London 5 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)

Five days extends our 4-day itinerary with a full South Bank day, Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe and Borough Market done properly rather than rushed. This is the point where a paid Shard visit starts to make sense as an add-on. Our 6-day version adds Notting Hill and Camden on top.

Book these before you go:

Day Focus
1 Westminster exterior, Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guard, South Bank walk
2 British Museum (free), Tower of London, Tower Bridge
3 South Kensington’s free museums, Hyde Park, Kensington
4 Greenwich: Cutty Sark, Royal Observatory, Thames Clipper back
5 Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, Borough Market, optional Shard

Day 1: Westminster, Buckingham Palace and the South Bank

Land, get to your hotel, and resist the urge to book anything with a timed ticket today. Walk Westminster while everyone else is still asleep on Heathrow time: the exterior of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben , then Westminster Abbey’s west front (it’s closed to tourists on Sundays, worship only, so check the day of the week before counting on going inside). Cut through St James’s Park, past the pelicans, toward Buckingham Palace .

Do you need to book anything for day one?

No, and that’s deliberate. Day one avoids every sight that requires a pre-booked timed slot, since jet lag and Heathrow queues make hard appointments risky on arrival day. The Changing of the Guard (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, provisionally around 11:00, weather permitting) and the whole South Bank walk are free and flexible; save the Tower of London and the British Museum’s timed slot for day two, once you’ve adjusted.

Cross Westminster Bridge, past the London Eye without paying for it, and pick up the South Bank walk toward Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe and Borough Market, roughly Monday-Friday 10:00-17:00 and Saturday 9:00-17:00, closed Sunday afternoons. Compare Westminster hotel rates on Booking.com before you commit to a base for the rest of the trip. End the evening in Covent Garden or the West End, contactless or Oyster the whole way, Zone 1-2 caps at GBP 8.90 a day.

Day 2: The British Museum and the Tower of London

Book a free timed slot at the British Museum before you leave home if it’s a weekend, a school holiday, or anytime through the summer, the Bayeux Tapestry’s first loan outside France opens here in autumn 2026 and will only tighten availability further. Morning belongs to the Museum; the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures alone can absorb three hours.

Is the Tower of London worth the GBP 37 ticket?

Yes. The Crown Jewels and the White Tower cover nearly a thousand years of continuous royal history, in a way no free museum in the city duplicates. Book online through hrp.org.uk or check skip-the-line Tower of London tours on GetYourGuide rather than queuing at the gate, or read our Tower of London deep dive for the full ticket breakdown.

Cross Tower Bridge on foot afterward for the view back at the Tower and the river, then finish with dinner in Borough Market or nearby Southwark rather than trekking back to the West End.

Day 3: South Kensington’s free museums and Hyde Park

South Kensington’s “museum mile” packs the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum within a short walk of each other, all with free permanent general admission. Pick two rather than attempting all three properly in one morning; the Natural History Museum’s dinosaur hall and the V&A’s fashion and design galleries are the strongest single picks if you only manage one each.

In the afternoon, walk Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens toward Kensington Palace (exterior and gardens are free; the State Apartments charge separately), then finish the day in Notting Hill for dinner, saving Portobello Road Market itself for a Saturday if your schedule allows.

Day 4: Greenwich

The DLR, not the Tube, gets you to Greenwich in about 20-25 minutes from central London. The Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory (GBP 24 online, home to the Prime Meridian line) and the free National Maritime Museum sit within Maritime Greenwich, a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right. A combined Observatory-plus-Cutty-Sark day pass runs about GBP 38, roughly 25% off buying both separately.

Take a Thames Clipper or river cruise back toward central London for the skyline view rather than retracing the DLR route; check current Thames river cruise options on Viator if you’d rather book a specific sailing than buy at the pier.

Day 5: The South Bank deep dive, Tate Modern and Borough Market

Day one’s South Bank walk was a preview; day five is the full version. Give Tate Modern a proper two to three hours, its Turbine Hall installations rotate and its permanent collection is free. Shakespeare’s Globe runs exhibition tours most days even outside performance season, worth checking on arrival.

Is the Shard worth adding to the South Bank day?

Only as a splurge. The View from The Shard runs roughly GBP 28.50-37 (~$38.50-50) for Western Europe’s tallest building’s observation deck, dynamic-priced by date and time. It’s a genuine step up in view over the free alternatives nearby, the Sky Garden and Tate Modern’s viewing level, but it’s the one paid view on this itinerary that earns its price rather than an automatic add.

Finish at Borough Market for dinner, then walk back across the Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s for the dome lit up after dark.

Before you go

Contactless bank cards and phones share the same fares and daily caps as an Oyster card, GBP 8.90 for Zone 1-2, so most visitors don’t need a physical Oyster at all. On the Underground, stand right and walk left on escalators, breaking that rule at a busy station reliably draws a pointed look. Restaurant service charges of 12.5% are often added automatically; if it’s already on the bill, no further tip is expected. Skip the three-cup betting game touted on Westminster Bridge between Big Ben and the London Eye, it’s rigged and unwinnable, keep walking.