5 Days in London: Classic & Contemporary

Day 1 — Royal London

Morning: Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard (check schedule)

Midday: St. James's Park and Westminster: Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey

Afternoon: Tate Britain or a walk along the South Bank

Evening: Borough Market area for dinner — Bermondsey Street restaurants

Morning: British Museum — Egypt, Greece, and the Rosetta Stone (free)

Midday: Covent Garden for street performers and lunch

Afternoon: National Gallery in Trafalgar Square (free)

Evening: Soho for pre-theatre dinner, then West End show

Morning: Columbia Road Flower Market (Sunday only) or Spitalfields Market

Midday: Brick Lane for bagels and curry; Shoreditch street art

Afternoon: Tower of London and Tower Bridge glass floor walkway

Evening: Bermondsey's bar scene or Peckham rooftop bars

Morning: Kew Gardens (world's greatest botanical collection)

Midday: Richmond Park — herds of wild deer roam free

Afternoon: Hampton Court Palace

Evening: Dinner in Chelsea or Notting Hill

Morning: Sky Garden (free, book weeks ahead) for London panoramas

Midday: St. Paul's Cathedral dome climb

Afternoon: Tate Modern (free) and Millennium Bridge

Evening: Dinner in Southwark, Bankside sunset over the Thames