London Guidebook

In Rick Steves London you'll find in-depth Rick-tested information on:

• Practicalities
  • Easy-to-follow maps (including color maps of West London, East London, London's Underground network, and South England)
  • ​Trip planning: When to go, pre-trip checklist, festivals and holidays, recommended books and movies
  • Getting around London by Underground, bus, bike, and taxi
  • Advice on planning your time and avoiding lines
  • Detailed advice on managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints
• Recommended sights and activities
• Recommended hotels and restaurants
• Self-guided walks
  • Westminster Walk
  • West End Walk
  • Bankside Walk
  • Historic London: The City Walk
  • East End Walk
• Self-guided tours
  • Westminster Abbey
  • Houses of Parliament
  • National Gallery
  • British Museum
  • British Library
  • St. Paul's Cathedral
  • Tower of London
  • Victoria & Albert Museum
  • Tate Britain
  • Greenwich
• Day trips
  • Windsor
  • Cambridge
  • Stonehenge
• And more
  • London's history, culture, and cuisine scene
  • London with children
  • London's shopping, entertainment (including theater information), and nightlife
  • Handy British–Yankee vocabulary list

Also included: a 10¾" x 19½" full-color foldout Planning Map with a big overview of the city and its sights (and a closeup of the Westminster neighborhood that outlines our self-guided Westminster Walk), a zoomed-out look at London's main neighborhoods, as well as schematics showing Tube lines, major bus routes, and train stations — plus floor maps of Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Tower of London.

Should I get this London book in addition to either Rick's complete England guidebook, his Best of England book, or his Great Britain book?

Probably not. If you're only spending a few days in London, as part of a longer trip in Britain, one of the larger guidebooks for the whole country is all you're likely to need.

If, however, you're spending four days or more in London, the extra information in Rick Steves London can be worthwhile. It offers more in-depth sightseeing information, several additional self-guided city walks and museum/sight tours, and more specifics on shopping and nightlife, plus suggestions for kids. Other information is generally the same, especially compared to the complete Rick Steves England and Rick Steves Great Britain guidebooks, which include nearly all the hotels, restaurants, and nitty-gritty practical advice for London and its day trips that you'll find in the city book. (But compared to Rick Steves Best of England, the London guidebook does have a few more hotel and restaurant listings, as well as more comprehensive coverage of day-trip options.)

What's the difference between this London guidebook and Rick's Pocket London guide?

Rick Steves Pocket London works best for people taking a short trip, or perhaps a return trip, to London. Like our other Pocket guides, Pocket London is smaller than the complete guidebook and in full color (but still offers our best sightseeing advice and a handful of self-guided city walks and museum tours, plus a foldout map).

For travelers who want to delve deep into London, the full-size guidebook is a better option. It offers more substantial (and more frequently updated) advice on every front: practicalities, sightseeing, self-guided tours, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, shopping, kids' activities, and the city's history and culture, plus chapters on the best day trips.

Latest updates: When we learn of critical changes to the information in our guidebooks on England, we post them. (Of course, it's still smart to reconfirm critical transportation and sightseeing details locally.) Armed with a Rick Steves guidebook and these late-breaking updates, you're set for a great trip!

Submit feedback: Once you've used this book in Europe, we'd love to hear your feedback — good or bad — about our advice on sights, hotels, restaurants, and travel tips. We're also interested in any tips or discoveries you made while in Europe. Your comments help us improve our guidebooks for future travelers.