1 Week in London: The Complete 7-Day Itinerary

Start at Westminster Tube station (Jubilee/District/Circle lines) and emerge at the bridge. The view -- Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the Thames -- is the one you came for. At 8:30 AM you will have it largely to yourself. Cross to the South Bank side and look back for the photograph everyone goes home with.

Walk south along Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey. Every British monarch since 1066 has been crowned here. The exterior Gothic towers are extraordinary from the west entrance. If going inside (GBP 29), book online -- it opens 9:30 AM Monday through Saturday. The Cloisters and College Garden are included and considerably quieter than the nave.

Walk through St James's Park towards Buckingham Palace. The bridge over the lake gives you simultaneous views of Westminster and Buckingham Palace -- one of the great London views that most visitors miss. Arrive at the Victoria Memorial by 10:45 AM if the Changing of the Guard is scheduled (11 AM most days -- check online before you go).

Walk or Tube to Borough Market (Jubilee line to London Bridge, 2 stops). London's oldest food market -- established on this site since 1014. Try the grilled cheese toasties from Kappacasein, the steak sandwich from Roast, or the Ethiopian wraps from Arabica. Budget GBP 12-18. Open Wednesday through Saturday at full capacity.

Walk west along the South Bank to the Tate Modern (free). The Turbine Hall is spectacular even if modern art is not your thing. The Switch House viewing terrace (Level 10, free) has a rooftop view over London that rivals the Eye. Walk across the Millennium Bridge towards St Paul's -- the view of the cathedral at the end of the bridge is London's most photographed sight.

Walk west along the South Bank to the London Eye for an evening slot (GBP 34, book online in advance). A 30-minute rotation gives you 360-degree views as London's lights come on. The evening slots are the most atmospheric. Prefer to save the money? Waterloo Bridge at sunset is London's best free view -- looking east to St Paul's and west to Parliament simultaneously.

Book the first entry slot (Tower Hill Tube, District/Circle line). The Tower of London is 2,000 years of English history on one site: the Crown Jewels, the White Tower (built 1078), the Yeoman Warders, and the ravens. Allow 2.5-3 hours. The Crown Jewels queue moves fastest at opening time -- head there immediately.

Cross Tower Bridge to the glass-floored walkway 42 metres above the Thames (GBP 12, separate ticket, book online). The views upstream to the City skyline and downstream to Canary Wharf are extraordinary. The ticket also includes the Victorian engine rooms below the bridge -- they are worth 20 minutes and most visitors skip them.

One Tube stop from Tower Hill (Circle/District line to St Paul's). Wren's masterpiece is one of the great buildings of the world. Entry is GBP 21 (book online). Climb the Whispering Gallery (30m), Stone Gallery (53m), and Golden Gallery (85m) -- 528 steps total -- for the finest City panorama at a fraction of the Eye's cost.

Tube to Liverpool Street and walk east into Shoreditch. Old Spitalfields Market (open daily) has independent fashion, homeware, and food vendors under a Victorian covered hall. The streets around Shoreditch High Street, Great Eastern Street, and Redchurch Street form London's outdoor gallery: large murals and paste-ups by internationally recognised artists that change regularly.

Brick Lane runs south into Banglatown: curry houses (open from 5 PM), vintage shops, and the 24-hour Beigel Bake whose salt beef bagel (GBP 4) is one of London's great cheap eats. For sit-down dinner: Dishoom on Commercial Street for Bombay-inspired sharing plates (walk-in only, add your name when you arrive), or Bleecker Burger on Old Street for London's most-discussed smash burger.

Free entry. One of the world's greatest museums: the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, Egyptian mummies, the Lewis Chessmen, the Sutton Hoo helmet, and the Persian Oxus Treasure in one building. Norman Foster's Great Court -- a glass-roofed inner courtyard -- is one of the most beautiful public spaces in London. Pick three rooms you care about and go deep. Trying to see everything produces an exhausted blur.

Walk south-west from the British Museum through Bloomsbury -- the neighbourhood of Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, and every literary London association you can name. Russell Square is worth five minutes. Continue to Seven Dials: seven streets meeting at a single column, surrounded by some of the best independent shops in Central London. Seven Dials is where London's design scene shops.

From Seven Dials, find Neal's Yard -- a small hidden courtyard of colourful buildings one minute from the main piazza, famous for its photogenic painted panels. Then walk to Covent Garden itself: street performers in the piazza, the Royal Opera House colonnade, and the market building with food vendors on the lower level.

Walk north from Covent Garden into Soho: London's most vibrant neighbourhood. Wander Carnaby Street, Old Compton Street, and the backstreets around Berwick Street Market. This is where London feels most alive: record shops, independent cafes, street art, galleries, and genuine neighbourhood energy that has survived the tourist age largely intact.

London's West End is the best theatre district in the world. Book in advance for specific productions and popular long-runners. For same-day tickets at up to 50% off, the TKTS booth in Leicester Square opens at 10 AM -- queue before 5 PM for the best selection. Most shows are 2.5-3 hours including interval.

Notting Hill Gate Tube (Central/Circle line). The full Portobello Road Market runs on Saturdays -- antiques, vintage, food, flowers, everything. On other weekdays you get the permanent vintage shops and fruit stalls year-round. The market runs north from the station along Portobello Road. The Victorian townhouses painted in pastel colours make this one of London's most photogenic walks regardless of the day.

Tube from Notting Hill Gate to South Kensington (one stop, Circle line). Both museums are free. The V&A has the world's greatest decorative arts collection: fashion, ceramics, furniture, jewellery, sculpture, and photography across 145 galleries. The Natural History Museum next door has a blue whale skeleton in the Central Hall and the dinosaur gallery. Families: Natural History Museum. Everyone else: V&A.

Walk west through Kensington Gardens (free) to Kensington Palace (GBP 22, book online). The State Rooms are remarkable and the Fashion Gallery has the most comprehensive royal dress collection in the world. The sunken gardens outside the palace are among the finest formal gardens in London -- free to enter and largely overlooked by visitors focused on the palace itself.

Walk east into Hyde Park (free, 350 acres). The Serpentine Gallery (modern art, free) sits on the park's boundary. The Diana Memorial Fountain allows paddling -- encouraged for children and adults alike on a warm day. The Lido Cafe on the Serpentine lake does good sandwiches for a late lunch in the park.

A 10-minute walk south from Hyde Park (Knightsbridge Tube). Harrods is worth visiting for the Food Halls on the ground floor alone -- a genuinely extraordinary display of produce, meat, cheese, patisserie, and chocolate. The Egyptian Escalator is a curious addition to what is undeniably the world's most famous department store. Dinner nearby: Brasserie Zedel (GBP 20-30, grand Art Deco dining room near Piccadilly Circus) or the Knightsbridge restaurant scene for a splurge.

Board the Thames Clipper from Embankment or Waterloo Pier (GBP 9 each way, 40-50 minutes). This is the best introduction to London from the water: you pass under Tower Bridge, see Canary Wharf rise up, and arrive at Greenwich Pier with the Cutty Sark directly in front of you. The boat journey alone is worth the morning.

The Cutty Sark is the world's last surviving tea clipper -- the fastest sailing ship of her age, launched 1869. You can walk beneath her hull (mounted in a glass dry dock) and explore the ship across multiple decks. Entry is GBP 20 (book online). Allow 60-75 minutes. A combined ticket with the Royal Observatory (GBP 28) saves money if visiting both.

Walk up the hill through Greenwich Park (15 minutes, steep) to the Royal Observatory. This is where Greenwich Mean Time was established and where the Prime Meridian -- longitude zero -- runs through the courtyard. Stand with one foot in each hemisphere. Entry to the Observatory is GBP 16. The view from the hill -- Canary Wharf, the City, the Shard -- is the finest in the city and entirely free.

Back down the hill, Greenwich Market (covered market, open daily) has excellent street food: South American arepas, Indian curries, Thai noodles, and an excellent flat white from the coffee stall in the corner. Budget GBP 10-15 for lunch. The surrounding Georgian streets -- College Approach and Nelson Road -- have independent shops and the Fan Museum (the world's only fan museum, GBP 5).

A 15-minute walk east from Greenwich along the riverfront (or DLR to Royal Victoria). The Emirates Air Line cable car crosses the Thames between the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks in 10 minutes. GBP 4.40 each way (or Oyster/contactless). The views of the O2, the Thames, Canary Wharf, and the City are unique -- this is London from an angle no other transport gives you.

From Royal Victoria, DLR or Jubilee line back towards Central London. Options: Canary Wharf for drinks with City views (Hawksmoor Canary Wharf, bars in Crossrail Place), or DLR to Stratford for Westfield shopping and dinner at one of the Olympic Park's many restaurants. Alternatively, head straight back to your neighbourhood for an early evening walk and dinner.

Northern line to Camden Town. Camden Market is an assault on the senses: street food from 40 countries, vintage clothing, record shops, and Victorian canalside warehouses. The Stables Market (in the Victorian stables behind the main market) has the most character. Lock 17 overlooks the Regent's Canal. Arrive at 10 AM to beat the midday crowds.

Walk west from Camden along the Regent's Canal towpath towards Primrose Hill (20 minutes). The canal walk is one of London's great free pleasures: narrowboats, towpath cafes, and overhanging trees. Primrose Hill itself is a 20-minute walk from the canal -- climb to the summit for what many Londoners consider the finest central London view: the whole City skyline spread across the horizon.

Walk south from Primrose Hill into Regent's Park (free). The Inner Circle contains Queen Mary's Rose Garden -- one of the most beautiful formal gardens in London. The boating lake is free to walk around; rowing boats are available to hire for GBP 12. The Nash Terraces on the south side of the park are some of the finest Regency architecture in London. Picnic or visit the cafe on the Inner Circle for lunch.

Northern line or walk north (40 minutes on foot from Regent's Park) to Hampstead Heath -- 790 acres of ancient woodland and meadow on the northern heights of London. The Parliament Hill viewpoint at the top of the heath looks south over the entire London skyline. On a clear day, the view extends from Canary Wharf to the Shard to Wembley. The outdoor swimming ponds (three: men's, women's, mixed) are open year-round.

At the top of the heath, Kenwood House (free, English Heritage) is an 18th-century neoclassical mansion with a world-class art collection: Rembrandt's self-portrait, Vermeer's 'Guitar Player', and works by Gainsborough and Turner. The grounds and lake are open year-round. The Brew House cafe for tea before heading back down.

Walk down the hill into Hampstead Village: one of London's most charming high streets. The Spaniards Inn (Hampstead Lane) has been a pub since 1585 and was a favourite of Dickens and Keats. The Wells on Well Walk is a neighbourhood restaurant with an excellent evening menu. Or take the Overground from Hampstead Heath station back to Central London for dinner in your base neighbourhood.

The best day trip from London. Windsor is 30 minutes from Paddington by train (GBP 12-20 return, trains run every 30 minutes). Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world -- still a working royal residence. The State Apartments and St George's Chapel are extraordinary. The Long Walk (3 miles of straight avenue from the castle gates to the Copper Horse statue) is one of England's great landscapes. Allow 4-5 hours for the castle and town combined.

A half-day commitment from London. National Express coaches from Victoria coach station to Stonehenge take 3 hours (GBP 40-55 return, book in advance). Alternatively, train to Salisbury (90 minutes from Waterloo, GBP 20-30 return) then the Stonehenge Tour bus (GBP 30 including entry). The stones themselves are extraordinary -- 5,000 years old and still standing in their original configuration. Allow 2 hours at the site.

Train from Paddington to Oxford takes 60 minutes (GBP 15-25 return, trains run every 30 minutes). The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world: the Bodleian Library, the Ashmolean Museum (free), the Covered Market, and the college quads (most are free or GBP 2-5 to enter). Punt on the Thames at Magdalen Bridge for GBP 25 per hour. Return via Paddington.

Seven days is enough to accumulate a list of things you wished you had done or wanted to revisit. Use today to go back to the neighbourhood that stuck with you: another few hours in the British Museum, a morning in Bermondsey Street (Saturday market, vintage shops, excellent cafes), a walk along the Regent's Canal from Paddington to Camden, or simply wandering without an agenda. This is what experienced London visitors use their last day for.