London in 3 days: itinerary, where to eat and what it costs
Postcard London and the neighbourhoods Londoners call home, in three days. With the ETA explained, the Tube without tickets and 2026 prices in pounds and euros.
In short. In three days you can see Westminster and the Thames on the first, the City and the South Bank on the second, and the British Museum, Covent Garden and Soho on the third. Before you go, apply for an ETA (£20) and pack your passport. Excluding flights and hotel, budget around €125 per person per day (October 2026 prices).
- ETA travel authorisation, required for Portuguese citizens since April 2025
- £20
- the most the Tube charges in a day in zones 1 and 2, paying by card
- £8.90
- per person per day, excluding flights and hotel (example)
- €125
London is one of the few capitals where the most important museums charge nothing to get in. The British Museum, the National Gallery and Tate Modern are free, and that changes the maths of a trip: all the money goes on everything else, which is expensive. A coffee costs almost twice as much as in Lisbon and a beer almost three times as much.
This itinerary splits the city into three days, neighbourhood by neighbourhood: Westminster and the river, the City and the South Bank, and central Bloomsbury, Covent Garden and Soho. Before anything else, a warning about something that ruins trips: since April 2025, Portuguese citizens have needed an electronic travel authorisation, the ETA, and the Portuguese ID card no longer gets you in. You need a passport.
Where should you stay in London on a first visit?
Within Tube zones 1 and 2, ideally near a station served by several lines. London is huge: staying far out saves money on the hotel, but you pay it back in time and fares.
South Bank and Waterloo
On the Thames, within walking distance of the London Eye and Westminster, with theatres and Tate Modern further along the riverside walk. Waterloo has Tube lines and trains to everywhere.
Covent Garden and Soho
The heart of theatreland, restaurants and bars. Everything is on foot, and priced to match.
Bloomsbury
Quieter, between the British Museum and King’s Cross station, with hotels in Georgian townhouses around garden squares.
Kensington
Next to the free Natural History Museum, Science Museum and V&A, and to Hyde Park. Peaceful at night.
How do you get from the airport to the centre?
Low-cost airlines fly to Stansted, Gatwick and Luton, all outside the city. None of them is close, but they all have trains. Train fares vary with the time of day and how far ahead you book: buying online before you travel usually works out cheaper than the machine at the airport.
| Airport | How | Time | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stansted | Stansted Express to Liverpool Street, or to Tottenham Hale to change onto the Tube; every 15 minutes, contactless accepted | 48 min | book ahead |
| Gatwick | Gatwick Express to Victoria, or Southern and Thameslink trains | about 30 min | book ahead |
| Luton | DART automatic shuttle to Luton Airport Parkway station, then a train to St Pancras | 4 min + train | DART £4.90 |
On the Tube you don’t need a ticket: you tap in with a contactless bank card or your phone, and the system stops charging once you hit the daily cap. Always use the same card, or always the same phone, for the cap to count.
What can you do in London in 3 days?
London calls for comfortable shoes and your card at the ready. The Tube deals with the distances and the river does the rest: almost everything worth seeing on a first visit is a few minutes from the Thames.
Morning
Westminster Abbey
Start at Westminster Abbey, where English monarchs have been crowned since Christmas Day 1066 and where Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are buried. Next door are the Houses of Parliament and the clock tower everyone calls Big Ben, which is actually the name of the bell. It looks best from the middle of Westminster Bridge.
Practical. £32 (about €37). Monday to Saturday; on Sundays you can only go in for services, which are free.
Afternoon
The river on foot and the National Gallery
Cross the bridge and follow the South Bank riverside walk: the London Eye, the book market under Waterloo Bridge, the Southbank Centre. Return to the north bank over the Hungerford footbridge and walk up to Trafalgar Square, where the National Gallery holds Van Eyck, Turner and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, free of charge.
Practical. National Gallery: free entry.
Evening
Theatre in the West End
The evening calls for a musical or a play in the West End, between Leicester Square and Covent Garden. Same-day tickets are sold at a discount at the official TKTS booth in Leicester Square, and restaurants in the area serve pre-theatre menus, earlier and cheaper than a regular dinner.
Morning
The Tower of London
Be there for opening time. The fortress William the Conqueror began building after 1066 houses the Crown Jewels, and the queue to see them grows all morning. The Yeoman Warders, whom everyone calls Beefeaters, lead guided tours full of tales of prisoners and executions, included in the ticket.
Practical. £38 (about €45) since 1 October 2026. Buy online.
Afternoon
Tower Bridge, Borough Market and Tate Modern
Cross Tower Bridge, the 1894 bascule bridge that many people mistake for London Bridge, and head along the South Bank to Borough Market, one of the oldest food markets in the city. Have lunch there standing up, then follow the river to Tate Modern, a former power station turned museum, with a free collection and a viewing level on the top floor that looks across the Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s Cathedral.
Practical. Tate Modern: free collection.
Evening
London from above
Cross the Millennium Bridge and walk through the City to the Sky Garden, a garden at the top of a skyscraper, to watch the city light up. Entry is free but must be booked, ideally as soon as you know your dates. For dinner, Shoreditch is a twenty-minute walk away, with food from every corner of the world.
Practical. Sky Garden: free, booking on the official website.
Morning
The British Museum and the Bayeux Tapestry
Book your free entry and go at opening time, 10am. The Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures and the Egyptian mummies need at least two hours. Until July 2027 there’s an extra reason to go: the Bayeux Tapestry, on loan from France, is back in England for the first time in almost a thousand years. Tickets up to December have sold out; those for January to March 2027 go on sale on 21 October.
Practical. Museum: free, daily 10am to 5pm, Fridays until 8.30pm. Bayeux Tapestry: separate ticket, sold by date.
Afternoon
Covent Garden and Seven Dials
Walk down to Covent Garden, the old fruit and flower market, now given over to shops and street performers. A few minutes away, the seven streets of Seven Dials meet around a column with only six sundials: the seventh, Londoners will tell you, is the column itself.
Evening
Soho and Chinatown
Soho has always been London’s night-time neighbourhood, with small bars and restaurants built around long shared tables, and Chinatown, next door, has some of the cheapest meals in the centre. In pubs, you order and pay at the bar, and many close around 11pm.
Direct flight from Lisbon to London: about 2h40. See the flight estimate for your dates.
What if you have one more day?
With a fourth day, there are two good outings, one on each side of the river.
Greenwich
Take a boat down the Thames or the DLR to the Royal Observatory, where the Greenwich Meridian runs and you can stand with a foot in each hemisphere. The park around it has one of the best views of the Canary Wharf skyscrapers.
Notting Hill and Kensington
The colourful houses of Notting Hill and the Portobello Road market, which takes over the whole street on Saturdays. Add Hyde Park and Kensington’s free museums on the same day.
Where can you eat well and cheaply in London?
In London you can eat your way around the world, and the best of the city is rarely English cooking. But three things are worth trying there: fish and chips, the full English breakfast and the Sunday roast at a pub. A meal at an inexpensive restaurant costs around €23 (about £20); dinner for two at a mid-range restaurant, without drinks, comes to about €94.
To save money, food markets serve stall dishes for less than a restaurant, and supermarkets sell lunchtime meal deals. Tap water is safe to drink and free in restaurants. The tip usually comes already added to the bill as a ‘service charge’, around 12.5%, and you can ask for it to be taken off.
- Fish and chips
- Cod or haddock in crisp batter, chunky chips and mushy peas. It tastes better from a local ‘chippy’ than in the tourist areas.
- Full English breakfast
- Eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans, mushrooms and toast. Ordered at a neighbourhood café, it will keep you going all day.
- Sunday roast
- The pub Sunday roast: meat, roast potatoes, vegetables and Yorkshire pudding, with gravy poured over the top. Sundays only, and worth booking.
- Pie and mash
- A meat pie with mashed potato and a green parsley sauce: the working-class food of the East End.
- Curry
- Practically a national dish. On Brick Lane, in the East End, dozens of Bengali restaurants stand side by side.
- Afternoon tea
- Tea with finger sandwiches, and scones with clotted cream and jam. In the grand hotels it’s a pricey occasion; in neighbourhood tearooms, far more affordable.
How much does a trip to London cost?
London is the most expensive of the ten cities in these guides, but the big free museums balance the books. Official prices are in pounds, with the euro equivalent where it helps.
Official prices are in pounds sterling. At the European Central Bank rate on 1 October 2026, £1 was worth about €1.17. The restaurant and café averages are already in euros.
| What | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Transport | ||
| Tube in zone 1 with a contactless card, peak time | £3.10 | Transport for London |
| Tube in zone 1, off-peak and at weekends | £3 | Transport for London |
| Daily cap by card, zones 1 and 2 | £8.90 | Transport for London |
| One-day paper Travelcard, zones 1 and 2 | £16.60 | Transport for London |
| DART train at Luton airport | £4.90 | London Luton Airport |
| Entry fees and documents | ||
| Electronic travel authorisation (ETA) | £20 | UK Government |
| Westminster Abbey | £32 | Westminster Abbey |
| Tower of London, from 1 October 2026 | £38 | Historic Royal Palaces |
| British Museum, National Gallery and Tate Modern | free | Museum websites |
| Sky Garden, with booking | free | Sky Garden |
| Eating and drinking (averages, in euros) | ||
| Meal at an inexpensive restaurant | €23.47 | Numbeo |
| Dinner for two, mid-range restaurant, no drinks | €93.88 | Numbeo |
| Cappuccino | €5.01 | Numbeo |
| Draught beer, 0.5 l | €8.21 | Numbeo |
London next to Lisbon
| What | London | Lisbon |
|---|---|---|
| Cappuccino | €5.01 | €2.70 |
| Draught beer, 0.5 l | €8.21 | €3 |
| Meal at an inexpensive restaurant | €23.47 | €15 |
| Dinner for two, mid-range restaurant | €93.88 | €55 |
A day in London, per person
| Daily Tube cap (£8.90) | €10.42 |
|---|---|
| Mid-morning coffee | €5.01 |
| Lunch at an inexpensive restaurant | €23.47 |
| Dinner (half of a dinner for two) | €46.94 |
| One entry ticket (Westminster Abbey, £32) | €37.48 |
| Total per person | €123.32 |
Example for one adult, using the prices in the table and £1 = €1.17. Excludes flights, hotel, the ETA and shopping.
Is a travel pass worth it?
No. A one-day paper Travelcard for zones 1 and 2 costs £16.60, almost double the £8.90 daily cap with a contactless card. Your bank card or phone does the same job for less.
What mistakes should you avoid in London?
- Travelling with just your ID card. You need a passport to enter the UK, unless you have status under the EU Settlement Scheme or fall into one of a few similar cases.
- Forgetting the ETA, or applying for it on an unofficial website. You apply through the UK ETA app or on gov.uk, it costs £20, and lookalike sites charge more for the same thing.
- Buying paper tickets for the Tube. With a contactless card you pay less, and the daily cap takes care of the rest.
- Switching between card and phone on the same day. The cap only counts if you always use the same payment method.
- Visiting Westminster Abbey on a Sunday: you can only go in for services.
- Standing on the left of the escalator. In London you stand on the right and walk on the left.
- Crossing the road looking the wrong way. Traffic comes from the right, and at crossings the road itself tells you which way to look.
When is the best time to visit London?
May, June and September are the most pleasant months: long days and parks full of people. Summer brings bigger crowds and pricier hotels. It rains in every season, usually only a little at a time, and a small umbrella sorts it out.
In November the Christmas lights go up on Oxford Street and Regent Street, and December is the month of Christmas markets and packed theatres. January and February are usually the cheapest months to fly and stay.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a passport to go to London?
- Yes. An ID card is only accepted from people with status under the EU Settlement Scheme and in a few similar cases. Since 2 April 2025 you also need an ETA, the electronic travel authorisation, which costs £20.
- How do you pay for the London Underground?
- With a contactless bank card or your phone, straight at the ticket gates. The system charges each journey until you reach the daily cap (£8.90 in zones 1 and 2) and charges nothing more after that.
- Which London museums are free?
- The British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern and the Kensington museums (Natural History, Science and the V&A) all have free permanent collections. Temporary exhibitions are paid separately.
- Which London airport is the most convenient?
- It depends on where you’re staying. Stansted connects to Liverpool Street in 48 minutes, Gatwick to Victoria in about half an hour, and Luton to St Pancras with an automatic shuttle to the station followed by a regular train.
- Is London more expensive than Lisbon?
- Considerably: a cappuccino costs €5.01 on average against €2.70 in Lisbon, a simple meal €23.47 against €15 and a draught beer €8.21 against €3.
Sources and price dates
All prices were checked on 2 October 2026 on the pages below. Restaurant and café averages come from Numbeo, which collects prices submitted by people who live and travel there.
- UK Government: electronic travel authorisation (ETA)
- UK Government: visiting the UK as an EU citizen
- European Central Bank: pound sterling reference rate
- Transport for London: fares from 1 March 2026
- Transport for London: 2026 caps and Travelcards
- London Stansted: train to London
- Gatwick Express
- London Luton Airport: Luton DART
- British Museum: visiting
- British Museum: the Bayeux Tapestry
- Westminster Abbey: opening times and prices
- Historic Royal Palaces: Tower of London
- Sky Garden
- Numbeo: prices in London (updated 2 October 2026)
- Numbeo: prices in Lisbon (updated 2 October 2026)
Lisbon → London, return flight with hotel.
If you don’t have a flight or hotel yet, ask for a quote for your dates. It arrives on WhatsApp within minutes.
Direct flight estimate based on recent market searches. The final price, with hotel, is confirmed by the consultant.
