London is the kind of place that once you’ve visited you’ll fall under its spell and, in all likelihood, will be bewitched enough to return again and again.
This beautiful, cosmopolitan city was one of my first travel destinations and continues decades later to be a favourite. I first saw London as a young child, with British-born parents, and still have home movies of our family feeding pigeons at Trafalgar Square in the 1970s.
But my strongest childhood recollection is visiting the Tower of London and learning about Great Britain’s tumultuous history. Tales of castles, kings and beheaded queens would stoke any child’s imagination and London, seemingly centre stage to it all, is a beloved never-ending story.
More than 50 years after my first visit, and with more than a dozen visits since, I returned with my youngest daughter in July and discovered more things to love about London. Over four days, we explored three distinct London neighbourhoods — central London, Kensington and Bankside, on the south side of the River Thames.
I admit a four-day stay won’t give you enough time to explore all of London, but it does provide enough time to take in some of the city’s iconic attractions, enjoy local food, meet new people and get a sense of the personality of many of its neighbourhoods.
Here’s how our London urban adventures went, beginning with two days in central London.
Day 1 — Central London
Since London can feel so overwhelming, with all it has to offer, having a central location to explore the city seamlessly is ideal. We stayed at The Londoner, a luxury, boutique hotel with an enviable location directly on Leicester Square, famous for its West End theatre productions. The three-year-old hotel might be near the bustling Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, but the hotel’s interior exudes a sense of calm with touches of London-inspired whimsy. In my second floor room, an oversize, handblown glass doorknob is reminiscent of elegant London townhomes, its bathroom tiles of the Underground and its carpet of London’s cobblestone streets.
The 16-storey hotel, with 350 rooms and suites, has six eateries, and bars and guest-only spaces like The Residence, akin to a private lounge, and The Retreat, an aptly named spa and wellness centre with a 41-foot-long lap pool, sauna, steam rooms and a hydrotherapy pool for guests to enjoy.
The resort-like amenities make it hard to ever want to leave the hotel even though so many top city attractions are nearby. You literally step outside The Londoner’s front door and into the buzz of Leicester Square, where you can watch street performances, take photos of the bronze sculptures depicting 100 years of theatre (Paddington Bear and Mary Poppins are favourites) or simply relax in its urban garden. And for those who like to shop, the posh stores of Soho, Oxford Street and Regent Street are a 15-minute walk away, while top tourist attractions like Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace are a 20-minute walk.
Our first outing was nearer still — just a two-minute walk — the National Portrait Gallery, where we saw the earliest painted portrait of Henry VII, dating back to 1505, among many other noteworthy masterpieces.
Afterward, we walked across the street and had lunch in the vaulted crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields Church on the northeast corner of Trafalgar Square, before hopping on a double-decker bus to tour the best part of London’s most scenic bus route. For just $3 Cdn, the No. 24 bus will take you past many of London’s top tourist attractions like Big Ben, the London Eye and 10 Downing Street.
Who needs the Hop-on, Hop-off bus with a route like this?
Our first night was spent at The Londoner, where we enjoyed the panoramic 8th-floor city view from its Japanese-inspired rooftop bar and lounge. Then we were content to return to our second-floor suite, where we had a peekaboo view of Big Ben, from the bathroom of all places.
Day 2
After a great sleep in a king-size bed fit for royalty (thanks to 400-thread-count Irish Linen), we enjoyed an included breakfast at the hotel restaurant Whitcomb’s, before heading off to enjoy the hotel pool.
My plan was to spend just an hour at The Retreat but with a private cabana room and a stack of glossy magazines, I found time flew as I happily read and swam my morning away. Next on our agenda was afternoon tea at The Lanesborough, across from Hyde Park Corner, in the upscale Knightsbridge neighbourhood. But this wasn’t just any afternoon tea. It was a limited edition tea inspired by the Netflix series Bridgerton, with treats paying homage to Lady Whistledown. Seems I wasn’t the only Bridgerton fan in the hotel’s Regency-inspired dining room where I met Karen Kane and Jennifer Kitchener, from Manchester, who came dressed to the nines in outfits Lady Whistledown would envy.
Later, that evening my daughter and I met up with a friend from London to do what every London visitor should do at least once — see a London musical. We got tickets to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in the West End. Dinner would later be enjoyed at Whitcomb’s, which took on a completely different vibe during the evening, with classical music playing in the background and a menu highlighting French Mediterranean cuisine. While portions are not large, in all fairness, we did choose tapas to share. We particularly enjoyed the rosemary-infused potato frites, white fish tortellini, with a decadent Calabrian chilli lemon cream sauce, and a wild mushroom risotto with parmesan and black truffle.
Day 3 — Kensington
After being in the hustle and bustle of central London, day three brought us to a quiet Kensington neighbourhood with a one night stay at The Resident Kensington. The 65-room hotel, in a beautiful Edwardian townhouse, doesn’t have a restaurant but our room had a mini-kitchenette, equipped with a microwave, toaster, kettle, coffee maker and dishes, and with a grocery store a block away, it’s easy to prepare your own meals.
A dinner out took us the popular Dishoom Kensington, a 15-minute walk from the hotel and just off Kensington High Street. I’ve eaten at the Indian restaurant Dishoom in Birmingham in the past and already knew the food was good. I wasn’t disappointed with its London location. The Bombay comfort food varies from small plates to hearty curries, like the vegetarian curry we had that evening. However, my favourite dishes were the Chole Puri, chick peas with puffed puris, and a house black daal cooked over 24 hours to ensure its flavour is unlike anything you might have tried before.
The next day we took advantage of the hotel’s location to visit one of the nearby museums. We chose Victoria & Albert Museum, which has over 2.8 million objects in its collection, although it was tough to pass by the Natural History Museum and not go inside but we had previously scheduled a semi-private tour of Warner Brothers Studio, where all eight Harry Potter movies were filmed, with the Tour Guy. This four-hour tour is a must-do for any Harry Potter fan and definitely worth the 45-minute train/bus trip, from Kensington to Watford, in northwest London.
Besides seeing so many sets, props and costumes, some of our highlights included walking through Hogwart’s Great Hall, pulling squealing mandrakes at Hogwarts’ greenhouse and commanding broomsticks to rise.
We ended our time in Central London and Kensington the morning of Day 4 by going for an Afternoon Tea London Sightseeing Tour with Brigit’s Bakery, taking a vintage 1960s double decker bus through the heart of London. But this time we got to enjoy London’s iconic landmarks while sipping tea and eating finger sandwiches and delicious pastries. What could be better?
Day 4 — Bankside
This is an area I have never visited and now wonder why since it has so much to offer, beginning with the art-inspired Bankside Hotel where we stayed.
The six-storey boutique hotel, with 161 rooms and seven suites, has a mid-century vibe, which I love, and an eclectic mix of furniture and art throughout its stylish spaces.
I particularly enjoyed eating at its restaurant Art Yard Bar & Kitchen, which is all about creativity from the art on its walls to the meals that it serves guests. My daughter enjoyed the butternut squash and ricotta ravioli while I enjoyed the tomato and shallot tart tatin. Both vegetarian dishes were done to perfection but there’s also plenty of other choices, from fillet of Scottish salmon to a rib-eye steak.
The hotel is located behind the Tate Modern museum, which truly puts this art-inspired hotel in the heart of the action, and it’s across the street from the River Thames. (You can easily walk to Blackfriar’s Bridge and the Millennium Bridge if you want to cross the river.)
During our time in Bankside, we walked along the Thames to explore the Borough Market, a historic market dating back to at least the 12th century, and a must-visit for foodies, saw the new Globe Theatre as well as the site where Shakespeare’s original Globe Theatre, designed in 1599, once stood, and strolled by the Clink, London’s most notorious medieval prison that operated here between 1144 and 1780.
But perhaps one of the best reasons to visit Bankside is the spectacular views it gives of London’s skyline, including St. Paul’s Cathedral and famous skyscrapers like the Leadenhall Building (a.k.a. the Cheesegrater), Heron Tower (aka Walkie Talkie) and Tower 42.
We ended our evening by travelling half an hour away to Kings Cross to watch The Moonwalkers, narrated by Tom Hanks, at London’s Lightroom. The 50-minute show tells the story of NASA’s past moon explorations and future voyages.
Kim Pemberton was hosted in part by Visit Britain, which did not review or approve this story. Follow her on Instagram at kimstravelogue.
