Last New Year, we spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s—also known as my birthday week—in the United Kingdom! Our trip began in Scotland, where we celebrated Hogmanay, and wrapped up in London, our departure city for the flight home. In this post, I’m sharing how we spent three very fast days exploring London in January.

DAY ONE: A TRAIN FROM GLASGOW, LUNCH AT THE PRADA CAFFÈ, A GUINNESS, AND ONE OF OUR FAVORITE DINNERS

Our first day in London actually began in Glasgow, Scotland, where we boarded a train from Glasgow Central to London Kings Cross station. We were lucky that we boarded early and had seats, as another train on the same line broke down, and many, many passengers joined our train. It was largely standing room only for most of the ride to London (which is over 4 hours!). As we very luckily had seats, it didn’t bother us too much. We arrived in London just a bit behind schedule. We took a Black Cab to our hotel in Kensington, the Kensington Marriott.

We didn’t have too much time at our hotel, as we had a late lunch reservation at the Prada Caffè, located inside Harrods department store! I convinced my husband and my friend’s husband to go with be under the guise of a “Birthday lunch.” And, I had so much fun! The Prada Caffè is very Prada, very cute, and the food was shockingly quite good. The menu was Italian, inspired by Prada’s flagship in Milano, and while I am super picky about Italian food (being a citizen and all), this meal was legit. We, of course, also did a bit of shopping at Harrods before heading back to the hotel. If you are considering going to Harrods the weekend after New Years, known that Harrods decorations were still up almost a week out (although I think they came down the next day) and it was SUPER crowded.

We took a quick rest and a visit to the Kensington Marriott’s Executive Lounge (which was juuust OK) before venturing to Soho for an excellent pint of Guinness at a wonderful pub called The Toucan Guinness Bar. The Toucan, per its own website, is known as being one of the best pints of Guinness outside Dublin, and I must agree. The Toucan is also old, a bit dirty (in a good way), and has loads of Guinness paraphernalia. We stayed for two pints, but I could have stayed all night. I even purchased a sweatshirt to take home.

Our Guinness was followed by dinner and one of my and Dan’s very, very favorite restaurants worldwide, Bao Soho! We first diner at Bao here back in 2017, and Bao is just great as ever. Given that there were four of us, we split a ton of things. Highlights were, not surprisingly, the bao bunds (of course!), but everything was incredibly delicious. Pro tip – make a reservation and ensure you know which location you are visiting (as there are several).

We ended the evening with a British cider at the Duke of Argyll pub. And while the Duke of Argyll did not serve Guinness and was not as cute as The Toucan (IMO), it was still a fun vibe. And I really enjoyed the name.

We went to bed after this as (1) we had a very BIG day the following day and (2) pubs close early in London (around 11 PM)!

DAY TWO: A TOTTENHAM FOOTBALL MATCH, A PINT AT A JACK THE RIPPER PUB, AND DINNER AT A TRADITIONAL ENGLISH PUB.

We were up early the following morning for our big, full day in London. And today, we were spending the majority of the day at a Tottenham Hotspurs match! After a relatively quick breakfast at the Kensington Marriott, we really bundled up and rode the Tube to White Heart Lane. This was easy and quick; highly recommend the Tube to get there.

We intentionally arrived early and before entering the game, we stopped in for a pint of Guinness (!!) at Bricklayers, which is a pub for Tottenham supports (or “fans” for us foreigners). This was very fun, and kind of crazy. The pub opened around 10:00 AM and we were in line to go in right when it opened. The staff is very particular about only permitting Tottenham guests inside, and everyone was in a good mood wearing their Tottenham gear. As we did not (yet) have any Tottenham swag, we wore the team colors and had absolutely no problem getting inside. We enjoyed Guinness in a plastic cup with lots of other Tottenham supporters, some of whom were getting very rowdy!

We left Bricklayers after a pint to venture into the Tottenham gift shop to purchase some Tottenham gear. The Tottenham gift shop is insanely large and offers TONS of Tottenham swag. There were even some decent sales. We purchased far too much swag for someone attending their first game… For those planning a similar itinerary, the gift store is OUTSIDE the stadium (although there are some smaller stands inside I believe) and you still must enter the stadium after checking out. Leave plenty of time.

We eventually left the store, walked to the entrance, and made our way to one of Tottenham’s Premium Lounges, access to which came with our tickets. And, pro tip, if you are coming far, or a special occasion for a game, certain tickets come with access to a lounge. Ours included free food for two hours before the game, a complimentary pint at half time, and access to the lounge after the game for 1 hour. Aside from halftime, there are for-pay bars serving a full bar, including Guinness! This is definitely something to consider. We enjoyed lunch and drinks in the lounge, before finding our seats, which had excellent views of the field. Tottenham luckily won! While I was glad they won, especially for our friend, but highlights for me were the halftime beer and Cadbury hot chocolate!

After the game, we unfortunately found ourselves walking much, much further than expected. The Tube was down due to preplanned maintenance (we should have looked into this in advance) and due to that, taxis were ridiculous difficult to find. After walking a lot and stopping into a grocery store for a snack, we finally found an Uber to take us to The Ten Bells in Spitalfields. Very cold, I had never been so ready for a pint! Aside from the warmth, The Ten Bells was a cute old pub that still had up its Christmas decorations. Not so cute, The Ten Bells is also closely associated with the infamous Jack the Ripper, whose last victim sadly left the pub just becoming Jack the Ripper’s final victim. A bit of a downer for sure. It didn’t stop us from enjoying our pint.

We ensured to leave The Ten Bells with enough time to walk down Regent Street to see its Christmas lights and do a bit of shopping. Regents Street is one of London’s most famously decorated streets for Christmas, featuring angels lighting up the entire street. It was very pretty. Next time, however, I sill try to go super early (or late) to see them without all of the crowds. Regent Street was giving a bit of New York at Christmas crazy vibes when we visited, despite it being a week past Christmas at this point (I think the lights came down the following day).

Our evening ended with a very traditional British pub in Kensington called The Britannia. Here, we tried all the classic dishes, from Scotch Eggs to a traditional roast, to a Plum and Apple Crumble. The food was very good – just what we were looking for on our last evening in London (for now!).

DAY THREE: BREAKFAST AT DISHOOM, A HOT CHOCOLATE, AND A GREAT AIRPORT LOUNGE AT HEATHROW

We sadly left London on our third day, but not before a few exciting things! First, we started with breakfast at Dishoom in Kensington. If you didn’t read my other posts on Dishoom (and you should – here and here), Dishoom is excellent, and its breakfast is no exception. We enjoyed Dishoom’s breakfast sandwich, which ended up being one of my favorite things of the trip. INCREDIBLE.

We also made one more stop for hot chocolate at Knoops (which we first had in Edinburgh on the first day of our trip) before heading to Heathrow airport. And, very exciting for me, I saw a real Dalmatian dog walking down a street in Kensington. Truly, a life long dream!

Once at the airport, we spent a very fun time at the recently opened No. 1 Lounge in Heathrow’s Terminal 2 before going to our gate, which was a bit of a walk. Our flight was unfortunately super delayed due to technical difficulties, but we eventually made it back home after a great weekend in London!

STEAL OUR TRIP

Kensington Marriott: 147C Cromwell Rd, London SW5 0TH, United Kingdom. Executive Lounge on site.

Prada Caffè: Harrods Ground Floor, Entrance via, 87-135 Hans Rd, Brompton Rd, London SW1X 7XL, United Kingdom. You can read my post about this here.

The Toucan Guinness Pub: 19 Carlisle St, London W1D 3BY, United Kingdom. Open Monday – Tuesday 4:00 PM – 11:00 PM, Wednesday – Saturday 12:00 PM – 11:00 PM. Closed Sunday.

Bao Soho: 53 Lexington St, Carnaby, London. Open daily for lunch and dinner, all day on Saturday and Sunday (no late afternoon closure).

The Duke of Argyll: 37 Brewer St, London W1F 0RY, United Kingdom. Open daily 12:00 PM – 11:00 PM. No website.

The Bricklayers: 803 High Rd, London. Open daily 11 – midnight, earlier if there is a game.

Tottenham Hotspurs: This is the team’s official website.

The Ten Bells: 84 Commercial St, London E1 6LY, United Kingdom. Open daily 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM.

The Brittania: 1 Allen St, London W8 6UX, United Kingdom. Open daily 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM, kitchen closes earlier.

Dishoom Kensington: 4 Derry St, London W8 5SE, United Kingdom. Open daily 8 AM – 11 PM, opens at 9 AM on Saturday & Sunday. Reservations, which can be made for breakfast and lunch, recommended, but only necessary at the busiest of times. You can read my post about Dishoom Kensington here.

Knoops: 80 Kensington High St, London. Open daily 7 AM – 11 PM.

No. 1 Lounge Heathrow Terminal 2: London Heathrow Terminal 2, post-security. Turn right after security and take the elevator or escalator down 1 flight of stairs. Turn right behind the Louis Vuitton cafe and you’ll find another elevator (with a sign) to take you to the lounge. Complimentary access with Priority Pass. 3 hour passes available for purchase online (40 pounds/person). You can read my post on it here.