London Sites & Attractions

London packs more world-class sights into a few square miles than almost any other city. The listings below are grouped by type to make planning easier.

Opening hours and ticket prices change frequently, so we've linked to official sources rather than printing times that go out of date. Most national museums and galleries are free to enter; the major ticketed attractions are worth booking online in advance, where prices are usually lower.

Landmarks & Icons

The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

The Palace of Westminster is where the laws governing British life are debated and passed. Guided tours run on Saturdays and on most weekdays during parliamentary recesses, and when Parliament is sitting you can watch debates and committee hearings from the public galleries — free for UK residents, who can also request tours through their MP.

Big Ben is strictly the name of the thirteen-tonne Great Bell, not the tower; the tower itself was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012. Following an extensive restoration completed in 2022, separate tours of the tower are now available: a 334-step climb to the belfry, standing beside the bell as it strikes. These are popular and sell out quickly, with tickets released three months ahead. Visitors must be 11 or over.

A light above the clock faces shows when the House of Commons is sitting after dark.

Nearest station: Westminster.
Bookings and information: parliament.uk

Tower Bridge

One of London's most recognisable landmarks, opened in 1894. Its twin drawbridges, or bascules, each weigh over 1,000 tonnes and still rise around 800 times a year to let tall vessels through — roughly twice a day. Lift times are published a few days in advance on the bridge's website, so it's easy to plan a visit around one.

The Tower Bridge Exhibition takes you up to the high-level walkways, which have a glass floor looking straight down on the roadway, and down into the Victorian engine rooms.

Nearest stations: Tower Hill, London Bridge.
Information: towerbridge.org.uk

Buckingham Palace

The official London residence of the monarch since Queen Victoria's accession in 1837, with 775 rooms. The palace is effectively back to front: the facade you see from The Mall is the east front, added in the 19th century over what had been an open courtyard.

The State Rooms open to visitors during the annual Summer Opening, generally from mid-July to late September, with timed tickets that sell out well ahead. Guided tours of the East Wing are also offered during the season. The King's Gallery and the Royal Mews are open for much more of the year on separate tickets.

Changing the Guard takes place in the forecourt at 11am, typically on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays rather than daily. It is free to watch from the public areas, but check the official schedule before travelling — it can be cancelled at short notice.

Nearest stations: Victoria, Green Park, St James's Park. The nicest approach is on foot across Green Park or St James's Park.
Bookings: rct.uk

The Tower of London

Guarding the river at the eastern edge of the old city walls, the Tower is best known as a place of imprisonment and execution, but over nine centuries it has also served as a royal palace, armoury, mint, menagerie and observatory — and, as it still does, as the home of the Crown Jewels.

Yeoman Warder tours, included with admission, run regularly through the day and are the best introduction to the place.

Nearest station: Tower Hill.
Bookings: hrp.org.uk

Westminster Abbey

Every coronation since 1066 has been held here, along with numerous royal weddings and funerals. The present Gothic church was begun by Henry III in 1245 on the site of Edward the Confessor's earlier abbey; the western towers were completed in the 18th century. Poets' Corner, the medieval Cosmati pavement and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries high in the triforium are all worth seeking out.

Nearest stations: Westminster, St James's Park.
Bookings: westminster-abbey.org

St Paul's Cathedral

A Church of England cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of London. Wren's building, the fifth cathedral on the site, is constructed of Portland stone, and its dome rises to 365 feet. The bell Great Paul, hung in the south-west tower, is the largest in the British Isles.

The cathedral has hosted the funerals of Nelson, Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill, and the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. Climbing to the Whispering Gallery and on up to the Golden Gallery gives one of the best views in the City.

Sightseeing admission is ticketed; entry for services and private prayer is free.

Nearest station: St Paul's.
Information: stpauls.co.uk

London Eye

Standing on the South Bank near Waterloo, the London Eye is 135 metres tall and remains the tallest cantilevered observation wheel in the world, though it is no longer the tallest wheel of any kind — it held that record from 2000 until 2006. A full rotation takes about 30 minutes, and on a clear day the view extends up to 25 miles.

Nearest stations: Waterloo, Westminster, Embankment.
Information: londoneye.com

Trafalgar Square

Nelson's Column, commemorating the admiral's victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in 1805, rises around 169 feet above the square, with Nelson's statue on top and Landseer's four bronze lions at the base. The Fourth Plinth in the north-west corner carries a rotating programme of contemporary commissions.

The square remains a gathering point for demonstrations, rallies and celebrations, and hosts the annual lighting of the Norwegian Christmas tree in December. Note that New Year's Eve is no longer centred here: the main fireworks display is a ticketed event along the Thames near the London Eye.

Nearest stations: Charing Cross, Leicester Square.

Piccadilly Circus

A busy junction where Regent Street, Piccadilly, Shaftesbury Avenue, Coventry Street, Haymarket and Glasshouse Street meet, dominated by its curved bank of illuminated advertising screens and the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain — the winged archer usually, if inaccurately, called Eros.

It sits at the doorstep of the West End theatre district and Soho, so evenings are lively. The Trocadero, which once housed the Segaworld indoor theme park, closed as an entertainment complex years ago and is now largely a hotel.

Nearest station: Piccadilly Circus.

St Pancras International

One of the great Victorian buildings of London and among the most striking railway stations in Europe. George Gilbert Scott's red-brick Midland Grand Hotel frontage was saved from demolition and restored, and the trainshed now serves Eurostar services to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam alongside domestic high-speed routes. Worth a look even if you aren't catching a train.

Nearest station: King's Cross St Pancras.

Museums & Galleries

The British Museum

A collection spanning two million years of human history: Egyptian antiquities, Greek and Roman sculpture, Assyrian reliefs, Chinese ceramics, prints and drawings, coins and medals, and Anglo-Saxon Britain. There are miles of galleries, so it pays to pick a few areas rather than attempt the lot.

Admission to the permanent collection is free; major exhibitions are ticketed. The museum is undergoing a long-term redevelopment of its western galleries, so some rooms may be closed.

Address: Great Russell Street, WC1.
Nearest stations: Tottenham Court Road, Russell Square, Holborn.
Information: britishmuseum.org

The Natural History Museum

Home to around 80 million life and earth science specimens across botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology, housed in Alfred Waterhouse's magnificent Romanesque building. Famous for its dinosaur gallery and for Hope, the blue whale skeleton suspended in Hintze Hall. It is also a serious research institution.

Free to enter; some special exhibitions are ticketed.

Nearest station: South Kensington.
Information: nhm.ac.uk

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The national museum of art, design and performance. Highlights include the largest collection of Indian art outside India, the Chinese, Islamic, Japanese and Korean galleries, the Raphael Cartoons, medieval and Renaissance sculpture, and vast holdings of fashion, jewellery, photography and theatre design.

The V&A now spans several sites: the original South Kensington museum, Young V&A in Bethnal Green, the V&A East Storehouse in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park — where you can request individual objects from the stores — and the V&A East Museum, which opened at Stratford Waterfront in April 2026. All are free.

Address: Cromwell Road, SW7.
Nearest station: South Kensington (Stratford for the East sites).
Information: vam.ac.uk

Tate Modern

A former power station on Bankside converted by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, with the Blavatnik Building extension added in 2016. The collection covers international modern and contemporary art from 1900 to the present, hung thematically and rehung regularly. The Turbine Hall hosts large-scale commissions, and the viewing level of the extension has free panoramic views across the river to St Paul's.

Free to enter; major exhibitions are ticketed. The Millennium Bridge connects it directly to the City.

Nearest stations: Southwark, Blackfriars, St Paul's, Mansion House, London Bridge.
Information: tate.org.uk

The National Gallery

On the north side of Trafalgar Square, next to the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery was founded in 1824 and holds one of the finest collections of Western European painting anywhere — Leonardo, Titian, Rembrandt, Turner, Monet, Van Gogh and many more, spanning the mid-13th century to 1900.

The refurbished Sainsbury Wing reopened in 2025 as the main entrance, alongside a complete rehang of the collection. Entry is free; booking a free timed ticket speeds up entry at busy times.

Nearest stations: Charing Cross, Leicester Square.
Information: nationalgallery.org.uk

The British Library

The national library of the United Kingdom and one of the largest libraries in the world, holding well over 150 million items. Most of the building is for registered readers, but the free Treasures gallery is open to all and displays Magna Carta, Leonardo's notebooks, Beatles manuscripts and the Lindisfarne Gospels among others.

Address: 96 Euston Road, next to St Pancras Station.
Nearest station: King's Cross St Pancras, Euston.
Information: bl.uk

Sea Life London Aquarium

Occupying the basement of County Hall on the South Bank, this is one of Europe's larger aquariums, with sharks, rays, penguins and a walk-through glass tunnel. Popular with families and easy to combine with the London Eye next door.

Nearest stations: Waterloo, Westminster.

London Museum (opening November 2026)

The former Museum of London closed its London Wall site at the end of 2022 and reopens on 28 November 2026 in the restored Victorian General Market at Smithfield, after a £437 million redevelopment. The permanent galleries will be free and will tell the story of the city from prehistory to the present, with exhibits ranging from the vest Charles I wore at his execution to Emmeline Pankhurst's hunger strike medal.

Nearest station: Farringdon, Barbican.
Information: londonmuseum.org.uk

Theatre & Music

Shakespeare's Globe

A reconstruction of the open-air playhouse Shakespeare wrote for, standing close to the site of the original on Bankside. The outdoor Globe Theatre stages a summer season running roughly from April to October, using natural light and minimal scenery, with standing tickets in the yard kept deliberately cheap.

Next door, the indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse — a candlelit Jacobean-style theatre that opened in 2014 — runs a winter season, so there is now something on almost year round. Guided tours, a restaurant, a cafe and a shop complete the site.

Nearest stations: London Bridge, Southwark, Mansion House, St Paul's (all a 10–15 minute walk).
Bookings: shakespearesglobe.com

Abbey Road Studios

The best-known Beatles landmark in London is the zebra crossing on Abbey Road, photographed for the 1969 album cover and still drawing a steady queue of visitors recreating the shot. The crossing is directly outside the studios, which opened in 1931 as EMI Studios and remain a working recording facility — so the building itself is not open to the public, though there is a shop and a much-graffitied wall.

Please note this is a live road with traffic.

Nearest station: St John's Wood.

Markets & Neighbourhoods

Covent Garden

Built around Inigo Jones's piazza, London's oldest planned square, and for centuries the city's fruit and vegetable market. The elegant market hall now houses shops, cafes, restaurants and craft stalls, with the Apple Market and Jubilee Market alongside, and street performers licensed to perform in the piazza. The Royal Opera House and the London Transport Museum are both on the square.

Nearest stations: Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Charing Cross.

Camden Market

Camden's cluster of markets is among the most visited attractions in London and the largest street market in the UK. Spread along the high street and through the Stables and Lock areas, it sells alternative and vintage clothing, jewellery, records, art, crafts, antiques and street food from around the world. Weekends are busiest and liveliest; weekdays are calmer. Camden Town station is exit-only at peak times on Sundays.

Nearest stations: Camden Town, Chalk Farm.

Borough Market

A food market in Southwark, beneath the railway arches between Borough High Street and Southwark Street, just south of Southwark Cathedral. Once primarily wholesale, it now trades mainly retail, selling produce, cheese, baked goods, charcuterie and prepared food from across the world. Open most days, with Saturdays the busiest.

Nearest station: London Bridge.

Portobello Road Market

Running through Notting Hill roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove, Portobello is best known for its Saturday antiques market — the largest in the world — with second-hand clothing, bric-a-brac and food stalls further north. The street is one of the outdoor venues for the Notting Hill Carnival, held over the August bank holiday weekend, and hosts the Portobello Film Festival each year.

Nearest stations: Notting Hill Gate, Ladbroke Grove.

Brick Lane

Once the site of the brick kilns that helped rebuild London after the Great Fire, Brick Lane has been shaped by successive waves of migration — Huguenot, Jewish and, since the mid-20th century, Bangladeshi. Today it is known for its curry houses and bagel bakeries, its street art, the vintage and independent stalls of the Old Truman Brewery, and a busy Sunday market.

Nearest stations: Aldgate East, Shoreditch High Street, Liverpool Street.

Chinatown

Between Leicester Square and Shaftesbury Avenue, Chinatown is a compact grid of restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets, marked by ornamental gates and hanging lanterns. The Chinese New Year celebrations, first held here in 1973, take place on the Sunday nearest New Year's Day in late January or early February and draw enormous crowds, with lion dances, parades and fireworks across the West End.

Nearest stations: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus.

Greenwich

Greenwich is best known for the Royal Observatory, home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian, where you can stand with a foot in each hemisphere. Nearby are the Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, restored and raised so visitors can walk beneath her hull; the National Maritime Museum and the Queen's House, both free; and the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College. Greenwich Market and Greenwich Park complete a full day out.

Getting there: Docklands Light Railway to Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich or Greenwich, via Canary Wharf; rail from Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Cannon Street or London Bridge; or by Thames Clipper riverboat from Embankment and other central piers — much the most enjoyable approach.

Practical Notes

Getting around: contactless cards and mobile payments work on all Tube, bus, DLR, tram and most rail services in London, with automatic daily and weekly capping. A separate Oyster card is no longer necessary for most visitors.
Free entry: the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, V&A, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, National Maritime Museum and Imperial War Museum are all free for their permanent collections. Special exhibitions are usually ticketed.
Booking ahead: for ticketed attractions such as the Tower of London, the London Eye, Kew Gardens and St Paul's, online advance booking is almost always cheaper than paying at the gate, and often necessary at peak times.
Passes: if you plan to visit several paid attractions in a few days, a London Pass or similar bundle may work out cheaper — but check it against the individual prices for the places you actually want to see.