Premier Inn London County Hall
Why we like it: Two minutes from the London Eye and eight from Westminster. With one adult paying for breakfast, up to two children eat breakfast free.
Duration2 to 5 days, your way
BaseHostel or apartment in the centre
Getting aroundTube, bus and on foot
Book aheadSky Garden, theatre, Tower at night
ForGroups of friends, over 18
A group trip to London is decided in the evenings. The mornings almost organise themselves, with markets and walks that need no booking; what has to be settled before leaving home is where you will be when it gets dark: a viewpoint, a performance, a night-time visit or a table for six. This plan brings those pieces together, separates what is bought weeks ahead from what is decided on the spot, and suggests how to spread them depending on how many days you have.
Mornings without a clock
Camden. Camden Market is several markets along the Regent's Canal, with more than a thousand stalls of vintage clothes, records and food from half the world. It opens every day from 10:00 to 19:00, and the Food Halls at Hawley Wharf stay open until 23:00, so you can arrive late and stay for dinner. Splitting up for two hours and meeting at a set point works better than trailing in single file along the aisles.
Borough and the South Bank. Borough Market is the place to eat as a group without arguing: everyone chooses their own stall. It opens Tuesday to Sunday (Saturday from 9:00) and is closed on Mondays. From there, the South Bank leads past the Tate Modern to the Millennium Bridge, which crosses to St Paul's, and the City continues to Leadenhall Market, Victorian covered streets open at any hour.
The river. The Uber Boat is the Thames's public transport and is paid for with contactless: to Greenwich it passes under Tower Bridge. There, the park, the Cutty Sark and back on the DLR.
What to buy beforehand
Sky Garden at night. The Sky Garden, at the top of the City's Walkie-Talkie, is free with a booking: tickets are released three weeks ahead and give you an hour up there. At weekends there are slots until 21:00, which is when the city lights up. The bars and restaurants upstairs are open until midnight Sunday to Thursday and until 1:00 on Friday and Saturday. Challenge 25 applies: if anyone in the group looks under 25, they should bring ID or a passport.
The Tower after closing. The Tower of London by day costs £38, but what a group remembers are its after-hours visits: the Ghost Tours, at night and through the corners of the ghost stories, at £49, and the Keys Club, which on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays adds to your ticket for £20 a 45-minute talk with a Yeoman Warder and access to the Keys Pub, the pub inside the fortress.
The theatre. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, at the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, lasts 2 h 55 with an interval and has been a single play since 2026. The official website charges no fees, and each week it puts the Friday Forty on sale: forty tickets at £40. Arrive an hour early for the security check, with no suitcases. Before or after, House of MinaLima, the gallery of the films' graphic design, in Soho, free and open until 18:45.
For real fans. The Harry Potter Studio Tour is three and a half hours of sets, at £58.50 per adult in 2026, and is sold only online with a set time. It takes up the whole afternoon plus the train from Euston.
Dinner for six or more
London restaurants that do not take bookings are a problem for a group. Dishoom Covent Garden, Bombay cooking, solves it the opposite way to nearly everyone: bookings at any time before 18:00, and after that only for groups of six or more. It is open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. For the other nights, the Food Halls in Camden or Borough at midday and a light dinner.
How much you spend a day
Transport has a cap: with contactless, you will never pay more than £8.90 a day each in zones 1 and 2. Each person needs their own card, and always the same one on entering and leaving. The markets, the Sky Garden, the Millennium Bridge, Leadenhall, MinaLima and the national museums are free. With one paid thing a day (the Tower, the theatre or the studio), the budget is set by the bed and dinner.
How to spread it
Two days. First, Borough Market, the Millennium Bridge and the City as far as Leadenhall, with the Sky Garden at dusk. Second, Camden until mid-afternoon and theatre in the West End, with dinner beforehand in Covent Garden.
Three days. Add the Tower by day or, better, one of its night-time visits.
Four days. Add the boat to Greenwich in the morning and a free afternoon in Soho.
Five days. Add the Studio Tour, if someone in the group is a fan; if not, another day of markets.
Where to sleep as a group
The base we suggest is the YHA London Central, on Bolsover Street, Fitzrovia: a hostel with private en-suite rooms (also shared dorm beds if the group prefers), a kitchen for guests, a licensed café-bar and 24-hour reception, a walk from Oxford Street and Soho. If there are four of you and you want a living room to meet in before going out, the Citadines Holborn has one-bedroom apartments for four with a kitchen, two minutes from Holborn Tube station and near the Covent Garden theatres.
Map
The stops, in order
What to do
Eat
88 €Stay
Services
Plan the trip
London, step by step
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
When to go to London
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Best timeGood timeLow season
How you travel
The same break, your way
The plan stays the same. What changes is where you sleep, how you get there and how much you spend.
Direct flight, then a train or the Tube to the centre
London has direct flights from almost all Spanish airports, in a little over two hours from Madrid or Barcelona, to four main airports. None is in the centre, but all have a fast train. In the city you do not need a car: transport is paid for with a contactless card or your phone, and for day trips (Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Windsor, Brighton) the train leaves from the central stations.
- Getting thereHeathrow (LHR), to the west…
- Getting aroundTube and bus with a…
- Where to sleepPremier Inn County Hall, next…
- ServicesFrom Heathrow to the centre
Getting there
- Heathrow (LHR), to the west: Heathrow Express to Paddington in 15 minutes, the Elizabeth line or the Piccadilly line on the Tube, the cheapest
- Gatwick (LGW), to the south: Gatwick Express to Victoria; Brighton is on the same line
- Stansted (STN), to the north-east: Stansted Express to Liverpool Street; the closest to Cambridge
- Luton (LTN), to the north, with a shuttle to the station and a train to the centre
Getting around
- Tube and bus with a contactless or Oyster card, with a daily cap
- Trains to Oxford and Bath from Paddington, to Cambridge from King's Cross, to Brighton from Victoria
- To the Harry Potter studio, train from Euston to Watford Junction
Where to sleep
- Premier Inn County Hall, next to the London Eye, for the first night with children
- Citadines Holborn, apartments with a kitchen in the centre
Services
- From Heathrow to the centre
- From Gatwick and Stansted
- Oyster and contactless
Where to stay
Where to stay if you're flying
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Hostel
YHA London Central
Why we like it: A hostel with private family rooms, with bunk beds. The cheapest option in the centre: there are few and they sell out early.
Apartment
Citadines Holborn-Covent Garden
Why we like it: An apartment with a bedroom and a sofa bed, ten minutes' walk from Covent Garden. Being able to eat dinner in saves a lot in London.
Georgian House Hotel
Why we like it: A hotel in a nineteenth-century house in Pimlico with themed rooms: the Wizard Chambers, on the ground floor, reached along a corridor with portraits and candlelight. They have stone walls, stained glass, four-poster beds and cauldrons…
Services for this trip
Where to eat
Where to eat in London
Dishoom Covent Garden
What to order: a dal and a grill dish to share.
Book before 18:00; after that only groups of 6 or more can book, and the other tables are walk-in: expect a queue
Burgers
Honest Burgers
What to order: a burger with its rosemary chips; children's menu with a drink.
Children's menu with a side and a drink · branches in the centre and next to several stations
Halfway round the Studio Tour
Backlot Café
What to order: a burger, wings or a hot dog, and a non-alcoholic butterbeer at the Butterbeer Bar.
Only with a Studio Tour ticket
Takeaway and markets
Borough Market, Southwark
Tips
Worth knowing first
Local tip
Share the ticket list on your phones before leaving: the Sky Garden opens three weeks ahead and the Tower's night-time visits have limited places. Whoever buys should do it for everyone in a single booking.
We'd skip it
Organised pub crawls for tourists: you pay for a guide who takes you to bars you would find on your own. Better the Tower's Keys Club one night and, the rest of the time, the nearest bar to the theatre exit.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Where do you go out at night in London?
The West End (Soho and Covent Garden) has the theatres, restaurants and bars, and Camden keeps its Food Halls open until 23:00. To see the city at night from above, the Sky Garden at the weekend.
Can you book a table for a large group?
At Dishoom Covent Garden, yes, even after 18:00 if there are six or more of you. At many restaurants without bookings you will have to queue or split up.
What is cheapest for a group?
The markets, the viewpoints and the free museums, the daily transport cap and a hostel with a kitchen for breakfasts.
Do you need to carry ID for the bars?
Yes. Many places apply Challenge 25 and ask for ID from anyone who looks under 25; the Sky Garden requires it.