London for New Year's Eve — Perfect Weather, Mamma Mia and a Countdown We Hadn't Planned
Five days in London over New Year's: Big Bus, Afternoon Tea at Café Royal, Mamma Mia! The Party — and what actually happens when you try to find a good spot for fireworks in London at midnight.
Carina had something planned. More than I initially had any idea about.
A surprise trip to London over New Year's Eve — five nights, everything booked in advance, not a single detail shared with me. We flew out of Hamburg to London Stansted on December 29th and back on January 3rd.
London. For New Year's. With the big highlight on December 31st — but more on that shortly.
Arrival and the First Lesson
Arrive in the evening, be hungry, assume a delivery service is the fastest option. That was our first mistake.
The food was genuinely terrible. Not a little off — completely inedible, wildly overpriced, and half of it ended up in the bin. The honest takeaway: it could only get better from there. And it did.
The Hotel — Motel One London Tower Hill
Carina's choice, and a smart one. Anyone who knows Motel One knows what they're getting: no surprises, solid standards, everything clean and functional. What sets the Tower Hill location apart isn't the hotel itself — it's the location. Tower Bridge is within walking distance. In London, that's a genuine advantage when you want to explore the city intensively over several days.
The breakfast: not a classic English. No beans, no bacon — cold cuts and rolls, tourist-friendly and decent. If you want the Full English, you'll need to leave the building.
The Oyster Card — Carina's Groundwork
Carina had sorted an Oyster Card in advance and topped it up — enough to cover almost the entire stay. That sounds like a small thing, but in London it's genuinely valuable. Tube, bus, Overground — everything runs on it, and with enough credit you can get anywhere in the city without thinking about fares at every stop.
Order online before you travel
What many people don't know: you don't need to get the Oyster Card at the airport. The Visitor Oyster Card can be ordered directly from the official TfL Visitor Shop online — it gets delivered to your home, so you arrive in London with credit already loaded. No queuing, no hunting for the right machine after a long flight.
How the billing works
The system is straightforward: tap your card on the yellow reader when boarding, tap again when you exit. The fare is automatically deducted from your balance. What makes the Oyster Card particularly useful is the daily cap — a ceiling on what you pay in a single day. For Zones 1 and 2 (the entire central London area) this is currently £8.90 per day. That means no matter how many journeys you make, you won't be charged more than that in a day. From your third Tube journey onwards, the card essentially pays for itself.
What happens when your credit runs out
On the bus, you can still make one final journey with a zero balance — the negative amount is collected next time you top up. On the Tube it's different: you need sufficient credit to pass through the barriers. Running it too low means the barrier won't open at the worst possible moment.
What to do with the card when you get home
The Oyster Card doesn't expire. If you hold onto it, you can simply top it up and use it on your next London trip. Worth keeping if you visit more than once.
If you'd rather have the remaining credit back: up to £10 can be refunded directly at Tube station ticket machines — touch the card to the reader, select "Oyster refund", and cash comes out. Over £10 needs to be requested by phone or online via TfL. From abroad, that means calling TfL Customer Services. The £7 card fee for Visitor Oyster Cards purchased after September 2022 is non-refundable — only the pay-as-you-go credit can be claimed back.
Day 1 — Tower Bridge, Big Bus and Afternoon Tea
Clear blue sky. December sun over London. What everyone says: London is grey and rainy. What we had: five days of full sunshine. Untypical, several people told us. We just enjoyed it.
Tower Bridge
The first stop — a natural choice given the hotel is practically in sight of it. Tower Bridge is exactly what you expect: iconic, impressive, and you still understand why everyone takes a photo. You've seen it in a hundred films, but standing there in person is something else.
Big Bus Tours — London from the Upper Deck
Carina had booked a day with Big Bus Tours — the hop-on-hop-off concept: one ticket, board and alight as many times as you like, different routes through the city, open upper deck in good weather. There are several operators in London, we rode with Big Bus. How much difference there really is between providers is hard to say — but the concept is definitely worth it, especially for a first visit when you want to cover a lot of ground in a short time.
The buses pass, among other things:
- Tower of London and Tower Bridge
- St Paul's Cathedral
- Tate Modern and Millennium Bridge
- Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
- Trafalgar Square and Whitehall
- Buckingham Palace
- Hyde Park and Marble Arch
- Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street
- Covent Garden
- Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge
Buckingham Palace and the King's Guard
We spent some time at Buckingham Palace — not only for the building itself, but for the King's Guard Sentry Patrol. At set times the guard marches, very formal, very British, very theatrical. With sunshine and a clear sky it felt even more ceremonial than it probably already is.
Afterwards we walked through the centre — Piccadilly Circus, through the shops, through the packed streets. London is remarkably crowded. It's hard to distinguish tourists from locals. One thing that stood out as a first-time visitor: it felt like almost every restaurant is run by Indians — that genuinely surprised me, and at the same time makes the city feel incredibly cosmopolitan. And despite all of that, you immediately get Sherlock Holmes vibes — you feel like you already know the city. Just from films. But that recognition in person is something quite special.
Afternoon Tea at Hotel Café Royal
That was Carina's idea. And a very good one.
Hotel Café Royal sits directly on Regent Street, a few steps from Piccadilly Circus — 68 Regent Street, London W1B 4DY. The Traditional Afternoon Tea is served daily from 12:00 to 17:30 in the Café Royal Grill: a listed room with gilded walls, mirrors, an ornate ceiling and live piano atmosphere. Oscar Wilde was a regular. The room looks like that's true.
What you get per person:
- Amuse-bouche — for example smoked salmon with chive crème fraîche and keta caviar
- Savoury sandwiches — cucumber with cream cheese, Cacklebean egg with mayonnaise, smoked trout with horseradish, poached chicken with tarragon mayonnaise
- Scones — classic, with preserves and clotted cream
- Patisserie — rhubarb yoghurt mousse, strawberry tart, chocolate brownie with pecan praline, raspberry choux
- Tea selection — Silver Needle, Japanese Sencha, Café Royal 1865 Breakfast Blend, Earl Grey, Lemon & Ginger and more
That's Carina, by the way — isn't she lovely?
Price: £85 per person, £170 for two — roughly €200, before service charge.
Is that a lot? Yes. Is it worth it? If you want to experience Afternoon Tea the way it was intended — in a room where the atmosphere is part of the event — then yes. This isn't a tourist checkbox. It's a deliberate decision to spend two hours doing something genuinely different. And it works very well here.
We spent the evening wandering through the city centre, no fixed destination, just soaking it in.
Day 2 — New Year's Eve
With 24h and 48h Big Bus Tours tickets, a one-way River Cruise with City Cruises is included — a single trip on the Thames that you need to download separately via the Big Bus portal and validate with staff at the pier before boarding. We started at Tower Millennium Pier and headed towards Westminster Pier along the Thames. What the bus doesn't show you, the boat does: the skyline in one continuous sweep, everything at once from the water. Highly recommended as a change of perspective.
Afterwards: a relaxed day through the centre, no major agenda, more food and drinks that caught our eye — the evening was where it was supposed to happen.
Mamma Mia! The Party
MAMMA MIA! The Party is a dinner show set in Nikos' Taverna, a Greek-themed venue inside The O2, North Greenwich (tube: North Greenwich, Jubilee Line) — created by ABBA founder Björn Ulvaeus, with the London production adapted by Sandi Toksvig. You sit at tables, receive a welcome drink, a four-course Greek dinner, and between courses follow the story of the taverna's characters: love, drama, humour, ABBA songs. The performers come to the tables throughout, and the evening ends with a disco section.
The decoration was elaborate, the location well designed, and the food genuinely delicious. We had our own section — that's not guaranteed, as you may be seated with other guests.
My honest take: I love musicals — but ABBA isn't my world. And that makes a difference. The show is well done, the atmosphere pleasant, the concept original. But if the songs don't move you, you're left with a nice evening rather than an unforgettable one. The food impressed me more than the music.
For ABBA fans this is an absolute must — no question. For everyone else: enjoyable, but probably not something you need to do twice.
The New Year's Eve timing: The show officially ends at 10 pm. If you want to ring in midnight inside, stay for the disco. If you want to see the fireworks, you leave The O2 at 10 pm — and find yourself in an overcrowded city with no plan. Know this in advance and make a conscious choice.
We went for the second option.
New Year's Eve in London — the honest version
London on New Year's Eve is not a normal evening. The city is in a state of exception.
The tube was packed. The streets were packed. The popular spots along the river so overwhelmingly crowded that you simply join the enormous mass of people and hope to inch closer to the water. It didn't work. We ended up standing somewhere where various buildings blocked most of the view. We could see the top half of the London Eye. We made peace with that.
What London genuinely gets right: no private fireworks. No rockets from the street, no bangers, nothing from private hands. The streets are closed, the fireworks are centrally organised — and afterwards the streets are clean. Anyone comparing that to New Year's Eve in Hamburg, Berlin or Frankfurt, where some areas resemble a war zone with sirens and emergency services in constant action, understands the difference immediately. German cities could learn something here.
My tip for New Year's Eve in London: If you want to see the fireworks, you need to be in position early. Realistically from 3 pm. The spots along South Bank, Waterloo Bridge and Victoria Embankment fill up fast and without compromise.
Day 3 — Fish & Chips at Carnaby Fish Bar
Nobody flies to London and doesn't eat Fish & Chips. That's simply not an option.
We headed to Carnaby and let the Carnaby Fish Bar make the decision for us: one Cod & Chips, one Haddock & Chips — the British classic in two versions, served in a metal basket with paper, a wedge of lemon and tartare sauce.
The difference between the two is worth knowing: Cod is milder, more neutral — the classic choice for a first try. Haddock has more character, more distinctive flavour. Both were excellent — crisp golden batter, soft and juicy inside, thick chips. Filling. Very filling.
Cost: £21 per dish, two Coke Zeros on top — around £50 in total. For a dish that started as working-class food, that's London pricing. The quality is there, and this is a deliberate stop rather than a quick snack.
The first evening's delivery food was a distant memory.
Day 4 — Breakfast Above the City and Camden
Duck & Waffle
Carina had reserved in advance — at Duck & Waffle, that's not optional. The restaurant is on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower at Bishopsgate. You ride up, the doors open, and you understand immediately why the place is so popular: floor-to-ceiling windows, views over London, breakfast high above the city.
We ordered the signature dish: Duck & Waffle — £26 per person. A crispy Gressingham Duck Leg Confit, a fried egg and Mustard Maple Syrup on a waffle. Plus ginger shots and juices.
The dish is not typically British. It's sweet-savoury, American-influenced, unexpected — and it works surprisingly well. The combination of soft waffle, rich duck, runny yolk and that sweet-sharp maple-mustard syrup makes sense in a way you wouldn't predict. I could have eaten a second portion. My stomach had other ideas — it's a heavy dish.
One thing upfront: we didn't have the ideal table. Duck & Waffle lives on its window seats — if you want a direct view over the city, make that clear when you reserve. Even so, the experience was special enough to justify the visit.
Cost: £26 per person, plus 15% discretionary service charge. Expensive for breakfast — but you're paying for the location and the 40th floor, not just the food.
Reservations: Up to two months in advance, sometimes with card guarantee required.
Camden Stables Market
Next: Camden Stables Market. Originally actual horse stables, now one of the most colourful and unconventional market areas in London — in Camden Town, near Chalk Farm Road and Camden Lock.
Camden is the opposite of Piccadilly or Mayfair. No elegant facades, no luxury brands — instead: brick walls, narrow alleys, vintage shops, streetwear, jewellery, street food from everywhere, neon lights, music. And the feeling that something different is waiting around every corner. Camden Market is a labyrinth — in the best possible way.
What you'll find there:
- Vintage clothing, leather jackets, alternative styles, jewellery, accessories
- Street food: dumplings, bao buns, tacos, falafel, desserts — a small world cuisine in a compact space
- The famous photo spot at the colourful umbrellas in the covered passage
- Along the Regent's Canal — a calmer counterpoint to the market bustle
Camden is touristy, crowded and not cheap. But it's one of those London places that genuinely feels different — younger, wilder, more creative. For a first visit, half a day here is well spent.
The Honest Verdict
London is a city you need to see — not because it's obligatory, but because recognising it in person is something different from the image in your head. You feel like you already know it from films. And still: Big Ben from the upper deck, standing at Buckingham Palace, walking through streets where you half-expect Sherlock Holmes to round the corner — that hits differently in real life.
London is expensive. London is extraordinarily crowded. And London on New Year's Eve has its own dynamics that are worth knowing before you make spontaneous plans.
What stays: Carina's surprise, which revealed a little more each day. The improbable sunshine across five days. The Afternoon Tea at Café Royal. Mamma Mia! The Party. The Fish & Chips in Carnaby. Breakfast above the rooftops.
Would we go back? Yes — with more time, an early position for New Year's Eve, and a window table at Duck & Waffle.
