London was named the best destination in the world in the 2025 Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards.
But for Canadian TikTok traveller Zoe McCormack (@zozomccormack), Paris trumps the UK capital.
Though there is plenty she loves about London, with the 24-year-old content creator raving to MailOnline about the city’s public transport and chocolate-covered strawberries.
Zoe, who’s from Montreal but is now living in Paris, tells MailOnline: ‘I usually take the Tube everywhere I go, but my friend who I stay with just moved into a new apartment. Now she’s closer to bus routes than the Tube, so I took the bus everywhere or walked [on the most recent trip].
‘I had a much better experience in London being outside all day!’
The TikTok traveller, who has 171,000 followers, adds that she thinks that London’s public transport is good value as it’s ‘cheaper than in Paris and Montreal’.
Zoe hops on and off London’s buses in a video shared to her TikTok account, in which she reveals how much she spent during a solo day trip to the capital.
On her outing, she first heads to Borough Market and samples a honey truffle pork sandwich for £11 ($13.69/ €13.12) from The Black Pig. In the video, Zoe says the sandwich was ‘so worth it’ and reveals that she ‘can’t stop thinking about it’. The traveller also buys a strawberry lemonade from another Borough Market vendor for £4.25 ($5.29/€5.07).
Zoe McCormack speaks to MailOnline Travel about her experience having a solo day out in London – and shares exactly how much she spent. LEFT: In Notting Hill. RIGHT: In Westminster
Zoe also tries two desserts from the market on her day out. She first opts for a ‘classic apple cinnamon crumble’ with ‘hot custard’ from Humble Crumble, which costs her £7 ($8.71/€8.35). It’s a thumbs down for this treat, however, with Zoe explaining that she ‘found it a bit too sweet’.
The second dessert she purchases from Borough Market is the ‘famous chocolate-covered strawberries’ from Turnips, which costs her £8.50 (€10.13/$10.57). Zoe says in the video: ‘This was so worth it. The strawberries were fresh and juicy and they were huge. I’ve never seen strawberries this big, so I would definitely get this again.’
The TikToker reveals to MailOnline Travel that the strawberries were her ‘favourite’ purchase of the day, explaining: ‘I’d seen them all over social media and I couldn’t wait to try them myself and they were truly delicious!’
In the video, Zoe heads to The Black Dog pub for dinner with a friend. The Vauxhall-based boozer gained popularity on social media after it was mentioned in a Taylor Swift song.
Zoe enjoys Pimms for £6.50 ($8.09/€7.35) and two appetisers for £8 ($9.95/€9.54) and £7 ($8.71/€8.35) each, bringing the total for the meal to £25.29 ($31.46/€30.06) with service charge.
After spending £5.25 ($6.23/€6.26) on bus travel over the day, her overall spend comes to £61.29 ($76.24/€73.10). Zoe explains in the video that it was ‘quite an expensive day’ by her usual standards.
However the traveller, who says she isn’t a ‘big spender’, tells MailOnline: ‘I honestly think everything I bought was reasonably priced.
‘I didn’t expect the Humble Crumble to be £7 though. The sandwich was £11, which is reasonable for Paris but too expensive in Montreal.’
Zoe purchased several food items at London’s Borough Market, including chocolate-covered strawberries
The TikToker bought a crumble from Humble Crumble in Borough Market, pictured above
Zoe travelled to London to stay with her friend. They’re pictured above at Buckingham Palace
She adds that the dinner at The Black Dog cost about as much as she’d spend on a meal out in Paris, but says: ‘London is definitely the most expensive city I’ve visited in Europe. I think the pound makes everything more expensive. I also visited Oxford and the prices were almost the same as London despite being a much smaller city.’
And the biggest surprise about London?
Its size.
Zoe tells MailOnline that she was taken aback by ‘how big the city is’.
She says: ‘It’s way bigger than Paris. Everything is super spread out and you could be in one area and have to take two to three Tubes or buses to get to your next destination.’
The TikToker says she prefers the French capital overall because ‘the architecture feels more European’, plus, she remarks, ‘it’s smaller, so it’s easier to get around and it’s less expensive’.
And she adds: ‘I think the food is better, too.’
Despite her preference for Paris, Zoe adds: ‘London seems like it would be better for travelling around Europe because Ryanair and other budget airlines are more easily accessible – Ryanair only goes to the Paris Beauvais airport, which nobody really treats as an actual Paris airport.’
And she’s also a fan of the city’s ‘Harry Potter merch’, which she’d like to see imported to Canada.
Want to see more from Zoe? Find her on TikTok at @zozomccormack.
