What to see in London in 3 days: day-by-day itinerary

Season Snapshot — early May is one of London's best walking months: expect daytime highs near 17°C / 62°F, nights around 9°C / 48°F and showers on several days of the month, which is why layers, a light evening layer and compact rain gear are the entire packing strategy (plus shoes that handle wet pavement). Wherever you are flying or riding from, London greets you at one of three gateways: Heathrow in the west, Gatwick to the south, or St Pancras International, the Eurostar terminal and the rail hub for the Midlands and the North. Contactless bank cards and Oyster both work across the Tube, Elizabeth line, Overground and buses, with a single daily cap covering them together, so there is no need to queue for paper tickets. Your arrival day, Monday 3 May, is the Early May bank holiday — trains, roads and free attractions all run on holiday energy, so leave room in the plan and keep the first afternoon ticket-free. One honest caveat: I could not check live timetables or current fares for your specific route, so treat the arrival window as flexible and confirm your connection when you book. Before any crossing of town, a quick look at the TfL travel-status page for the Tube, Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR and trams saves a lot of platform staring.

Pack for a month that cannot make up its mind: a warm layer for 17°C afternoons, a proper jacket for 9°C nights, compact rain gear and shoes that can take a wet pavement — May in London sees showers on several days, and locals simply carry a small umbrella rather than trust a forecast. Daylight is generous, with sunset near 20:30, so an outdoor-heavy plan works late into the evening. Because Monday 3 May is the Early May bank holiday, free attractions and the South Bank will be noticeably busier than a normal Monday; your bank-holiday proofing is simply to keep Day 1 ticket-free and outdoors, as planned. If rain sets in, swap the Queen's Walk for free interiors already on your route — Tate Modern, or the National Gallery across the river — or duck into the Churchill War Rooms off Whitehall if you want something indoors with plenty of history. Buy timed tickets for the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey and reserve your hotel early: May is prime time in London and a bank holiday weekend squeezes both.

From the south end of Tower Bridge, drop down to the Thames Path and walk west with the river on your right: past Hay's Galleria, the converted 1850s wharf with its glass roof and bronze ship sculpture, along under the Shard and on to London Bridge. It is about twenty minutes at a stroll and the least stressful way to link the Tower and the Market. Along the way you pass HMS Belfast, moored as a floating warship museum — worth a look from the bank even if you do not board. If your legs are done after the Tower, London Bridge station sits directly beside the market and carries the Jubilee and Northern lines plus National Rail and Thameslink services, so a short hop replaces the walk entirely. Either way, keep to the river side of the road: the traffic on Tooley Street is not the point of the afternoon.

Back at your base by late afternoon, shower, change your shoes and reset — you have walked a full day and a West End evening deserves better than tired feet. When you head out again, London Bridge station is the launchpad: it carries the Jubilee and Northern lines plus National Rail and Thameslink services, so there is almost always something going your way, and on a dry evening the walk over Blackfriars Bridge and along the Strand reaches the West End in under an hour. Allow half an hour door to door, and check the TfL travel-status page first if you are on a tight schedule. Friends' trip etiquette: agree a meeting point and a rough finish time before you split up, because Soho's streets are a maze and phone signal in packed pubs is a lottery. If the group prefers the Covent Garden version of the evening instead, the piazza is about a twelve-minute walk east of Kingly Court and the street performers keep going well into the evening.

London's Tube winds down in the small hours and last trains on each line leave at slightly different times, so check the TfL travel-status page and your line's last departure before you sit down to dinner rather than at midnight. Night buses and black cabs fill the gaps if you run late, and there is no shortage of either in Soho. Fix a meeting point before the group spreads out: the Eros statue at Piccadilly Circus and the Covent Garden piazza are the two easiest reunion spots, both floodlit and busy. Soho's pavement drinking rules are simple — drink at the tables, not in the middle of the road — and in the theatre crowds it pays to keep phones and wallets out of back pockets. If you want a gentler end to the night, the walk from Soho down to the river at Embankment is twenty minutes of lit, busy streets with the best skyline reward at the end of it.

Keep this last hour free and let your departure dictate the shape of the day. If your flight or train is early, the honest move is to leave after Westminster Abbey and skip Covent Garden and Seven Dials; if you are leaving in the evening, this afternoon's route runs beautifully right up to the moment you collect your bags. For Heathrow, the Piccadilly line and the Elizabeth line are the two classic rail approaches from central London; for Gatwick, the trains from Victoria and the Thameslink services through London Bridge and St Pancras are the usual options; for the Eurostar, the Midlands and the North, St Pancras International is your station. Because timetables, engineering works and terminal arrangements change, check your operator's live timetable and the TfL travel-status page on the morning of travel rather than trusting an old habit, and build in a buffer — early May in London sees showers on several days, and a wet commute adds time nobody planned for. Contactless capping means you can tap straight onto the Tube or bus without buying a ticket, so even a last-minute dash stays simple. Then home, with a camera roll full of lions, ravens and floodlit clock faces.