Explore London like you’re a local

  • Avoid the icky and overpriced tourist traps

  • Experience what the locals LOVE but tourists usually miss

  • Explore the city’s best secret gems, according to this London

Does this sound like you? 

  • There are SO many recommendations online, but they’re mostly by other tourists so they’re extremely unreliable
  • The city is so big, so it’s so hard to make a plan to see the locally-loved areas and secret spots you’re finding without burning out
  • It takes WEEKS of research to even find the gems that are worth it and then figure out how to see them all in the most efficient way
  • A lot of the advice online doesn’t mention crucial info like price, if reservations are mandatory, friendliness for dietary requirements, wheelchair accessibility, and more
  • It’s hard to know which hidden gems you’ve read about are nearby when you’re on the ground in London. You miss out!

You deserve to have the city’s best hidden gems, as recommended by our London expert, right in the palm of your hand when you’re on the ground in London, without having to waste hours of your life trying to find out what’s actually worth it.

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I’ve found all of the city’s best-kept secrets for you

My Casual Tourist Guides (all updated for 2025) break down each area of London, showing you exactly where to find the spots that Londoners love—places I’ve seen tourists completely miss time and time again (such a shame!).

I’ve handpicked the city’s best restaurants, the coolest bars and pubs, underrated museums worth visiting, unique tours run by amazing independent businesses, and so much more.

Instead of wasting weeks trying to figure out which hidden gems are actually worth your time, you’ll have them all in the palm of your hand, ready to explore on the trip of a lifetime—without a tourist trap in sight!

Which areas are covered in each guide?

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Camden

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Hampstead

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Kings Cross

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Islington

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Kensington and South Kensington

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Notting Hill

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Little Venice

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Paddington

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Soho and Chinatown

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Marylebone, Fitzrovia and Mayfair

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Covent Garden

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Shoreditch

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Hoxton

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London Fields

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Victoria Park

Bermondsey

Peckham

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Brixton

What’s included in each Casual Tourist Guide?

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PDF Guide

A PDF Guide (instant download) with 50+ recommendations for food, drinks, points of interest, tours and more for the area you choose.

Digital Map

A Digital Map for your phone with ALL of the recommendations in the PDF.

THREE Notion templates

Including the My Must-Do's Database, To Do Checklist, and the Bookings and Tickets Tracker.

Dietary-friendly food spots

Dietary-friendly food spots (veggie, vegan and GF), wheelchair accessibility, hours of operation, where to book tickets/make reservations, and other crucial info

Printable Checklists

So you can keep track of which recommendations are your must-do’s.

Toilet Guide

Find public (and not so public) toilets while on the ground.

Every element of the Casual Tourist Guide is digital, so it will land straight in your inbox after purchase, and it works best on your devices— no printing required!

Get your 2025 Casual Tourist Guides 

All The Casual Tourist Guides to London 2025

All The Casual Tourist Guides to London 2025

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All The Casual Tourist Guides to London 2025

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The Casual Tourist Guides + Bonus Guides 2025

The Casual Tourist Guides + Bonus Guides 2025

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3 simple steps to explore London like a local

  • Step 1

    Download your PDF Guides and Notion template and access your Digital Map

  • Step 2

    Choose which recommendations you want to visit (we’ll tell you if you need to book in advance).

  • Step 3

    Use the Digital Map while in London to navigate to the city’s best kept secrets.

About your London Expert

Hi, I'm Jess Dante, the founder of Love and London.

When I moved from New York to London over ten years ago (originally for love, but that’s a long story), I started helping people with their visits to my new home that I was intently exploring. Then, I launched a YouTube channel and started helping my growing audience of future London tourists.

After seeing the massive success of my London itineraries, I could see that many of my community members were asking for something that was strictly hidden-gems-only, something that would be great for people who like to skip the attractions, have been to London before, or moved to London recently.

So in 2022 my team and I launched the Casual Tourist Guides to help tourists access the heartbeat of the city. They’ve been a hit ever since (just see all of the positive reviews at the bottom of the page!).

Both me and the Love and London team love helping people to have the stress-free trip they deserve and have been planning for years. ❤️

My promise to you…

  • Avoid tourist traps and wasting money on mediocre places.

  • Explore the places that Londoners ACTUALLY love, not what a random tourist on TikTok thinks is “authentic”.

  • Skip the exhauting days long research time. 

  • Feel good knowing you’ve visited amazing places that the typical tourist sadly always misses.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to receive my guide?

You'll receive these guides immediately upon purchase via digital download.

How do I save the guides to my phone/laptop?

To most easily access your Love and London guides and to make sure you can always reference them into the future, you’ll need to download your files to one or more of your devices. It’s fairly straightforward but if you are not sure how to do that then follow these steps.

Get in touch with us if you need us to reset your download attempts as each guide can be downloaded five times by default.

Have the Casual Tourist Guides been updated for 2025?

Yes! If you purchase it now you'll receive the 2025 version.

How are these guides different from your itineraries?

The itineraries include lots of the major attractions and also give you a designated route to follow which include both attractions and more local bits.

By contrast, The Casual Tourist Guides are strictly hidden gems. Underrated museums, locally-loved restaurants, interesting historic elements that people often miss, cool underground cocktail bars. Think super cool and local, to the point that we have even had lots of Londoners buy these guides to help them better explore their own city.

The Digital Maps for the Casual Tourist Guides don’t include a plan for how to hit up everything in the guide like the itineraries have, they are just general pins to show you where the recommendations are in relation to each other and to easily get transport directions to them.

I have one of your itineraries, are the Casual Tourist Guides similar?

Yes, there is some overlap depending on the itinerary.

For the 3-Day Itinerary, The Casual Tourist Guide to Central and East London overlap with days 2 and 3, and South London slightly overlaps with day 1. The best additions to this itinerary are West London and North London, both of which cover different areas.

For the 4-Day Itinerary, The Casual Tourist Guide to Central, East, and West London overlaps with days 2, 3, and 4. South London slightly overlaps with day 1. The best additions to this itinerary are North London, which covers different areas, and South London, if you want to explore Peckham and Brixton. However, note that the Bermondsey area will overlap.

For the 5-Day Itinerary, there is almost complete overlap. If you want to explore Peckham and Brixton, you can add the Casual Tourist Guide to South London. However, note that Bermondsey will feature in both guides.

For the 6-Day Itinerary, all of the Casual Tourist Guides overlap with it.

How do I choose which Casual Tourist Guide to purchase?

How do I choose which Casual Tourist Guide to purchase?

Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered! You can use this map to understand the London areas before or after you book your stay. Then, once you have decided on which area to book your hotel room in, or if you’d like to explore a particular area more in-depth, you can decide on which Casual Tourist Guide you’d like to purchase.

Is this suitable for families with children?

The cool thing about London is that many things during the daytime, work for families with kids, if your children are fairly well-behaved. That being said, we’ve not specifically made these guides with kids under 16 in mind.

I have really specific things I want to see, will this work for me?

With the guides we simply provide you with a list of the best local places to explore, eat, drink etc. You then decide which options sounds the best to you!

I have a physical disability. Will I be able to do everything in the guides?

Our guides have indicators telling you whether or not each recommendation is wheelchair accessible and there are plenty of options for those who need to avoid stairs. But if you have any questions or worries please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@loveandlondon.com.

I have a dietary requirement, do your food suggestions suit that?

London’s food spots are generally pretty good at accommodating this, and we’ve included a variety of options that should suit just about everyone. But even still in the guides we include icons indicating restaurants that are veggie-friendly, vegan-friendly and GF friendly.

That being said, you should always check the menu online yourself, and you can also phone up a restaurant before you go to ask what they can do for any requirements, as they might have a hidden menu you can choose from, or they can create something special for you if you give enough notice.

Jess is vegetarian, so if you are too, you’ll find plenty of food options in the guide. She also eats vegan very often and has close friends who need gluten-free so she knows how it goes :)

How far in advance should I buy this for my trip?

How far in advance should I buy this for my trip?

Buy it at least a week in advance, if you can. We recommend reading over the guide before you arrive to London, so you can familiarise yourself with our recommendations, and some attractions and restaurants require advance booking.

How are these guides different from what’s online?

Well, we’ve never seen any guides that include such a comprehensive digital map for your phone, which allows you to get real-time transportation and walking directions. Also, many “guides” you can find online are created by people who’ve only visited London, not LIVED here. They aren’t able to provide alternative food options for diet restrictions, where to find public toilets, or more crucially, tips that only someone who has lived here for years would know.

Also, why spend hours gathering info of things you think might be interesting to do, and trying to map everything out, when we’ve already done that for you?

Why do you charge money for this?

There are a couple of reasons. It took weeks to create the guides, starting with multiple days of on-the-ground testing, to writing the 50 or so recommendations for each guide and creating the map. If we didn’t charge for the guides, we simply couldn’t provide it to our community as it takes up so much time to create. Plus, as we're a business, there is a ton of overhead costs that we cover with the sale of our guides.

Jess also spends anywhere from £25-200 per week trying out new things around London, some of which is included in the guide, some of which is not worthy. Of course, all of those meals, drinks, and tickets cost a lot of money. But by Jess testing them out and only telling you about the best, you won’t have to waste your time and money too, because only the best of the best goes in our guides.

If we save you from one not-so-good moderately-priced meal, you’ve already paid yourself back for your purchase, never mind the hours and hours of research and planning you won’t have to do yourself.

What's the digital Map?

What's the digital Map?

The map includes all the recommendations mentioned in the PDF. It integrates with Google Maps and you can easily get walking, taxi and public transport directions to any of our recommendations. This is where you’ll find all the toilets marked off too!

Do I need data on my phone to be able to use the Digital Map on the go in London?

It absolutely works best when you have it. It will also allow you to get walking directions when needed, or transport directions when you’re planning to head back to your hotel once the day is done.

Here’s an article where we explain how to use your phone in the UK.

Which phones does the Digital Map work on?

It’s integrated with the Google Maps app, so it’s available for all phones that use iOS or Android operating systems.

Here's how to access and use our digital maps.

What do the Notion templates do?

The Notion templates will:

➤ Help you organise which of the recommendations in our Casual Tourist Guides are a “must visit” or a “skip” (and to hide the ones you want to skip so you don’t have to look at them anymore).

➤ Give you a handy digital checklist of the things you absolutely want to do (populated based off “must-visit” labels you’ve added).

➤ Show you which of your “must-visits” we recommend booking or buying tickets for in advance, and a place for you to keep track of which you’ve done and which you still need to book/reserve.

What are each of the Notion templates?

1️⃣ My Must-Do’s Database
Includes all the recommendations mentioned in the guide. You can use it to label each place with "must-visit" or "might visit" if you want to do them, or "skip" or "already visited" and the system will filter them out, keeping your list nice and clean. You can also filter your list to only see places in a certain category, or only the restaurants that are veggie-friendly, GF-friendly, etc.

2️⃣ To-Do Checklist
This digital checklist is automatically populated based on the places that you selected as a must-visit or might visit in the My Must-Do’s database. Use it when you’re on the ground in London to keep track of what you’ve hit and what you still have yet to explore.

3️⃣ Bookings and Tickets Tracker
Keep track of which of your must-do’s and might-do’s need to be booked or reserved in advance (and we only show you which ones do!) Includes the direct link to book tickets or make reservations so it’s easy to get everything done in one go.

How do I access the Notion Templates?

You'll find the Notion template linked on page 7 of your PDF; click the link and it'll open a separate Notion page. To be able to use the template yourself, you will need to duplicate the template to your own Notion account. Follow the step-by-step instructions on this page.

How to use the Notion templates with the Casual Tourist Guides?

Watch this video to see how to use the Notion templates with our Casual Tourist Guides.

What's the London Packing Guide?

The London Packing Guide will help you figure out what you need to pack for your London trip.

It's written by a local, so we know exactly what you'll need depending on the season. You’ll also get a printable packing list (for all the seasons), help with packing for London’s unpredictable weather, and info on what you absolutely must bring in order to be prepared for your trip.

The digital guide includes:

➤ London Weather Guide with weather averages by month so you can know what to expect“

➤ Do Not Forget” Guide of the things that tourists ALWAYS forget that can make or break your trip for London

➤ "Dress like a Londoner" Guide with suggested clothing items to bring for the weather you’ll experience (with links to ones we recommend)

➤ Packing Lists for each season (Printable PDFs + Notion templates) to make packing quick and easy

What's the London Spending Guide?

London is SUCH an expensive city, so it’s really easy to crush your budget without even noticing, especially when you’re also dealing with trying to do currency conversions in your head on the fly.

It’s also really hard to get a good idea of how much every part of your trip is going to cost, thinking about food, drinks, and little things like a late-night Uber ride after emerging from the club at 3am…

The London Spending Guide is a tool that does just that. It comes with:

1. London Cost Guide - a PDF filled with advice about getting and spending money in London, plus guides for how much you can expect to pay for certain parts of your trip, and recommendations for hotels, food, drink and activities for every budget level.

and...

2. London Budget Tracker - an easy-to-use but incredibly comprehensive Google Sheets template. Calculate how much money you need to save each month to pay for your trip, figure out the total amount you can spend, play with your numbers to see where you want to splurge and where you want to save, and keep track of your daily spending while in London so you can stay on budget. It's available for 30+ different currencies (see which ones below.)

How does the London Budget Tracker work?

You'll get a link to download the Google Sheets template within your files.

We also provide you with plenty of instructions on how to use the sheet, both in the document and via a video tutorial.

How tech saavy do I need to be to use this?

You'll want to know the basics of how Google Sheets works, but otherwise we provide you with plenty of instructions and all of the formulas are protected so it's almost impossible you to mess anything up.

Of course if you have any problems or questions, you can email us at hello@loveandlondon.com and we'd be happy to help.

Do you have recommendations in the Cost Guide for budget travelers?

Yes! We have a "budget" category for each section and we also recommend some hostels.

We're traveling as a family, does this work for us?

While the Cost Guide doesn't have a family-specific section, we included a few notes about which recommendations are kid-friendly (up to 13 years old). The Budget Tracker has a spot where you enter how many people you're travelling with and then the spreadsheet does all the math for you, when relevant.

Which currencies does this support?

It works with British Pounds (as you'll pay for most of your London things in ££) and it converts the following currencies:
United States dollar - US$
Euro - €
Japanese yen - 円 / ¥
Pound sterling £
Australian dollar - A$
Canadian dollar - C$
Swiss franc - CHF
Renminbi - 元 / ¥
Hong Kong dollar - HK$
New Zealand dollar - NZ$
Swedish krona - kr
South Korean won - ₩
Singapore dollar - S$
Norwegian krone - kr
Mexican peso - mex$
Indian rupee - ₹
Russian ruble - ₽
South African rand - R
Turkish lira - ₺
Brazilian real - R$
New Taiwan dollar - NT$
Danish krone - kr
Polish złoty - zł
Thai baht - ฿
Indonesian rupiah - Rp
Hungarian forint - Ft
Czech koruna - Kč
Israeli new shekel - ₪
Chilean peso - CLP$
Philippine peso - ₱
UAE dirham - د.إ
Colombian peso - COL$
Saudi riyal - ﷼
Malaysian ringgit - RM
Romanian leu - L
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