London: musicals, comedy, festivals, and more!
Oh London, what a wonderful city. After spending only a weekend here, I know that I will need to travel back. There was so much to see in a short amount of time, and the girl who surrounded herself with Harry Potter posters in her childhood bedroom would be thrilled knowing that she finally made it to London (it’s me, i’m the girl). Below you will find my recommendations for what to, specifically in the winter, and some complementary images to hopefully inspire you to see the home of royalty.
Activities –
Musicals! I was in awe of the number of theaters that lined the streets of London. I wish I could have stayed longer to see more of the most iconic shows; Hamilton, the Golden Child, Mamma Mia, Wicked, and Newsies, were just some of the shows that I wish I could have seen. We saw Wicked and it was one of the best highlights from my abroad experience. After enjoying a pre-theatre dinner at Bbar, we walked to the theatre and stocked up on some candy to enjoy during the show. We sat at the back of theatre but still were able to see everything. After the iconic performance of Defying Gravity, I look to my left and right and our entire group had tears streaming down our faces. The show was worth every penny we spent, and I did not want it to end.
Big Ben, the London Eye, Aquarium, the Heart Wall, and some great shops are all located within walking distance of one of the hop-on, hop-off double decker bus stops. That entire area by the Thames River has so much to see and explore!
Local Markets: depending on the time of year, keep an eye out for the markets. I traveled to London in November, so there was a wonderful Christmas market that we traveled to. It was lined with a variety of vendors, had street performers, and even fake snow that would fall ever so often. The best thing that I can compare it to that I’ve experienced is Faneuil Hall in Boston with plenty of walking space, lots of options for food, and a diverse selection of booths.
Ballie Ballerson: an adult ball pit that doubles as a bar with some of the coolest drinks I’ve seen. Dare I say more?
Angel Comedy Club: A bar with an upstairs comedy club that lets people in on a first come, first serve basis. There was no entry fee, so we just stood in line after grabbing a drink to wait for the doors to open, and then grabbed seats. It is definitely an intimate and small space, so just be aware of that if you are intimidated by crowd work. We saw a total of five acts hosted by a hilarious guy. We were laughing throughout the entire night and felt as though we had found a local spot as most people there were from London! I really valued this experience because it didn’t feel like a basic, tourist activity, but rather more of an accurate immersion into what London is like for locals. We left a review on Trip Advisor during intermission and in return, they gave us chocolates that were very yummy. On our way out, they asked for donations to keep the club running, completely voluntary! Technically a free show, but we donated some money as we truly enjoyed our time and appreciated all of the laughs.
Harry Potter Walking Tour: for any Harry Potter fans out there, this is a must do activity! I was totally geeking as we explored throughout the city for two and a half hours to see a bunch of different filming locations and important landmarks for actors and actresses. Even my travel buddy, who was not a major Harry Potter fan, enjoyed her time getting to see the city. We got sorted into our houses by pulling them out of a hat, and I got Gryffindor which is what I have always tested as so I am calling it fate that I got it this way as well. We played some trivia as an ice breaker and then started on our journey around London. We saw the Leaky Cauldron (now a Taco Shop), the street of inspiration for Diagon Alley, the building that inspired Gringotts (the South African Embassy), and more. We didn’t get to see a ton of on-screen locations as many of those are in the Warner Bros Studio (which was sold out for tickets during our stay), but we did get to see a lot of interesting spots related to the series. I will say the tour is mores geared towards a younger audience, and I would highly recommend this activity for families with kids who like the series.
Winter Wonderland Festival at Hyde Park: If you travel to London in November, you must go to the Winter Wonderland Festival! We had the most amazing time exploring the grounds of this park. We first explored all the vendors and bought some chocolate covered strawberries at the very start to enjoy while walking. The festival also has an abundance of different carnival rides, and we bought tickets in advance to several of the rides which ended up being so much fun. We also bought tickets to an acrobatic show which was absolutely jaw-dropping. This show was not for the faint of heart as I was on the edge of my seat with nerves for most of the show. It takes another level of bravery (or craziness) to pull off some of the stunts that these people were doing. After the show we went ice skating where they provided skates if you had a ticket. As a lifelong skater I can say that the conditions of this rink (and skates) was terrible, but we enjoyed striding under some gorgeous string lights as our final activity in the park.
Food –
Bbar: A South African restaurant and cocktail bar located in Victoria, London with a very eclectic interior and tasty international food. The really neat part about this restaurant is that they offered a pre-theatre menu in which you could have a two or three course meal from a limited menu. We visited this restaurant prior to seeing Wicked, and felt like it was an integral part of the overall opinion of going out to a show. I ended up ordering Schnitzel and Calamari, and we had some great conversations with the staff about what to expect from the performance (they said it was going to be amazing). The restaurant was two streets down from the theatre, so we easily walked from the restaurant when we were done.
To be perfectly honest, we dined at a lot of fast food chains and markets during this trip because we missed the delicacies of Chipotle and Shake Shack (only being slightly sarcastic) back in Florence. Bbar was the only notable restaurant we ate at so I had to include it here!
Transportation –
To get from Gatwick Airport to our hotel, we took an Amtrak that took around an hour.
We primarily walked around the city as our hotel was in a great location, but when we had to reach some further spots, we used underground transportation which was incredibly easy to use.
Additionally, an affordable option to exploring the city was riding on the hop-on, hop-off double decker buses. We paid around $45 for transportation for the entire day and were able to explore so much at our own leisure. Plus riding the bus itself was quite enjoyable and offered some great views (and the opportunity to recreate some scenes from Friends).
What are you waiting for? Buy that plane ticket today!
