Best What to Do London England Day 2023

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Greetings, Internet Stranger and welcome to a what to do London England day! As you wake up in the morning and stare gloomily at your bran flakes, don’t you wish you were eating something a little more delicious. A little more decadent. Perhaps a glamorous English afternoon tea! Then this itinerary for a What to Do London England Day is just right for you.

London is one of the greatest cities in the world. My gateway drug to Anglophilia was Basil Fawlty. Any people who could produce anything as funny as “The Germans” were worth my time. So you will not find a more enthusiastic guide to the United Kingdom’s capital than yours truly.

Come with me, and we will see more fun on this itinerary for a What to Do London England Day than most cities could provide in a lifetime.

What to Do London England Day

Where Do I Stay?

London’s a massive city, so there’s a gajillion choices available for hotels for your itinerary for What to Do London England Day. I can recommend my favorite choice for the budget-conscious traveler. (London’s gobstoppingly expensive, so we might all be a little budget conscious when we visit here, unless we are the King.) I’ve stayed at and enjoyed the oddly named 72QT. 

72QT is right on Hyde Park, on the other side of the park from Buckingham Palace, near Paddington Station. So you can go say hello to Paddington Bear’s statue in Paddington Station if you stay here. You can even leave him a jar of marmalade.

Click here if that sounds appealing to you and you like saving money.

If you’d rather explore other hotel options in London, you can find about a billion and three excellent deals for every budget by clicking here. This search engine will help you find the perfect place to stay during your plans for a What to Do London England Day. With plenty of options to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something for your schedule and budget.

What to Do London England Day

Morning: Tower of London

You wanted me to help you decide on a What to Do London England Day? Well, my first suggestion is to start with one of London’s oddest attractions: The Tower of London.

The Tower of London, which prefers to be addressed by its full name of His Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is famous for being the current location of the Crown Jewels, and the former prison of the Princes in the Tower.

Elizabeth I, before she got a I after her name. was also imprisoned here by her half-sister. British royal history is really the world’s greatest soap opera.

I strongly suggest buying a ticket in advance online.

Check rates and availability right here!

Otherwise you might be overwhelmed by lines when you arrive and never get in. This is a popular attraction! There are about a million things to do in this fair tower, so as usual, I will merely point you towards…

Approximately Top 5: The Tower of London

1) See the Ravens

This is probably ignorant of me, but I had no idea that six ravens are supposed to be kept in the Tower at all times, for superstitious reasons. Supposedly if there are no ravens in the Tower of London, England will cease to exist.

First of all, I want to know how this rumor got started. Did a raven tell someone? That would be so cool.

2) Take a Tour

The best way to see the Tower on your itinerary of a What to Do London England Day is to take one of the tours given by the Yeoman Warders, aka the dudes wearing fancy red coats and black hats who don’t like to be mistaken for beefeaters.

The tours run regularly and are included with admission. I think my Yeoman Warder was the best because he told lots of funny stories and looked exactly like Kenneth Branagh.

Our guide also informed us with pride that it is very difficult to be appointed a Yeoman Warden. You need to have served in the British army for at least 22 years and you have to have earned the Long Service and Good Conduct medal. 22 years seems like a weirdly specific number. Where did it come from? (Probably it was an idea from one of the ravens.)

3) See the Crown Jewels

The Crown is getting rather full of itself nowadays because it’s the world’s only hat to have its own television show and Hans Zimmer theme song. Of course, no visit to the Tower of London is complete without paying the CJs a call, but be prepared for long lines and allow about an hour to peruse the Jewels.

The Crown Jewels were made in 1661 for Charles II, to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy. However, don’t take a selfie with the Crown Jewels while pretending to be King Charles. It’s not dignified. Please think of the ravens.

24 Hour Tip

Those are all the secrets of the Tower of London that I can share with you for now. You’ll just have to go ahead and book your ticket to find out the rest!

Check rates and availability right here!

4) Lunch at Devine

At this point in our “What to Do London England Day” guide, it’s time for lunch. There are much better places to eat in London than can be found inside the Tower, and we’re heading over to Trafalgar Square anyway, so why not stop along the way for a bite.

I suggest getting breakfast for lunch at Devine Restaurant and Coffee Bar. I mean, you don’t have to get breakfast here because they have other food, but look how tempting that English breakfast is! I honestly don’t see the point in coming to London if you don’t have a full English breakfast at least once a day.

You can do it up properly here with bacon, egg, tomato, sausage, hash browns, and blood sausage. It’s all freshly made to order with love by the friendly staff. Ten out of ten, would eat blood sausage here again. (You don’t HAVE to get the blood sausage, but please do.)

What to Do London England Day

Afternoon: National Gallery

London has so many fabulous museums. For this New Yorker, one of the best things about them is that they are mostly free! In the US, the only city that has so many free museums in DC, thanks to the mighty Smithsonian Museum Lobby.

So take advance of the no-price tickets on our day of the most unique things to do in London, and head on down to the National Gallery. They have an amazing collection of European art from all countries. (I especially loved this DaVinci sketch pictured above.) But since it’s the National Gallery, today we are going to focus on…

three fun facts: national gallery

1) prettiest painting at the national gallery?

England isn’t as known for painting as it is for other cultural achievements like theater, rock music, or bread shaped like a lion’s face. But one of the most famous names in English painting at the National Gallery is John Constable, whose masterpiece “The Hay Wain” is pictured above.

I think The Hay Wain sounds like a dance during which you wave your arm vigorously at a man named Wayne. But as usual, I am a little confused. The Hay Wain is actually the horse-drawn cart you can see in the foreground. But what is a wain itself? I’m just going to keep using it in sentences until I get it right.

Apparently Constable was not that popular in his lifetime, but perhaps he was a bit more popular than our next fellow…

2) coolest painting at the national gallery?

You can’t say you’ve seen the most unique things to do in London without seeing a Turner. If Constable is all prettiness and wains and dappled sunshine, Joseph Turner is a ferocious smear of confusing white paint that probably represents a steamship exploding.

When I first saw this painting, I was all upset because I don’t know what a Temeraire is, and I still don’t know what a wain is, and I used to think I had a good vocabulary. But it turns out that the Fighting Temeraire was a gun ship that served in the Battle of Trafalgar. Phew! Saved by the wain!

Most art critics will tell you that this is a sad painting. The Temeraire, which was once so valiant and celebrated, is now being demolished. It’s the passing of an era of British naval supremacy! Probably this is all true. But also, Turner is showing off a bit. He uses more experimental, symbolic techniques for representing the sunset.

However, he paints the Temeraire in elaborate detail, just to show that he can. Like Constable, Turner’s work wasn’t really appreciated in his own time. I always remind myself that great artists are often not appreciated properly on days when this blog doesn’t get enough hits.

3) can’t miss painting at the national gallery?

This is one of the most famous paintings at the National Gallery, and seeing it is definitely one of the most unique things to do in London. So Hans Holbein the Younger was actually born in Germany, not England. But he spent a good portion of his life painting in the English court, so I think he counts. This painting, “The Ambassadors” is one of those works that gets shown in every art history class.

That’s because of the giant skull located at the bottom of the painting. It’s a device known as a memento mori, which means “Remember You Will Die”. No matter how rich and wain these two men are, in the end, death will come for us all! And now that I’ve thoroughly depressed myself, I think I’ll head back to Constable to check out those fluffy clouds.

PS. I tried taking a better photo of “The Ambassadors”, but it was impossible because there was a group of schoolchildren at the National Gallery were blocking the way. Kids are so inconsiderable about other people needing good photos for their Instagram! Why can’t they just ban prams from The National Gallery?

What to Do London England Day

Evening: Dinner at Kitchen Table

There was a time when London was known as a terrible food city. Probably the only meal you could hope to find was over-boiled cabbage served alongside some tough mutton.

My, how times have changed. Now London has one of the best fine dining scenes in the world, and I’m going to take you to Kitchen Table, which is absolutely one of the finest of all the fine dining restaurants in the city. There’s no a la carte menu; you just show up and let the chef treat you to extravagance!

Your meal starts at the bar, where you can order a cocktail and get treated to some amazing snacks.

First we have a gorgeous chilled oyster served with apple and green strawberry. I honestly think that this oyster is the prettiest oyster I have ever seen. Like, if there were oyster beauty pageants, this one would win.

Next was a succulent chicken skin and bacon jam sandwich. Everyone knows that chicken skin and bacon are the two most delicious meats, so putting them together is just science.

And for our final two snacks, a study in contrasts. There’s a rich quail egg with truffle, and a bright turnip with Meyer lemon. (Question: we say that foods are rich, but the opposite of a rich food isn’t a poor food. Why is that?)

Next we moved to the actual dinner table, where we were served the best Parker House roll I have ever eaten, along with butter made with actual grass. I mean, butter made from cows who eat grass is delicious, so it makes sense that butter made with grass would be delicious too.

For our first appetizer, we have a scallop with rhubarb, white asparagus, and lovage. It’s impossible to get more spring into one dish, in my opinion.

Now we have some simple elegance with Osetra caviar, heirloom cucumber, and dill.

And here we have something more creative and surprising with chilled linguine, tomato, Thai basil, and turbot roe. A great tasting menu is all about contrasts, which doesn’t just mean alternating rich dishes and “graduate student” dishes. (Still working on finding the perfect antonym to rich.)

Ever wanted to check out a dish that was entirely one color? Then feast your eyes on this crab with crab hollandaise and clementines.

We’re in London, which means it’s no surprise to find curry on the menu. This was lobster smoked in juniper with goan curry. I was seated next to an Indian restauranteur in London, and he thought it was delicious too.

Apologies for the blur here! This is our second to last seafood course: turbot with gooseberry and peas. The British don’t get enough credit for being amazing with seafood, but they are living on a bunch of islands, after all.

And here is the final seafood course: eel served with Jersey potatoes, bone marrow, and horseradish. If you gave me a million years, I could never come up with this combination myself, but I’m certainly glad that I experienced it.

This looks like a meat course, but it’s even more decadent: winter black truffle brioche served with onions, elderberry, Parmesan, and thyme.

Where’s the beef, you might be asking? Well, instead we have lamb with a delicious salad and sauce that you mix yourself. (That sounds annoying, but it was actually tons of fun.)

I smile when I think how much better this lamb is than that terrible mutton I could have gotten in London back in the 1970s.

Many tasting menus come with a cheese course, and English cheeses are quite underrated. This beauty is a St. Jude served with a pear tarte tatin and English honey. The perfect way to ease into our dessert courses.

Are you ready for three desserts? First up, lovage with sheep milk and lemon. Normally, the desserts in a tasting menu go from least sweet and decadent to most sweet and decadent, and this was a lovely, light way to kick that off.

For second dessert, we have a furiously red strawberry cheesecake with meadowsweet. I just love eating desserts with as much seasonal produce as possible.

And for the final dessert course, a frozen raspberry tart with black pepper meringue. I’m glad that we got to try two different types of seasonal berries in our dessert, but I was curious to know if we’d get any chocolate to finish our meal. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait for long.

We finish off back in the bar with sea salt chocolate, a plum canele, and a mini rhubarb tart. A perfect end to our perfect itinerary for a What to Do London England Day

What to Do London England Day

Tools For Travel

• A cell charger so that you’ll be able to keep taking photos of a What to Do London England Day
• The best international travel adapter because if you’re American like I am, you’ll need one to be able to plug in electronics while you discover this What to Do London England Day
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips.
• The most reliable travel umbrella that is small enough to fit in my purse, but strong enough to stand up to powerful winds.
• These great TSA approved clear toiletries bags, so I can always keep spare toothpaste and travel sized toiletries in any carry-on.
• My book Get Lost, that I wrote myself with all my best travel tips. This book will show you how travel can take you on a journey of self-discovery.

That’s a What to Do London England Day

Did that help you find your What to Do London England Day? Are you ready to start booking your hotel in London right now? Please email me at stellajane@aroundtheworldin24hours.com and let me know!

Note: Keep in mind that while this article is about a What to Do London England Day, that doesn’t mean you should ONLY know what to do in London for a day.

Why not try a day of the most unusual things to do on London? Try a 24 hours in London itinerary. You can also try a London foodie tour. Or you can experience a London literature tour. Finally, why not try one day at London?