Student city guide to London: top 10 things to do

Check upcoming open days and book your place

You’ve decided to study in London – congratulations! You’ve just made the best decision of your life so far. London is a huge city, with so much stuff to do. So much that you might not even know where to begin.

So, here's our guide of the top 10 things you must do before leaving (as if you ever would) to get you started...

1) A guided tour

London Original Tour Bus London Eye Sightseeing Source: ratemyplacement.co.uk

Good for: Getting your bearings.

What it is: A fun way to see all of London’s main sights and learn some important info all in one go.

Why you should go: London is huge. And while most tours will only cover the central London area, it’s still a good way to get you bearings when you first arrive and get an idea of where all the main attractions are in relation to one another. You have plenty of choice when it comes to sightseeing tours in London: you can go by foot, by bus or by riverboat. Here’s a list of some of the London tours you can take:

London sightseeing bus tours
London sightseeing by night bus tours
London ghost bus tour
Walking tours
River boat tours

2) The touristy things

Tower Of London Source: wikipedia.org

Good for: Learning all about London, entertaining parents, providing hours of fun.

What it is: London’s most notable monuments, palaces and attractions.

Why you should go: When you first arrive in London, you’ll shun the tourist attractions. You’re not a tourist, after all. You live here. That will last for about a week. London’s top tourist spots are pretty pricey, but they’re a great way to learn all about the fascinating history of your new home, entertain your friends and family when they come to stay, or just have a jolly good laugh. There are far too many attractions in London to list, but here are a few of the most famous:

3) The museums and galleries

Natural Histry Museum dinosaur Source: flickr.com

Good for: Looking at dinosaur bones, escaping the rain for a few hours.

What it is: Pretty self explanatory — London is full of fascinating museums and art galleries.

Why you should go: London’s museums are world famous and most are free to enter (although donations are really appreciated). Same goes with the art galleries, although you have to pay for special exhibitions. Go out, get cultured, and fill your head with free knowledge. The large central London museums are a must, but there are some fascinating finds off the beaten track as well. Here’s a few of the best of both:

The National History Museum (pictured, free)
The Science Museum (free)
The Victoria and Albert Museum (free)
The National Gallery (free)
The National Portrait Gallery (free)
Churchill's War Rooms (entry fee)
Tate Britain (free)
Tate Modern (free)
Horniman Museum (free)
Dulwich Picture Gallery (entry fee)

4) The parks

Regent's Park London fountain Source: wikimedia.org

Good for: Sunbathing, boating, picnics, literally stopping to smell the roses.

What it is: London’s finest gardens and green spaces.

Why you should go: London might not be known for its warm weather, but when the sun is shining, in the park is the place to be. There are eight royal parks in central London, which tend to be the most popular, particularly with tourists. For those willing to venture a little further north there are fantastic views to be had from Primrose Hill, and if you brave the journey south of the river, Crystal Palace is a grade II listed heritage park with a very special surprise in it (hint: it’s dinosaurs). Here are a few favourites:

5) The pubs

Source: Londonist.com

Good for: Drinking all your problems away.

What it is London’s finest purveyors of glorious, glorious alcohol.

Why you should go: Because Londoners are essentially alcoholics and pretty much all of our major life events take place in pubs. Birthday? Pub. Anniversary? Pub. Got a big promotion? Pub. Tuesday? Pub. There are quite possibly more pubs in London than there are people, and so attempting to pick out any individual favourites would be sheer folly. Instead, here’s some of the best areas for drinking:

Fleet Street (home to some of London’s oldest pubs)
Whitehall (a lot of 19^th Century pubs, some off duty politicians)
Soho (party pubs, and London’s biggest LGBTQ district)
The City (good for conning rich bankers into buying you champagne)
Everywhere on the Monopoly board (the Monopoly Pub Crawl is a tradition among people who have absolutely no respect for their livers)

6) The clubs

Good for: Getting your groove on.

What it is: A darkened room generally associated with loud music and heavy alcohol consumption.

Why you should go: Well, you’ve got to go somewhere when the pubs close, and this is London, baby, the city that never sleeps thanks to the night tube, so there’s no reason why that place has to be ‘home, to bed’ (although it’s probably a good idea the night before an exam).

Similarly to pubs, there are too many to list, but trust us when we say there are nightspots to suit everybody’s taste in the capital, whether you’re into reggae, rock and roll, jazz, or dubstep. Here’s a few places to try by area:

The East: Shoreditch, Dalston (full of achingly trendy hipsters dancing to genres of music you didn’t know existed, because you’re just not as cool as them)
Central and West End: Soho, Leicester Square (mainstream pop and dance, some indie, the most expensive drinks on earth)
The North: Camden (punk, goth and alternative)
The South: Croydon

7) The transport network

London Emirates Air Line Cable Car Source:artymind.com

Good for: Getting from A to B.

What it is: A complex network of roads, rails and cables.

Why you should go: Sure, you could travel everywhere by tube, but there are so many other ways of getting around in London. Did you know you can use your Oyster card on boats? Or cable cars? Here are all the ways you can get around...

London Underground (aka, the tube)
London Buses (much cheaper than the tube)
DLR (Docklands Light Railway, basically a slow rollercoaster)
Thames Clipper (river boat services)
IFS Cloud Cable Cars, previously Emirates Air Line
Bikes
Walking (it’s a lot easier than you might think to navigate London on foot)

8) Eating out

Good for: Filling your stomach.

What it is: A selection of London’s premier eateries.

Why you should go: Eating out in London is like nowhere else in the world. Whatever kind of cuisine you crave, from Austrian to Zimbabwean and literally everything in between, you’ll find a restaurant to tingle your taste buds in London, with dining in the capital within reach of all budgets. You’ll find a wide range of options to explore in every area of the city, but here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Street food/world food: Camden, Borough
Steak houses: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus
Curry: Brick Lane
Burger bars and American diners: Brixton, Soho
Posh nosh: Mayfair, Knightbridge, Kensington
Cheap eats: pretty much every street has either a kebab shop, a Greggs, or a McDonalds.
High rise restaurants: (Such as the Searcys on the 38^th floor of the Gherkin) the city

9) Shopping

Good for: Spending all your money.

What it is: Purveyors of clothes, CDs and all sorts of other shiny new things.

Why you should go: London has some of the best shopping in the world, and whatever you need, you won’t find yourself short of options when it comes to splashing the cash. Here are some of the best places to go shopping in the capital:

Oxford Street (pictured: the longest, and quite possibly busiest, shopping street in the UK)
Westfield Centre (two huge shopping malls, one at Shepherd’s Bush, the other at Stratford)
Bruton Street, Conduit Street and Bond Street (the designer enclave)
Camden (countless markets selling everything)
Greenwich (check out the market for fun arts and crafts items)
Hatton Garden (London’s jewellery quarter)

10) The West End

Good for: Being entertained for hours on end.

What it is: Shops, theatres, cinemas, comedy clubs, restaurants...just about everything.

Why you should go: There’s nowhere quite like the West End for stepping out on the town in London. The West End is where you’ll find the main drag of the theatre district on Shaftesbury Avenue and the major cinemas where all the star-studded premiers are held in Leicester Square. It was made for entertainment. Here’s a list of what you’ll find in the West End:

The theatre district
Comedy clubs (The Comedy Store is here, and plenty of underground venues)
Huge cinemas
Restaurants (think Planet Hollywood, TGI Friday, and Angus Steak Houses)
Casinos
Pubs, nightclubs and bars
Shops and attractions (like M&Ms World)

Key info about London

Far and away the largest city in the UK, as well as its capital, London has dozens of universities and higher education colleges spread across the city from the outskirts to the very centre, including Goldsmiths, University of London, Birkbeck, University of London and King's College London to name a few.

One of England’s oldest settlements, you’ll be surrounded by both historical monuments and gleaming, modern skyscrapers. Whether you’re looking for museums and galleries or pubs and clubs, you won’t be disappointed by the city’s cultural and social opportunities.

London is also a central transport hub, with excellent rail connections to most other major towns and cities in the UK.

Is London your dream destination? Start searching for London-based universities here.