Expert UK + London Packing List: Save Time, Money & Sanity

Packing for London and the UK can be tricky – there’s the weather, mobile data, charging converters, shoes…the list goes on.

So to keep it simple, I’ve created a London packing list of the things I use everyday and you shouldn’t travel to the UK without.

I’ve also included what not to bring (like that hairdryer) that can only cause headaches.

Save time and money by bringing these things to London & the UK – and not scrambling to buy them once you get here – and have a happier trip!

Here’s my UK travel list of absolute essentials: all the stuff that will make your time in the UK easier and more efficient.

Comprehensive packing list for traveling to the UK and London, featuring categories such as Clothing, Essentials, Travel, and Additionals. Items listed include tops, bottoms, outerwear, comfortable shoes, tickets, passport, UK SIM card, snacks, water bottle, power bank, passport photocopies, umbrella, hat, and travel documents, all set against a deep blue background with a red check mark indicating completeness.

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Things to Bring to London & the UK: Purchase Before You Travel

Here are my London travel essentials that you might not already have, and should buy before you arrive. Trust me, it’s cheaper to buy them in your home country than to purchase them here!

Key items to purchase before traveling to London: a white and red power bank, a white multi-plug travel adapter, and a hand holding a smartphone with a UK SIM or ESIM, against a teal background with the text 'Purchase Beforehand'.

1. Travel Adapter

This should be number one on your packing list for London. The UK, like many other destinations, uses a different electrical outlet configuration.

Make sure to get a good quality universal Europe travel adaptor that has a USB port. That way you can charge your phone with the USB port, and everything else with the socket at the same time.

Purchase one for each person traveling to the UK.

2. Portable Charger

All that London sightseeing is amazing for photos, but hard on your phone battery.

If you’re using Google Maps or Citymapper to navigate throughout the day, your phone can die quickly from all the data it’s sucking.

Reception also tends to be poor in crowded places and your phone runs dry constantly trying to pick up a signal.

Your packing list for London should definitely include a power bank: charge it before your trip and keep it in your carry-on. That way you’ll be prepared for everything from airport delays to your kid’s iPad dying just when you need it the most!

3. UK SIM Card or E-SIM

Roaming abroad charges? No way.

Put a UK SIM card or ESim on your UK travel list and you’ll never pay more for data.

UK SIM cards are a fraction of the cost of paying whatever your mobile carrier will charge you for roaming in Europe!

For ESims I recommend Airalo – super easy to use and configure, and buy more data on the go if you need to.
For physical SIM cards, I recommend these ones from 3 (3 is a reliable UK mobile network).

If you have a physical SIM card, swap it just before the plane lands in London and you’ll be connected the moment you arrive.

London Travel Essentials: Apps

Get your phone ready for travel by getting these London and UK travel apps ready to use.

4. Apple Pay (or Contactless Card)

You really don’t need to carry cash in London. In fact, it’s easier if you just pay for everything with your phone!

Set up Apple Pay on your iPhone or Google Wallet on your android and pay for everything with just one tap (make sure your credit or debit card won’t charge fees or hefty conversion rates first).

You can tap to pay for everything from train rides to buses to the tube to taxis to restaurants. I haven’t encountered a place that doesn’t take Apple Pay yet.

If you don’t want to use a digital payment method, make sure you have a contactless “chip and pin” credit or debit card on your London packing list (it will have the little metal chip on the outside front of the card).

Here in the UK, you tap to pay for everything; there’s rarely a card swiping machine anywhere. If you’re coming from the US, this may be quite different, so make sure you have the right kind of card to make paying for everything a breeze.

5. Citymapper

Citymapper is my favorite navigation app for London. It makes getting where you want to go a breeze!

It only works for major cities, though, so if you’re traveling through the UK you may be better off with Google Maps.

6. Uber or A Taxi App

If you want to call a car for airport transport or if you just get worn out, it’s nice to have Uber or one of the many taxi apps London has on offer ready to go.

You’ll have to create an account and add a payment method, so it’s easier to do this while you’re still at home and not in the midst of the travel rush.

Optional: Oyster Card

You don’t necessarily need to have an oyster card on your packing list for London–you can just tap in and out using a contactless card or Apple Pay.

But there are some situations where you may need one. If you’re traveling with kids over 11 (under 11s travel free on TFL), they will need to tap in and out with their own card.

To get the best rates (fares are capped per day), everyone needs to tap in and tap out with the same card for each journey.

You can buy an Oyster card in advance and have it posted to your home address, but this isn’t necessary. Once you get to the station, just go to the ticket machine and purchase the number of Oyster cards you need.

You can top up (put more money on them) at any station whenever you need to.

Read my full guide for paying for the tube here.

7. Packing List for London: Clothing & Shoes

London’s weather can be unpredictable, so I’ve made you a packing list for each season.

The general rules of thumb for packing for London and the UK are:

Pack layers!
Bring comfortable shoes, no matter the season.
Be prepared for rain, even in summer.
Dress a bit more formally than Americans normally do when traveling (i.e. no yoga pants and sweatshirts), but you don’t need to “dress up” for things like the theatre (a blouse & trousers is fine).

See my detailed guide for what to wear in London in every season here!

☀️What to Pack for London & the UK in Summer

Summer packing essentials for London on a pink background, featuring a floral dress, denim jacket, straw hat, and black sunglasses. Also included are white sneakers, a tan shoulder bag filled with a polka dot wallet, camera, and notebook, alongside black sandals with embellishments, a pale pink hand fan, and a white water bottle.

Summers can get hot in London and other parts of the UK, and we don’t commonly have air conditioning. Therefore, you’ll want to have light layers.

My summer staples are:

Summer dresses or skirts (great for daytime or night)
Tees and tanks
Light jacket
One pair of comfortable trainers and one pair of comfortable sandals (my daily summer shoes are these white Dr. Scholl’s trainers, and nicer-looking leather Birkenstocks)
Water bottle
Hat & sunglasses
Fan (for when the tube is boiling hot underground)

🍁❄️🌷🌷What to Pack for London & the UK in Autumn

A curated selection of fall travel items for London, arrayed on an olive background: a cozy gray cable-knit sweater, beige plaid scarf, rust-colored beanie, brown leather boots, and matching backpack. Accessories include tortoiseshell eyeglasses, makeup essentials, and woolen socks, complemented by a red umbrella with a wooden handle and a textured beige overcoat.

Fall is my favorite time in the UK, and in London especially. It’s a magical, cozy time in this beautiful country, but packing for the weather can be a challenge.

It doesn’t often get very cold in the fall, but it can be wet and breezy.

Here’s what I’d recommend for clothing to pack for autumn:

One rain jacket and one nicer warm jacket
Denim & trousers, or long dresses with tights
Sweaters and blouses for layering
Scarf & hat
Umbrella
Boots that you can walk in all day

❄️What to Pack for London & the UK in Winter

Winter packing guide for London featuring a cozy beige faux fur-lined coat, a knit patterned sweater, blue jeans, a black beanie, sturdy black boots, casual beige sneakers, a compact umbrella, and red leather gloves, all laid out on a light blue background

Winter here is all about the jacket and all about being prepared for the weather.

If you have a staple wool or shearling jacket, you have half the UK winter uniform!

For UK winters, I would recommend packing:

A warm jacket, like a wool peacoat (or even a more polished puffer coat)
Boots you can walk in all day (I like Blundstones because they’re very waterproof and extremely comfortable)
Trainers (waterproof or water resistant)
Denim & trousers
Sweaters & blouses
Hat & gloves
Umbrella

🌷What to Pack for London & the UK in Spring

Essential items for a spring trip to London displayed on a teal background, including a pale yellow knit sweater, white sneakers, blue denim jeans, a light blue envelope clutch, black eyeglasses, gold hoop earrings, and assorted pink floral hair accessories. A beige trench coat and green umbrella with a red handle complete the ensemble.

Spring in the UK is all about layering. It can be sunny and warm, or grey and rainy.

Make sure to pack for a variety of weather with the following items:

Raincoat or waterproof trench coat
Sweaters or blouses for layering
Denim or trousers, or skirts/dresses to layer with tights if it’s cold
Trainers or comfortable boots (I wear the white Dr. Scholl’s trainers in all seasons, but especially in spring)
Umbrella

UK Travel List: Other Important Items

Travel essentials for the UK and London include a compact black umbrella, a neutral-toned baseball cap, screenshots and photocopies of important documents, a stainless steel water bottle, and over-the-counter medications, all against a teal backdrop with the phrase 'Be Prepared'.

8. Umbrella + Raincoat

Sadly, yes: you do need to bring an umbrella and raincoat to London.

In the summer months you can get away with just an umbrella, but remember, we’re on an island here. Rain storms can blow in hard and fast at any time.

My favorite umbrella is by Totes – compact and seriously indestructible by London wind and rain – and my favorite packable rain coat is by Joules.

9. Refillable Water Bottle

Tourist attractions charge an arm and a leg for water (I’ve seriously paid £5 for a tiny bottle – that’s $7), so make sure you have a water bottle on your list of London essentials.

You can ask to fill your own bottle anywhere for free: coffee shops, restaurants, pubs, etc. Water filling stations that are common in America are not common here.

If you’re visiting in the summer, pack an insulated metal water bottle to keep cold water in your bag all day long (I like this kind that can still fit in my bag). It’ll be refreshing on the hot underground trains.

10. Photocopies of Passports & Screenshots of Travel Info

Whenever I’m traveling internationally, I stick paper photocopies of all our passports inside our luggage.

That way, if you run into trouble and lose your passport, it makes it that much easier for your embassy to replace it (and you’ll still have some sort of ID in a pinch).

I also take screenshots of important travel information (i.e. contact info and reservations) in case my mobile data isn’t working when we arrive.

Tip: Going through border control with a family is easier if you put name stickers or color-coded cases on all your passports. That way you won’t have to open and flip through to figure out whose it is each time you need them.

11. Hat

If you’re like me and wear glasses, bring a baseball cap. The constant English drizzle will be really annoying on your lenses!

In the summer these can help with the heat and glare, and protect from UV rays (yes, we actually do get UV rays in England 😉).

12. Over-the-Counter Medicines

Bring a small supply of any medicines you take semi-regularly, like antacids, headache relievers, nasal spray, etc.

The brands, formulations, and availability of medications in the UK will be very different from your home country. It’s annoying to not have easy relief on hand for whatever ails you during travel (if you’re coming from America, please bring me some NyQuil!).

13. What NOT To Bring to London and the UK

A list of items not to bring for UK travel on a teal background, with red crosses over yellow wellies, a pink hairdryer, high heels, hair straightener, electric shaver, and blue athleisure wear, emphasizing the phrase 'Don't Bring' next to a UK flag pin.

What not to pack is just as important as what to pack! To save you some grief, don’t bring the following items to the UK when traveling from abroad:

Wellies (rain boots): They not only take up a ton of space in your luggage, but they’re not practical for lots of walking. If you’re going to rural areas in the UK that’s fine, but for London, just don’t.
Single-Voltage Electricals: Items that are single-voltage (like most hairdryers, curling irons, electric shavers, and electric toothbrushes) will burn out when you use them in the UK, even when you plug them into an adapter. The UK has a higher voltage than many other countries, and you’ll not only ruin your favorite hair tool, you can cause a fire hazard.
High Heels: These are especially impractical for London’s cobbled streets.
Athleisure: Most people in London do not wear athleisure outside of the gym. By all means, wear what makes you comfortable, but if you want to try to blend in and not be identified as a tourist right away, leave the yoga pants at home.

London Packing List: Final Tips

If you follow my London packing list, you’ll be prepared, save time, and save money on your visit to London.

This city is crazy expensive – come prepared so you don’t end up purchasing these things here where they cost more (yes, pretty much everything costs more in London).