What to do in London in 3 hours

4 self-guided 3-hour routes through London — every stop timed, mapped and in the order that works on the ground.

The Rosetta Stone, the garden squares of the Bloomsbury Group, Dickens's house, the Gothic front of St Pancras and the canal at King's Cross.

British Museum · Russell Square · Charles Dickens Museum · St Pancras International · Granary Square

The tea clipper, the Painted Hall, the market, the meridian line and the view back over London from the hill.

Cutty Sark · Painted Hall · Greenwich Market · Royal Observatory · General Wolfe statue

A Victorian market hall, Hawksmoor's church, the silk weavers' houses, Brick Lane's bagels and the street art of Shoreditch.

Old Spitalfields Market · Christ Church Spitalfields · Fournier Street · Brick Lane · Redchurch Street · Columbia Road Flower Market

The river walk east from the Eye past the Globe and Borough Market to Tower Bridge.

London Eye · Southbank Centre · Shakespeare's Globe · Borough Market · Tower Bridge

Planning the rest of the trip

These routes cover the walking. The London guide has where to stay, what a day costs at each tier, and what to book before you go.