Places to Explore

• Bloomsbury and Legal London

  The character of an area of London can change visibly from one street to the next. Nowhere is this so clear as in the contrast between fun-loving Soho and the hub of intellectual London, Bloomsbury, a mere... (more)

• The City

  The City, as opposed to the city, is the capital's fast-beating financial heart. Easy to walk around, the "Square Mile" also has currency as a religious and political center. St. Paul's Cathedral has looked... (more)

• East End

  Made famous by Dickens and infamous by Jack the Ripper, the East End is one of London's most enduringly evocative neighborhoods. It may have fewer conventional tourist attractions but it's rich in folk... (more)

• Greenwich

  The smart borough of Greenwich is on the Greenwich Meridian Line at 0° longitude, the official starting point for every new day, month, and year. The island nation of Britain—and the district—boasts... (more)

• Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge

  Even in these supposedly democratic days, you still sometimes hear people say that the only place to live in London is in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (or "K&C" as the locals call... (more)

• Notting Hill and Bayswater

  Notting Hill is one of London's most famous trendsetting square miles of multi-ethnicity, music, and magnificent street markets. Throw in a goodly number of see-and-be-seen-in restaurants and a sprinkling... (more)

• Regent's Park and Hampstead

  London becomes noticeably calmer and greener as you head north from Oxford Street. From the civilized shopping streets of Marylebone, through the well-tended parks of Regent's Park and Primrose Hill up... (more)

• Soho and Covent Garden

  Once a red-light district, today's Soho delivers more "grown-up" than "adult" entertainment, offering some of London's best nightclubs, live music venues, restaurants, and theaters. By day, this hotbed... (more)

• South Bank

  That old, snide North London dig about needing a passport to cross the Thames has not been heard for the past five years. For decades, natives rarely ventured beyond the watery curtain that divides the... (more)

• St. James's and Mayfair

  St. James's and Mayfair form the very core of London's West End, the city's smartest central area. No textbook sights here; rather, these neighborhoods epitomize so much of the flavor that is peculiarly... (more)

• The Thames Upstream

  The upper stretch of the Thames unites a string of lustrous riverside pearls—Chiswick, Kew, Richmond, Putney, and Strawberry Hill—taking in friendly streets, horticultural delights, regal magnificence... (more)

• Westminster and Royal London

  This is postcard London at its best. Crammed with historic churches, grand state buildings, and major art collections, the area unites politics, high culture, and religion. (Oh, and the Queen lives here... (more)