London, England

We visited England in November of 2024. It was amazing! We went on a road trip through England, and many places in London were fun to visit during our trip. Here are photos and links to blog posts about those London locations, as well as a recommendation for where to stay.

Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studios

The studios are located at Studio Tour Drive, Leavesden, WD25 7LR. Buy your tickets well in advance! Their official website is here: Harry Potter Studios Ticket prices start at 56 pounds. I would recommend buying tickets for an early entrance, and also paying for priority parking. We parked right next to the studio, about a 2 minute walk to the entrance. We spent several hours in the studio, including eating in the cafe and trying out their butter beer (which was excellent!). We also bought the photo and video package so that we could go home with lots of fun photos and videos. Here's a collection of our videos: Harry Potter videos

Harry Potter Studios: Harry Potter Studios

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is located at London SW1A 1AA, United Kingdom. Without tickets you can take photos outside the famous gates of Buckingham Palace. Since tickets to go inside are so expensive, the outside is how most people view Buckingham Palace. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside Buckingham Palace, which was disappointing not to be able to show the world what a beautiful place it is, but I took lots of photos outside, and you can see photos of the interior on their official website here: Buckingham Palace During the summer a standard admission ticket is 35 pounds, or a ticket to a guided tour is 100 pounds. I highly recommend the tour! My blog post about Buckingham Palace is here: Buckingham Palace

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge is located Tower Bridge Rd, London SE1 2UP, United Kingdom. You can walk or drive across it at any time free of charge. But in order to go in the towers and walk across the upper walkways, including the glass walkway, and see the engine rooms, you have to purchase tickets on their official website: Tower Bridge Tickets are 16 pounds for adults and 8 pounds for children. It is open from 9:30 am until the last entrance at 4:30 p.m. I'd recommend purchasing tickets at least one day in advance to be sure it doesn't sell out. My blog post about the Tower Bridge is here: Visiting Tower Bridge

The London Eye

The London Eye is located at Riverside Building, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7PB. The official website of the London Eye is here: The London Eye Tickets are 29 pounds per adult if you purchase them online. If you purchase them in person they are 39 pounds each. There are other more expensive options, such as a fast track ticket or ticket combined with a river cruise. It is open from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the summer, and 6 p.m. in other seasons except on certain occasions. You can book your tickets up to 5 months in advance. My blog post about the London Eye is here: The London Eye

Big Ben, Elizabeth Tower, and Westminster

You can book a tour of Big Ben & Elizabeth Tower up to 3 months in advance. There are 334 steps in the spiral staircase inside the bell tower. The tour takes 2 hours. Tickets are 35 pounds for adults, and 20 pounds for children. Big Ben is located at London SW1A OAA, United Kingdom. It is right next to Westminster Palace. You can see Big Ben at many places throughout London, probably the most picturesque place being from the Westminster Bridge. This is where Big Ben often appears in movies. There are also red phone booths spread through the street along Westminster where people stand in line to pose next to a phone booth with Big Ben behind them. Big Ben was built in 1834. Big Ben's official website is here: Big Ben
My blog post about Big Ben is here: Big Ben & Elizabeth Tower

London Bridge

London Bridge is located at London EC4R 3TN, United Kingdom. You can walk or drive across the London Bridge at any time, free of charge. It is a 14 minute walk between the Tower Bridge and the London Bridge. There's an Old Watermen's Walk that you can walk along the Thames River between the bridges and beyond, and even stairs that go down to the water. My blog post about the London Bridge is here: London Bridge

Paddington Clock

The Man in the Clock is part of Maarten Baas' Real Time clock series. It is located at 50 Eastborne Terrace in London, across the street from Paddington Station. My post about my visit to this and the other Real Time clock (in Amsterdam airport) is here: The Man in the Clock

The Black Dog

Made famous by the Taylor Swift song "The Black Dog," this bar was a must-see for my Swiftie daughter. It is located at 112 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5ER, United Kingdom.

Borough Market

The Borough Market is located at London SE1 9AL, United Kingdom. It is a market near the London Bridge that has lots of options for eating. Part of the draw to this market is that it was used for filming in Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban. My blog post about the market is here: The Borough Market It is open from 10 am to 5 pm and is closed on Mondays.

The London England LDS Temple

You can read about our trip to the London England Temple here: London Temple

Where to Stay in London

If you are planning to visit Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios in London, I very highly recommend staying at the Hogwarts Hideaway Airbnb. We stayed there the night before we toured the studios, and it is only minutes away. It is expensive, but the experience is worth it! They have paid so much attention to detail - pretty much everything in the house has something to do with Harry Potter. You aren't allowed to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs, but you can certainly see what it looks like! This link will take you to this particular Airbnb: Hogwarts Hideaway