Things to do in London

• London Eye turns slowly over the South Bank, the world's largest cantilevered observation wheel, whose 30 minute rotation lifts its capsules 135 metres above the Thames for views reaching far beyond the city.
• Tower Bridge pairs its Victorian towers with glass-floored walkways high above the river and the original steam engine rooms below, the most photographed crossing on the Thames.
• The British Museum holds the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures and the glass-roofed Great Court in Bloomsbury, with free entry to one of the world's great collections.
• Tate Modern fills the former Bankside power station with the national collection of modern art, its Turbine Hall staging vast installations directly across the river from St Paul's.
• Natural History Museum greets visitors with a blue whale skeleton diving through Hintze Hall, ahead of dinosaur galleries and hands-on science in its Romanesque South Kensington building.
• Kensington Palace sits at the edge of Kensington Gardens, the childhood home of Queen Victoria, with State Rooms and royal fashion displays open to visitors.
• Kew Gardens spreads the Royal Botanic Gardens along the river in the southwest, a World Heritage Site of Victorian glasshouses, the Palm House among them, and a treetop walkway.
• Hyde Park offers boating on the Serpentine, orators at Speakers' Corner and long tree-lined avenues across central London's largest royal park.
• The Shard rises 310 metres above London Bridge station, the tallest building in the United Kingdom, with a viewing gallery near the top of its glass spire.
• Camden Market packs street food, vintage stalls and alternative shops into the canalside warehouses of Camden Lock, a short Northern line ride from the centre.

London is really two historic cities grown together along the Thames: Westminster, seat of crown and government, and the City, the walled Roman trading town that became a financial capital. Between them they hold more than anywhere in Europe, from coronation churches to free national museums, with the West End's theatres filling the evenings.

Neighbourhoods to know

The West End gathers Covent Garden, Soho and the theatres. The City keeps St Paul's, Roman walls and the new towers of the Square Mile. Across the river, the South Bank runs from the London Eye past Tate Modern to Borough Market, the best riverside walk in town, while South Kensington groups three great museums beside Hyde Park. Camden, Notting Hill and Greenwich each fill a relaxed half day further out.

When to go and for how long

May to September brings the longest days and the royal parks at their best, with June to August the busiest months. Spring and autumn are milder and quieter, and December trades daylight for Christmas lights and markets. Four full days cover the main sights at a steady pace, and three work for a brisker first visit.

Getting around

The centre splits into walkable clusters, and the Underground links them quickly, with contactless cards paying the same capped fares as an Oyster card. The Elizabeth line runs from Heathrow into central stations in around 35 minutes, riverboats connect the piers between Westminster and Greenwich, and the classic double-decker buses cross the centre at street level.