The Victoria and Albert Museum, the V&A, in South Kensington is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design: about 2.8 million objects across 5,000 years, from Italian sculpture and Islamic carpets to fashion,...
The Southbank Centre, the largest performing and visual arts space in Europe, consists of three Brutalist buildings spread across seven hectares of riverside land. These buildings - Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery...
Once pastureland, Soho is said to have derived its name from an old hunting cry. Despite recent closures of iconic clubs and music venues, the area still comes alive in the evenings, and is a long-established haven for the gay community. During...
Notting Hill is a district of west London, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, known for pastel-colored terraces, an antiques market, an August carnival and a romantic comedy. It is multicultural and fashionable, with big Victorian...
St James's Park is one of London's most central royal parks: 23 hectares of lawns, flowerbeds and a long lake between Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards, in the City of Westminster. It is the eastern end of a chain of parks running to Kensington...
London Zoo, opened in 1828, is the oldest zoo in the world. Now, its main focus is on conservation, breeding and education, and it features greater enclosures and fewer animals. There are numerous attractions, such as Land of the Lions, Gorilla...
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace on the Thames, about 12 miles southwest of central London: Tudor brick on one side, Baroque stone on the other, with gardens, a maze and centuries of royal drama inside. It was Henry VIII's favorite...
Get in amongst Londoners on a London bus
London's famous red buses are not only a symbol of the city, but also a great way to see it, and unlimited all-day travel can be as cheap as £3. Sitting on the top deck of a double-decker bus, you...
The Imperial War Museum in London is the national museum of modern war, from the First World War to today, told through objects, art, film and the voices of people who lived it. It stands on Lambeth Road, in Southwark, south of the Thames, under...
Beautiful landscapes and numerous attractions
Richmond upon Thames is a London borough in south west London, which forms part of Outer London. It is considered to be one of the safest areas of London, boasting some of the most visited...
The magnificent 1930s art-deco mansion was constructed by Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia (Ginie). The Courtaulds made their riches in the rayon (artificial silk) industry, and had this luxurious stately home built as a retreat to...
London's posh shopping district
Knightsbridge is home of flagship stores for many British and international fashion houses, including Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik and Chanel. The famous Harrods (the largest in Europe) is here as well, and...
Leicester Square is an always bustling hub of restaurants, bars, tourist shops and cinemas hosting regular film premieres, with the red carpet always drawing in large crowds. The Square is also home to a statue of William Shakespeare and,...
The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, designed by Christopher Wren, is a stunning example of baroque architecture. Its sprawling grounds are open to the public, and visitors can take a tour of them when they buy a ticket for the Painted Hall,...
Honoring Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Built in the late 19th century George Vulliamy and Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the Shaftesbury Avenue was named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, who died one year...
The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace is the ceremony in which the soldiers guarding the King's London residences hand over to a fresh detachment: scarlet tunics, tall bearskin hats, marching band and a crowd along the railings of the...
Highgate Cemetery is a stunning Victorian Valhalla covering 20 hectares of rolling hills and shrouded urns, obelisks, broken columns, sleeping angels, and Egyptian-style tombs. Here, you can pay homage to the graves of Karl Marx and Mary Ann...
Dating back to 1123, St Bartholomew the Great is one of the oldest churches in London. With its majestic Norman arches and deep-rooted history, this sacred space exudes an ancient serenity. The experience is heightened when one passes through the...
For one month each summer, Clarence House – the official residence of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall – opens its ground-floor rooms to the public for 45-minute guided tours. Visitors are able to...
Commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of Queen Victoria
A Latin inscription along the top of Admiralty Arch reads "In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910." A beautiful homage to one...
Home of the First Lord of the Treasury
Downing Street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, and is nowadays renowned for hosting the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First...
You might mistakenly assume that King's Cross is a more modern structure than its flashy neighbour St Pancras, but in actuality it was opened to the public in 1852 - a full decade before St Pancras. Designed by Lewis Cubitt, it stands out in its...
The Duke of York's Headquarters, a grandly-housed gallery, is home to temporary exhibitions of ambitious and thought-provoking works from all over the world spanning a range of mediums. Inside, the white-washed and sanded bare-floorboard...
London's most exclusive district
Mayfair is one of London's most exclusive districts, particularly due to its strategic location. It is surrounded by Hyde Park, Oxford Street, Piccadilly, Green Park and Regent Street, and it also holds...
HMS Belfast is a Second World War cruiser, now a museum ship moored on the Thames in London, next to Tower Bridge. Nine decks are open, from the bridge and gun turrets down to the engine rooms, and the ship is run by the Imperial War...
The Millennium Bridge is a steel footbridge across the Thames in London, linking Bankside on the south bank with the City of London on the north. It is pedestrians only, 325 meters long, and so slim that it seems to float over the...
The brainchild of consumer historian and enthusiast Robert Opie, this ambitious shrine to nostalgia takes visitors on a winding time tunnel from Victorian times up to the present day. Along the way, visitors will find Monopoly sets, the first...
Richmond Park, Europe's largest urban park, spans almost 1000 hectares and provides visitors with a variety of attractions to explore, from formal gardens and ancient oaks to breathtaking views of London 12 miles away. You can easily find a...
Explore Hampstead Heath, a sprawling 320-hectare area located 3.5 miles away from Trafalgar Square, and experience its woodlands, meadows, hills, and rich flora and fauna. Visit Parliament Hill to gain an expansive view of London, or take a...
Museum of health and medicine
The Hunterian Museum features a number of medical items including John Hunter's surgical collections. On display, a fascinating mix of comparative anatomy and pathology specimens; an odontological...
In 1739, Thomas Coram founded the Foundling Hospital to provide a home for children who had been abandoned or given up by their mothers. When it closed in 1953, it had been the home of 27,000 children. Today, the former hospital is home to a...
This grand neoclassical mansion, located at the northern end of Hampstead Heath, boasts a magnificent landscape of gardens rolling down to a tranquil pond. In the 1760s, it was extensively remodelled and later, in 1927, was saved from destruction...
The National Portrait Gallery in London is a museum of faces: portraits of the people who made British history and culture, from monarchs and poets to the faces of today. It stands just off Trafalgar Square, beside the National Gallery, and it...
The Micrarium Museum houses an incredible selection of 68,000 specimens from the animal kingdom, many of which are extinct or critically endangered. Among its most remarkable pieces are the skeleton of a quagga (an extinct South African zebra),...
The 1901 art-nouveau building, renowned for its clock tower and mosaics, was custom-constructed to showcase the expansive collection of the wealthy tea merchant, Victorian gentleman, and hoarder Frederick John Horniman. Its centerpiece is the...
Kew Gardens is the botanic garden of south-west London: 132 hectares of lawns, lakes and Victorian glasshouses along the Thames, and a World Heritage Site. It holds, by its own account, the largest and most diverse botanical and fungal...
The Science Museum on Exhibition Road, in South Kensington, is London's great museum of science and technology: steam engines, a spacecraft that went to the Moon, early computers and full-size aircraft, in galleries where families can happily...
Gay-friendly swimming in nature
Hampstead Ponds, also known as Highgate Ponds, are three swimming ponds in Hampstead Heath. They are fed by the headwater springs of the River Fleet. Two of these ponds are reserved for single sex...
Acclaimed contemporary art space
One of London's most celebrated contemporary art galleries, Alison Jacques Gallery was established in 2004 by Alison Jacques, formerly News Editor of Flash Art Magazine in Milan and Curator of the British...
Contemporary art gallery in Central London
A contemporary art gallery founded by Jonathon Carroll and Steve Fletcher, Carroll / Fletcher deals with all kinds of artistic production, promoting both emerging and established artists, whose...