London – Attractions & Places to Visit

Stand at the center of world time. Discover the past, present, and future wonders of astronomy at the center of time.

Take an amazing journey through the historic home of British astronomy, Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian of the World.

Explore how great scientists first mapped the seas and the stars, stand astride two hemispheres on the Prime Meridian Line, see pioneering inventions and the UK’s largest refracting telescope, touch a 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid, and travel the Universe at London’s only planetarium.

Hyde Park

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Covering 350 acres, Hyde Park is London’s largest open space and has been a destination for sightseers since 1635. One of the park’s highlights is the Serpentine, an 18th-century man-made lake popular for boating and swimming. Hyde Park is also where you’ll find Speakers’ Corner, a traditional forum for free speech (and heckling). Another Hyde Park landmark is Apsley House, former home of the first Duke of Wellington and purchased after his famous victory at Waterloo. Now a museum, it houses Wellington’s magnificent collections of paintings, including Velázquez’s Waterseller of Seville, along with gifts presented by grateful European kings and emperors. England’s greatest hero is also commemorated at the Wellington Arch.

The London Eye

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Built to mark London’s millennium celebrations in 2000, the London Eye is Europe’s largest observation wheel. Its individual glass capsules offer the most spectacular views of the city as you embark on a circular tour rising 443 ft above the Thames. The journey lasts 30-minutes, often quicker than the time spent queuing for your turn. If you can, reserve your time in advance. The best option is to skip the line completely with a London Eye: Skip-the-Line Ticket. This advance ticket allows you to take a flight at any time on the day you plan to visit.

Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square

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Two of London’s best-known tourist spots, these famous squares lie not far apart and mark the gateways to Soho, London’s lively theater and entertainment district. Trafalgar Square was built to commemorate Lord Horatio Nelson’s victory over the French and Spanish at Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson’s Column, a 56-meter granite monument, overlooks the square’s fountains and bronze reliefs, which were cast from French cannons. Admiralty Arch, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and the National Gallery surround the square. Piccadilly Circus marks the irregular intersection of several busy streets – Piccadilly, Regent, Haymarket, and Shaftesbury Avenue – and overlooking this somewhat untidy snarl of traffic stands London’s best-known sculpture, the winged Eros delicately balanced on one foot, bow poised. “It’s like Piccadilly Circus” is a common expression describing a busy and confusing scene.

Covent Garden

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The market halls of Covent Garden are only the beginning of the neighborhood, which encompasses the shops and restaurants of Long Acre and other adjacent streets, those of Neal’s Yard and Seven Dials, as well as the Central Square with its street performers. The halls and arcades of Covent Garden Market are lined with specialty shops and kiosks selling everything from fine handcrafts to tacky souvenirs. Housed in the former flower market, you’ll find the London Transport Museum, filled with historic buses, trolleys, and trams. This area is also where you’ll find the Royal Opera House.

The Two Tates: Tate Britain and Tate Modern

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Once collectively known as the Tate Gallery, London’s two Tate galleries – Tate Britain and Tate Modern – comprise one of the world’s most important art collections. Opened in 1897 as the basis of a national collection of significant British art, the gallery continued to make acquisitions and needed more space to properly display its collections. The end result was the establishment of Tate Britain, in Millbank on the north side of the Thames, as home to its permanent collection of historic British paintings. A superbly transformed power station across the Thames became home to the modern art collections. Art lovers can spend a whole day viewing both sites, conveniently connected by high-speed ferry.

Hampton Court Palace

Another great Thames-side attraction, Hampton Court is one of Europe’s most famous palaces. Its Great Hall dates from Henry VIII’s time (two of his six wives supposedly haunt the palace), and it’s where Elizabeth I learned of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Other interesting features include the Clock Court with its fascinating astronomical clock dating from 1540, the State Apartments with their Haunted Gallery, the Chapel, the King’s Apartments and the Tudor tennis court. The gardens are also worth visiting – especially in mid-May when in full bloom – and include the Privy Garden, the Pond Garden, the Elizabethan Knot Garden, the Broad Walk, an area known as the Wilderness and, of course, the palace’s famous Maze.

National Gallery

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Ranking among the top art museums in the world, London’s National Gallery represents an almost complete survey of European painting from 1260 until 1920. The museum’s greatest strengths are in its collections of Dutch Masters and Italian Schools of the 15th and 16th centuries. Among its highlights are a cartoon (preliminary sketch) of the Madonna and Child by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo’s The Entombment, Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and The Waterlily Pond by Monet.

Art & Culture

A tireless innovator of art and culture, London is a city of ideas and imagination. Londoners have always been fiercely independent thinkers (and critics), but until not so long ago people were inherently suspicious of anything they considered avant-garde. That’s all in the past now, and the city’s creative milieu is streaked with left-field attitude, from theatrical innovation to contemporary art, pioneering music, writing, and design. Food in all its permutations has become almost an obsession in certain circles.

A Tale of Two Cities

London is as much about wide-open spaces and leafy escapes as it is high-density, sight-packed exploration. Central London is where you will find the major museums, galleries, and most iconic sights, but visit Hampstead Heath or the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to escape the crowds and view the city’s greener hues up close. Or venture even further out to Kew Gardens, Richmond, or Hampton Court Palace for excellent panoramas of riverside London.

Diversity