Visit London / London Itineraries / Three Day London Itinerary: The Ultimate Guide to London in 72 Hours

Three Day London Itinerary: The Ultimate Guide to London in 72 Hours

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3 Day London Itinerary

Three days in London. It’s not long, but it’s enough if you know where to go and in what order. The Loopla team lives and breathes London, researching things to do here every single week. This three day London itinerary is the one we’d hand to a friend visiting for the first time.

Below you’ll find three full-day schedules, each built around a different part of the city, with recommended morning, afternoon and evening activities, all following our three golden rules of travel planning.

Our Three Rules for the Perfect London Itinerary

📍 Group activities geographically. London is a big city, but its best attractions are often clustered together. St Paul’s is a 10-minute walk from Tate Modern, for example. To save you wasting time going back and forth across town, none of the schedules in our 3-day London itinerary involves more than an hour of travel overall between activities.

⏳ Don’t overpack the schedule. You’ll end up rushing through London’s incredible sights, rather than enjoying them. Or worse: disappointing one of your group by bumping their chosen activity.

🆓 Take advantage of free activities. This takes the strain off travel budgets, in turn taking the stress out of your holiday. In many cities, some of the best sights cost nothing to see, anyway, and London is no different.

How to Get Around London: Transport for a 3-Day Visit

For a three-day visit, the best way to experience London is on foot or by bus. Travelling becomes part of the sightseeing. That said, here’s a quick overview of all your options.

🚶 Walking & sightseeing buses

  • London is one of the world’s most walkable cities. The itineraries above involve no more than an hour of travel per day.
  • Hop-on, hop-off sightseeing buses are ideal for flexible exploration and run on London’s iconic double-deckers.

⛵ Thames Clipper boats

  • A scenic, traffic-free option along the Thames. Day passes can be bought from £25.40 per person.
  • Booking seven days ahead can unlock a discount, but check it’s worth it over a single ticket.

💳 TfL: Tube & buses

  • Both the Underground and bus services accept contactless cards and mobile apps. Note that overseas transaction fees may apply.
  • To avoid this, pick up a pre-loaded Visitor Oyster card before you arrive. TfL recommends £25 as a good starting amount for three days.

👶 Travelling with kids

If your child looks older, a Zip Oyster photocard avoids being wrongly charged. See the FAQ below for full child fare details.

Children under 11 travel free on buses and the Tube with a fare-paying adult.

London Itinerary Day 1: From Buckingham Palace to Victoria

☀️ Morning

  • Arrive at Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of The King’s Life Guard on Horse Guards Parade. The ceremony begins at 11am.
  • Explore the Buckingham Palace area and St James’s Park.

🌞 Afternoon

🌙 Evening

Changing of the Guard vs. King’s Guard: which Guard ceremony should you see?

If your three-day trip to London starts on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, you might like to see Buckingham Palace’s Changing of the Guard ceremony.

It can get busy, however, and only takes place on certain days (see an up-to-date schedule here). That’s why we recommend the lesser-known but daily Changing of The King’s Guard ceremony, which features mounted soldiers.

Lunch and picnic spots near Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace itself is surrounded by picnic spots. At the north side of Green Park, there’s an M&S if you need supplies.

Alternatively, the Ritz is just a couple of minutes east if their afternoon tea is on your bucket list. The Rubens is another great option on that front.

Booking tips for Big Ben, Parliament and the Churchill War Rooms

From Buckingham Palace itself, Big Ben is less than a 20-minute walk away. To climb the inside of what is technically called the Elizabeth Tower you need to book a tour well ahead of your visit.

Tickets are released three months in advance at 10am on the second Wednesday of every month.

Tour slots for the neighbouring Westminster Palace and Houses of Parliament are easier to book, as is the Churchill War Rooms just north on Horse Guards Road.

Whichever you pick, following Victoria Street directly west will take you to Westminster Cathedral and a hub of theatres and restaurants to finish your first day in London.

Alternatively, if recovering from a long-haul flight, you may prefer to head back to your accommodation to recharge for the rest of your visit.

👉 Read more: London’s best shows for kids

London Itinerary Day 2: From the Tower of London to the West End

☀️ Morning

  • Book a free, early slot at Sky Garden for panoramic views of London from 500 feet up.
  • Walk 10 minutes to the Tower of London (pre-booking advised), beating the crowds by arriving close to its 10am opening time.

🌞 Afternoon

🌙 Evening

Booking Sky Garden

Located on the 35th floor of the Walkie Talkie building, Sky Garden offers free access to its panoramic views of London.

You need to book in advance, with tickets released three weeks in advance on Monday mornings.

Making the most of the Tower of London

Next up is the Tower of London. There’s so much to see at the 900-year-old fortress that visits can take from one to three hours. Much depends on the length of the queue to see the Crown Jewels.

To beat the crowds, we recommend you arrive as the Tower opens and head straight for them.

Lunch options near the Tower

Once done, head over Tower Bridge before turning east toward Borough Food Market for lunch. With over 100 stalls, it’s considered one of the best street food markets in Europe.

For families (or simply those who hate crowds), the nearby Maltby Street Market is less busy and even preferred by some local foodies.

Another hidden gem just a couple minutes west of the tower is the popular picnic spot St Dunstan in the East, a ruined, overgrown church.

Heading to the West End

By now you may have spent a lot of time on your feet so head to London Bridge City Pier. From there you can catch a Thames Clipper for a direct, scenic river cruise to Embankment Pier.

This basically leaves you in the heart of London’s West End, just south of Leicester Square and Covent Garden. You’ll struggle to find a wider range of options for entertainment in London.

Food-wise, Seven Dials Market is a good option for families or bigger groups, as it’s a food hall with a variety of street food options.

London Itinerary Day 3: South Kensington Museum crawl and Notting Hill

☀️ Morning

🌞 Afternoon

🌙 Evening

  • Bus or walk back down to Kensington Gardens, exploring the area until you work up an appetite for a pub dinner. 
  • Dinner: Churchill Arms (Thai, London’s most colourful pub), Dishoom, or Flat Iron.

Which museum to visit (and where to eat after)

South Kensington is home to three of London’s major museums: the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the V&A.

We recommend resisting the urge to do all three in one go (or even two of them, really). But whichever you pick to visit, the V&A has the most beautiful, and often least busy, cafe.

It’s in fact the world’s oldest museum restaurant. The Candella Tea Room up toward Kensington Gardens is also highly rated.

Notting Hill: market, cinema and a rest

After refuelling, hop on a bus to Notting Hill and browse its world-famous Portobello Market.

You can also catch a film at the Electric, recently named the world’s fifth-most beautiful cinema.(1) They even have beds in the front row if you’re particularly tired after so much walking.

Evening in Kensington

Then, stroll back down toward Kensington Gardens and explore the greenery and monuments until you work up an appetite for dinner.

Just a few streets away is the Churchill Arms, often dubbed London’s most colourful pub because of the dozens of flower boxes hanging from its facade.

You also have a Dishoom Permit Room nearby for Indian food and a Flat Iron steakhouse.

Don’t Miss a Thing During Your London Trip

Planning a few days in London with kids? We can help you make the most of it.

Sign up to get practical tips and ideas to help you plan your time in the city, including:

• family-friendly areas of London worth visiting
• standout attractions and experiences for kids
• seasonal events and things happening while you’re here
• simple ideas for planning your days around the city

After that, you’ll receive Loopla’s weekly newsletter with the best family events and deals happening across London.

FAQs to help you build your three day London itinerary

What are the best things to do in London?

The best thing to do in London is visit the Tower of London, based on its 4.6-star average rating from 69k+ Tripadvisor reviews.(2) Their top five London attractions are:

  • Tower of London, 4.6 (69k+)
  • The British Museum, 4.6 (74k+)
  • Sky Garden, 4.5 (17k+)
  • Natural History Museum, 4.5 (38k+)
  • Borough Market 4.5 (14k+)

The Tower of London was also the most visited paid attraction in England in 2024.(3)

What are the best free things to do in London?

The best free thing to do in London is to visit the British Museum. It’s the most visited and best-reviewed unticketed attraction in the whole of the UK. But it’s far from the only one. London is unusually generous with free entry, including at some of its most iconic institutions:

Sky Garden (free with advance booking)

  • British Museum
  • Natural History Museum
  • Science Museum
  • V&A
  • National Gallery
  • National Portrait Gallery
  • Tate Modern

What is the best way to get around London on a three-day trip?

The best way to get around London is by bus or walking, where possible. London is a particularly walkable city, the world’s seventh-most pedestrian-friendly, in fact, according to a recent study.(4)

With the right planning, as the three-day itinerary above shows, families can avoid having to navigate busy stations with kids or buggies.

And more broadly, by travelling underground you’ll miss all the historic buildings and charming streets that link London’s major attractions.

That said, the Tube is of course the fastest way to get around. It’s the oldest network of its kind in the world and still working as well as ever. London was in fact named best European city for public transport by Time Out in 2025.(5)

Not every stop is wheelchair- or buggy-friendly, but 90 of them have step-free access. The TfL tube map shows which ones are best for those travelling with luggage or buggies, and flags the gap between trains and platforms at each stop. The TfL Go app also has a step-free mode to help you plan journeys across London.

What part of London has the most museums?

The part of London where the most major museums are clustered is South Kensington. You’ll find the V&A, Natural History Museum and Science Museum sit within a few minutes’ walk of each other.

Reddit user Speed500 put together this handy map of museums across central London, colour-coded by category.(6)

What is the best part of London for art galleries?

To see London’s best art galleries on a tight schedule, we recommend starting at Trafalgar Square. There you’ll find both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery.

Follow the Strand east for 10 minutes and you’ll get to the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House. Just across Waterloo Bridge is the Hayward Gallery, itself just a 20-minute walk along the Thames from Tate Modern.

Alternatively, you can take a 10-minute bus ride on the 87 from Trafalgar Square to Wandsworth, where you’ll find Tate Britain.

Is it worth getting an Oyster card for 3 days in London?

It may be more convenient to simply use contactless payment when travelling by tube or bus.

For those worried about overseas charges, TfL does special Visitor Oyster cards for tourists. You can buy them preloaded with pay-as-you-go credit to help budget and avoid queuing to top up or buy tickets.

Based on TfL guidance, £25 credit is a good place to start for those visiting London for three days.

Zip Oyster photo cards are also a good option for those travelling with kids.

  • Children under 5 always travel for free with fare-paying adults.
  • Children under 10 travel free on buses, and also on the Tube with a Zip Oyster photocard.
  • Children aged 11-15 travel free on buses with a Zip Oyster photocard and pay child rates on the Tube, DLR and London Overground.

See TfL’s page on free and discounted travel page for more information.

Is 3 days enough to explore London?

A three-day trip is enough to see nearly 20 iconic London attractions, as the three-day itinerary above shows.

But there’s a reason they say, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” If you’re still undecided on how many days to visit for, our other London itinerary guides can help you make up your mind.