Are you planning a visit to London to see the Christmas lights? Do you want to include a few more iconic places and see some of the most popular murals? You are in the right place.
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On this post I will describe our day out in London visiting some popular places, murals and after dark, the Christmas lights. It will give you some idea of where to go and spend a fabulous day in this great city.
If you are planning a trip to England and prefer to have everything organised by a tour, you should check the tours at Tourradar, which offers various tours to many places in England.
Tourradar has tours that suits every length of time and budgets and if you use my links to book your trip and enter code RoseG50 you will get a discount on your booking.
On the map below you can see the places we visited while in London:
VISITING LONDON
We arrived by train in London Kings Cross at about 10:30 am.
Upon arrival we went to see Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station. This is where students at Hogwarts School caught the Hogwarts Express on the Harry Potter series. Platform 9 ¾ is on a wall at the station concourse.
There is usually a big queue to take a photo at the wall and it was not different on that day. We didn’t have time to spend on queues, so just took a picture from the side and headed to the underground station.
We took the tube to London Bridge to visit Borough Market.
The plan was to have breakfast at the Brood Café, on the market. However, when we arrived there, they had stopped serving breakfast and lunch service had just started. It was too early for lunch, so we went to the café at Southwark Cathedral instead.
The café there is very nice with a lot of choices, and it is not as busy as all the other cafés at the market.
After breakfast we walked in the market admiring all the stalls selling fresh produce. We love to visit this market; it is one of the best markets we visited lately. If you like food markets check this POST at The Travelling Surveyor site.
Borough Market is known to have started more than 1000 years ago when London and Southwark were two different places separated by a bridge, London Bridge.
It survived the interferences of authorities trying to regulate and tax it all these centuries. It continued the fight for survival to these days becoming one of the most famous markets in the country. The market is a lively place to visit showcasing food from all over Britain and the world.
The market at that time was very busy. We walked and explored the stalls for a while but after that started to walk in the direction of the riverbank.
There is a nice food tour of Borough Market that takes you to taste various foods in the market or in Soho. If you want to try this tour, book it via this LINK
On the way we stopped to see the “Shakespeare Mural” on Clink Street. It was painted by the Australian artist Jimmy C, who also painted the portrait of David Bowie in Brixton. It is a great piece of art in a kind of hidden place worth seeing.
We walked on the riverbank in the direction of the “Shakespeare Globe” close by.
The Shakespeare Globe is a replica of the Elizabethan Globe Theatre from 1599 that was destroyed by a fire in 1613. It is an open-air theatre and is opened to the public since 1997.
Performances are usually during the summer, but the theatre is open for guided tours throughout the whole year and must be booked in advance.
We didn’t book a tour, so were unable to visit the site, but admired the building from the outside.
We continued our walking tour and arrived at the Tate Modern. The Tate Modern is an art gallery showing modern and contemporary art as paintings, sculptures and large-scale installations by famous artists.
It is open Monday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. It is free admission and there is no need to book in advance. As we did not have time to explore the gallery, we didn’t go inside, just looked at it from the outside and pressed on.
If you have the time I advise to visit this gallery as it houses some very important modern art. There is a small group guided tour that can take you to the best works of art within the vast collection, all guided by a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide. Book it HERE.
Nearby we passed another mural by Jimmy C. This one was “London Cityscape”, and is located just before the tunnel on the Thames Path. Another very nice piece of work.
We walked up the stairs to the road and turned on Stamford Street in the direction of Anthony Bourdain Mural on Coin Street. He was a celebrity chef, author and travel documentarian who passed away in 2018.
This is a black and white realistic portrait of Anthony, hand-painted by Jerome Davenport. Very detailed and beautiful work.
We followed Stamford Street and went around the BFI IMAX roundabout to Sutton Walk. That is where another famous mural of London is. It is The Paddington’s London Mural showing a picture of the most beloved bear in the country: “Paddington Bear”.
The artist in charge of this lovely mural was Gisella Stapleton, a Peruvian artist.
We walked another 5 minutes, and we were in Leake Street. We visited the Leake Street Arches, also known as Graffiti Tunnel, under the rails of Waterloo Station. On the way we could see the London Eye at a distance, but we didn’t go near it.
The tunnel is completely covered in graffiti art, including the ceilings. There are eight railway arches beneath the station making it the longest London’s graffiti wall.
On the tunnel there are also independent restaurants, bars and entertainment spaces all covered in graffiti and celebrating the graffiti art. Very interesting and a place full of talent. We spent some time there looking at the art and we really enjoyed this visit.
From there we took the tube on Waterloo station to Tottenham Court Road. We wanted to see the Now building and the Outernet immersive video experience. Last year we saw “The Butterfly Trail” and we loved it, so we wanted to see what was on show this year.
On that day and time, they were showing “The spaces in-between: A step beyond”. This was an interesting video by Rupert Newman and completely different from the one we saw last year. They show different videos at different times of the day, but whenever you go you will see something nice and fun. It is always an enjoyable experience and worth visiting.
From there we walked to Monmouth Street to see the “Diana “Mary Poppins” by Bambi. It is a lovely mural showing Diana as Mary Poppins with two kids, that are supposedly Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Wonderful piece of art that has been there for quite a few years now.
Afterwards we turned on Neil’s Yard and crossed the Seven Dials Market. It was full of people eating in the restaurants there. We carried on in the direction of Covent Garden.
There is a nice bike tour visiting various London’s landmarks, pubs and Graffiti art. It includes various points I describe on this post + lots of other places that we didn’t go. You can book it HERE.
Or you can have a London Street Art tour that covers a different area that we did, but will take you to see other well-known street art. Book this one HERE.
After some photos of Covent Garden’s large Christmas tree and other photos we decided to try our lucky at the “Dishoom” restaurant in Covent Garden.
We were unable to book a table at this restaurant as they are only booking tables for groups commemorating the festive season at this time of the year. As it is a walk-in café you just need to join a queue, and you will be seated once a table becomes available.
I’ve been planning to eat at this restaurant for a long time but didn’t have the opportunity until now. It is an Indian restaurant from Bombay and the menu is mainly Indian dishes but there is a hint of Iranian as well.
It became very fashionable in the London scene, and it is very difficult to get a table there. They have various branches in London and all of them are the same, difficult to get a table.
It was about 3 pm when we joined the queue. It took us about half-an hour on the queue until we were able to get in. We had the most delicious dishes shared between us and a couple friend. It was sensational!
We enjoyed all the dishes and drinks we ordered, and it certainly lived up to its hype. It was worth waiting for the table.
After the fabulous late lunch, we walked in the direction of Trafalgar Square. When we left, the queue to the restaurant was double of what it was when we joined, so I assume it would take an hour to seat at that time.
It was already dark at this time and on the way, we passed St Martin’s Lane where many of the theatres are and looked at their Christmas lights.
For those staying for the night I suggest a night at the “Christmas Carol Immersive Dining Experience” to get into a Christmas mood earlier! It is a 3 course Victorian meal, live music and theatre. The link for booking is HERE.
There was a Christmas fair at Trafalgar Square full of stalls selling Christmas merchandise and other stuff. We bought some Christmas decorations for the tree and enjoyed the atmosphere of the place.
We pressed on and went to Leicester Square. It was also all decorated in Christmas lights. There was another Christmas fair there and we had some mulled wine to warm up. This fair had lots of food on sale and if we hadn’t had such a nice lunch before we would have tried some of the food at the fair.
You can have a private Christmas customised tour with a local if you don’t want to waste time and want to go directly to the best attractions. Book this one HERE.
From there we went to Piccadilly Circus, looked at the Eros statue and went to “Fortnum & Mason” shop. Even though we were not that close to Christmas, the shop was already very busy. They have lovely products for presents but very pricey!
After looking at all products on the ground floor we decided to carry on with the walking as the shop was too busy.
There is a tour of Christmas Lights by night in an open-top Bus Tour that seems to be an ideal option to catch a sparkling glimpse of London’s Christmas Lights. Book it HERE.
We crossed the Road and entered the “Burlington Arcade” admiring the chic shops in there.
From there we walked to Regent Street and to Carnaby Street where we saw the last mural of the day “The Spirit of Soho”, on the corner of Carnaby Street and Berwick Street.
This mural is different as it made in colourful mosaics and depicting various scenes of London with a clock at the bottom that strikes at every hour. It is a very detailed and beautiful mural, one of the most beautiful we’ve seen on that day.
After admiring the mural, we went to our last visit of the day which was “Liberty”, the famous, old shop on Regent Street.
We entered the shop and went to the 4th floor to see the dedicated Christmas shop. We found it a bit underwhelming comparing to what it used to be. Not as much merchandise and very expensive stuff that was not worth the money. It was very crowded as well and we didn’t last there for too long. We quickly left the shop as everybody was feeling hot and not enjoying the crowded atmosphere inside.
Afterwards we went to Oxford Street station to get the tube to Kings Cross and return home, but the station was closed, so we walked all the way to the next station that was Tottenham Court Road only to find it was closed too.
With the stations closed, we decided to take a taxi to Kings Cross instead of walking to another station. On that day we walked about 22.000 steps and we were all quite tired by then.
We had the most amazing day visiting the murals and the Christmas lights in London but were happy to seat on the train and relax on the way back home.
Below is a reel from The Travelling Surveyor Instagram account with more photos of our day out in London. Check it out and follow me on Instagram as well.
I hope this post will give you some idea of what can be done in a day in London and will help you plan your own visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TRIP
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in London. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
PLEASE NOTE: Every hotel, restaurants and attractions I mention on my blogs are not sponsored reviews and we always paid the full price when visiting. We give our own opinion of the place and detail our experience, good or bad.
WHAT TO SEE IN LONDON
ATTRACTIONS
1 – Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station – **
2 – Borough Market – ***
3 – Shakespeare Mural – ***
4 – Shakespeare Globe
5 – Tate Modern
6 – London Cityscape Mural – ***
7 – Anthony Bourdain Mural – ***
8 – The Paddington Bear London Mural – ***
9 – Leake Street Arches or Graffiti Tunnel – ***
10 – The Outernet at the Now Building – ***
11 – Diana Mary Poppins Mural – ***
12 – Neil’s Yard – ***
13 – Seven Dials Market – ***
14 – Covent Garden – ***
15 – Trafalgar Square – ***
16 – St. Martin’s Lane – ***
17 – Leicester Square – ***
18 – Piccadilly Circus – ***
19 – Fortnum & Mason– ***
20 – Burlington Arcade – ***
21 – Carnaby Street – ***
22 – The Spirit of Soho – ***
23 – Regent Street – ***
24 – Liberty Department Store – **
WHERE TO STAY
ACCOMMODATION
1 – Broadwick Soho – 5* – £££
2 – The Lanesborough – 5* – £££
3 – Nox Paddington – 4* – £££
4 – Art’otel – 4* – £££
5 – The Sanctuary House Hotel – 3* – ££
6 – Luna and Simone Hotel – 3* – ££
If you prefer to look for your own accommodation, search and book via the below widget:
I use affiliate links such as the links above for Booking.com, Get your Guide, Viator and others. It means that if you use any of my links to make a booking, I will get a small commission from the partners I’m affiliated with without any additional cost to you. Please, use the links provided when making a booking, this is a way of supporting blogs like this so we can continue writing informative and interesting posts. I’m very thankful for that.
WHERE TO EAT
1 – Dishoom – *** – £££
2 – Fazenda – *** – £££
3 – Circolo Popolare – ££
4 – Clos Magiore – £££
5 – Ave Mario – ££
6 – Señor Ceviche – ££
If you tried any of my recommendations above, please send me a message and tell me about your experience good or bad, so I can update the list accordingly. Thanks!
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