Budget London Trip Itinerary - 8 Days 7 Nights - Spring season

London is an expensive city to visit. However, you can do it well under budget of MYR2500 (500 Pound) for one week for food, entrance fee and within London travel expenses exclude flight if you are able to plan well. Do skip insignificant places which charges high entrance fees as London free museums are world class standard and you will need a few days just to visit them. The good thing about London is the entrance to the major museums such as British Museum, Tote Modern, Victoria & Albert museum and Natural History Museum are all free. Being a capital of United Kingdom, there are many food options, culture and attractions to visit. Do try out the food from many ethnic groups here for the unique taste.


Oyster card is a must for budget traveller in London. If you stay for one week, do consider an Oyster card and load it with one week unlimited travel on zone 1 and zone 2. Applicable for both London tube and buses.

Iconic red telephone booths.

St Pancras railway station.

Shopping area of Piccadilly Circus.


Me with the Royal palace guard. Its end of winter so the guard need to dress in thick clothing. You can only see the red guard uniform during summer.

Mummies of British Museum.

Punk and gothic area of Camden Town.

The Royal Albert Hall.

Day	Morning	Afternoon	Evening	Night
Day 1 (Wed)		1. Travel from Kuala Lumpur to London via Malaysia Airlines on Airbus A380 flight. The journey takes approximately 13 hours.	1. Check in at Palmer Lodge Hillspring hostel near Willesden Green Underground Station.	1. Japanese sashimi don dinner at Sushi-Say shop near Willesden Green Underground Station. 2. Having night view of Houses of Parliament of England by Walking around Westminster.
Day 2 (Thur)	1. Breakfast at Palmers Lodge Hillspring hostel. 2. Visiting St Pancras railway station. This railway station is known for its beautiful architecture. The King Cross station located beside St Pancras is also having great architecture view inside.	1. Joining SANDEMANs NEW Europe London Free walking tour. This a 2.5 hours tour to get a glimpse of London. 2. Changing of guards at St James Palace 3. Changing of the Horse Guards Parade	1. Late lunch at The Old Monk. Having fish and chips.	1. Visit London Chinatown by stopping by Leicester Square tube station. 2. Visit Piccadilly Circus to view London largest billboard area. This area is known as Times Square of London. 3. Visit M&M's World London 4. Roasted duck rice dinner at Four Seasons in Chinatown.
Day 3 (Fri)	1. Having Bombay potato khobez as early breakfast. 2. English breakfast at Franx Cafe in Covent Garden.	1. Visiting shops and event watching around Covent Garden. 2. Visit Camden Town. Punk and hipster of London.	1. Heading to Canary Wharf then switch to London DLR tube to go to Greenwich. Meridian Greenwich is located near the Greenwich station. This is where the international time zone starts (GMT). There are many attractions around Greenwich such as Cutty Sark ship and Old Royal Naval College.	1. Visit British Museum to view mummies and famous artifacts. 2. Fish & chips dinner at Rock and Sole Plaice in Covent Garden.
Day 4 (Sat)	1. Breakfast at Palmers Lodge Hillspring hostel.	1. Lunch at Ace Cafe London. Nice cafe with big bikes around.	1. Chelsea stadium. 2. Lewis Leather shop. Interesting shop with beautiful leather jackets.	1. Shopping in Oxford Street. You can find bargain in Primark. Working and casual shirts is so cheap here. You can't believe that you get such price in London. 2. Dinner at Beijing Dumpling in Chinatown, London.
Day 5 (Sun)	1. Visit Tower Bridge London 2. Sightseeing outside of Tower of London. You can view London tallest skyscraper (Shard) from here. 3. Famous Portobello road market. Do visit this road market specialized on food and antiques if you happen to be in London during weekends.	1. Indian food lunch at The Monsoon in Brick lane, London 2. Sightseeing around Brick lane and visit sunday Brick lane market.	1. Modern building of Lloyds of London. This is corporate body underwriters which have futuristic building during the time of completion in 1986.	1. St Paul Cathedral 2. Seafood noodles at Golden Dragon Restaurant.
Day 6 (Mon)	1. Borough Market 2. Modern arts at Tate Modern museum.	1. Millenium bridge	1. Late lunch at Bricklane Brasserie. 2. The National Gallery. Short visit as near to closing time. 3. Trafalgar Square.	1. Walking to Westminster station. 2. Vietnamese food as dinner in Viet Pho nearby Leicester Square London tube. 3. Piccadilly Circus billboard viewing and photography.
Day 7 (Tue)	1. Brought Falafel and Houmous wrap from Tesco as light breakfast 2. Proper breakfast/lunch at Regency Cafe 3. Strutton Ground with many fancy bakery shops around.	1. Victoria and Albert museum. This is a great museum to visit. 2. Royal Albert Hall. 3. Natural History Museum. This museum have a large collection of dinosaur skeletons.	1. Late lunch at Marks & Spencer Marble Arch 2. Window shopping at The Harrods. Knightsbridge tube station.	1. Dinner at Italian restaurant of Ristorante Cappuccetto 2. Sightseeing around Leicester Square.
Day 8 (Wed)	1. Burberry factory outlet visit. Not recommended to visit as price is not that cheap. Nearby Hackney Central tube station.	1. Neal's Yard cheese shop 2. Gold mine Bayswater roasted duck.	1. Back home London to Kuala Lumpur via Malaysia Airlines on Airbus A380.

Horse Guards Parade @ London

Horse Guards Parade, is a large parade ground off Whitehall in central London. As well as being the venue for changing The Queen's Life Guard it is also the location for Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the Queen's Birthday, and Beating Retreat.


Horse Guards.

Watching changing of horse guards.

Picture with horse guard.

You need to walk towards this empty field to reach Horse Guards Parade.

GPS/Coordinate: 51.504607, -0.127374
Address: Horse Guards Parade, The Household Division, Horse Guards, Whitehall, London SW1A 2AX, United Kingdom. Located just behind the official Prime Minister home & office.
Time: 10.00am to 4.00pm daily.
Public transport: Charing Cross station on London tube.

Houses of Parliament view at night @ London

Just reaching London and checked in hostel at around 7.00pm, I don't have much itinerary plan during the day. So I plan to have a walk around Westminster to capture the glimpse around the area at night. During the day it would be different scene as there will be many tourists around.


Get down at Westminster station.


First sight of Big Ben.

Looking up at Big Ben.


The famous London Eye at the opposite of Parliament house.

Iconic red London double decker bus.

London tube also known as Underground.

Clean and quiet station during night.

GPS/Coordinate: 51.499472, -0.124830
Address: Westminster, London SW1A 0AA, United Kingdom
Public transport: Westminster station on London tube.

The Old Monk Traditional Pub @ London

I had a lunch in this pub after finishing a Sandeman tour. The staff were friendly, the service was quick and the fish and chips that I order was good and cheap.

Taste:7/10(Moderate. The portion are huge and taste wise is good but I prefer my fish less oily. Their apple cider were good).
Price:7/10(Moderate. This place offers cheap eats with fish & chips around 8 Pound plus apple cider drink. I came with Sandeman tours which provide with some discount).


The Old Monk.


My fish and chips with tartare sauce and lemon.

Tasty apple cider.

Typical pub environment. Noisy and people came here to have drinks.

Current promotion in the pub.

GPS/Coordinate: 51.497635, -0.134187
Address: 61 Victoria St, London SW1H 0HW, United Kingdom / Strutton Ground
Public transport: St James Park station via London tube.

Trafalgar Square @ London

Trafalgar Square, the largest square in London and it is often regards as the heart of the city. This area has been a central meeting place since the middle ages. In the middle of the square stands a tall column honoring admiral Nelson who was a British flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was involved in the most notable war which was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during which he was shot and killed. The battle was the most decisive naval victory of the war. The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy as during the Battle of Trafalgar, 27 British ships were against 33 French and Spanish ships which Britain had won at that time.

This site is always crowded with visitors/tourist. I would recommend to combine a visit to the National Art Gallery just off the main square.



Nelson Column at the centre of Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square during sunset. The fountain was glowing blue.

Sunset at Trafalgar Square.

National Art Gallery.

London iconic red bus around Trafalgar Square.

Wow, Tourism Malaysia office just opposite Trafalgar Square. Hope that you have done a good job by promoting Malaysia in London.

GPS/Coordinate: 51.507959, -0.128112
Address: Trafalgar Square, Westminster, London WC2N 5DN, United Kingdom
Public Transport: Charing Cross station on London tube.

Piccadilly Circus @ London

Piccadilly Circus is a busy intersection in London connecting five main streets: Regent Street, Piccadilly Street, Covent Street, Haymarket and Shaftesbury Avenue. This busy intersection makes Piccadilly Circus attractive for advertisers and transform this place full with illuminated billboards creating London's version of New York Times Square.


Famous for TDK billboard.

Long stretch of shopping malls.

For musical theatre lover. London also famous for broadway shows.

Busy intersection.

Me at Piccadilly Circus.

GPS/Coordinate: 51.509986, -0.135156
Public transport: Piccadilly Circus station on London tube.

Viet Pho @ London

Compact, family-run Vietnamese restaurant and takeaway serving fresh and simple traditional cuisine. Do eat here if you want cheap, fast and simple meal. It is a tiny place though and it can get pretty packed especially during dinner.

Taste:8/10(Good. The pho served were good which delicious noodles and beef which is tender. The soup is good as well).
Price:7/10(Moderate. By London standard, this place is cheap for dinner by spending around 7 Pound for meal and drink).


Great hot beef noodles soup for cold night.

I like to have Pho during dinner if I can't find any good food to try.

GPS/Coordinate: 51.513067, -0.130275
Address: 34 Greek St London W1D 5DJ
Public transport: Leicester Square London Tube station.

Camden Town @ London

Camden Town has been an alternative culture to punk, goth, hippie and emo. The area has many stalls selling all kind of fashionable stuff such as selling clothes, jewelery, art & ornaments, ideal for some gift shopping. With loads of pubs,restaurants & useful & interesting shops it is a great place to stay or visit if you want to feel part of London and not just a tourist. The location is very strategic as it is near by three main train stations: King's cross, St. Pancras and Euston. Camden is also home to the UK's famous singer, Amy Winehouse.


Camden Market sells many kinds of fashionable clothes at affordable price.

Variety of t-shirts with famous faces.

Camden Market is like a flea market in most country. The only difference is that you can get better quality item and fashionable clothes.


Here is the famous shop row in Camden Town. Funky, wacky and bohemian style shops.

Very decorative shoe shop.

A fun, eclectic & vibrant part of London, not to be missed by the young & young at heart.

A Chinese restaurant with a huge dragon replica.

You can also get here by bus and its a very touristy area. However it worth to explore.

Camden lock. Full of small stalls inside selling mainly on clothes and decorative items.

Coordinate/GPS: 51.539502,-0.143086
London tube: Camden Town on Northern line.