The mistake most people make with London is trying to treat it like a city you can cover. You cannot cover London. London is a collection of about forty distinct villages that happen to share a tube network and a king. Trying to see all of it in four days is how you end up exhausted and slightly resentful on the Eurostar home.
We went as seven people and made a decision early: pick three or four neighbourhoods and actually live in them for a day each, rather than sprinting between monuments.
The Neighbourhoods We Chose
Shoreditch and Hackney: East London at its most creative. Street art, independent coffee shops that take their craft extremely seriously, vintage markets, and the best restaurant density of anywhere in the city. We spent a full day here and still didn't cover it properly.
South Bank: The Tate Modern alone justifies a full afternoon, and it's free. Walk along the Thames to Borough Market (go hungry, leave with too much cheese), continue to Bermondsey Street for independent shops and the White Cube gallery. One of the great urban walks.
Notting Hill and Portobello Road: Saturday morning at the Portobello Market is everything the guidebooks say it is and more. Get there by 9am before it gets crowded. The neighbourhood around it is beautiful to wander.
Soho and Covent Garden: Yes, touristy. But the theatre scene around here is exceptional — we booked two West End shows, which were the highlight of the whole trip for most of the group.
"I've been to London six times. This was the first time I felt like I understood it." — Ama, who had previously only done the monuments-and-museums sprint
The Practical Stuff
The tube is excellent. The Oyster card or contactless payment makes it seamless. London is one of those cities where you never need a taxi if you plan slightly ahead.
It is expensive. There is no way around this. We managed it with a mix of free museums (almost all the major ones are free, which is remarkable), market lunches, and a few properly budgeted dinners where we didn't hold back. Splitting seven ways for an Airbnb in Hackney made the accommodation very reasonable.
The Parks
London's parks are, quietly, among its best features. Hyde Park on a Sunday morning. St James's Park with the pelicans and Buckingham Palace in the background. Hampstead Heath for a proper walk with a view of the skyline. On a good weather day, the parks are where London shows its best self.