# What Would You Do As A Tourist in London? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411 "2017-08-22T22:20:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spjork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@spjork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spjork)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/1 "2017-08-22T22:20:40Z")
I’ve lived near or in London for over 10 years and I’ve still not done most of the things people would usually do when they are tourists. I guess I take for granted that I can visit the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham palace, et al, when I have the time, just as I suppose most New Yorkers think the Statue of Liberty is always going to be there waiting for them and they can go some day-- just not today. So maybe I should ask those of you not in England what it is you would do if you had a day in London? Because I’d like to stop only living in but seeing this city I’ve come to call my home. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/2 "2017-08-22T22:38:47Z")
Go see a play at The Globe. Looks like you have a choice between _King Lear_ and _Much Ado About Nothing._ ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/3 "2017-08-22T22:49:58Z")
Go to the top of the Tate Modern or the Skygarden on a clear day (yes, I realize we are talking about London 🕶) Take a Yeomen Warder tour of the Tower of London Walk from Camden Market to Kings Cross along the Regent Canal Go to the Columbia Road Flower Market Eat at Borough Market, just to say screw you to terrorists ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/4 "2017-08-22T22:56:15Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Go see a play at The Globe. Looks like you have a choice between _King Lear_ and _Much Ado About Nothing._ ^ This at night, (or the Royal National Theatre perhaps), and the National Gallery during the day. St. Martin-in-the-Fields is just steps away from the art and if they’re doing one of their free lunchtime concerts that day, I’d leave the museum for that hour. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/5 "2017-08-22T23:23:47Z")
Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/6 "2017-08-22T23:42:22Z")
Natural History Museum. Science Museum. Open top bus ride around London. Boat trip from Westminster Pier to Tower of London. (both of these have running commentaries.) ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/7 "2017-08-22T23:47:12Z")
Tower of London/Crown Jewels Royal Observatory at Greenwich Climb up the dome of St. Paul’s British Museum Never saw the point of the London Eye ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/8 "2017-08-22T23:47:25Z")
The Eye. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/9 "2017-08-22T23:55:40Z")
[London Walks](http://www.walks.com/) British Museum British Library [Boating on the Serpentine](https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park/things-to-see-and-do/sports-and-leisure/boating-in-hyde-park) [See a show](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/10 "2017-08-23T00:00:14Z")
Spend 3 years in the British Museum. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/11 "2017-08-23T00:08:52Z")
I usually go to have tea at the Kensington Palace Orangery, then try to visit one of the stately homes that used to be outside the city but the countryside has long since been swallowed up by the metropolis. There are quite a lot of them–Syon, Chiswick House, Ham House. Next time I plan to see Walpole’s Strawberry Hill House. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/12 "2017-08-23T00:31:51Z")
Mind the gap!! ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/13 "2017-08-23T01:02:05Z")
Imperial War Museum. I ran out of time before I lost interest. They literally had to herd me out at closing time. Actually my favorite thing to do in London is go for a walk along the Thames while listening to Ray Davies & the Crouch End Chorus on my earbuds. But I’m odd like that. I’m going to be there the first week of September. Can’t wait. London is my favorite city to visit. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/14 "2017-08-23T03:03:22Z")
I’ve been there three times. Each time, I’ve found more to do than I had time to accomplish. Someday, I’m going to hire a BlueBadge and have him/her personally squire me around the British Museum for three days. One of my most fun things done was a walking tour that took me past Craven Cottage and Stamford Bridge; had I really tried, I could have gotten Loftus Road too. And the walk along the Thames was very pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/15 "2017-08-23T04:04:53Z")
Another vote for the British Museum. I’m a museum kind of guy. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/16 "2017-08-23T06:45:57Z")
Having just got back from there: 1. Don’t go in mid-summer, over-congested with tourists. 2. Museum of London, especially the section dealing with Victorian London --\> Blitz --\> post-war transformation. 3. Red bus hop-on-hop-off tours. Commentary on mine was very good. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/17 "2017-08-23T10:27:57Z")
I would haunt the British Museum. Then the Victoria and Albert Museum. Then The Natural History Museum…I think you get the idea! (And I wonder, to myself, if it would be like Inca ruins in Peru, or Churches in Italy, y’know, you see so many that one day…it’s just enough, no more! That’s really hard for me to imagine though!) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/18 "2017-08-23T12:22:42Z")
My gf went to London with a coworker. They divided their time between pubs and cemeteries. Four days was not enough. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/19 "2017-08-23T12:45:50Z")
I was only in London for a full day but we did the Red Rover open top bus tour and The Tower! I thought the Tower of London was about the coolest thing ever. The river bus was a nice break from all the tower exploring and our guide was very funny and informative. You probably know this but you can get on and off the river bus too and so it is a good way to hit several areas while enjoying the view and a beer. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/20 "2017-08-23T13:53:12Z")
The National Gallery The London Eye St. Paul’s Imperial War Museum Changing of the Horse Guards Boat ride to Greenwich [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411.md?page=2)