
We ended our day by enjoying our last dinner at the brasserie Zedel: a Jazz restaurant near oxford circus, which our friend Lee took us to.
Avobar
Harrods
Hyde Park
Piccadilly Circus
Brasserie Zedel
LONDON TRAVEL TIPS:
what to do, places to visit + explore, & where to eat
Two Apps you must download for navigation:
City mapper: Used in the UK, specifically in London. A great app for helping you explore a new city in the UK or finding the best way around where you’re currently staying.
Google maps: (apple maps is ok, but I recommend google for travel).
Top tips for saving $$ when eating out while traveling:
Split + share meals with the people you’re traveling with: (Not only to save money, but also to try multiple different foods at once). Especially if you’re as indecisive as me when it comes to meals! I lucked out because both of my friends were also vegetarian and mostly vegan, which made choosing where to eat super easy + we could easily share food if we wanted to.
Eating at markets also saves a ton of money, since the food is fresh and the portions are great. Plus it allows you to try a wide range of cultural cuisine’s from around the world!
Spend the least on breakfast/brunch and lunch, and splurge on dinner. We found this to be a super helpful method for saving money. We booked a few fancy dinners ahead of time, along with our High Tea experience and brunch at the Sketch, and the remaining time we ate breakfast/brunch at our friend Lee’s flat and bought smaller snacks when we were out and about. Another thing to mention is when you’re busy sight seeing and taking in all the experiences around you, you’ll often forget to eat (which happened to me most of the time).
FAVORITE plant-based eats:
Each have incredible vegan & non-vegan options!
The Sketch London (best high-tea experience): Pricey, but certainly worth it. Be sure to book ahead!
Farm Girl: Notting Hill
Avobar London: covent Garden
Peggy Porschen Cakes
26 Grains: Neals Yard
The Local’s Cafe: Chelsea
Redemption (completely vegan): multiple locations
Wild-food Cafe (vegan): Covent Garden + Neals Yard
Young Vegan
Timmy Green
CrossTown (famous vegan donuts)
Daisy Green
Ask For Janice
Farmacy (plant-based)
The Ivy: Chelsea ~Beautiful experience, be sure to book ahead!
Granger & Co. (plant-based)
Chiltern Firehouse
Bluebells Portobello
The Attendant
Towpath Cafe
Health-food store: Planet Organic (great place for healthy travel snacks + natural body care) or Holland and Barrett!
CAFE: Aubaine Selfridges ~Top of Selfridges department store (Must book ahead)!
Alto (rooftop)
Elan Cafe
Coppa Club
Brasserie Zedel (french/Jazz)
Wagamama (Asian/Japanese)
Darwin Brasserie (36th floor of sky garden’s) Great brunch + lunch place! (Book yoga + brunch ahead)
Master list of places we visited + intended to visit in London
(explored most, but not all)
Museums & Church’s:
Tate Modern + Tate Britain Art Museum
Fashion + Textile Museum: Bermondsey
St. Paul’s Cathedral
The British Museum
The Charles Dickens Museum
The National Gallery (Trafalgar Square)
The Photographer’s Gallery
Monuments & Parks:
Kew Gardens (Royal botanical garden’s)
Hyde Park
Kensington gardens
Trafalgar Square
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
Buckingham Palace + St. James park
Top Markets:
Camden Market (located in Camden where Charle’s dickens is from)
Borough Market
Brick Lane Market (amazing antiques + quirky & unique items) + Box Park (urban pop-up shops + cafe’s)
Columbia Road Flower Market (In Bethnal Green, London + Columbia Road is a road of Victorian shops)
Old Spitalfields Market
Portobello Market (Notting Hill) ~only open Saturday’s
Aesthetic Shopping + Famous areas to explore:
Notting Hill
Covent Garden
Chelsea
Kensington
Oxford Circus
Neals Yard
Soho London
Piccadilly Circus
Seven dials London: Where seven streets intersect at (unique shops)
Neal’s yard: hidden colorful shops + cafe’s
Selfridges
Harrods
Daunt books + Lutyens & Robinson bookstore
China Town at Night to see the lantern’s
Carnaby street (near the sketch) tons of famous shops + Kingly Court
Top 3 recommended Experiences we booked ahead
Afternoon High Tea at The Sketch. Other beautiful High Tea places, include: Dalloway Terrace, or The Ritz London.
Bicycle tour throughout London along the Thames river. I recommend doing this first thing on your trip, not only to get a beautiful view of the city, but also to get an idea of where you’d like to explore on foot after!
Yoga in London! (go early in the morning): Sky garden’s is great, or try this studio: Fierce Grace, located at 53 East St.
My Top 10 Europe Travel Tips:
1. It’s OK to drink tap water in Europe
Restaurants will ask you if you want still or sparkling water and its perfectly OK to ask for neither and request tap instead. We didn’t realize this our first dinner and dropped more than 10 pounds on water.
2. AirBnbs are the way to go
We stayed in such a clean + simple AirBnB during our mini excursion in Paris and it was perfect for us. We had space and a kitchen. Although we went out for most meals, it came in handy for tea and a pasta night. In my opinion it’s a lot nicer coming home to somewhere that feels like your place instead of a stuffy, hotel room.
3. Load your Oyster card Right away
Be sure to load enough money for the time you’ll be traveling on your Oyster card for the tube system right away. You can reload your Oyster card anytime, but it’s better to load what you need as soon as you arrive so you can ride as much as you like during your visit. Plus the more you use the Tube the cheaper, since they cap the amount you’re spending each time you swipe your Oyster card after a certain number of rides each day.
4. Pack versatile clothes
Pack clothes that can be worn multiple times in different ways to avoid having to do laundry. For example: I packed printed pants, but multiple neutral tops that I could wear with the same pants multiple days in a row, without it looking like I was wearing the same outfit everyday. Perfect for not only reducing time spent getting ready, but also space in your suitcase.
5. Book as much as you can ahead of time
Seems obvious, but it helps so much! Plus, once you start traveling you’ll feel a lot better knowing you already have certain things secured and ready for you once you arrive. Whether it be events, experiences, or dinners, it’s always wise to book as much in advance.
6. Leave white space
This leads me right into my next tip. While I love booking ahead, I also strongly believe in leaving some free space in your schedule/itinerary. Create “white” or “free” space in your itinerary to just explore on your own because you never know what you’ll discover when you travel off the beaten path.
7. Create a vision board
One Month before you leave, create a brain storm list full of inspiration of different places you want to go. Pinterest is great for this and you can use it to create an Inspiration board prior to traveling. (Checkout my travel board on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/healthfulhanna/boards/
8. Convert extra cash
Convert at least $150 worth of U.S cash to pounds before you come, just in case. There’s a pretty steep fee when using ATMs in Europe. I mostly used my debit card, but for things like small shops and markets, its best to have enough cash on you.
9. Converters
England has different outlets so make sure you’re prepared with the correct converters and adaptors!
10. Help out the planet
Always bring a Reusable water bottle. I always pack my Hydro Flask wherever I go!
MY ULTIMATE PACKING ESSENTIALS GUIDE:
Important:
Passport/visa/ID
Credit/debit cards
Currency
Boarding pass/ticket
Emergency contact info
Copy of important documents
Itinerary’s
Directions/maps (if not on google)
House Keys
TECH:
Phone + charger (portable charger too)
Converters
Camera, SD cards, batteries, + charger
Laptop + charger or tablet/ipad
Earbuds
Clothes:
Keep versatile + able to mix & match. Determine what the weather will be like for where you’re staying, the number of outfits you need, and any special occasions to pack for. Also wear a comfy travel outfit to the airport so you can rewear the same comfy clothes for whenever you’re traveling.
Underwear/socks
Jakets
Tops
Bottoms
Dresses
Shoes
Accessories (sunglasses/hats/scarves/jewelry)
Umbrella
Sleepwear
Workout clothes
Swim suit
Purse/bags
Laundry bag
Toiletries:
Toothbrush + toothpaste
Face wash + skincare
Shampoo/conditioner
Hair tools
Towel (if necessary)
Deodorant
Makeup + makeup remover (I always bring my mini coconut oil jar and use it as my body moisturizer + makeup remover)
Natural face wipes
Body lotion
Sunscreen
Cotton swabs
Lip balm
Tissues
Hair ties + scrunchies
Bandaids/mini first-aid kit
Health:
Essential oil blend roller ball
Ginger mints
Herbal tea bags
Vitamins + supplements
Healthy snacks
Reusable water bottle
Natural cough drops
Misc:
Journal + pen
Fav book + magazine
Eye mask + neck pillow