Top Experiences in London

Keywords: London, Thames, Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster, British Museum

Top Experiences in London

London is one of the most visited tourist destination in the world. A dazzling city which offers great choice for a tourist with its rich history, iconic buildings, busting streets, nightlife, food and a great network of public transport system. With this never-ending list, exploring London can be very tricky for a visitor. Nevertheless, making a list of things to visit is never a bad idea. With so many websites, blogs and mobile apps, exploring a new city is no more a challenge. Here are a few useful things before you get started:

Buying a local SIM Card for your phone

Whether it’s a short stay or a long stay, buying a local SIM with a good data package option is a must. I purchased Libera SIM which had 1GB data package with good amount of local as well as international talk time.

Visitor Oyster Card

A Visitor Oyster card is a quick and easy way to pay for travel on public transport in London. A Visitor Oyster card is a smartcard. It's a quick and easy way to pay for journeys on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail, River Bus and most National Rail services in London. A Visitor Oyster card costs £5 (plus postage) and is pre-loaded with pay as you go credit for you to spend on travel. You can choose how much credit to add to your card: £10, £15, £20, £25, £30, £35, £40 or £50. You can't buy a Visitor Oyster card in London. Go to https://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/ to buy your card before you leave home and it will be delivered to your home address. If you don't have time to buy your card online, you can also buy a Visitor Oyster card before arriving in London from different locations in the UK and overseas. The credit on your card never expires - it stays there until you use it. If you run out of credit on your card, it's easy to top it up and use it again. Put money on your Visitor Oyster card and use it to pay as you go.

Citymapper App

CityMapper is essential app when you are travelling in London. Plug in any journey, and it’ll generate an excess of ways to travel. For public transport, it colour codes the tube icons and embeds bus route numbers in the overview, so you can see at a glance the journey routes it’s suggesting.

Here are some of my top experiences in London:

Thames Walk

Thames river is the longest river that flows in England and most notably through London. For me it was one of the most enjoyable experience in London. First, I took a long walk in the night and next day I did it in the day time. London weather can be very tricky and hence it is always advisable to keep a close eye on the weather forecast. The best way to experience Thames walk is to start the journey from Tower Bridge. I had stayed at my cousin brother’s place at East Croydon. I took a train from East Croydon to London Bridge. From London Bridge station I walked to Tower Bridge and then headed towards Westminster Bridge.

The Tower Bridge was opened in 1894. The iconic Tower of London is located adjacent to the Tower Bridge. Apparently, the castle houses the infamous Kohinoor diamond. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078. It was mainly used as a prison for many centuries.

The iconic HMS Belfast is permanently placed on the river and is being looked after by the Imperial War museum. Construction of Belfast, the first ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the capital city of Northern Ireland. The naval icon was launched on St Patrick's Day 1938. Commissioned in early August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Belfast was initially part of the British naval blockade against Germany.

The next iconic landmark on the way is the London Bridge. The modern bridge was opened for traffic in the year 1973 is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates, an independent charity of medieval origin overseen by the City of London Corporation.

Just adjacent to the London Bridge rail station one can locate the tallest building in UK, the Shard. It is a 95-storey skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of the London Bridge Quarter development. Standing 310 metres (1,020 ft) high, the Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom, the tallest building in the European Union, the fourth-tallest building in Europe.

Another popular landmark is the Millennium Bridge which connects Tate Modern to St. Paul’s. It is owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. Construction began in 1998, and it initially opened in June 2000. Londoners nicknamed the bridge the "Wobbly Bridge" after pedestrians felt unexpected swaying motion. The bridge was closed later the opening day, and after two days of limited access, it was closed for almost two years while modifications were made to eliminate the motion. It reopened in 2002.

Walking further towards Westminster, next comes Golden Jubilee and Hungerford Bridge. At a few yards there is the London Eye, the Big Ben, Westminster Bridge and Palace. These are the iconic landmarks of London. London visit is incomplete without witnessing these historic places.

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower. A British cultural icon, recognised all over the world, the tower is one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and parliamentary democracy. The clock tower has been part of UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Westminster is an area of central London within the City of Westminster, part of the West End, on the north bank of the River Thames. Westminster's includes the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. It attracts highest number of visitor’s in London. It is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site. It has been the home of the permanent institutions of England's government continuously since about 1200. From 1707, it is now the seat of British government.

Westminster Cathedral, or the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Westminster Cathedral is the largest Catholic church building in England and Wales and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster.

Museums of London

Imperial War Museum

Imperial War Museums is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice of Britain and its Empire during the First World War. The museum's remit has since expanded to include all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces have been involved since 1914. As of 2012, the museum aims "to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and 'wartime experience'". The museum's collections include archives of personal and official documents, photographs, film and video material, and oral history recordings, an extensive library, a large art collection, and examples of military vehicles and aircraft, equipment, and other artefacts.

National Gallery

The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.

The Gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its collection belongs to the government on behalf of the British public, and entry to the main collection is free of charge. It is among the most visited art museums in the world, after the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

British Museum

The British Museum, located in the Bloomsbury area of London, United Kingdom, is a public institution dedicated to human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection, numbering some 8 million works, is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.

Borough Market

Borough Market is a wholesale and retail food market in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London. The present market, located on Southwark Street and Borough High Street just south of Southwark Cathedral on the southern end of London Bridge, is a successor to one that originally adjoined the end of London Bridge. It was first mentioned in 1276, although the market itself claims to have existed since 1014 "and probably much earlier" and was subsequently moved south of St Margaret's church on the High Street.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London. The present cathedral, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London. Its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, has dominated the skyline for over 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1967. The dome is among the highest in the world. St Paul's is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral.

Services held at St Paul's have included the funerals of Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill and Baroness Thatcher; jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer; the launch of the Festival of Britain; and the thanksgiving services for the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees and the 80th and 90th birthdays of Elizabeth II.

London Underground

The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground, or by its nickname the Tube) is a public rapid transit system serving London. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863, is now part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines; the first line to operate underground electric traction trains, the City & South London Railway in 1890, is now part of the Northern line. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2016–17 carried 1.379 billion passengers, making it the world's 11th busiest metro system. The 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day.