Going to London in the UK for 3 days!

[mike furline]

Unfortunately most/all of the museums are typically open from 9-5pm or 10-5pm. Most likely which ever museum/activity you pick will end up being an all day event.

The Churchill War Room and Westminster Abbey are about a block apart. You could accomplish both in one day.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/

RAF Hendon (all day event) https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/about-us/o ... -aviation/
Tower of London (all day event) https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/#gs.qzybm9
HMS Belfast https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/hms-belfast
Hampton Court Palace (all day event) https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/#gs.qzyb10
British Museum (all day event) https://www.britishmuseum.org/

[Michel Lemieux]

Boy! Those 3 days are going to be full!!!!!

tks everyone.

[Kyleb]

Day 1:
British Museum - 2 hours.
IWM - 2 hours.
Tower of London - 2 hours.

Day 2:
Walking tour (pick your favorite) - half day.
War Room - 2 hours.
Eye of London - 1 hour.

Day 3:
RAF Museum
Carnaby Street self guided tour.
Knightsbridge self guided tour.
Portobello Market (assuming you're there on a Saturday... if that's the right day).

London is a fun place just to walk around, so there will be plenty to do. Watch the weather and pick the best day(s) for your outdoor (walking) activities.

[mike furline]

Day 1:
British Museum - 2 hours.
IWM - 2 hours.
Tower of London - 2 hours.

Day 2:
Walking tour (pick your favorite) - half day.
War Room - 2 hours.
Eye of London - 1 hour.

Day 3:
RAF Museum
Carnaby Street self guided tour.
Knightsbridge self guided tour.
Portobello Market (assuming you're there on a Saturday... if that's the right day).

London is a fun place just to walk around, so there will be plenty to do. Watch the weather and pick the best day(s) for your outdoor (walking) activities.

No way in He!! you can do Day 1 in 2hr increments. What a waste of time. Pick the one you want and enjoy it.

[old iron]

For Day 1:
for an alternative that has no scrambling from one location to another:
1: The Science Museum (one of the best small collections of historic aircraft in the world);
then, right next door:
2: Natural History Museum (lots of Ichthyosaurus and other fossils); then, right across the street:
3: The Victoria and Albert Museum.

Enjoy (don't miss the Ichthyosaurs)!

[Kyleb]

Day 1:
British Museum - 2 hours.
IWM - 2 hours.
Tower of London - 2 hours.

No way in He!! you can do Day 1 in 2hr increments. What a waste of time. Pick the one you want and enjoy it.

He's in London for 3 days. That screams "feel the place out" to me, not bore in on one or two things.

You can hit the high points of each of the places I listed in 2 hours. At the British Museum, get a docent's tour. That's about an hour and will walk you through Elgin's Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, the Magna Carta, the huge statues taken from Persia (?) and other points of interest. After that, you have an hour to cherry pick a few other exhibits. Same at the IWM. At the Tower, you get the Beefeater's tour. That's an hour or so. When that's done, you're free to walk the grounds.

Now, if the OP is a "look in every display case and read every caption" person, you're right. The British Museum (for instance) will take a day or more. I can be that guy.

But in his situation, I'd hit the highlights and evaluate if I wanted to go back to London at a later date and dig deeper.

[junkman9096]

Related (sorta) but if/when you go to the British Museum and/or the British Library-walking distance close to each other have breakfast or lunch at this place midway between the two.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/49-cafe-london

And agree that 2hrs isn't enough at any place especially the IWM and Tower of London.

[dhfan]

Day 1:
British Museum - 2 hours.
IWM - 2 hours.
Tower of London - 2 hours.

Day 2:
Walking tour (pick your favorite) - half day.
War Room - 2 hours.
Eye of London - 1 hour.

Day 3:
RAF Museum
Carnaby Street self guided tour.
Knightsbridge self guided tour.
Portobello Market (assuming you're there on a Saturday... if that's the right day).

London is a fun place just to walk around, so there will be plenty to do. Watch the weather and pick the best day(s) for your outdoor (walking) activities.

Book an ambulance to meet you at the airport when you get home.

[blurrkup]

If you only want aviation related things and specifically in London, the Science museum can be done in a couple of hours, also free to enter, as well as the aviation hall at the very top of the building, you have the Flying test bed and Shorts SC.1 on the ground floor and tucked away in one of the other galleries is the one of a kind, Handley Page Gugnunc.

The RAF museum can be gotten to on the Northern line by getting off at Colindale station and walking, definitely an whole day experience though

IWM London is another good one, though aviation content especially aircraft is a bit on the low side, with only a Spitfire, Harrier and Ohka kamikaze present.

If you want to go further out and have the time to, Duxford is an obvious choice, The de Havilland Avaition museum too. Also Shuttleworth, especially if you can get there for one of their flying days/evenings.

[p51]

IWM London is another good one, though aviation content especially aircraft is a bit on the low side, with only a Spitfire, Harrier and Ohka kamikaze present.

There's that Lancaster forward fuselage, and parts of shot down German aircraft (at least it was there in 2018 when I went).
I took these on that visit:

[blurrkup]

IWM London is another good one, though aviation content especially aircraft is a bit on the low side, with only a Spitfire, Harrier and Ohka kamikaze present.

There's that Lancaster forward fuselage, and parts of shot down German aircraft (at least it was there in 2018 when I went).

Might be a couple of more bits there than I realised. Haven't been there since the refit, when they removed the P-51, Fw-190, Halifax Fuselage and Zero fuselage.

[Richard W.]

The Zero wreck is still there.

Was at the museum a week ago.

[p51]

The Zero wreck is still there.

I never saw that, but I think we missed one gallery as I know there are other things there that I never saw in 2018.
I assume the back end of Rudolf Hess's Bf110 is at Duxford? I was hoping it was at IWM in London but never saw that, either.

[Michel Lemieux]

After all these years.....

May be one of my best post ever

For sure will send you my takes and fun on it!!!!

Sincerely! Thank you everyone

[dhfan]

If you fancy a break from aviation related, take a Thames Clipper riverbus trip downstream on the River Thames from Embankment or the London Eye. Great for the sights and a fraction of the price of a "tourist" trip.

There's no speed limit on the Thames downstream of Tower Bridge, as you would find out very quickly on a Clipper!
They warn you to sit down or hold on.