Is London Worth It in 2024¿ ¦ London Travel Guide ¦ GoTravel

It's one of the busiest cities in the world. A metropolis with a rich history and juxtaposition of old and new. It's also expensive. But what is it like to visit? What is there to do? Is London really worth the trip? Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. If you're new to GoTravel, be sure to subscribe for more great content. Ah, London. Honestly, one of my favorite cities and we've only been there twice. There's something about it and England as a whole that's appealing. You've got some awesome modern architecture mixed in with historic buildings from the Victorian era. There's obviously the royal family and Buckingham Palace, we all know. You've got posh areas filled with dining, shopping, and entertainment, but also really sketchy places you probably don't want to be going to after dark by yourself. I think what appeals to me the most is the design isn't just an afterthought, but it's intentional. And I'm not talking about just graphic design. You see this in the architecture, both new and old. You see it in fashion as people dress really well for the most part. Even in advertisements and signage, it's all really well thought out and intentional. And so that fact alone just kind of appeals to me. Of course, the fact that everyone speaks English is great too and we haven't run into anyone that I would say is rude. They're just a minding their own business, less small talk, European type of people. Okay, first let's look at some stats. London is home to about 9 million people. It's the In 2022, they had over 16 million visitors, so don't be surprised when it's packed. Greater London is about 607 square miles, sprawling out way beyond the center. The city is split by the Thames River with a number of notable areas throughout, such as Kensington, Chelsea, Bankside, Westminster, and Southwark, just to name a few. Now, one of the first questions anybody ever asks me when they know I've gone to London is, is it expensive to visit? And the answer is mostly yes, at least by American standards. But not everything. So we live in Seattle, where a direct flight to London can be as low as $500 round trip per person, depending on when you go. And that's a huge plus for us. Hotels average somewhere around 150 to 200 pounds per night. Now, obviously, there's a massive selection, the prices will vary wildly depending on the area you stay in. I've seen hotels go for as low as $70 a night, all the way up to 850 to $1,000 a night. It really just depends on where you're staying. Now, the first time we went, we stayed at the Park Plaza in Riverbank. This was back in 2018, and we paid about $170 per night, which was reasonable, and the hotel was actually really nice. But the prices have really gone up since then. And we actually made a really bad decision by staying at a place called Point A Westminster. Now, we paid about $220 a night, and I am totally at fault for not doing enough research. Let's just say, make sure you look at the square footage of the room before you book. Don't rely on pictures alone. I'm not kidding, the place that we stayed at was about 80 square feet. We literally couldn't even open our luggage fully on the floor without having to move around. Thankfully, we were only there for three nights. And Westminster is not really a great place I'd want to stay in the future. Towards the evening, it gets a little bit seedy, and Westminster isn't exactly known for low crime rates either. But more on safety a little bit later. Kensington and Chelsea are going to be nicer areas to stay in, and Soho is also recommended, though it does get crowded with tourists and expensive. So choose wisely. Airbnb is also an option, and there's tons of units available. But if I'm going for a few days, I don't want to have to change my own sheets or do laundry or somebody else's laundry and clean up after myself that much. Not to mention that prices for Airbnbs are going to be pretty comparable to hotels. And not every Airbnb is going to have an air conditioning unit. So be sure to do your research, especially if you're going in the summer. One of the things I realized after riding the Underground was just how accessible the city really is. So the next time we go, I'm going to be looking for a place probably a little bit further out for a lower price, because I know that I can travel across the city without issue. In fact, while we're talking about the Underground, let's get into getting around the city. So there's lots of ways to travel around the city. There's the Big Red Bus, which you can hop on and off if you want to do some sightseeing. You can also do Ubers or traditional London taxis. But my favorite by far is the Underground Subway. So this subway system makes you wish we had more here in the States. And maybe I'm just a wide-eyed American tourist. But you can save a ton of money by taking the subway. So first off, there are zones. They start off with zone 1 in the center, and then go 2, 3, 4, etc. And if you get a travel card for zone, say, 1 through 3, you will definitely be able to travel most of the city and do some sightseeing. And the best part? There's daily and weekly limits to how much you can get charged for riding the subway. So for example, if you get a travel card for zones 1 through 3, the max you Now to put that in perspective, an Uber ride from Westminster to, say, the Tower Bridge one way is going to cost you at least $50. And I'm not exaggerating when I say you'll save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars just by riding the subway versus taking a taxi or an Uber. Now obviously, there are better stations and worse ones. And the further outside the touristy areas you go, the worse they can get. I probably wouldn't recommend doing a day of shopping and then lugging around your bags on the subway because you never know. That said, compared to subways in New York, for example, these seem to be much more orderly, at least in the short time that we've been there. Obviously, I don't live in London. I don't know what it's like on a day-to-day basis. I can only speak from my own experience. And if you want to venture outside London to, say, Paris, there's an easy way to do that. And it's called the Eurostar train. The trip takes about two hours and costs about $250 to $300 round trip. Now, I personally hate flying and dealing with airports, the lines, the wait times, security, all of that. And so taking a train makes it very convenient. There's Wi-Fi on board. There's food on board. It's easy to bring more luggage if you need to. You don't feel rushed to get there. You can get up and walk around as you please and enjoy the countryside on the trip. Plus, you get to go underwater for about 30 minutes on the way over. All that said, there's a ton of options for getting around the city. You could even walk or ride a bike. But I noticed that many of the landmarks are pretty spread out. So be sure to bring some comfortable shoes and get ready to put some steps in. I'm not kidding when I say my wife and I walked 20,000 steps. That's about 10 miles every single day that we were in London and the rest of Europe. All right. So now that we've talked about travel and getting around the city, what is there to do? Well, there's so much to see here. Almost too much. The area of Covent Garden, Soho, Chelsea, and Kensington were our favorites. So mostly on the western side of the city. We also spent some time south of the Thames like the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Borough Market, and Tower of London, which is right across from the Tower Bridge. I definitely recommend a ride on the London Eye. It's on the pricey side at around £30 per person. And I definitely recommend booking online to save a few dollars because if you show up, you're going to be paying a little bit more versus paying online. You're welcome. You get a nice 15 to 20 minute ride on a large Ferris wheel that you can walk around in and get panoramic views of the city. It's really incredible. Borough Market is a large open air farmer's market with lots of good food options and plenty of souvenirs. A visit to the Tate Modern Museum is also worth the trip and entrance is free. Now there are some paid exhibits if you want, but there's plenty to see at the museum as it is. So that's really up to you. The area of Bankside has a lot of modern architecture, including the Shard, which is one of the coolest looking skyscrapers in the city. You can walk across Tower Bridge for some nice river views and then make your way over to the Tower of London, which holds the Crown Jewels. The Westminster area is also decent as that's where Big Ben is and Palace of Westminster, which is where Parliament resides. You've also got the Chapel of Westminster Abbey where the Royals get married, though the lines there back up quickly. And if you've ever been to any other European cathedral, I'd say you're not missing out much. Now Buckingham Palace is also worth the trip, but that's one of the most crowded areas we've been to in London. There's a changing of the guard ceremony that happens every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday around 10 30 a.m. It's worth checking out, but honestly there's not a ton to see. You'll take a few photos, good to go. Piccadilly Circus is a huge shopping area with these iconic LED billboards, but if you've ever been to New York, well you won't be that impressed. Depending on how long you go for, I'd still recommend trying to get to as many of those as you can. When in Rome, right? I mean London. Places like Covent Garden and Soho are great for shopping and eating. And if you want some higher-end shopping, I'd recommend a trip to the iconic Harrods mall, which has every designer brand you can think of. Once you've got your sightseeing and shopping out of the way, you'll be famished or need a midday pick-me-up. So let's get into some restaurants and coffee, which as it so happens to be, is also my favorite subject. Now there's too many restaurants here to list, like you could spend months going to every single place and you'll never get to the end. Fun fact, the average price of restaurants is about 30 pounds. So obviously that goes up and down depending on the cuisine and the restaurant, but I think that's about accurate from my experience. If you want some cheaper fare, places like Borough Market are a fun place to try a lot of local foods like fish and chips, and Covent Garden has a lot of different spots as well. Though food in general in London, in my limited experience, was a bit underwhelming. But we haven't been everywhere, and that's not to say there isn't great places out there to try, especially if London's on your bucket list. So let me walk you through a few places that we liked the most. If you want amazing views, try Duck and Waffle. It's located on the 40th floor at 110 Bishopsgate, and you can see the Gherkin while you're there. Yeah, it's called the Gherkin. Brunch is a big deal here, and while the food isn't spectacular, I'd say that the views alone are worth it. Another fancy spot to try out is Sketch for afternoon tea. So obviously you're in London, you gotta have some tea. I'm expensive. The afternoon tea menu is 80 pounds per person, and there's a lot of other afternoon teas you can have in London for much less than that. But this place is very unique. Obviously, champagne, like what this guy's doing, is going to run you extra, but it's worth the experience. Now if you're thinking, look, I'm going to be starving after this, I would say maybe. You know, I'm six foot two, 195 pounds. I came away pretty full at the end of it. Might have to do with the pacing of them bringing things out. There's a great tea selection, obviously, little sandwiches and sweets. The place itself is gorgeous. It's got a very Mad Hatter type of feel, and even the bathrooms are wild. Seriously, never seen anything like it. But that's enough about bathrooms. I'm going to say give Sketch a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Now Dishoom. Oh, Dishoom is an absolute must try. It's Bombay Iranian cuisine, and it left our mouths watering basically every time we think about it. Unfortunately, we came here on our last night in London, and it was pitch black outside and super dark inside, so I don't have any videos to show you. I do have a few photos, but you'll just have to trust me. There was a line probably 50 deep when we got there, but we still got seated within 20 minutes. I don't know how that happens. Pro tip, ask the waiter what they recommend. We enjoyed every dish they told us about, and particularly the fried okra. I did not think I'd like it as much as I did. No kidding. And now I'm dying to go back. Now if you're in the mood for some coffee or tea, which you should be because you're in London, there are a lot of great options. So my favorite local chain is called Watch House. They have a few locations all around the city, and the pour overs and lattes are spectacular. I joke that I found my favorite coffee shop. Too bad it's 5,000 miles away. Fortnum and Mason is also a well-known team company, and it's worth a trip out to their spot near St. Paul's Cathedral. It's really large, gorgeous indoor space. Now nearby there is also Roslyn Cafe, a small but popular coffee shop with excellent coffee selections. And if you're in Covent Garden, there's another Watch House location I'd recommend stopping by, as well as a pretty cool looking spot called Percent Arabica. I'm probably saying that wrong, but that's literally how it's spelled. They have a really cool Slayer espresso machine that I only bring up because Slayer is based out of Seattle. Across from there is another well-known tea brand called Mariage Frere. We picked up a few boxes of their vanilla Eau Grey to take home. It's fantastic. And if you're big into macaroons, they also have a lot of array location overlooking a square where performers do their thing. We're also fans of Cruffins, which are croissant muffins, and we found really good ones at a spot called Reschew, closer to the Piccadilly Circus. Now there were a lot of other little spots where we got snacks along the way, but I won't go into all of them. It's too much. The next time we go to London, I plan on going for a little bit longer, and I'll make sure to be a little more mindful of my food selections. Now if you didn't know, London is known for rain. So when is the best time to go? London gets really wet, and the weather can be unpredictable at times. We somehow managed to avoid the rain on both of our trips, and the first one was in June, and our last one in 2023 was in September. September was perfect. It was warm but not too hot, comfortable in shorts or jeans. The summer months are going to be your best shot for good weather, though I have heard that the tube gets unbearable if it gets too hot. Apparently a lot of them don't have air conditioning. Springtime will have nicer greenery, but chances of rain go way up. The cheapest months to travel are going to be in winter. December through February where temperatures average 40 to 50 Fahrenheit, and rain is a high probability, so the sightseeing might not be the best. But you'll probably also have the least amount of tourists, and prices are going to be cheaper to travel. Now another big factor that everybody wants to know is, is London safe? So let's talk about safety. London is kind of known for its crime rate of 106 per 1,000 people in 2024. Certainly higher than even in my city of Seattle, which is 81 per 1,000 just for comparison. Violent crimes including knifings have been on the rise for the past four years. That said, while we were more cautious in the evenings, we've never felt threatened. The touristy area seemed pretty safe to me, and we had no issues carrying shopping bags around town, but by the evening we were tired, and so the places we'd go to would be out to dinner, and we wouldn't bring anything with ourselves that's worth stealing. I have two-factor authentication on my phone, I never carry cash, and I put air tags on basically everything. So I would just say, you know, use common sense. Use common travel sense. You'll have fun. So famous! So is London worth a trip? Absolutely. Let's recap. Wide variety of hotels and Airbnbs. Now we do all of our travel booking through Expedia. I know booking.com is a little bit more popular in Europe, but we like the points, and that's what we use. Hotels range in price. It's okay to go a little outside of the center, because the city is well covered by the underground, but do plenty of research on the area. Check out photos and videos from places like GoTravel. And do the touristy things, like you're already headed to London. You might as well enjoy it while you're there. The underground is a great way to get around the city for cheap, so use that rather than Uber. There's even a train that goes from London Heathrow Airport all the way downtown. It's easy. It's much, much cheaper. There's tons of great food and coffee places like the one I in this video, so give them a try and let me know how your experience was. Was it worth it? Was I right? Was I wrong? Let me know in the comments. And stay safe. Be mindful of areas without lots of people, especially at night, and keep your valuables locked up and safe. Alright guys, that's it for this video. Thank you so much for watching. Be sure you're subscribed to GoTravel. I really appreciate your support. We'll see you in the next one.