London Trip Guide
The towers of the City across the Thames, with a moored barge in the foreground
TWENTY PLACES, ONE PAGE EACH

The Sights

From Westminster to the Tower, and out to Greenwich and Kew: what each place is, what it holds, and where it stands in relation to the others.

Photo: The wub, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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The sights, from Westminster to Kew

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The Sights

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How the twenty are arranged

London is not a city with one center, and its sights fall into clusters that each suit a morning or an afternoon. Westminster holds the government and the monarchy; Bloomsbury and the West End hold the great museum and the theatres; the south bank faces the City across the Thames; the City and the Tower hold the oldest part of the capital; South Kensington holds three museums along one road; and two places, Greenwich and Kew, sit out on the river in opposite directions.

A view over the Thames and Westminster at dusk from a great height, with the bridges below
A view over the Thames and Westminster at dusk from a great height, with the bridges belowDrew de F Fawkes from Guildford, United Kingdom, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Grouping them this way saves time. A day that crosses from Westminster to the Tower to Kew spends most of its hours underground or on a train, while a day that stays inside one cluster can be done on foot. The pages below say what each place is and how it relates to its neighbors, and the itineraries turn the clusters into routes.

Westminster

Westminster is the ceremonial heart of the country. The Palace of Westminster, with the Elizabeth Tower that holds Big Ben, is the seat of Parliament, and beside it stands Westminster Abbey, the church where monarchs have been crowned since 1066. At the other end of the Mall, Buckingham Palace is the working residence of the monarch.

Between them, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery make the cultural gateway to the district, with the column of Admiral Nelson at its center. All five can be reached on foot from one another in under half an hour, and the walk through St James's Park links the palace to the Houses of Parliament.

Bloomsbury and the West End

The British Museum, in Bloomsbury, holds some eight million objects and is free to enter, and it is the largest single draw in the northern half of the center. A short walk south brings you to Covent Garden, an Italianate square laid out in the 1630s, with its market, street performers and the Royal Opera House.

These two suit a day that is part serious and part wandering, and they are close enough to the Westminster cluster that the whole sweep, from the museum to the Abbey, can be walked.

The south bank

London's skyline from Parliament Hill, the City's towers and the Shard beyond the trees
London's skyline from Parliament Hill, the City's towers and the Shard beyond the treesPeter Trimming, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

The river's south bank is a continuous walk, and five places stand along it. The London Eye faces Parliament, Tate Modern fills a former power station, Shakespeare's Globe recreates an Elizabethan playhouse, Borough Market serves food under Victorian iron, and the Shard rises over London Bridge station.

It is the best walk in the city for a first day, because it is level, mostly pedestrian and always has the river and the City skyline on one side. The stretch from the Eye to the Shard is about two miles, and a stop at the market makes a natural lunch.

The City and the Tower

Across the river, the City of London is the ancient core, founded by the Romans. St Paul's Cathedral, with Wren's dome, stands on its highest ground. Downstream, the Tower of London is the fortress begun by William the Conqueror, and Tower Bridge, which is often confused with it, crosses the river beside it.

These three are the best introduction to the older London, and they are best seen together, with the Tower and the bridge on the same morning and the cathedral on the walk between.

South Kensington and the park

Three museums stand within a few minutes of each other: the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum, all products of the Great Exhibition of 1851. To the north lies Hyde Park, a Royal Park of 350 acres with the Serpentine, Speakers' Corner and Kensington Gardens.

This cluster suits a day with children or a day of museums, with the park as a break, and it is easy to reach by the Underground from the center.

Up and down the river

The City's towers and the Tower of London across the river from the south bank, under a grey sky
The City's towers and the Tower of London across the river from the south bank, under a grey skyDiego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Two places lie outside the center, one at each end of the river. Greenwich, downstream to the east, holds the Prime Meridian, the Cutty Sark and Wren's naval college. Kew Gardens, upstream to the west, is a botanical garden with Victorian glasshouses and a pagoda, and a World Heritage Site.

Both can be reached by river boat, which makes the journey part of the visit. Each needs most of a day, and neither combines easily with a cluster in the center. The guides on the Thames and getting around explain how to reach them, and the sections on booking ahead say which of the twenty need a ticket before you go.

Which to pick if you have only a day

Time forces choices, and some of the twenty are better bets than others for a short stay. For the best single day, take Westminster in the morning, with the Abbey and the view of the Palace of Westminster from the bridge, then walk the south bank from the Eye to the Globe and finish at Tate Modern or the market. That one route shows the government, the river and the modern city in a single walk of about four miles.

For a second day, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge are the strongest single draw, followed by St Paul's. For a third, choose between the great museums: the British Museum for the ancient world, the V&A for design, the Natural History Museum for children and the National Gallery for painting. Greenwich is the best use of a fourth day, and Kew rewards a fifth, especially in spring.

Reading the pages

Each sight page says what the place is, where it came from, what to look for and what to combine it with, and each ends with its nearest neighbors. The pages avoid prices, opening hours and queue lengths, because those change; the official site of each place is the source for them. Where a ticket or timed entry genuinely matters, the page says so and sends you to the booking guide.

Riverside towers seen from under a bridge on a river boat, with blue sky and cloud
Riverside towers seen from under a bridge on a river boat, with blue sky and cloudDiscoA340, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

A few of the places are easily confused, and the pages take care to separate them. The Tower of London is not Tower Bridge and neither is London Bridge, Big Ben is a bell and not the tower that holds it, and Westminster Abbey is not the Houses of Parliament next door.