What to see in 3 Days in London at Christmas
3 Days in London. A few weeks ago, I organized a last-minute trip to London and honestly I would never have expected that in early November the city was already in full Christmas mood. I had only 3 days available and tried to make it enough. It does not seem possible, but it can be done. Not to visit it all, but a bit of everything! Continue reading to find out more!
What to see in 3 Days in London: my travel dirary
FIRST DAY.
First stop of my 3 day itinerary in London was the Pimlico district, in West London. Here is located the Artist Residence London where I stayed the first night. A 4-storey Regency-style building with only 10 rooms, each different from each other, where you feel a bit like your own home! It will be for the warm and welcoming ambience, certainly because of the fact that it is accessed through The Cambridge Street Kitchen, the bar-restaurant attached to this Boutique Hotel.
I came right for lunch time and I ordered a delicious avocado toast with egg in shirt and salmon!
Then I went upstairs to the fourth and last floor to see my room, the Club Suite. A big one, with a nice living area with a velvet sofa and armchairs, a very soft bed, a mobile-bar with comfort food and drinks of all kinds and a giant bathroom.
You have to know that I love taking a bubble bath, especially in winter and even more inside a wonderful vintage tub like the one of my room at Artist Residence!
I really liked the fact that there were two windows in the room, both openable to see the view across Cambridge St.
The location is optimal: Pimlico is a very quiet neighborhood, with characteristic brick or white houses. Victoria Station is not far away, while with a short walk you can reach the Westminster Bridge and the Big Ben. A few more steps and you will reach Milk Train, a place where they make a really special cone! It’s called Unicorn Ice Cream and it is made up of ice cream covered with candy, sugary and marshmallows and finally wrapped in a cloud of cotton candy! It was delicious, just a bit difficult to eat but, if you’re lucky there are not too many people, inside you can enjoy it comfortably sitting at one of the tables!
I then headed for Piccadilly Circus, where the giants luminous advertising signs literally dazzled me. On the way back to Hotel I walked through to Green Park to reach Buckingham Palace and then took the direction of the Artist Residence.
SECONDO GIORNO.
The next morning I went down for breakfast at The Cambridge Street Kitchen. The place is really clean up to the smallest details, with the open kitchen. The menu, as I had seen at lunch the previous day, offers a nice selection, but my eyes have just pointed the tray of croissants and cinnamon rolls, and they were conquered! And with them also the palate!
One of London’s most impressive bridges and symbolic place of the city is the Tower Bridge! Worth the whole walk, from one bank to the other of the Thames. I went to the North side where the Tower Of London is located, and then I reached the south side, continuing to The Shard, the iconic shingle skyscraper whose facade was designed by Renzo Piano.
Returning to the hotel for check-out, I stopped in a really nice place. Within walking distance of the Artist Residence is one of the most scenic pastries I’ve ever seen in my whole life. A pink building, the façade beautifully decorated with Christmas lights and the golden sign of Peggy Porschen Cake. Inside, all sorts of cupcakes, muffins, biscuits and of course deliciously decorated cakes!
After eating a delicious cupcake and a cup of super hot tea I moved my luggage to the The May Fair Hotel, where I spent the last two nights. This hotel was super decorated for Christmas too, starting from the exterior to the beautiful trees inside! At the check-in desk I found Antonio, an Italian super gentle guy, and a candy bar full of every kind of candies!
Antonio, to make me feel even more spoiled, accompanied me to the room to explain to me every detail. And the room I had reserved was not a normal room, but a real apartment, featuring a large living area, a kitchenette, a bedroom, two bathrooms and a balcony that was all around the living room! The name is Saffron Suite and, as if that was not enough, there was a welcome surprise waiting for me: a giant basket of fresh fruit, macarons, chocolates and other candies!
The May Fair Hotel is located in the homely and prestigious Mayfair district. It hosts some of the city’s most renowned restaurants and the most exclusive shopping streets, including New Bond Street. And that’s where I headed. The perfume maison Perris Monte Carlo, of which I have often talked to you over the last few months, had invited me at Fenwick, one of their resellers, and one of the finest luxury department stores in London. The reason for the invitation was a very special event: an afternoon to celebrate the upcoming festivities and dive into the Christmas spirit with lots of discounts and a show of lights and fake snow that covered the street! I’ll tell you better about it in one of my upcoming posts!
For dinner I went to May Fair Kitchen, the Restaurant of The May Fair Hotel, discovering that they serve tapas style dishes of Italian, Spanish, Mexican and Peruvian cuisine! In two we tasted a lot of dishes, recommended by the Italian waiters, who explained every single dish to the slightest detail: papas bravas, avocado salad with orange slices, mini tacos of tuna and chilli lemon, fried squids and shrimps, baked sea bass. All dishes were very nicely curated and above all great!
THIRD DAY.
If the dinner had been pleasantly impressed me, also the breakfast did. The beautiful wooden tables of the previous evening were entirely covered with yogurt, cereals, fresh and dried fruit, croissants and freshly baked pain au chocolat. A nice selection of salty dishes as well as the typical full English Breakfast. And then centrifuged, fresh juices and a cappuccino as good and foamy as the Italian one!
After breakfast I headed to the nearby Covent Garden neighborhood, where there is a really characteristic little square called the Neal’s Yard. Finding it was not difficult, even though it’s well hidden! You can access it from Monmouth St. or Short Gardens, paying attention, between one pastry shop and another, not to miss the sign indicating the passage. It is more difficult to find it deserted. You have to go very early in the morning!
Then I went along the Thames to reach the London Eye (I was amazed for how slowly it goes)! In a while the gray and cloudy sky opened in an unexpected blue, giving a magical light to the city!
Within a few steps I reached the Westminster Bridge, finding with great sorrow that the Big Ben has been under restoration works for the next 4 years. It’s a shame that the scaffolding almost completely hide it, but it’s still a fact that it’s one of London’s symbols that you can not miss it!
For the rest of the day I planned to move to the Notting Hill neighborhood, but first to a stop at Primrose Hill. In this residential neighborhood there is a street called Chalcot Crescent where the buildings are of any pastel color of the rainbow and, having seen it in so many photographs, I could not wait to see it with my eyes!
Being a bit hungry, I headed to Notting Hill. For lunch I wanted to try Farm Girl on Portobello Road, a delicious Australian place where I ate the best avocado toast with eggs, salmon, the inevitable coriander and an unexpectedly sprinkled pomegranate seeds, which I loved!
Unfortunately, the vintage and antique market is only held on Fridays and Saturdays, but there are a small one on all the other days of the week.
I then went back to the hotel to arrange the suitcases, as I would have had the return flight very soon the next morning. For dinner I went back to May Fair Kitchen and if the previous evening I wanted to avoid pizza to try different kitchens, this time I let myself go and it was really delicious! I also re-ordered one of the dishes I had most enjoyed the previous evening, the mini tacos!
And so ends my trip and also this diary, dedicated to what to see in London in 3 days.
If you are planning to visit London at Christmas, I hope so much this will help you!
Happy Monday to all of you!
