If you only have three days and want to leave having seen the best London has to offer — the most iconic sights, the most memorable meals, one great museum, one great market, and a few things no guidebook tells you — this is the itinerary.
Start with the oldest and most visited site in London. Over 1,000 years of history: the Crown Jewels, the White Tower, the Bloody Tower where the young princes disappeared in 1483. The Yeoman Warder tour (included, every 30 min) is unmissable.
Cross Tower Bridge (free) and walk west along the South Bank — London's most enjoyable riverside mile. Street performers, skate park under the Royal Festival Hall, views of St Paul's across the water, and the Tate Modern ahead.
One of the world's great food markets, on this site since 1014. Over 100 traders under Victorian iron arches: artisan cheese, salt beef bagels, Ethiopian injera, freshly shucked oysters. Budget £8–15 for a brilliant lunch.
Free entry always. The world's most visited modern art museum in a converted Bankside power station. Permanent collection (Picasso, Rothko, Bourgeois) plus the Turbine Hall installation. The free Level 10 Viewing Gallery has the best Thames panorama in London.
Walk across Westminster Bridge at dusk for the most photographed view in London: Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the Thames turning gold. Westminster Abbey's choir sings Evensong at 17:00 — free and extraordinary inside the 13th-century nave.
Soho has London's best restaurant density. Barrafina (Spanish tapas, no reservations, arrive early), Kiln (Thai open-fire, counter only) or Bao (Taiwanese). All within 5 minutes of each other — pick the shortest queue.
Eight million objects from every civilisation on earth — free, every day. The Rosetta Stone (Room 4), the Elgin Marbles (Room 18) and Egyptian mummies are the headline acts, but the Lewis Chessmen (Room 40) and Sutton Hoo helmet (Room 41) are the hidden gems.
London's most eccentric and overlooked museum — the preserved home of architect John Soane, crammed floor to ceiling with antiquities, architectural models and paintings (including Hogarth's complete Rake's Progress series). Free always, and never crowded.
Lunch in the National Gallery café (reasonable prices, great location) then an hour in the galleries — the Impressionists in Room 34 and the Van Goghs in Room 43 are the emotional highlights. Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column is right outside.
Walk through London's most famous park — 242 hectares of lawns, the Serpentine lake, Diana Memorial Fountain and the Long Water. Connect through to Kensington Gardens for Kensington Palace (free gardens) and the Albert Memorial.
The world's greatest museum of art and design — and completely free. 5,000 years of human creativity: fashion, furniture, jewellery, architecture, ceramics. The Cast Courts (plaster casts of Michelangelo's David at full scale) and the Islamic Middle East Gallery are the standouts.
Bibendum in the Michelin Building on Fulham Road is a London classic (French brasserie in an art nouveau tyre showroom). More accessible: Tendido Cero (Spanish tapas, two doors down) or Rabbit (modern British, King's Road) for something local.
Start at Beigel Bake (open 24 hours, since 1974) for London's legendary salt beef bagel (£3.80). Then walk Brick Lane before the tourists arrive — the murals, the curry houses, the vintage shops, the Truman Brewery. East London at its most authentic.
The Shoreditch triangle — Rivington Street, Curtain Road, Leonard Street — is covered in world-class commissioned murals. Free, always changing, and genuinely excellent. The Street Art London app has a curated walking route with artist information.
Old Spitalfields Market — Victorian iron and glass, 30+ food traders. Bleecker Burger (voted London's best multiple years), fresh pasta, Japanese karaage, Vietnamese rice plates. Browse the fashion and vintage stalls between bites.
The highest public garden in London, on the 35th floor of the Walkie Talkie building. 360° panoramic views from a garden with live plants, a bar and a restaurant — completely free if you book online in advance. One of London's best-kept open secrets.
Return to Borough Market for afternoon browsing and shopping to take home — Neal's Yard Dairy for cheese, Monmouth for coffee beans, Brindisa for Spanish chorizo. Southwark Cathedral next door (free) is London's oldest Gothic church, dating from 1106.
Lyle's in Shoreditch for the finest modern British cooking (Michelin-starred, book ahead). St John in Clerkenwell for legendary nose-to-tail British (the bone marrow on toast is a London institution). Or Dishoom for the most atmospheric Indian supper in the city.