One Day London Itinerary: Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey & More

Our second full day in London was filled with some of the city’s most iconic experiences! We saw the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace, toured the historic Westminster Abbey, had lunch at a traditional English pub, wandered through Hyde Park, shopped in Marylebone, and even visited the National Portrait Gallery. This one day London itinerary is ideal if you’re looking for the best things to do in one day!

If you’re planning a short trip to London, I recommend organizing your days by area to maximize your time and make sure you don’t miss the highlights. Of course, London has so much to offer—you could live there for years and still have more to explore. We’re already dreaming of our next visit!

One Day London Itinerary: Changing of the Guards, Westminster Abbey & More

Day two of our trip was focused on central London. This was a touristy day for sure! When we were deciding what to see during our time in London, I knew we had to see the Changing of the Guard and Westminster Abbey. These were two of my top picks. However, more on my thoughts about changing of the guards later…

Read our first day in London post here!

Breakfast at Somerset House

We started our morning by riding the tube down to Somerset House. We got off at Temple Station, and it was a short 5-10 minute walk from the tube. Somerset House is a Georgian-era building that was built on the site of a previously existing Tudor palace belonging to the Duke of Somerset.

We went to WatchHouse for breakfast, and it was the perfect start to our morning! The cafe was adorable and nestled into the East side of Somerset House. You can order at the counter for take-away if you want a coffee and pastry, or you can sit down to be served.

*If you are visiting any countries outside the United States, please note that when ordering water, you will be asked if you prefer still or sparkling water. If you want regular tap water, you will have to order water for the table or tap water. We were not aware of this at first and ended up with two bottles of still water.

I ordered a flat white, and Robby ordered a cappuccino. The latte art skills are outstanding!

I ordered the Avocado on Sourdough and added poached eggs, and Robby ordered the Eggs Benedict. Both meals were phenomenal!

After we finished our meal, we had to walk around the grounds at Somerset House and snap a few photos. Here is what I wore on this day:

Outfit Details

• Denim Top – Loft
• Linen Pants – Amazon
• Sneakers – New Balance 327
• Jacket – J. Crew Factory
• Sunglasses – Quay
• Scarf – Amazon

Changing of the Guard

After breakfast, we hopped back on the tube and headed to our next destination: Buckingham Palace.

The Changing of the Guard was one of the things that every tourist guide said to be sure to see. You can absolutely skip this unless it’s something that is on your bucket list. I feel like there wasn’t enough going on to justify the amount of time it took, not to mention barely being able to see the ceremony as well.

The Changing of the Guard ceremony typically takes place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 10:45 a.m. The ceremony lasts about 45 minutes total.

We got to Buckingham Palace over an hour before the ceremony started. If you decide to attend, ensure you are in the area just outside the palace gates. We were on the opposite side, standing at the Queen Victoria Memorial. You could see the processions walking in and out of the gates, but we could not see what was happening on the inside of the gates. We ended up leaving early and got on the Northwest corner of St. James Park to watch the last part of the ceremony.

St. James Park

St. James Park was one of the most beautiful parks I have ever been to! We had about half an hour to burn before our tickets to Westminster Abbey. We started in the Northwest corner and wandered around.

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is a Gothic-style church that has been the site of every royal coronation since 1066. The church has been built upon over multiple centuries. It is now the final resting place for many monarchs, including Mary Queen of Scots. There is so much history packed into this Abbey! We even purchased tickets for 5 pounds each to the Queen’s Jubilee Exhibition upstairs. I think for the price, it is completely worth it. You can see everything in the Abbey from the top. There were no photos allowed in the exhibition, sadly. We could have spent all day in this beautiful building! An absolute must do!

Westminster Abbey is a working church, and there are multiple services throughout the week that are free to attend. However, to tour the inside of the Abbey, you must pre-purchase tickets. Here is a direct link!

Lunch at the Pub: The Westminster Arms

Right across the street from Westminster Abbey, you will find a quaint little pub called The Westminster Arms. We popped in here for lunch after we toured the Abbey.

Pub culture in the UK is so fun—you don’t have to walk far before stumbling upon another one! I noticed that many of them follow a similar naming pattern: “The ____ Arms.” After doing a little research, I learned that this tradition goes back to the use of coats of arms. Many pubs were originally located on the estates of noble families or landowners, and they often took on the family’s name along with “Arms” to reflect their connection to the family’s heraldic symbol.

Our craving for fish and chips was not yet satiated after the night before, so of course we had to pop in here and get a pint and the fish and chips.

If you get fish and chips from any pub, you have to try dipping your chips into the mushy peas. I know it looks a little weird, but something about it works! So good!!

I am not much of a beer person, but I do enjoy a cider. I ended up ordering a cider at every pub we stopped at on this trip. Robby, of course, enjoyed whatever the bartender recommended, but on this day, he chose a Guinness.

How beautiful and moody is the interior of this pub?! I loved that almost every restaurant we ate at had the small rechargeable lamps on each table. It just made the experience even more cozy.

Big Ben

Once we finished lunch, we walked past Downing Street and saw Big Ben. We found a good spot to take photos on the bridge directly south of the building. This was amazing to see. All of London is full of historic, beautiful architecture that we loved seeing!

Back to St. James Park

There was a little cottage that we could see when we first walked through the park, so once we were done at Big Ben, we walked back to the park. We still can’t figure out what exactly this space was, but a common garden area is what we think it is.

Honestly, compared to the United States, it was amazing that you can just walk freely around in spaces like this. The flowers and vegetables growing in this space were beautiful

After strolling through the park again, we got on the tube and returned to our hotel for a brief rest. One of my best travel tips is also to leave time to rest. We grabbed a drink at a cafe, freshened up, and, of course, had to take a peek at the current camera roll situation!

Shopping Along Regent Street

Of course, on the way to anything, you must keep your phone or camera ready, because you never know when you’ll see something you want to photograph. Somewhere along Regent Street, I stopped to take this photo. During May, London flies the Union Jack all along Regent Street.

If you are going to explore Regent Street, make sure you are walking. The traffic on this one road is crazy!

We wandered along the road, taking in all the shops. I wanted to stop by Fortnum & Mason, as many had recommended this store for the best souvenirs – the kind you can eat! If I had to describe this store, I would say it is a British version of Williams-Sonoma. It is full of chocolates, teas, honey, jams, spirits, biscuits, truly anything you can imagine. There is even a home section! We purchased a small tin of tea and a jar of lemon curd.

We went to a few more shops along the way to our next destination: The National Gallery

The National Gallery

As we approached The National Gallery, we started to notice a pink haze hanging in the air—and the faint smell of smoke. Just across the street in Trafalgar Square, local football fans were gathering to pre-game for a big match the next day. Sunderland A.F.C. supporters had taken over the square, setting off pink smoke bombs and celebrating together. It was wild (and honestly kind of cool) to see over a thousand fans all in one place rallying around their team!

The National Gallery is free to enter and open to the public, which makes it such a special stop. Founded in 1824, it houses over 2,300 paintings—and it was incredible to be surrounded by so much beauty and artistic talent. You could easily spend hours wandering through the different corridors. While we were there, we even caught an improv performance and spotted several artists set up with their supplies, studying and sketching the masterpieces around them.

TikTok-Famous Noodle Inn

When we were done visiting The National Gallery, we headed into SOHO to try out the TikTok-famous Noodle Inn. There was a decently long queue, and we struck up a conversation with the couple standing behind us. They said it was worth the wait, so we stayed in line. We timed how long we waited just for fun, and we were inside within 40 minutes.

If you haven’t heard of Noodle Inn yet, they are essentially famous for their hand-pulled noodles. They use traditional Chinese spices and cuts of meat. Each bowl is pretty customizable!

To our surprise, we were seated at the bar in front of where they assemble the noodle boards. It was such a fun experience to get to watch them.

After we finished our meal, we walked to the nearest tube station and caught a ride back to our hotel! We had walked a total of 19,548 steps this day! We were so tired and ready to crash.

One Day London Itinerary: Changing of the Guards, Westminster Abbey & More

That’s everything we did on our second day in London! It was a day full of seeing all the things that London has to offer!