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A first visit to London is exciting, and it is also easy to overdo. The city is large, the list of must-sees is longer than any week allows, and the quickest way to spoil a trip is to try to see all of it. Our advice is simple. Go slowly, pick a good base, and leave room for the things you stumble upon.
Pick one neighbourhood and let it anchor you
Where you stay shapes the whole trip. We are fond of the calm and polish of Mayfair, but every London neighbourhood has its own character. If you would rather choose by hotel than by postcode, our where to stay guide walks through the options, from quietly grand to genuinely five star.
See the icons, but only a few a day
Two or three landmarks a day is plenty. Our London landmarks guide covers the ones worth the queue and, just as usefully, the ones worth skipping. If you like a plan you can follow hour by hour, the three day itinerary is built for exactly this kind of first visit.
Keep an afternoon for a museum, and a day for elsewhere
London has some of the finest museums in the world and most cost nothing to enter, so an afternoon indoors is never wasted. Browse the full list on our museums page. And if you have four or five days, give one of them to a day trip. Windsor, Oxford and Bath are all within easy reach and change the pace nicely.
That is the whole trick really. Fewer things, done well, with time to sit in a park and watch the city go by. For everything else, the things to do guide is a good place to keep wandering.
Want the full detail? See our complete guide to a first-timer's guide to London.
