4 Best Sights in Chelsea, London

West London's answer to Borough Market, this Saturday open-air market is in a pedestrian-only plaza off Duke of York Square, a chic shopping precinct. It hosts eight restaurants and 17 stalls purveying locally sourced food products. Like Borough Market, this is a grazer's paradise, giving you the chance to sample gourmet fish-and-chips and Chinese dumplings as well as delicious street food from countries ranging from Peru to Jamaica.

This charming pedestrianized mews is lined with Victorian stable blocks recently converted to house fashionable independent shops and specialty food providers. Here you'll find bags from Kate Spade, bikinis from Heidi Klein, nightwear from Olivia von Halle, and Sarah Chapman skincare, as well as a cheesemonger, bakery and baking school, family-run butcher, and a fishmonger-cum-champagne bar. There are also dining options including a casual, all-day Australian restaurant, a plant-based restaurant, and a bar and grill, all with lots of outside tables.

Charles II founded this residence for elderly and infirm soldiers in 1682 to reward the troops who had fought for him in the civil wars of 1642–46 and 1648. No sick people are treated here today; it's more of a history-packed retirement home. A creation of three of England's greatest architects—Wren, Vanbrugh, and Hawksmoor—this small enclave of brick and Portland stone set in expansive manicured grounds surrounds the Figure Court (the figure being a 1682 gilded bronze statue of Charles II dressed as a Roman general). The Figure Court, the Great Hall (the hospital's dining room), the beautiful Wren-designed chapel, and a small museum devoted to the history of the resident "Chelsea Pensioners" are open to the public via 90-minute guided tours that take place twice a day and must be booked in advance.

The real attraction, along with the building, is the approximately 300 pensioners themselves. Recognizable by their traditional scarlet frock coats with gold buttons, medals, and tricorne hats, they are all actual veterans, who wear the uniform, and the history it represents, with a great deal of pride. On Sunday mornings at 10:45 am from April through November, you can see groups of pensioners in full uniform on parade in the Figure Court. Individuals can also visit the chapel on Sunday between 11 and 12 for services.

Charles Saatchi, who made his fortune in advertising, is one of Britain's canniest collectors of contemporary art, credited with discovering the likes of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. His current gallery, still largely devoted to contemporary art by emerging artists, is in the former Duke of York's HQ, just off King's Road. Built in 1803, its grand period exterior belies an imaginatively restored modern interior transformed into 15 exhibition spaces of varying size and shape. There is no permanent collection other than a few ongoing site-specific installations; at any one time, there are between one and three concurrent, imaginatively curated exhibitions that normally run for up to six months. There's also an excellent café, which is open late.