When I go to Europe, I love to visit multiple cities over the course of a few days. I get limited vacation time, so I like to feel like I’m maximising it by seeing as much as possible. Not saying that’s the correct or only way to do it, but it’s how I like to travel right now :)

We went to Europe in December 2024 and split 3 days in London, 3 days in Paris, and 3 days in Copenhagen, but then had a delay on the flight back home so we had an extra day in London. Here is our breakdown of the London portion :)

Where we stayed

We stayed at The Hoxton, Holborn near Covent Garden and we cannot say enough great things about it. It was Neal’s first time in London, so we picked somewhere quite centrally located.

It is right next to Holborn station with access to the Central and Piccadilly lines. The review is linked above, but TLDR: we loved it.

Day 1

We landed at Heathrow around 8:30am and immediately grabbed our luggage and headed out. We took the Heathrow Express for $30/each one-way and highly recommend this option. It took 15 minutes to get from Heathrow to Paddington Station. From Paddington station, we did take a black cab to the hotel since we had luggage and didn’t want to mess around with the tube stations and take up a ton of space with our luggage.

I had alerted the hotel prior to arriving that we’d be landing early and asked if the room was ready in time, if we could check-in early and they were so kind and accommodating to that!

Once we got showered and refreshed, we hit the road! We went to Seven Dials Market for some lunch and shopping. Seven Dials is so pretty and such a cool-looking part of town. At the market, they have so many options for food, drinks, sweet treats, etc. We got steak first and then went to the cheese conveyor belt to have some cheese and prosecco.

We continued to wander a bit and made our way to the National Gallery Christmas Market and got some hot chocolate to continue our walk to Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.

We ended our night at Claridge’s for an early evening tea. We arrived early so we could grab a cocktail prior to our reservation time, which worked out well since we ended up waiting for our table to be ready.

It was PACKED, and things were a bit hectic here. I think the waitstaff was quite overwhelmed, but held it together and ended up gifting us some champagne to apologize for the wait (we didn’t mind! It’s gorgeous inside!)

We booked their Holiday Tea and wow, it was delicious. My favorite was the turkey tea sandwich - it tasted like Thanksgiving. Carved turkey slices, white cheddar, gem lettuce, stuffing, cranberry relish on seeded bread. I asked for extras and they put them in a cute little box for me :)

We were dead tired at the end of this, so we took a black cab back to the hotel and went to sleep!

Day 2

Day 2 and we wanted to WALK. We walked 18,000 steps this day (according to my iPhone). Our end goal was Borough Market, but we weren’t in a rush.

Our walk included stops by:

Tate Modern - we stopped in to check out some exhibitions - well, Neal did and I grabbed a beer in the cafe and looked at the Thames and the skyline…
Globe Theater - did not stop here, but was able to see a good portion of the exterior
Anchor Pub - what a gorgeous little pub!!!! We stopped and grabbed a pint and just gushed over how cute this pub was
Borough Market - was so incredibly busy it was overwhelming. We walked around and I got my sister some truffle mustard and we got some bread for ourselves. But we decided to eat at Cafe Francois right outside Borough Market.

Cafe Francois was delicious! I got the french onion grilled cheese and Neal got half a rotisserie chicken… Truly how can either of these be bad options?

After Borough Market, we walked some more and I desperately wanted to see St. Paul’s Cathedral up close. I knew there was a rooftop bar right next to it, so we walked to Sabine and got a cocktail on the rooftop for a moment and I was in complete awe of this Cathedral.

Naturally, a trip to London isn’t complete until you go to Harrods, so Neal and I hopped on the tube and moseyed on over to Knightsbridge on the Central Line. Took us about 7 minutes to get from St. Paul to Harrods this way!

We immediately went to the perfume area where I bought a London-exclusive Jo Malone scent, White Jasmine & Mint, and Neal got English Oak & Hazelnut.

We wandered around Harrods, where I was able to look at some Schiaparelli pieces (love), but didn’t buy anything else. At this point, one of my friends was also arriving in London so we went back to the hotel to meet up with her.

Our hotel was near so many pubs, so we decided to check out White Hart. They had a dj and poured a great Guinness, so we danced and danced and danced until late and then promptly passed out once we got back to the hotel.

Day 3

Our final full day in London was pretty leisurely compared to our previous two days. We started late and decided to have coffee at the hotel and head straight to Mayfair.

We grabbed a very early lunch at Mercado Mayfair, a gorgeous church with stained glass that has since turned into a food hall. There are so many options here: Neal got some pork dumplings, my friend got a pizza, and I got truffle carbonara. I’ve heard this is a more touristy location, but I think most food halls are… I recommend this spot for sure.

At the end of this street is Selfridges! We stopped in there for a quick look around. There was nothing here I was dying to spend money on, so we left empty-handed. We went back towards Holborn for a drink at the hotel and a quick recharge.

Lunch was at Flat Iron, they serve only steak and sides, so we ordered steak + mashed potatoes and kale salad. I was excited for this, but the steak was so.oily. Neal liked it, I probably wouldn’t be back.

The last thing we did that evening was head to Notting Hill and walk and walk and walk. We hit up the vintage market, and I wanted this suede trench coat with fur collar and cuffs… but by the time I decided I wanted it, they were closed :(

We essentially did a walking tour/bar crawl through Notting Hill and then finished the evening back at the hotel to pack for our train the next morning.

We left London at 10am the following morning from St. Pancras, so we grabbed a quick coffee and breakfast at the hotel and then took a 10-minute cab to the train station so we didn’t have to walk with our luggage. We said good-bye to lovely London and head on to Paris!

Day 4 / Extra Layover in London

When we left London at the beginning of the trip, I asked Neal if there was anything he regrets we did or didn’t do and he said he was only bummed he didn’t get to visit the British Museum. As luck would have it, British Airways delayed our flight 21 hours! So we were able to visit the British Museum.

We stayed at Hilton Paddington this time since it is attached to Paddington Station and we could hop on the Heathrow Express early morning back to the airport. It was dated and not very nice, but it was SO conveniently located and had a bathtub so it was worth it!

We dropped our luggage at the hotel and then arrived at the British Museum around 1, and stayed until they closed at 5:30p. The most exciting pieces we saw were the Rosetta Stone (was behind a paywall essentially last time I was there), the Caryatid (lost sister of Athens), and the library.

We knew we wouldn’t be walking much the next day, and returning to a non-walkable city soon, so we walked from the British Museum to Mayfair for dinner at NAC Mayfair.

NAC Mayfair was one of the best meals we had in my opinion. We got the kale salad, truffle burger, the cajun chicken, and truffle mac and cheese. I really wanted the cookie and corn flakes for dessert, but we were so full we couldn’t fit any more room.

We finished the evening at Three Turns pub right around the corner and had a final Guinness pint to end a beautiful trip.

Tips for London

The tube is great. As someone who gets nervous on public transportation (because I don’t live in a city with it), the tube is easy to navigate, cheap, and pretty clean/safe-feeling!
Ubers are cheaper than Black Cabs, but black cabs are quicker to grab because they’re everywhere.
Heathrow Express is worth the price! Only 15-minutes to Paddington station - which has Hammersmith & City, Bakerloo, District, and Circle lines, and is centrally-located.

4 Days in London at Christmas