London!

I moved to UK about 4 years ago. I've been to London a couple of times, but like many others, I've visited the main areas of attractions, Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street, and other areas around it. I have to warn you though that one day of visit isn't enough to cover the amazing places to visit around the place as the city is huge and walking by foot from location to location is time-consuming.

I'll keep an eye out for what other recommendations arise here, but I'd suggest visiting these areas first in your first or second day as there's a lot of stuff to see. London is a lovely city and I've always wanted to visit it as a child.

I really hope you enjoy your time in the UK.

That's awesome!
I want to go back to traveling too, now that covid is mostly gone.

Can't help with London as it's still in my bucket list, but I'm just wondering where have you been in Italy?

Been there once for holidays but just visited the usual places (only had like two/three days). Enjoy your trip.

Have fun out there.

Never been to the UK, nor do I know tourist attractions, but thanks for the giveaways and enjoy your upcoming trip!

I've been and it was decent. Not too great (My time in DC and NYC back then was way better), but I liked it nonetheless. The only issue was the food. It sucked. Like, really sucked.

We went to https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visit/cafes-restaurants-bars/scfood-market
And had some amazing street food tho.

Also, if you are interested, there's this really cool museum which shows typical British furnitured living rooms by decade:
https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/visit-us/

Oh and not to forget, there's also this cool bar which has tons of bras hanged to their ceilings lmao
Drinks are pretty good!
https://eastlondongirl.com/slim-jims-liquor-store-bar-in-islington/

Never been there, and in except for Diagon Alley and Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross Station, I haven't heard of any London really hidden gems, but maybe google has?

I've been to ... Italy (Valentine's Day)

pics or didn't happen

I were only once in London for work, hadn't time to see more as driving through the streets, a few interesting buildings (the coolest were the one that looks like a egg), tiny houses with very tiny gardens, burned cars in the streets (that don't let me feel very safe) and different factory/storage halls.
London had a special look and i would had liked to have more time there.
The people that i met there were not how i expected that the Brits are. I expected them very distant, cold -in short "with a stick in the ass"^^-, but they were funny, relaxed and not distant. So it is good to see the different countries and their people with your own eyes and not only throught the media (TV, newspapers etc.).

Dover (southeast of london) was very cool looking, like a pirate town BUT obvious that look were made for tourists.
And between Dover and London were a lot of Bunkers. Interesting for me but maybe not for everyone and i don't know if you can visit them.

Bump!

Thanks

Unfortunately I am not able to help you, but I wish you a good time in London! :)

Make sure to check out some videos for different types of tourist scams that are happening.

I loved London. Been there years ago. And yes, I did the obvious things like Tower of London, having a look at Buckingham Palace and stuff. Sadly it was before I got into Sherlock, bc that's obv a place I'd visit nowadays, same as Harry Potter related stuff. But yeah, not then. But I've been to Madame Tussauds (love/hated it).
Honestly tho the fondest memories I have is from walking through Parks. Yk the big ones. I'm not really sure which ones I'd seen, but I think partially Hyde Park thinking
It honestly depends on what you like imho. Like for me history is always something of interest or places I know from books/shows/etc.

So yeah, go look at HP stuff and make me super jealous! O.O

I've never been to London, so if I recommend any places, they'll be so obvious you'd better avoid them.
Anyway, have a good time there. :)

Don't forget the London theatre scene.

Since living in Paris, I have been there a few times but not being a big fan of cities in general, I usually just let friends take me around and show me their favorite places.
My gf is taking her mother on a trip there just before Christmas and she was also looking for off the beaten path spots. Someone recommended this blog as a reliable source of walks and hidden gems. There seem to be some lovely places to visit in the holiday season that won't look the same if you ever go back another time of year.

I would go but the language barrier would make it tough

London has some great parks that are lovely to walk around. One of my favorites is St James's Park near Buckingham Palace is beautifully landscaped and has a pond with ducks and other waterfowl from around the world.

What sort of things do you like to do when you visit new places? I used to visit London pretty often but I'm coming up short on ideas, so maybe some parameters will help me think of some good suggestions.

Well I live in the UK, but not too close to London. I have been there a couple of times. From less obvious things there is this restaurant where you eat in total darkness, it is supposed to be quite an experience from what I have heard. Unfortunately I have never went there (maybe one day) :( ,but my friend was and he was recommending it to me.

IMHO get a ticket for one of the hop on hop off bus tours, e.g. https://www.bigbustours.com/en/london/hop-on-hop-off-london (there are plenty of other companies)

This lets you move through London to the popular tourist destinations much cheaper than a taxi and faster/easier than your own car.

I went once for 3 days, and what fascinated more than I expected was the museums. I knew I'd like the Natural History museum, but also spent hours in more art focused museums as well. All of the state owned big museums are totally free https://www.toptiplondon.com/places-to-visit/top-free-museums-galleries

Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum are right next door to each other, at least do those ;)

I really liked London. My impression after a few days spent there was that the city is very clean (compared to other big cities) and that the people are friendly. I won't recommend points of interest as those can be researched easily and will depend on your interests, but I recommend VisitACity to plan your visit as it makes it easy to plan out your day. I also highly recommend Dishoom Carnaby for food. It's right off of Regent Street. We found it completely by accident. That was some of the best food we had in London and it was very reasonably priced considering its location. I would also suggest to take a stroll in at least one of the many parks, and if you end up in Regents Park, to check out the canal that runs by/through it.

Also, I would suggest to skip Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes "attractions" as there are a ton of people there, nothing of interest to see, and they are obvious tourist traps. Unless you're traveling with kids, who might find Harry Potter stuff interesting.

Here's my thoughts on London.

A few highlights others than the ones mentioned above me would be The Shard, St Paul's cathedral, Natural History + Science Museum, Harry Potter's studio tour is great even if you are not a big harry potter fan but its fully booked up, Shoreditch and Camden Town which is great if you like a more trendy/hipster vibe, Brick Lane market if you like Asian street food (curries etc), Covent Garden is great for shopping and close to many touristy sites near central London and Battersea Power station which is converted to a large shopping mall/entertainment complex and only opened a month or so ago.

Just bear in mind Fri 25/11 is Black Friday and 28/11 is Cyber Monday so the streets/shopping malls may get very busy over that weekend period

London is like a small country on itself. The obvious thing is to walk around the City of London for a day. I also really liked Science Museum, took more than half a day and I still missed one floor.

There are one-day trips to Westminster / Bath / Stonehenge, but IMO Westminster is a castle with some old furniture and Stonehenge is a bunch of rocks that you can see from afar. It's nothing like in the documentaries, and I was really disappointed. Bath was nice though to walk around, surely more charming than London.

If you want to use car in London, make sure to check ULEZ - you basically need to pay a daily fee going in and out of the city if the car is not electric. And streets are really narrow to the point two cars can't pass by on a two-way street.

Next year I want to go to Seven Sisters, coastline cliffs that are around 2h away by car from London. Though not sure how much of a daytime you'd have when you visit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters,_Sussex

There is also nice overview of London from Alexandra Palace and it's free! Just need short hike up the hill
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5940573,-0.1297604,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e2!3m5!1sAF1QipMNMZYWk8CPvOIMKUkDItAa7GbSeyobPfrsaLcL!2e10!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMNMZYWk8CPvOIMKUkDItAa7GbSeyobPfrsaLcL%3Dw150-h150-k-no-p!7i3648!8i2736