Cycling round London to see the sights, what is it like?

Start by looking at the cycle superhighway map and go from there. In central London, they're actually very good.
Cycling along the Thames path is another option but can be frustrating at busy times.

There's loads to do, and London is pretty good for cycling round. The vast majority of car, van and lorry drivers have seen cyclists before and most are aware that they're not really allowed to push them out of the way or drive over them.
It depends what kind of sightseeing your friend wants to do? Cultural, food based, big ticket sights, nice views, shopping etc?

Cambridge to London cycle would likely take you on some pretty scary roads, certainly until the Lea Valley path starting around Hertford.

As with most cities, the centre is well served by cycle lanes and parks. The suburbs are horrific.

I cycled across central London for the first time in years recently, a weekday, and was amazed at how quiet it was. Lovely.

I cycle around London a lot. Prefer to walk…..far less stressful.
Anyway, here’s a suggestion for a days easy sightseeing on foot…
I’d start at St Pauls, from there cross the Millenium Bridge to Southbank probably a 5 minute walk at most, there’s the Tate and Shakespeares Globe. Now head towards Tower Bridge, approximation 20 mins walk, past Boris’s Helmet and over the bridge. Time/plan it correctly you’ll have time for a quick coffee/beer, then jump on a boat trip to Westminster, jump off and see Parliament and Westminster abbey. From there walk up Whitehall saying hi to Boris as you go past Downing Street. You’re at the mall/Trafalgar Square junction. You can go straight towards Buckingham Palace if you wanted to or you have the National Gallery a minutes walk away. For me you then have the conundrum, walk through St James Park to Buckingham Palace or head towards Leicester Square. I’d head to Buck Palace, then from there to Hyde Park Corner. Then walk along Picadili to Picadili Circus.

Just an example of what me and Mrs W do. I’ve missed loads of detail, you can go to the shard, the Sky Gardens etc with minor detours. As we’re not really shoppers we dont bother with Oxford Street, we would end the day by jumping a cab to Camden for beers and food.

For a non cyclist?  My advice would be walk.  Cycling in London will be stressful and difficult if you are not used to it

Alexie Sayle seems to enjoy it.

I took my family and German exchange student on a "cycle London" tour. It was the best day out for all for many a year. I thought I knew London, turned out I didn't really.

I love it. Just stay away from arterial routes at rush hour (ans the superhighways!) and it can be very relaxing and pleasant.

London's a bit unusual in that there are places where the volume and speed of cyclists at rush hour is more of an issue than cars. For example Chelsea Embankment.

With regards places to go, I like riding around fancy West London places like Marylebone on back street and seeing loads of cool buildings, many of which house good places to eat. Also check out the City which seems to have very few cars during the day.

Cycling in London will be stressful and difficult if you are not used to it

Talking from recent experience TJ?
Or just the usual having an opinion on everything?

Under covid restrictions me and the mrs did a fair bit of riding in the city linking up quiet ways and cycle routes. Did a lot of exploring in the city (financial) at the weekends and found plenty of bits I hadn’t seen before (25+years resident) and a lot of history and architecture.
I would steer clear of the obvious tourist hotspots
Best bit was showing my partner the Postman’s Park with the memorials to self sacrifice ‘fallen in a pot of tar’ and other odd ways to shuffle off the planet.
We weren’t the only ones taking to the city, it was full of people on rental bikes who outnumbered the motorised traffic.

You can link the parks up as well without having to deal with difficult junctions as the cycle infrastructure is quite advanced now so the Mall, constitution hill and Apsley way (Wellington Arch) into Hyde park are stress free.

Why not use the Boris Bikes?
If your friend gets cold feet you can just sack it off and go to the pub. Also no need to carry locks or worry about security.
I’ve never used them in London, but did some sightseeing in New York on their CityBikes and found it a great way to get around.

Get train into KingsX, and Boris bike it to whatever you want to see.

Superhighways are very low stress unless you’re in the height of rush hour when the stress level might rise to 10%.

There's quite a few Quiet Routes in central London now they're pretty good.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/routes-and-maps
If just work out what you and your friend want to visit and work out a reasonable route. As long as your friend is confident on the road and used to being near to cars it'll be fine.
The current Google maps cycling routes aren't too bad to use as a basis to planning.

Cycling in London will be stressful and difficult if you are not used to it

cycling in London is probably easier than most cities in the UK. Especially if you're doing tourist and if you chose the time you do it.

Probably easiest just to use the TfL bikes.

As per pretty much everyone else's posts above, it's not a big deal. The infrastructure is excellent.

Plenty of cycle lanes, slow traffic and bike parking everywhere if use the Santander / TfL bikes.

Avoid rush hours on the cycle lanes and you'll be fine.

Organised cycling tours are a great suggestion too.

Talking from recent experience TJ?

Yes  reasonably recent.  The OP says a non cyclist.  IMO cycling in london if you are not used to it is stressful.  I enjoy it but I am used to urban cycling and its again IMO a lot worse than Edinburgh for example

Its just an opinion.  experienced cyclist go for it.  Non cyclist be wary

cycling in London is probably easier than most cities in the UK. Especially if you’re doing tourist and if you chose the time you do it.

This^^^. Moved here from Devon in August and easiest place I’ve ever ridden. Amazingly and to my pleasant surprise, on the whole the drivers here seem to be more courteous than the miserable old gammons in Devon who would rather run you over than get to Aldi 1 minute slower. The speed limit is generally 20mph which I think is probably why most people appear more relaxed and some of the dedicated cycle lanes are great. Would highly recommend a cycling tour and great itinerary above. Weirdly, driving in cities and towns with 30mph speed limits seems more stressful now.

I took a bargain folding bike to get me round London on a recent visit....great fun! Would definitely do it again!
I did need my Garmin head unit to navigate however, which worked a treat. I used Komoot to plan my trips.

Have cycled lots round New York; less interesting, but far more straightforward navigation due to the grid layout. Far better cycle infrastructure IMHO.

My wife who doesn’t ride absolutely hated it. Possibly mistake we made was riding directly from the main station, Euston towards Kings Cross initially, then back towards Farringdon before heading down Tottenham Court Road. Busy, noisy, drivers in a hurry and not giving too much space. This was a Friday, weekends may be a lot quieter.
I was fine, but I’m used to riding in London…still don’t like the area near Euston and I’ve been doing it 20 years. This was 2018, she hasn’t and won’t ride in London since that trip.

heading down Tottenham Court Road

No wonder she hated it. There's lovely side roads through squares and old buildings that you can meander through instead. And that's where all the interesting stuff is.

 

No idea why or how I've quoted myself

I have a friend who is not really into cycling

I guess the only real question is How confident are they in traffic? If it's just touristica you're after then I'd aim for a weekend where like most big cities the traffic's much lighter, and if you've got no time scale  and no real end point other than the square mile of the centre, you can meander "That way..." to see where you get to rather than "I have to be in the office by 08.30 so what's the quickest route"

I love riding around London. I did a ride on Christmas Day over every bridge in town starting at Tower Bridge and just going all the way down to Richmnond. Started late afternoon so it was dusk and then went into nighfall with the river all lit up. Was a really lovely ride and almost zero traffic (mainly, no buses which was wonderful)

A few points. Use the hire bikes. Ride for 25 mins, park it up at a docking station, stroll to the next one, hire the next bike and so on. It's £2 for 24hrs and you get as many <30 min hires in that time as you want. If you go over 30 mins though, it starts to get pricy. £1 for the first 30 mins over and then increasingly steep charges. They're not designed for long rides, they're specifically designed for short hops. If you use your own bike you avoid that "is it 30 mins yet?" thing but then you just run into the problems of where to lock it if you want to stop for lunch.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles

The Cycle Superhighways up in town are generally excellent although they can get crowded sometimes. Look around before turning or swerving off to one side of a photo stop, there will often be some idiot weaving through on an e-scooter or something. Usually though, it's a pretty low stress way of getting around.

Have a read of something like this before you go:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/bike-london/charlie-allenby/9781788841030

There are a few books now about cycle routes and tours in London. There's loads of stuff off the beaten track: beautiful little cobbled mews, tiny squares and plazas and gardens, lovely independent coffee shops and quirky pubs. Worth having an idea of where you're going, what you want to do and see etc before just riding into town. If you just meander round, you'll likely miss everything other than the main tourist sites that everyone knows.

As you're starting over Kings Cross way, it's worth just making your way west gradually and then maybe getting the Tube back at the end of the day.

csb
Full Member
Cambridge to London cycle would likely take you on some pretty scary roads, certainly until the Lea Valley path starting around Hertford

I ride to / from London throughout the year from my corner of Cambs, and as long as you have no desire to go the same route you would in a car there are plenty of routes that see you on lanes and minor roads well into town (and onto the TFL routes) and thats not including riding down the Lea Valley path from Ware

That said, I'd not be rushing to take anyone not that confident with me anytime soon

Living in Edinburgh and having been down in London last weekend, apart from the converted railway paths round Edinburgh which are great, so much of the cycle infrastructure I saw in London was leagues ahead of what we have here. If you're wanting to see the sights, then go on a Sunday, far less motorised traffic and you can string some great routes together. Agree with the suggestions above, get the Boris bikes - as some sections are nicer walk so you can ditch them for a bit, then cycle other parts and the Thames clipper is a great way to see London from the water which offers a different perspective again - you can always head down to Greenwich first then back up to Westminster.

On a clear day like this, cycling across the Thames bridges is pretty epic

Here's an example. This is @51.5185203,-0.1678984,3a,75y,291.38h,85.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWfld_Awyedu964RFhSnTyA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192">Edgeware Road

And this is @51.5170313,-0.1683806,3a,75y,146.92h,85.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLZETwa4f_agWL89QMB_ZLg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192">Norfolk Crescent, one block over.

@51.5222375,-0.1565708,3a,75y,261.49h,94.16t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sSdOHo146Eq4snjte3BJbRg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DSdOHo146Eq4snjte3BJbRg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D359.40662%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192">Marylebone Road

@51.5204707,-0.1594095,3a,75y,246.53h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1save6d5IkQ0g4knLX8o6QFg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dave6d5IkQ0g4knLX8o6QFg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D100.178215%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192">York St, one block over.

They are very good at creating good cycling environments. Loads of places are no entry or one-way for cars, but bikes can go through. This opens up all the back streets for cycling whilst keeping cars off them.

Makes me want to hop on a train and meander around some of my old haunts for a day. Is that weird?

I had an urban off-road route sorted when I lived in Putney. Really really good ride including lots of steps, technical features, alleyways and a couple of the parks etc. Not talking Danny Macaskill stuff here, just a nice link up with some interesting secret trails and including some of the tourist sights. Will see if I can dig out the old map I made of the route. Was hand drawn but if I find it will post it up.

I cycle in regularly from Surrey and the current road set up with the dedicated cycle lanes works incredibly well. I doubt you'll have many run ins as we all seem to coexist with minimal agro. Just accept that people will get a little closer than normal, but it isn't malicious (usually!).

One piece of advice would be if you are taking your own bikes then take two strong locks per bike. Seriously! Even remotely average bikes have a tendency to be liberated! If not, get the train and get a Santander bike.

TfL bikes and avoid the Thames path. Head for a big site, drop the bike off and have a look round before grabbing another and moving on to the next. You've then got zero commitment to a bike but access when you need it.

In general, if people go to walk it's frustrating to cycle there.

Makes me want to hop on a train and meander around some of my old haunts for a day. Is that weird?

Not at all Martin,I feel the same.
I love cycling around London (much more than in Edinburgh),and as others have said ,if you are not in a hurry,plan the journey and pay attention,it's a great way to see the city.

I finally gave up waiting for my friend to find some free time. Plus he wanted to take the train down and back. So I went down on the Saturday of the Jubilee.

It was excellent, cycling around was far nicer than being in a car worrying about parking.

This was on the way out in the morning.

Lea Valley

Cafe in the Lea valley, seemingly run mainly for the benefit of the resident dogs. I approve.

Bike with bridge.

Regent's canal:

Never get to stop and look at the sights when you go in by car, or on the tube.

On the way home....anyone who has done the London-to-Cambridge will recognize this, but normally it has hordes of exhausted cyclists collapsed on the way up that enormous mountain.

Fantastic. Best way to see London.