Hotels and Travel

Destination - London

London needs little introduction. This vibrant, multi-cultural capital is a world leading destination city. London is full of history, heritage and culture, yet one of the most fast-moving, cosmopolitan cities on the planet.

With over 30,000 shops and stores to choose from, hundreds of hotels ranging from budget Travel Lodge hotels to the 5 star Savoy Hotel, as well as a burgeoning reputation in the fashion world, shoppers will not be disappointed - from designer labels in Bond Street to bustling street markets in Camden, Notting Hill or Brick Lane. The capital also has 400 live music venues, catering for everything from opera to Brit pop and sports fans will not be short of excitement whenever they come. The summer sees the world’s largest classical musical festival at the Royal Albert Hall – the Proms.

In the 21st century, London has reinvented itself on a monumental scale. Don’t miss the amazing views from the ultra modern British Airways London Eye, the world’s most visited modern art gallery, Tate Modern, or the staggering scale of the British Museum Great Court. Newcomers this year include the Firepower artillery museum in Woolwich and the Museum in Docklands which opens in September.

The West End

Bright, buzzing and full of life…London is one of the most exciting cities in the world and at its heart lies the West End. This is where you go for shopping, eating and entertainment – everything from theatre to nightclubs and gourmet restaurants.

Must see and do

The London Eye, London The Daily Mail Ideal Home Show, London (March) Chelsea Flower Show, London Madame Tussaud's/Planetarium, London Tower of London, London The London Dungeon, London Dali Universe, London Kensington Palace, London Wimbledon Tennis Championships, Wimbledon (June/July) The Proms Music Festival, London (July-September)

COVENT GARDEN

The area where a fruit-and-vegetable wholesale market once stood—and where Eliza Doolittle met Henry Higgins—is now one of the most touristy parts of London. Even so, the Piazza and adjacent Jubilee Market are not unpleasant at all with their array of upper-end high-street stores and market stalls that now sell crafts and clothes instead of cabbages and roses. South of the Piazza is where you find most of the West End theaters; while the Royal Opera House, which was expanded in 1999, Plus, the little area around Endell and Monmouth streets and "Seven Dials" (look for the sundial monument just south of Shaftesbury Avenue) is great for hip clothes shops.

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

One of the single greatest museums in the world, the British Museum houses collections that date from the prehistoric to the modern—in sum, the works of mankind. The Egyptian rooms are famous for their mummies and the eventual key to deciphering hieroglyphics, the Rosetta Stone. Then there are the controversial Elgin Marbles, stolen from the Parthenon, and countless other Greek and Roman antiquities. The leathery, ancient Lindow Man, preserved for centuries in a Cheshire bog after having been ritually slaughtered, and the treasures from the seventh-century Sutton . If you only have a few minutes to spare, trot in to see the 2000 addition—Sir Norman Foster's spectacular two-acre interior Great Court with its glass-grid roof. The museum is free, though special exhibitions are not.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE

The queen's London pied-à-terre is not the most beautiful of palaces, but it's big. Most of the year, all you can do is peer through the iron railings at the guards in busbies—those silly two-foot-tall black fur hats—and check the flagpole to see whether Brenda, as Private Eye calls her, is at home (the standard only flies when she's in residence). But from late July to September, even commoners can enter those gates. The Throne Room, Picture Gallery, Ballroom, and 16 other state rooms are open, as is (a bit of) the south side of the unbelievably huge palace gardens. The Royal Mews, with working stables and display of fancy state vehicles, is just around the corner and also worthy of a visit.

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