9 Interesting Ways to Explore London Besides the Tourist Stops
Headed to London? Listen to learn about some of our favorite things to do in this amazing city (besides the typical popular activities).
London is a fantastic place to travel if you’re new to international travel! Here are some of the off-the-beaten path activities to do around the city!
Attend a sporting event
While in London, team USA basketball happened to be in town! It was so much fun to attend the game.
Go to a football (soccer) match! It can sometimes be difficult to get tickets to games, so you might need to coordinate with a hospitality manager.
Visit Kew Gardens
These gardens were about 1 hour by train from central London.
We only had one hour here, but we could have stayed even longer!
You exit the train in the cutest town with charming cafes and shops. I would set aside time to explore here!
This would be a lovely place to have a picnic.
There are lots of gassy fields and greenhouses to walk through.
See a show
London has an area called West End which is similar to Broadway.
We saw the show Stranger Things and it was great! You don’t have to have watched the Stranger Things TV show, but it might help you be more entertained. I would recommend this show to kids 12 and older.
We’ve also seen Back to the Future here and we loved it!
Afternoon Tea
This is a classic London experience!
We ate at the Brown's Hotel and it was so delicious! It was also so much fun!
They typically serve mini sandwiches, pastries, and tea.
Jazz night
Our hotel, The Browns, had a special jazz night with dinner and music.
You don’t have to stay there to go! If you like jazz music, I would 100% recommend this event!
The dinner was delicious and the entertainment was fantastic.
Visit Buckingham Palace
We had visited the outside of the palace many times, but never inside until this summer!
I had to get tickets through a third party site since we booked so last minute.
I was surprised at how much I loved this palace! The details were so amazing and intricate.
We were each given a headset to go on an audio tour.
Day trip to Stonehenge and Bath
We hired a private driver to take us here. But there are also tour bus options.
Book Stonehenge tickets ahead of time if you can, but there is sometimes day-of availability.
You can walk from the Stonehenge visitors center to the main site. It’s about a 1 mile walk. Or there is a shuttle bus option.
The Stonehenge rocks were so epic! It was very cool to see this in person after hearing about it for years.
Bath is nearby so we had to go!
We got tickets to the Roman Baths in advance. We took a self guided tour of the building.
There were so many artifacts here. If you’re someone who loves history, this is for you!
After the baths, we went to a pub to get fish and chips.
There is a Jane Austen museum in Bath as well. You can also take a walking tour around the town to Jane Austen sites (you can do this on your own by Googling a route and/or walking tour).
Day trip to Liverpool
This was about a 2 hour train ride from London.
We got lunch at a great Greek restaurant after arriving in town.
We spent our day with a private guide on a “Beatles Tour”. It was so fun to drive around the town and see the city while learning about the Beatles and their music.
Day trip to Windsor Castle
We took a group charter bus to Windsor. The drive was about 1 hour.
Upon arrival, we got to walk through the cutest village! You could spend about an hour looking around here.
Next we got to roam through the castle and chapel on-site. It was so beautiful and so fun!
We didn’t want to wait for the tour bus, so we took the train back to London.