Where to stay in London: seven standout neighbourhoods

If a plunge straight into classic London sightseeing is what tickles your proverbial pickle, then look no further than Westminster and St James. Your camera’s selfie setting won’t know what’s hit it as you glide effortlessly from one iconic attraction (well hello, Big Ben!) to another (lookin’ at you, Westminster Abbey). Here’s where you can tick off some of London’s must-do photo opportunities in one fell swoop. Red telephone boxes? Check. Pulling your most serious politician face in front of the Houses of Parliament? Double check. Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace? You betcha.

A stay in one of Westminster’s polished hotels also puts you within striking distance of St James’s Park, where framing Bucky Pally through the trees from the Blue Bridge and pausing to say hey to the resident pelicans are practically rites of passage. Then there’s nearby Pall Mall, with its high-class bars and eye-wateringly expensive shopping arcades, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) for the latest bleeding-edge arthouse flicks and touring bands.

Westminster also just happens to be the hopping-off point for one of London’s must-do sightseeing experiences. Head down to the pier to board an Uber Boat and cruise the Thames as far east as Barking. Attractions along the route include – deep breath – the London Eye, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate Modern, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, the Cutty Sark and more. In other words: it's sightseeing done right.

Nearby attractions

• Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
• Westminster Abbey
• Buckingham Palace
• The London Eye

The curtain rises on London’s entertainment district the moment you roll out of bed. Covent Garden’s central location makes it a great pick if you’re planning on taking in a show or three. You’ll find several of the major theatres here – the Royal Opera House, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Coliseum among them – with plenty more along the entertainment mecca that is Shaftesbury Avenue. There’s also plenty of free fun to be had on Covent Garden’s famous traffic-free piazza, where they say you’re never more than six feet from a juggler, magician or human statue. Duck into the shopping arcade for one-of-a-kind jewellery pieces, artisan craft stalls and a shop dedicated entirely to the Moomins universe. Or stop by one of the city’s most crowd-pleasing museums. Tucked into the piazza’s southeast corner, the London Transport Museum is a magical wonderland of old-school Routemaster buses, steam trains, carriages and kitschy London Underground posters of yore.

In addition to this plethora of world-class wonders, Covent Garden is also within strolling distance of the heady scents of Chinatown, Soho’s hip bars and clubs, the bright lights of Leicester Square, and Trafalgar’s Square’s lofty monuments and remarkable free-to-enter art museums. Ogle Constable’s The Hay Wain, van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Monet’s Water-Lilies for nowt? Don’t mind if we do.

Nearby attractions

• London Transport Museum
• Covent Garden Market
• Chinatown
• Shaftesbury Avenue theatres

Go big or go home. Along with some of London’s most swoonsome skyline views – hello Tower Bridge, St Paul’s and the Gherkin – swanky Bankside also promises access to some of London’s finest river walks, gourmand-pleasing food markets and cultural heavy hitters. Wander the Thames path between Waterloo and Tower Bridge for an embarrassment of riches that includes the National Theatre, Tate Modern and mighty, medieval Southwark Cathedral. You can also stop off for a guided tour of Shakespeare’s Globe, a remarkable and painstaking facsimile of the original timber-framed Elizabethan theatre. 

Do you have a mouth? Do you enjoy throwing delicious handfuls of global street food into it? Then you’ve come to the right place. Borough Market is the daddy of London foodie experiences, serving up bacon baps, mac’n’cheese, duck confit, warm doughnuts and just about every other treat you can think of beneath rumbling railway arches, and a mere hop and a skip from The Shard. Fuel up and meander west along the river, popping in for an ogle at the outsize art in Tate Modern’s titanic Turbine Hall. Who knows: by the time you reach the equally delicious Southbank Centre Food Market, tucked away behind the Royal Festival Hall near The London Eye, you might just have worked up an appetite again.

Nearby attractions

• The Shard
• Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
• Tate Modern
• Borough Market

Museum lovers, this one’s for you! South Ken blends grand townhouses, leafy squares, and three absolutely world-class museums within just a few blocks. And best of all: they’re all completely free to visit. Spend a morning exploring the V&A’s design treasures (don’t skip tea and scones in the eye-popping café) or come over all Dora the Explorer among the Natural History Museum’s fossils, bones and taxidermy critters. The Science Museum is a crowd-pleaser for kids aged one to 100 – think steam locomotives, vertical take-off jets, iron lungs, and the actual Apollo 10 command module.

Just up the road, Hyde Park has you covered for summer boating, swimming and open-air concerts as well as festive trips to the annual spectacle that is Winter Wonderland. The adjacent Kensington Palace Gardens is one of London’s best-loved royal parks, thanks to its long association with Lady Di. You’ll find a statue honouring the former Princess of Wales in the palace’s Edwardian-style sunken garden.

Bonus tip: South Kensington and the area north of Hyde Park (Queensway and Lancaster Gate) have some of the best budget accommodation in town, and put you within very easy reach of Central London to boot.

Nearby attractions

• South Kensington museums
• Kensington Palace Gardens
• Royal Albert Hall
• Hyde Park

Greenwich feels like a cute little village in its own right, albeit one that’s home to some of London’s most arresting attractions. Indeed, you could quite easily base yourself here and spend a week exploring the wonderful museums, parks and markets, without ever setting foot on a bus, boat or train into town. Yes, there’s really that much to see.

Let’s start with the biggies. Set high on a hill in Greenwich Park, the Royal Observatory is where it’s at for super-massive telescopes, quirky navigational timepieces and the chance to hopscotch between one earthly hemisphere and the other. Then there’s the Cutty Sark, almost certainly the most famous clipper on the planet. But that’s not all. Far from it. Get an eyeful of the baroque 18th-century confection that is the Painted Hall – aka the UK’s Sistine Chapel – at the Old Royal Naval College. Artist James Thornhill’s room-sized mural masterpiece took nearly 20 years to complete. Or grab a picnic from buzzy Greenwich Market and hotfoot it to Queen Elizabeth’s Oak, a myth-shrouded hollow tree that’s been a feature of the Greenwich Park landscape for hundreds of years. Eyes peeled for resident red and fallow deer drawn in by the enticing aroma of your loaded chips or falafel wrap.

But, for our money, the highlight of any Greenwich stay is the opportunity to take your morning constitutional 50 feet beneath the mighty Thames. Yes, you read that right. The Greenwich Foot Tunnel links Greenwich (obvs) with the southern tip of the Isle of Dogs via 1,215 feet of concrete, cast-iron and gleaming ivory tiles. A genuine marvel of late Victorian engineering, it’s one of London’s greatest under-the-radar (and under-the-water) gems.

Nearby attractions

• The Royal Observatory Greenwich
• The Cutty Sark
• The Old Royal Naval College
• Greenwich Park

London’s oldest quarter is an urban explorer’s dream ticket, all cobbled courtyards, historic churches, lofty clerical and financial institutions, ye olde pubs and inns, and place names like Hanging Sword Alley, Wrestler's Court, Houndsditch and (David Hasselhoff’s personal favourite) Knightrider Street. Unlike the rest of London, the Square Mile is at its liveliest during the week when pubs, restaurants and cafés are crammed with bankers, traders and office workers. It’s much quieter on weekends, making it a great time to explore all those weird and wonderful courtyards and alleys – an impromptu game of place-name bingo is a great way to discover historic nooks you might otherwise overlook. 

It’s also where you can find two of London’s major must-see landmarks. We’re talking the majestic soaring dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and the ridiculously dramatic Tower of London. The cathedral is Sir Christopher Wren at his showboating architectural best. Snap the iconic exterior then step inside to explore geometric staircases and whispering galleries, and to pay your respects to such luminaries as Joseph Turner, Florence Nightingale, Admiral Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington down in the crypt.

Tower Hill brings the medieval drama, big time. Mosey over that bridge for exceptional views back to the Tower of London, then pop in to meet the resident ravens (and their Ravenmaster) and to have your eyes well and truly bedazzled by the many swords, scepters, orbs, rings and amulets that comprise the Crown Jewels. Eyes peeled too for the spectral second wife of ruddy-cheeked serial monogamist Henry VIII; Ann Boleyn was executed here in 1536 and her headless ghost is said to haunt the Tower grounds. Spooky!

Nearby attractions

• St Paul’s Cathedral
• Tower Bridge
• Tower of London
• Leadenhall Market

Creative energy runs at fever pitch in Shoreditch and Spitalfields, where you can expect to be besieged by fashion-forward indie boutiques, pre-loved vinyl stalls, cool coffee joints and some of the most colourful and cutting-edge street art this side of NYC. Spitalfields Market is a sprawling covered mecca for gift-seekers and souvenir-hunters. The line-up changes day to day, but you can usually expect anything from movie prints and posters to artisan jewellery, patterned knitwear and bric-a-brac stalls. Fill your bags then fill your boots round the corner in the street food zone – bao buns, karaage chicken and pastries bigger than your own face for the win.

You’re in Jack the Ripper country here, where many of the atmospheric lamplit lanes look much the same as they would have done in those dark days of 1888, give or take the odd hipster clothes boutique or mochi pop-up shop. Detour to Brick Lane, where long lines that snake out onto the street are your cue for the best bagels and Bangladeshi curries on the block. No queue? No dice: the locals here know their stuff alright. There’s a palpable buzz in this part of the town and the trendy bars and restaurants along Shoreditch High Street keep the vibe lively well into the small hours – dive right in to experience a taste of the real London.

Nearby attractions

• Brick Lane
• Spitalfields Market
• Whitechapel Gallery
• Dennis Severs’ House

And that’s a wrap on our pick of the best London neighbourhoods to stay in. Yes yes, we know it’s not exhaustive and that some districts are conspicuous by their absence (did somebody say Brixton?) but we hope this broad spectrum of different areas is nevertheless sufficient to whet your appetite for all things Londinium. Your adventure starts here!