It’s been a long time since I “acted tourist” in London, so when the idea of staying a night in London to see Arsenal during our Christmas break in Dublin, I jumped at the thought!

London is massive, and although I’ve been a dozen times, there are tons of sites I haven’t seen properly. So for this trip, I picked specific locations that I wanted to see and created a (tight – it was 36hrs after all) itinerary.

Day 1: Tower Bridge, Covent Garden, and the Emirates Stadium

We flew into London City Airport in the morning. The plan was to hop on the DLR to Tower Bridge, grab some sausage rolls from Greggs (a very important step), and then take the tube to Covent Garden.

Tower Bridge

First stop, Tower Bridge!

Covent Garden

We then hopped on the District Line/Circle tube at Tower Hill until Embankment Station, which brought us to the outskirts of Covent Garden.

Neal’s Yard

The route I’d planned brought us to Neal’s Yard; this quaint courtyard tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets.

Soho

We then walked up to Soho and the iconic Liberty’s department store – I love this building!

Chinatown

Then onto the busy and vibrant Chinatown.

Regent Street

Which then brought us to Regent Street and Oxford Street. The route from Covent Garden to Oxford Street is about 30 minutes (minus stopping for photos or going off-route!).

Emirates Stadium

We had tickets to see Arsenal vs West Ham that night, so we went for a proper match day experience by going up to Holloway road for dinner and drinks beforehand.

Day 2: Notting Hill and the Natural History Museum

For day two – and our last day in London – I’d planned for us to get breakfast in Notting Hill, then work our way through and down the area until we reached the Natural History Museum.

Notting Hill

I’d never been to Notting Hill before, so I loved wandering the streets and seeing so many colourful houses.

Saint Luke’s Mews

Of course, we had to make a stop at Saint Luke’s Mews, or should I say the Love Actually street. The pink house was Keira Knightley’s character’s home in Love Actually.

Portobello Road

We then made our way up Portobello Road and through the markets.

Natural History Museum

After seeing all of the sites in Notting Hill, we walked about 25 minutes to the Natural History Museum. I love this museum! This was my second time there. I particularly adore the architecture of the building itself – so beautiful! It’s definitely worth a visit.

After visiting the museum, we grabbed an early dinner in Kensington before making our back to London City Airport.

This was a great overnight trip, and I’m very glad I planned out both days so that I got to see and photograph everything that I’d hoped to!

Until the next trip!