The museums are free, the parks are royal, and the river is the fastest way across.
Ninety seconds on London
Three days covers the centre without rushing: two for Westminster and the South Bank, one for the museums. A fourth buys a day out, to Greenwich by river or to Kew.
The Tube, and a bank card is the ticket. Tap contactless in and out at every gate and the fare caps for the day on its own, so there is nothing to buy in advance. Buses take the same card, and the centre walks smaller than the map suggests.
May to September, for the long evenings and the parks. December has the lights and the markets. July and August are the fullest and the most expensive, and the free museums are at their worst in the middle of a school-holiday afternoon.
English, and it is the only one needed. Menus and signage in the centre rarely appear in another, and the city is used to being asked directions by people who do not live in it.
The pound sterling, and not the euro. Contactless is taken almost everywhere including on transport. A service charge of about 12.5 per cent is usually already printed on a restaurant bill, so a further tip is not expected.
Five airports serve the city. Heathrow LHR is the principal one and the Elizabeth line reaches the centre in about 35 minutes. Gatwick LGW, Stansted STN and Luton LTN carry most of the budget traffic, and City LCY sits closest, out in the Docklands.
London is a ring of villages that grew into each other, which is why it has no single centre. Westminster is the government and the monarchy, the City is the money, and the West End is the theatre and the shops.
The great museums are free. The British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern and the V&A charge nothing at the door, so a rainy day costs only the Tube fare.
The river is the easiest way to read the city. A Thames Clipper from Westminster to Greenwich passes the Eye, the Globe, Tate Modern, the Tower and Tower Bridge in fifty minutes, for a little more than a Tube fare.
Book the things with gates: the Abbey, the Tower, the Sky Garden and the Churchill War Rooms. Everything else is a walk, and the walk along the South Bank is the one to start with.
The seat of government and the monarchy, with the Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace within a fifteen-minute walk of each other. It is the London most first visits are built around, and it is busiest between ten and four.
A riverside walk from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge that holds the National Theatre, Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe and Borough Market. Everything is on one traffic-free path, which makes it the easiest half day in the city.
The West End's centre: the old fruit market turned piazza, the Royal Opera House on its corner and the theatres of the Strand and Drury Lane around it. It is at its most crowded from noon, and at its best when the street performers pack up and the restaurants open.
The East End district where the street art, the Sunday markets and the independent restaurants are, a short walk from Liverpool Street. It is the part of London that changes fastest, and the one to see on a weekend.
The museum quarter Prince Albert laid out with the Great Exhibition's profits: the Natural History Museum, the V&A and the Science Museum on one street, all free, with Hyde Park and the Albert Hall at the top. A single Tube stop serves all three.
The West London village of pastel terraces and the Portobello Road antiques market, which runs its full length on Saturdays. The Carnival takes over the streets on the August bank holiday weekend, and the rest of the year it is a place to walk slowly.
Eight million objects in Bloomsbury, free to enter, with the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures the two rooms every visitor heads for. Book a free timed slot; the Great Court is calmest first thing.
Western European painting from the thirteenth century to 1900, free to enter, with Van Gogh's Sunflowers and the Arnolfini Portrait among 2,300 works. Late openings on Fridays are the quiet time.
Wren's cathedral of 1710, with the Whispering Gallery and 528 steps to the Golden Gallery above the dome. Sightseeing is ticketed; attending a service is free.
Modern and contemporary art inside the former Bankside power station, free apart from the temporary exhibitions. The Turbine Hall commissions and the tenth-floor terrace view are the two things not to skip.
The bascule bridge of 1894 with glass floors on the high-level walkways and the Victorian engine rooms open to visitors. The bridge still lifts for river traffic, and the lift times are published a week ahead.
William the Conqueror's fortress, the Crown Jewels and the ravens, on the north bank facing Tower Bridge. The Yeoman Warder tours leave every half hour and are the best way to take it in.
The coronation church since 1066 and the burial place of seventeen monarchs, Newton, Darwin and Dickens. Timed tickets sell out on weekends, and the Abbey closes to visitors on Sundays for services.
A food market under the railway arches at London Bridge that has traded on the site for around a thousand years. It is at its best on Friday and Saturday mornings before the lunch queues form.
The monarch's London residence, with the State Rooms open to visitors in July, August and September only. Changing the Guard happens at 11am on set days and draws a crowd an hour early.
Official London residence of the monarch since 1837, with 775 rooms. The State Rooms open to public in summer and contain paintings by Canaletto and Vermeer.
The royal park above the old Naval College with the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian at the top of the hill. The Thames Clipper from central London is the way to arrive.
320 hectares of wood and meadow in north London, with swimming ponds and the view from Parliament Hill. Kenwood House at the north end is free and holds a Rembrandt and a Vermeer.
The largest of the central royal parks, with the Serpentine lake, the Diana memorial fountain and Speakers' Corner at Marble Arch on Sunday mornings. It joins Kensington Gardens to the west without a fence.
Waterhouse's terracotta cathedral to nature in South Kensington, free, with the blue whale skeleton hung in the entrance hall. Queues form by mid-morning in school holidays.
The Notting Hill antiques market that runs its full length on Saturdays only, from Notting Hill Gate down to the Westway. Arrive before ten or after three.
Nash's park north of Marylebone with the open-air theatre, the rose garden and London Zoo on its north edge. Primrose Hill, just beyond, has the classic skyline view.
Faithful 1997 reconstruction of the open-air playhouse where Shakespeare's works premiered in the late 1500s. Located 200 yards from the original site.
The public garden on the top three floors of 20 Fenchurch Street, free with a booking released about three weeks ahead. The view takes in the Tower, the river and the Shard.
The oldest Gothic church in London, beside Borough Market, with a memorial to Shakespeare whose brother is buried here. It is free to enter and usually quiet.
British art from 1500 onward on Millbank, with the largest Turner collection in the world in the Clore Gallery. It is free and rarely crowded, and a river boat links it to Tate Modern.
The street of Bangladeshi curry houses, vintage shops and the Sunday market that runs from Shoreditch down to Whitechapel. The bagel shops at the north end are open all night.
The complex of markets around Camden Lock with around a thousand stalls, busiest at weekends. The canal towpath from here to Little Venice is a forty-minute walk.
The underground bunker from which Churchill ran the war, left as it was in 1945, with the map room untouched. It is one of the few central museums that charges, and it is worth booking.
The Gothic Revival palace on the river, finished in 1870 after the fire that destroyed the old one. UK residents can tour through their MP; everyone else books the Saturday and recess tours, which include both chambers.
The birthplace of Queen Victoria and the residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, with the State Apartments and the fashion galleries open to visitors. The sunken garden is free.
The Royal Botanic Gardens in the south-west, a UNESCO site with the Palm House of 1848 and the treetop walkway. It is a full half day; the District line to Kew Gardens takes about forty minutes.
The 135-metre observation wheel on the South Bank opposite Westminster, with a thirty-minute rotation. Book a timed slot online; the walk-up queue in summer can run over an hour.
The 1675 observatory where longitude was fixed, with the meridian line in the courtyard and Harrison's clocks inside. The view from the terrace takes in Canary Wharf and the river.
The square at the top of Whitehall with Nelson on his column and the National Gallery along its north side. The fourth plinth carries a rotating commission of contemporary sculpture.
The world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, free, with the Cast Courts and the Raphael Cartoons as its two great rooms. The courtyard cafe is the original museum restaurant of 1868.
The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, properly the Elizabeth Tower, with the bell itself named Big Ben. The best angle is from the far side of Westminster Bridge in the morning, with the sun behind you.
A covered Victorian market hall between the City and Shoreditch, with a different market most days and the antiques on Thursdays. It is the easiest of the East End markets to reach.
A reconstruction of the 1599 playhouse, open to the sky, a short walk from where the original stood. Standing tickets in the yard are the cheapest seats in London theatre, and the season runs April to October.
The oldest of the royal parks, a lake between Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards with pelicans that have lived here since 1664. The bridge across the lake is the best view of the palace.
A Victorian street of flower stalls and small shops that trades on Sunday mornings only, from eight until about two. Arrive early for the flowers and late for the bargains.
The main IWM branch in Lambeth, free to enter, with the First World War galleries and the Holocaust exhibition as its two anchors. A short walk south of the river from Westminster.
The history of the river and the port in a Georgian sugar warehouse on West India Quay, free to enter. The London, Sugar and Slavery gallery is the one people come for.
The museum at the All England Club with the trophies and a view into Centre Court, open year round outside the Championships. Guided tours of the grounds run most days.
Last updated
Every other travel app asks you to start logging. Meridian Dispatch opens with years of your travel already written, from the photographs you already took.
