The British Museum
World history under one roof
Free, vast and best in small doses: the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, then out before you tire.
BloomsburyFreeHalf day
London, United Kingdom
Ideal: 4–5 daysBest: May–SepPrice: Very expensive
In 60 seconds
London in 60 seconds
London is too big to see and too good to rush. The great national museums are free, so drop in for an hour rather than a day; the rest is neighbourhoods — the South Bank on foot, Bloomsbury's squares, the markets and bars of the East End. The Tube and buses take contactless cards, so you never need a ticket, and the river buses are the most scenic way between Westminster, the South Bank and Greenwich. Book ticketed exhibitions and any West End show ahead, and leave an afternoon for Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park. It is expensive, so spend on one great dinner and eat well and cheaply the rest of the time. Four days is a good first visit; Windsor or Oxford add a fifth.
Best for
- Museums
- Food
- Nightlife
- History
Known for
- Free national museums
- Pubs
- Royal palaces
Skip if
Your budget is tight. London is one of the most expensive cities in Europe for rooms, and the distances add up.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well London fits them. Choose interests
See
Must experience
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
Tower of London
ExpensiveFortress · Crown Jewels
Go at opening and see the Crown Jewels first, then join a Yeoman Warder's tour.
Tower HillBook aheadHistory
Westminster Abbey
ExpensiveCoronation church since 1066
Every coronation for nearly a thousand years, and Poets' Corner. Book ahead and arrive early.
WestminsterBook aheadHistory
Eat
Where to eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
Local
Where to eat the food this city is actually known for.
Rules
ExpensiveBritish classics · Since 1798
London's oldest restaurant, for game, pies and puddings in red-velvet rooms in Covent Garden.
Covent GardenBook aheadClassic
St. JOHN
ExpensiveNose-to-tail British cooking
Fergus Henderson's whitewashed former smokehouse: roast bone marrow, and the cooking that changed British food.
SmithfieldBook aheadBritish
The Quality Chop House
ExpensiveChop house · Since 1869
A working men's chop house kept as it was, with wooden booths and serious British cooking.
ClerkenwellHistoricMeat
Casual
No booking, no ceremony, reliably good.
Borough Market
InexpensiveFood market since the 13th century
London's oldest food market under the railway arches. Graze at lunchtime on weekdays, when it is calmer.
SouthwarkLunchMarket
Dishoom
ModerateBombay café
Irani-café cooking in several London branches. The bacon naan at breakfast is the move.
Covent GardenBreakfastQueue
Padella
InexpensiveFresh pasta bar
Hand-rolled pasta at counter prices by Borough Market. No bookings; join the virtual queue.
SouthwarkNo bookingPasta
Special occasion
Worth planning the evening around.
The Ledbury
Very expensiveTasting menu · Notting Hill
Brett Graham's precise, seasonal cooking, one of London's most celebrated dining rooms.
Notting HillBook aheadTasting menu
Core by Clare Smyth
Very expensiveBritish tasting menu
Clare Smyth's refined British cooking — the potato and roe is the dish people remember.
Notting HillBook aheadTasting menu
The River Café
Very expensiveItalian by the Thames
Seasonal Italian cooking in a riverside room in Hammersmith, a London institution since 1987.
HammersmithItalianRiverside
Coffee & fika
Mornings, and the slow hour between things.
Monmouth Coffee
InexpensiveRoaster · Covent Garden & Borough
One of the roasters that started London's coffee culture, with a narrow shop in Covent Garden.
Covent GardenClassicFilter
Prufrock Coffee
InexpensiveSpecialty coffee bar
A serious coffee bar on Leather Lane, run by a former world barista champion.
HolbornEspressoFilter
Bar Italia
InexpensiveSoho café · Since 1949
An espresso bar on Frith Street open late into the night, as it has been for generations.
SohoClassicLate
Beyond the obvious
Hidden gems
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Sir John Soane's Museum
An architect's house of curiosities
The architect's own house, crammed with antiquities, paintings and a sarcophagus. Free, and small.
HolbornFreeUnusual
Highgate Cemetery
ModerateVictorian cemetery · Karl Marx
Ivy-covered Victorian tombs on a hillside. The West Cemetery is seen on a guided tour.
HighgateQuietTours
Columbia Road Flower Market
Sunday flower market
A narrow East End street that fills with flowers and shouting stallholders every Sunday morning.
Bethnal GreenFreeSunday
After dark
Bars & nightlife
Satan's Whiskers
ExpensiveCocktail bar
A neighbourhood cocktail bar in Bethnal Green with an award-winning list and a 90s hip-hop soundtrack.
Bethnal GreenCocktails
Scarfes Bar
ExpensiveHotel bar · Live jazz
Live jazz every night beneath Gerald Scarfe's caricatures, in the Rosewood hotel.
HolbornCocktailsJazz
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
Inexpensive17th-century pub
Rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, with dark panelled rooms and cellars Dickens drank in.
Fleet StreetHistoricPub
Orientation
Neighbourhoods
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
South Bank
Riverside arts quarter
The Thames path from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge, past Tate Modern and the Globe.
Shoreditch
Bars, street art, markets
East London's evenings: bars, Brick Lane and Sunday markets.
Notting Hill
Pastel terraces · Portobello Road
Portobello Road market on a Saturday and quieter crescents behind it.
Stay
Where to stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Covent Garden
Very expensiveWest End · Theatres
Walkable to the West End, the river and the museums, at the highest prices.
CentralTheatre
Bloomsbury
ExpensiveSquares and museums
Georgian squares by the British Museum, with good Tube connections and better value.
CentralQuieter
Shoreditch
ExpensiveEast · Nightlife
Bars and restaurants at the door, a short Tube or Overground ride from the centre.
FoodNightlife
Practical
Know before you go
- Getting in
- Heathrow is on the Elizabeth line and the Piccadilly line; Gatwick and Stansted have direct trains to the centre.
- Getting around
- Tap a contactless card or phone on the Tube and buses; daily fares are capped automatically.
- Money
- Pound sterling. Contactless payment is accepted almost everywhere.
- Museums
- The national museums are free; some major exhibitions are ticketed and worth booking.
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
History in 5 minutes
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
- AD 43
The Romans found Londinium on the Thames.
- 1666
The Great Fire destroys most of the medieval City; Wren's St Paul's rises from the ruins.
- 1940–41
The Blitz bombs London for months; the city rebuilds through the decades that follow.
Further out
Nearby escapes
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Windsor Castle
Royal residence
The oldest occupied castle in the world, with St George's Chapel. Check that the state apartments are open the day you go.
By train from Paddington or WaterlooHalf dayRoyal
Oxford
University city
Colleges, the Bodleian and the covered market, an easy day by train.
By train from Paddington or MaryleboneEasyHistory
Brighton
Seaside city
The pier, the Royal Pavilion and the Lanes, an hour from London by train.
By train from Victoria or London BridgeEasySeaside
Go further
Routes through London
Multi-city trips that stop here, with the transport between them.