Traveling with My Mom and Sister to London, including the Complete Itinerary

Over the summer, my mom took my sister and me on a trip to London to celebrate my 50th birthday. It was the first time the three of us have ever taken a girls trip together and it was so much fun. Without kids and husbands to worry about, the three of us are very much on the same page and easy, agreeable travel companions. Imagine that!

We went at the end of July which turned out to be an excellent time to travel to London. The weather was FABULOUS. There was one day that was unbearably hot (note: do not go on a Thames River Cruise in the middle of a particularly hot day) and the last day it rained, but otherwise we had blue skies and mid-high 70s all week.

When I posted the trip on my stories, I received a lot of requests to post our complete itinerary. Just like with Italy, we used Courtney from Travel We Will to help plan and I am posting with her permission! It’s important to note that some of our plan was based on the three of us all arriving on different days— my mom was there first, coming directly from a group tour to Ireland, I was there second but I overlapped with my mom’s tour a bit so I spent a couple days by myself and my sister came on Day Three, so the order we did things doesn’t necessarily make sense if everyone arrives together. We also tried to shove a lot into a short trip and didn’t always make it to everything. Before the trip, we told Courtney what my mom had already booked, gave her a wishlist of sites and restaurants (including suggestions from my followers) and then Courtney plotted out our days as best she could, filled in with ideas when necessary and booked everything. She was also available during the trip if we had questions or wanted to switch something up. She is great resource and I highly recommend her for your travels!

Below is the itinerary Courtney made with my own notes in italics when relevant. Keep in mind that so much of London is exploring the cute shops and colorful streets, so we tried to book our restaurants in different neighborhoods (Covent Garden, Marleybone, Chelsea, Notting Hill, etc.) and then get there a little early so we had time to walk around. You can see a video I made of all my lovely wandering here.

LONDON ITINERARY

Friday July 26: Flight from NYC to LHR

Saturday July 27: Arrive in London at 6am, drop bags/ check in Hilton London Kensington (we stayed in this hotel for the first two nights because my mom was already there from her group tour. It was fine, but nothing special and the neighborhood was not that charming. I would only stay there for budgetary reasons.)

Ease into the time change and get (these next few things Courtney found for me because I was on my own in the area and it was super early):

Buns from Home to start the day, 92 Holland Park Ave

Relax in Daunt Books, 112 Holland Park Ave

Take the tube from Holland Park to Knightsbridge. Then head to Elizabeth Street in the Belgravia neighborhood (Elizabeth Street was something I requested because I had seen many Instagram reels touting it as the prettiest street in London; apparently July is some kind of flower festival when all the shops try to outdo each other with their floral decor)

Get coffee at TomTom to fuel up for shopping. These shops are all on Elizabeth & recommended by your followers:

Beulah London
Beulah
Jo Loves
Loquet London
ME + EM
Philip Tracey
Les Senteurs

2:00 pm Lunch reservation at Oliveto, also highly recommended by your followers (this restaurant was delicious with great people watching but if you want a more charming location, I would check out the Secret Garden in the Lime Tree Hotel)

Last thing to do on Elizabeth Street is cupcakes at Peggy Porchen (that’s the adorable pink cafe on the corner)

Hop in a taxi or Uber and head to Liberty of London (this is my fashion designer friend Emily’s favorite department store in London; she recommended checking out their label which is beautiful patterns you can’t find anywhere else; I ended up buying a shirt and a dress)

If you feel like doing something different, 1 min from there is The Photographer’s Gallery which is pretty cool if you like photography

Back to hotel, check in, get ready for dinner

7:00 pm Dinner at The Ivy Kensington Brasserie, 96 Kensington High St.

Sunday July 28:

9:30 am breakfast reservation at The Wolseley

12:30 Half Day Windsor Castle Tour on Golden Tours

Late lunch at Clarence Brasserie and Tea Shop

6:30pm Dinner at Chiltern Firehouse.

Monday July 29:

Explore Covent Garden

For a quick breakfast, grab a famous croissant from Chestnut Bakery

Neil’s Yard: colorful area of shops

Paper store: Choosing Keeping

12:15 pm Lunch reservation at Dishoom Covent Garden (highly recommend the broccoli salad and the chicken ruby, with nan of course!)

Apple Market for vintage and antique shopping stalls

Pass through Piccadilly Circus

Fortnum & Mason for shopping and 4:00 pm reservation for tea (go to the Diamond Jubliee room for a fancy traditional tea and The Parlour for more of a kid-friendly dessert experience)

8:00 pm Dinner reservation at Zephyr in Notting Hill. From your hotel, take a cab (about 5 min drive). If you can head over a bit early, Notting Hill is a nice spot to walk around.

Knoops in Notting Hill for gourmet hot chocolate

Tuesday July 30:

Check out of Hilton Kensington

Meet your sister at Rubens at the Palace Hotel (this hotel is well situated and very old school British decor with a great breakfast that’s included)

9 AM: Tour Buckingham Palace (right across the street from the hotel)

11:00 AM: National Portrait Gallery (my favorite museum in London)

12:45 PM lunch reservation at The Pie Room at Holborn Dining Room.

Walk over the the top of the Tower Bridge

Tour Tower of London (including the Crown Jewels)

7:00 pm Dinner reservation at Kutir (this is a charming brownstone in Chelsea with more adventurous Indian food than Dishoom, we requested to sit on the rooftop space and it was lovely)

Venchi in Chelsea for gelato (my favorite)

Wednesday July 31: Day in the Cotswolds

7 am to 5 pm Cotswolds and Blenheim Castle through Golden Tours (highly highly recommend doing a day trip to see both the Cotswolds and Blenheim whether you do it through an organized tour or not; our Cotswolds tour visited Bourton on the Water which is incredibly picturesque but pretty crowded with day trippers; I’m sure there are other less crowded areas if you stray from a tour, but we were very happy with the more touristy spot! We went to The Willow for lunch.)

5:30 pm back to the hotel to change and rest

*It’s about a 25 min walk to the restaurant for dinner. If you choose to walk, you will pass Westminster Abbey and then across Westminster Bridge.

Stop at The Queen’s Walk (right when you cross the bridge) for a GREAT spot to take photos with Tower Bridge in the background.

8:00 pm Dinner reservation at Gillray’s (we did not love Gillray’s but it did put us in a prime spot to see Big Ben at sunset and we ended up taking a pedicab to our next locale which was super fun)

Late night Drinks at the Savoy Hotel at the American Bar

Thursday Aug 1:

Breakfast at Ruben’s

10:00 AM Tate Modern - Entry is free, they open at 10. IUsually mornings are less busy at the free museums, so I would head over as close to 10 as you can (make sure to see Marcel Duchamp’s famous urinal!)

Borough Market (walk from Tate to get lunch and your viral chocolate covered strawberries!) (I choose Tacos Padre after my strawberries and it was delicious)

1pm: Sky Garden (this is free as long as you book it a few months in advance; we actually had free access that came with our Golden Tours booking)

Thames River Cruise + Hop on Hop off Bus - (These are included together; typically I would do the sightseeing bus at the beginning of the trip, but since we all arrived at different times, it did not work out until the end of our trip. Also, I do not recommend the river cruise, especially if it’s hot outside. The Thames is not that pretty via boat and there is no escape from the heat, because there is no shade outside and inside feels like a sauna.)

4:00pm Afternoon Tea at The Orangery at Kensington Palace

After, stroll Kensington Gardens. You should be able to then grab the Hop on Hop off bus from Kensington back to Buckingham Palace for your hotel.

8:15 pm: Drinks at the top of the Treehouse hotel (for an excellent sunset view) and then Madera for dinner

Friday Aug 2: 10:00 AM Check out of hotel and head to the airport

1:55 PM flight LHR TO JFK

A few things that we missed: Victoria & Albert Museum (we tried really hard to get there and couldn’t make the timing work), the British Museum, Portobello Road Market and a tour of parliament and Westminster Abbey (although we had all done it previously). I’m sure we missed much more, but it’s always good to have a reason to go back!

Please leave your best London tips and recommendations in the comments!