London
- darkometer rating: 4 -
The capital city of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the nation's hub in many ways. It is one of the premier city holiday destinations in the world in general, but it also has several sites that are of special interest to the dark tourist (including two that are top-notch in their respective categories). >Combinations with other dark destinations
>Combinations with non-dark destinations
More background info: London is one of Europe's mega-cities, a metropolis of enormous proportions, with a population of currently nearly 9 million (15 million when including the wider metropolitan area – more than any other European city). It’s the the seat of political and financial power (so a real powerhouse in every sense of the word). It also has a very multicultural population and is in general culturally a melting pot of the highest order. This is where it all happens, all the theatre, music, etc. – and it's heavenly for culinary multiculturalism too. Yet it can also be painfully expensive for a visitor. And it’s somewhat demanding too.
London seems to split people's opinions. It appears to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. I'm in the love-it faction – and I have loved London since my very first trip to Britain (when I was still a teenager – on a school trip). I do understand the misgivings some people (including my wife) have about London as regards the stressful, hectic nature of this busy place, the confusing navigation, the distances, the grime. Also there is a certain arrogance that non-Londoners often perceive in Londoners. But that's nothing that should deter (or even affect) the international traveller.
I've been to London as a tourist (as well as on business) more times than to any other place I could name (well, maybe Berlin has caught up by now. I lost count somewhere after about a dozen times. So I know it quite well – although in more recent times I haven't been back as frequently as in the past. Every time I do go back I'm overwhelmed by the changes, so I never get bored of the city (even though I do not view all changes favourably!) .
London seems to split people's opinions. It appears to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. I'm in the love-it faction – and I have loved London since my very first trip to Britain (when I was still a teenager – on a school trip). I do understand the misgivings some people (including my wife) have about London as regards the stressful, hectic nature of this busy place, the confusing navigation, the distances, the grime. Also there is a certain arrogance that non-Londoners often perceive in Londoners. But that's nothing that should deter (or even affect) the international traveller.
I've been to London as a tourist (as well as on business) more times than to any other place I could name (well, maybe Berlin has caught up by now. I lost count somewhere after about a dozen times. So I know it quite well – although in more recent times I haven't been back as frequently as in the past. Every time I do go back I'm overwhelmed by the changes, so I never get bored of the city (even though I do not view all changes favourably!) .
London is the main home of Britain’s monarchy (not just in Buckingham Palace), and for many visitors that’s a key aspect of travelling to London, though I must say all this fuss about the Royals leaves me rather cold. I only had a certain soft spot for the late Elizabeth II – and I once saw her in the flesh, by pure fluke, as I was walking past a crowd at the moment the Queen got out of a car to attend the premiere of one of those ghastly Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. At the end of the day, though, I’d probably be a republican if I were a British citizen. But so much for that.
Of course London is also the centre point of actual political power in Great Britain – which is really quite centralistically oriented. London’s the seat of parliament, government and ministries, etc.; almost all power is concentrated here … and over the course of history that’s come with plenty of scandals too, but I won’t go into any details (and no more mention of the “B-word”).
As far as the general history of London is concerned, I have to be similarly brief. There’s simply too much of it – going back all the way to the ancient Roman occupation of a good part of the British Isles. Of course there have been plenty of dark chapters in that history, ranging from great fires (1666), floods, riots, outbreaks of diseases, serial killers (yes, including especially the legendary unsolved case of “Jack the Ripper”), the effects of the industrial revolution and so on and so forth.
For the time period relevant to the concept of dark tourism applied on this website, i.e. mainly the 20th century and up to the present day, the main dark chapter in London’s history is the time of WWII, when the city became the principal target for aerial bombing by Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe, especially in 1940 – referred to to this day as “the Blitz”. The British victory in the Battle of Britain (see BoB Bunker) thwarted German plans for an invasion, but aerial attacks continued, later also in the form of the V1/V2 terror weapons.
In more modern times, there have also been additional dark chapters, from smog and pollution to terrorist attacks (in particular on “7/7”, i.e. 7 July 2005) and more recently yet the Grenfell Tower tragedy of 2017 and then the Covid-19 pandemic (see below).
What there is to see: London is a huge city and a major tourist attraction in general, and it also offers several sites of special interest from a dark-tourism perspective, though it can’t quite compete on that front with cities like Berlin or Vienna.
These are the dark sites that are given their own separate chapters here:
In addition there are several sites that I haven’t yet been able to visit myself but which I will have on my list of priorities when I’m next in London for any significant amount of time. These include the other six of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” of Victorian cemeteries, of which Highgate is just the most famous and celebrated (and most visited too). Moreover there are a couple of medically-themed museums (especially the Hunterian Museum) that may warrant my attention.
And then there are darkish visitor attractions that I have indeed visited but that I do not deem worthy of chapters on this website. One such attraction, another one under the umbrella of the IWM is HMS Belfast, a WWII-era cruiser moored opposite the Tower of London and open to the public (10-17h, from 23.70 GBP).
For real war history buffs this is certainly a worthwhile site but personally I found that the glamorization of Britain's role in WWII can get a bit much too – at HMS Belfast I once witnessed a young family putting a toddler in the seat of an anti-aircraft gun and inserting a 50p coin into a slot which activated taped sounds of gunfire for "entertainment"… kind of the amusement park variety of war education …
A much adduced alleged example of dark tourism has to be mentioned here: the London Dungeon (now located at the County Hall near the London Eye; 11-16h weekdays, 10-17h weekends, from 27 GBP). Note that I do not even regard that sort of attraction as dark tourism proper – mainly for its lack of authenticity, but also because it harks back to the too distant past to be part of the modernity-oriented concept of dark tourism adopted here (more explanation as to why I exclude the Dungeons chain on these pages can be found here). I have to acknowledge, however, that it is a much discussed site in academic dark-tourism studies (in the category of "dark fun factories") – so I cannot simply leave it unmentioned here. I've also visited the place myself – twice, in fact. Once in its early days in the 1980s, and again in the late 1990s, by which time it had developed much more into the "theatrically" spruced-up affair that the various branches of this chain tend to be these days, with actors playing judges, guards, executioners, etc. and expected “audience participation”. Thematically, there's a lot of pseudo-gory Middle Ages stuff (torture, rats, the plague, you name it) and some of it does achieve a certain spine-chilling Hammer Horror kind of effect. But it is of course all as fake as any fairground-type 'chamber of horrors' (or theatre). There's also a large shop, which underscores the commercialism of the place.
Another attraction also frequently discussed in dark-tourism studies are the (in)famous Jack-the-Ripper guided walks. These take you past the sites where those then high-profile mysterious murders took place in 1988, whose perpetrator was never identified for certain so that the case left plenty of scope for speculation and conspiracy theorizing. But: for the visitor today there's nothing at all to see at these places. Just bare street corners, the odd concreted-over yard, grimy Spitalfields side streets. It may have a certain appeal, but to make the actual connection with the Jack the Ripper case(s) you have to rely solely on your imagination (helped along by the guides and their storytelling, of course). Numerous agencies offer such guided walks. I have never been on any of those myself and doubt I ever will, but since 2015 there’s also been a Jack the Ripper Museum (12 Cable St, 9:30-18h, from 10 GBP). It met with controversy for allegedly glorifying the deeds of the serial killer (cf. the Museum of Death in L.A.!) but maybe if I find the time when I’m next in London I’ll give it a chance …
A much adduced alleged example of dark tourism has to be mentioned here: the London Dungeon (now located at the County Hall near the London Eye; 11-16h weekdays, 10-17h weekends, from 27 GBP). Note that I do not even regard that sort of attraction as dark tourism proper – mainly for its lack of authenticity, but also because it harks back to the too distant past to be part of the modernity-oriented concept of dark tourism adopted here (more explanation as to why I exclude the Dungeons chain on these pages can be found here). I have to acknowledge, however, that it is a much discussed site in academic dark-tourism studies (in the category of "dark fun factories") – so I cannot simply leave it unmentioned here. I've also visited the place myself – twice, in fact. Once in its early days in the 1980s, and again in the late 1990s, by which time it had developed much more into the "theatrically" spruced-up affair that the various branches of this chain tend to be these days, with actors playing judges, guards, executioners, etc. and expected “audience participation”. Thematically, there's a lot of pseudo-gory Middle Ages stuff (torture, rats, the plague, you name it) and some of it does achieve a certain spine-chilling Hammer Horror kind of effect. But it is of course all as fake as any fairground-type 'chamber of horrors' (or theatre). There's also a large shop, which underscores the commercialism of the place.
Another attraction also frequently discussed in dark-tourism studies are the (in)famous Jack-the-Ripper guided walks. These take you past the sites where those then high-profile mysterious murders took place in 1988, whose perpetrator was never identified for certain so that the case left plenty of scope for speculation and conspiracy theorizing. But: for the visitor today there's nothing at all to see at these places. Just bare street corners, the odd concreted-over yard, grimy Spitalfields side streets. It may have a certain appeal, but to make the actual connection with the Jack the Ripper case(s) you have to rely solely on your imagination (helped along by the guides and their storytelling, of course). Numerous agencies offer such guided walks. I have never been on any of those myself and doubt I ever will, but since 2015 there’s also been a Jack the Ripper Museum (12 Cable St, 9:30-18h, from 10 GBP). It met with controversy for allegedly glorifying the deeds of the serial killer (cf. the Museum of Death in L.A.!) but maybe if I find the time when I’m next in London I’ll give it a chance …
When I first started to travel to London repeatedly one of my main discoveries was the London Docklands and for a while I became almost obsessed with the "industrial archaeology" associated with this part of London. It so fed my attraction to dereliction (cf. why this interest) – but that was all before the Docklands were totally transformed ("redeveloped") into the modern office and (often very posh) residential districts they are now. Back then I was fascinated by the grim appeal that these abandoned areas of the ship-less docks and ware-less warehouses exuded. But since this is now gone for good it’s history (see i.e. it falls under the heading of lost places). However, there is a museum about Docklands, the Port of London and associated industrial archaeology in the form of the “London Museum Docklands” housed in one of the few surviving original brick warehouses from the 19th century. It’s on the northern edge of the Isle of Dogs not far from Canary Wharf (namely at No 1 West India Quay, open daily 10-17h, free). Parts of the exhibition also touch upon the dark, especially the reconstructed lifelike WWII-era air-raid shelter as well as a model of the “Maunsell Sea Forts”. The latter were basically a British version of the Third Reich’s Flak Towers, but on stilts in the waters of the Thames estuary, basically artificial islands with anti-aircraft guns at the top. What remains of the real thing is sadly out of bounds, but in the museum you can get an impression.
Moreover there are numerous monuments with dark associations in London. Several are located in the famous Hyde Park, including the humble Holocaust Memorial Gardens with a stone monument dating back to the 1980s. A newer monument commemorates the victims of the "7/7" terrorist attacks of 2005. It consists of steel pillars, one for each of the dead. Also located in Hyde Park, near Speakers’ Corner, is the “Animals in War Memorial” monument. Another terrorist attack memorial is that dedicated to the victims of the Bali bombings of 2002 (see photo below – and also cf. this chapter); this is located next to the Churchill War Rooms at the eastern edge of St James’s Park.
A comparatively contemporary monument of sorts is the “National Covid Memorial Wall”, a long mural on a wall along the south bank of the River Thames, right opposite Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. It consists of some 245,000 red hearts painted on to the concrete – one for every British victim who died in the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020. The hearts are all individual and most feature inscriptions/dedications to lost loved ones. It was started as a grass-roots initiative without council permission – initially in part as a protest against the then Johnson government’s highly controversial (mis)handling of the crisis – but soon it was so established that it had to be tolerated; and now it is also being maintained.
The long-standing and famous Cenotaph on Whitehall (focus of the Remembrance Day parades) which honours Britain's war dead ("the glorious dead" it says on the side!), is a pretty unremarkable affair in comparison.
A war memorial of sorts is also the ruin of the St Dunstan in the East church, which was destroyed in the Blitz. It was later converted into a peaceful little memorial garden around the remnants of the nave’s walls (open 8-17h, free). Only the church tower remains mostly intact.
A dark place that is still lacking its memorial is Grenfell Tower. The catastrophic fire in this residential high-rise in June 2017 claimed 72 lives. This was one of the biggest civilian tragedies in modern British history – and it’s steeped in controversy, ranging from criticism regarding the shoddy cladding of the building, which acted as a fire accelerant, to the official handling of the aftermath. Grass-roots organizations of bereaved families have long been campaigning for the creation of some sort of official memorial (and impromptu ones already popped up in the vicinity), preferably involving at least parts of the burned-out shell of Grenfell Tower. But now it looks like the authorities are insisting on demolishing the tower entirely. So the controversy carries on. What will eventually come of this remains to be seen.
Grenfell Tower has been widely discussed with regard to dark tourism. In fact people coming to take selfies at the tower ruin were adduced as examples of how morally twisted dark tourism allegedly is. I argued that such misbehaviour is in fact rather unrepresentative of dark tourism in particular but much more representative of unthinking smartphone use in general (so not at all specific to dark tourism). Personally, I would never have taken a selfie there (or indeed at any site of tragedy). And I’ve always advised against going there for that purpose, and admonished people to act respectfully and discreetly. We’ll see if there will one day be a proper memorial for uncontroversial commemoration.
Finally, even though its dark associations are much thinner, I have to mention my favourite building in London: Battersea power station. It's a fantastically gigantic brick pile standing on the Thames in the southern district of the same name. In fact, it's said to be the largest brick structure in Europe. It's long been disused (it closed in 1983), and there have been various attempts at converting the place into something or other over the years. And then, finally, one proposed plan was actually completed. The end result is debatable. The building itself has been turned into a shopping mall with luxury apartments and penthouses added at the top (only affordable for the seriously rich). But unfortunately the redevelopment of the whole area around the power station consists of densely packed new office-and-apartment buildings (including also a hotel) that so encroach on the old brick structure that it is now possible to see it properly only from the north, from the banks of the Thames. At least the main architectural features still stand – its four huge cream-coloured chimney stacks rising from the squat dark-red brick hulk of the main building (some say it looks like a gigantic upside-down billiard table). The edifice has also prominently featured as a film set – and here's a dark connection: it featured in the 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's "1984" (with Richard Burton starring stunningly in his last role as O'Brien!). It was also on a Pink Floyd album cover … so I'm not the only one admiring this distinctive architectural gem. And at least now it’s easier than ever to get there; it’s even been given its own Tube station (on the Northern Line) as well as a ferry connection.
Finally, even though its dark associations are much thinner, I have to mention my favourite building in London: Battersea power station. It's a fantastically gigantic brick pile standing on the Thames in the southern district of the same name. In fact, it's said to be the largest brick structure in Europe. It's long been disused (it closed in 1983), and there have been various attempts at converting the place into something or other over the years. And then, finally, one proposed plan was actually completed. The end result is debatable. The building itself has been turned into a shopping mall with luxury apartments and penthouses added at the top (only affordable for the seriously rich). But unfortunately the redevelopment of the whole area around the power station consists of densely packed new office-and-apartment buildings (including also a hotel) that so encroach on the old brick structure that it is now possible to see it properly only from the north, from the banks of the Thames. At least the main architectural features still stand – its four huge cream-coloured chimney stacks rising from the squat dark-red brick hulk of the main building (some say it looks like a gigantic upside-down billiard table). The edifice has also prominently featured as a film set – and here's a dark connection: it featured in the 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's "1984" (with Richard Burton starring stunningly in his last role as O'Brien!). It was also on a Pink Floyd album cover … so I'm not the only one admiring this distinctive architectural gem. And at least now it’s easier than ever to get there; it’s even been given its own Tube station (on the Northern Line) as well as a ferry connection.
London also offers lots of totally off-the-beaten-track smaller attractions, some of them dark. When I was in the city in January 2025, a friend of mine, a fellow blogger and tour operator (see this sponsored page!) took me on a tour around West London and showed me a number of well hidden sites of dark significance, like old WWII bunker relics, bomb craters in the forest and a house from which during the Cold War Soviet spies operated for years!
There is probably yet more to be discovered in London in terms of dark tourism that I don’t yet even know about, so it will remain a worthy destination.
Location: in the south of Great Britain, on the River Thames, straddling the length of a good proportion of the river – from its wide estuary in the east to the little country trickle it is on the western outskirts.
Google Maps locators:
HMS Belfast: [51.5066, -0.0813]
London Dungeon: [51.5025, -0.1187]
Jack the Ripper Museum: [51.5108, -0.0679]
London Museum Docklands: [51.5076, -0.0239]
Holocaust Memorial Garden: [51.5043, -0.1587]
7/7 memorial: [51.50589, -0.15315]
Animals in War Memorial: [51.5111, -0.1575]
National Covid Memorial Wall: [51.4999, -0.1202]
Cenotaph: [51.50268, -0.12607]
St Dunstan in the East: [51.5097, -0.0825]
Battersea Power Station: [51.4821, -0.1445]
Buckingham Palace: [51.5013, -0.1419]
Trafalgar Square: [51.5081, -0.1281]
Houses of Parliament and Big Ben: [51.5004, -0.1246]
Tower of London and Tower Bridge: [51.5068, -0.0748]
Westminster Cathedral: [51.4959, -0.1395]
Westminster Abbey: [51.4995, -0.1274]
The “Gherkin”: [51.5148, -0.0804]
The “Shard”: [51.5046, -0.0865]
Tate Modern: [51.5078, -0.0994]
British Museum: [51.5192, -0.1266]
Kensington museum quarter (Victoria & Albert, Natural History, Science): [51.4962, -0.1746]
London Zoo: [51.5351, -0.1538]
Kew Gardens: [51.4796, -0.2931]
O2 (Millennium Dome): [51.5029, 0.0031]
Heathrow Airport: [51.4709, -0.4569]
Access and costs: fairly easy to get to, but not cheap to be in.
Details: Getting to London from abroad is easiest by plane to one of the city’s five (!!) airports. Heathrow is the largest, busiest and most convenient of these, as transfer to the city centre is made easy by the Tube (London’s metro network, see below). In fact there are two lines going to Heathrow’s five terminals, namely the long-established Piccadilly Line and since 2022 also the Elizabeth Line. The latter is the better choice as it has far fewer stops and is thus faster and also avoids the often old and labyrinthine Piccadilly Line stations in Central London. There’s also a non-stop fast rail connection to Paddington, but you have to pay a pretty premium for that convenience.
Theoretically most convenient is the small London City Airport in the eastern Docklands, but that’s mostly for business flights not tourists. Gatwick is London’s second largest airport, and many budget airlines use this; it’s connected to Central London by express trains. Luton and Stansted also have budget flights, but connections to London are less convenient.
It is also possible to get to London from the European mainland by train, using the Channel Tunnel; the service is called “Eurostar” and the main departure point is Brussels in Belgium, with connections to France, the Netherlands and Germany. The terminus in London is St Pancras Station. It is also possible to take cars on special rail carriages.
From within the country, cheap bus connections make the city accessible from the rest of Great Britain. Rail connections, on the other hand, can be disproportionately expensive. Domestic flights should generally be avoided, though for longer distances, e.g. to Aberdeen in Scotland, they can conveniently cut journey times.
The one thing you don't want to chose as a means of travelling to or within London is by car! Car traffic is highly restricted these days (there's a congestion charge and it's almost impossible to park anywhere). If you have to travel by car, then choose some motel-like accommodation on the outskirts and make your way into the centre by public transport.
For getting around within London, the London Underground, or "Tube" as it is known infomrally, makes most parts of this sprawling city accessible. The system is ageing but still pretty efficient. In the city centre and during normal daytime hours, trains tend to be impressively frequent too. It is, however, not the cheapest metro system … nor is the rest of London's public transport, i.e. mainly buses. The characteristic red double-decker buses, however, are indeed a good way of getting around while enjoying the free bonus of sightseeing from the upper deck.
The one thing you don't want to chose as a means of travelling to or within London is by car! Car traffic is highly restricted these days (there's a congestion charge and it's almost impossible to park anywhere). If you have to travel by car, then choose some motel-like accommodation on the outskirts and make your way into the centre by public transport.
For getting around within London, the London Underground, or "Tube" as it is known infomrally, makes most parts of this sprawling city accessible. The system is ageing but still pretty efficient. In the city centre and during normal daytime hours, trains tend to be impressively frequent too. It is, however, not the cheapest metro system … nor is the rest of London's public transport, i.e. mainly buses. The characteristic red double-decker buses, however, are indeed a good way of getting around while enjoying the free bonus of sightseeing from the upper deck.
There are literally hundreds of bus lines (something like 700 in fact!) in London and eleven Tube lines, plus six “overground” lines as well as train/metro lines not operated by the “Transport for London” company but by independent operators, such as the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) or the Elizabeth Line (see above). The system has gone largely cash- and contactless. There are still tickets available, but the most convenient mode of payment for transport is to simply use a credit card (or smartphone with an electronic wallet) to tap on and off at Tube station entrances and exits, so you don’t have to worry about the correct fare as it will be calculated automatically (and is capped so you don’t pay more than for a One Day Pass if you use the system a lot).
Otherwise, get good walking shoes on and use your legs – you will probably have to anyway. I've often spent hours on end, sometimes whole days, just walking, walking, walking. Particularly cool are the riverside walks – and more and more stretches of riverbanks have been made accessible as riverside walks over the years (when there was still an active Port of London within the city limits, access to the river was much more restricted!)
Accommodation options in London are extremely varied, from budget hostels (some quite agreeable, others infamously grotty – so do shop around in advance with care) to top-notch super-luxury hotels at crippling rates … and anything in between.
Overall, London isn't a cheap place to be in – and daily living costs can really add to the traveller's budget significantly. On the other hand, the options for eating out in London are staggeringly diverse. The several thousands of restaurants include virtually every cuisine of the planet. For lovers of exotic food and culinary adventures (like myself) London is close to paradise (well, maybe New York even tops it).
Otherwise, get good walking shoes on and use your legs – you will probably have to anyway. I've often spent hours on end, sometimes whole days, just walking, walking, walking. Particularly cool are the riverside walks – and more and more stretches of riverbanks have been made accessible as riverside walks over the years (when there was still an active Port of London within the city limits, access to the river was much more restricted!)
Accommodation options in London are extremely varied, from budget hostels (some quite agreeable, others infamously grotty – so do shop around in advance with care) to top-notch super-luxury hotels at crippling rates … and anything in between.
Overall, London isn't a cheap place to be in – and daily living costs can really add to the traveller's budget significantly. On the other hand, the options for eating out in London are staggeringly diverse. The several thousands of restaurants include virtually every cuisine of the planet. For lovers of exotic food and culinary adventures (like myself) London is close to paradise (well, maybe New York even tops it).
Time required: London is a classic long weekend city break destination. But if you really want to get to grips with this huge and complex metropolis, you should spend a lot longer in it than that (or do what I've always done and come back on frequent return visits). You could spend months here and still be overwhelmed by all those things you still haven't got round to seeing. To cover all the dark sites outlined above you’d need at least ten days, better a fortnight.
Combinations with other dark destinations: see Great Britain – London may appear to be a good base from which to go exploring the country further, but in fact you're much better advised not to do so. Rather get a hire car or a bus or whatever, leave London behind and set up base elsewhere. In fact, driving is the best option once you're outside London (within London it would be crazy to even think about using a car), especially as all the other dark sites in the country are so spread out …
Combinations with non-dark destinations: For outside London see under Great Britain in general.
London itself is so full of tourist attractions that I’d have no chance of being comprehensive here – refer to the countless mainstream guidebooks and websites instead.
Amongst the most well-known sights are Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, or Big Ben – the latter two are indeed so iconic that their images are often used to stand for tourism in Great Britain in general (much in the same way as is the case with the Eiffel Tower for Paris/France and the Colosseum for Rome/Italy).
Not all of the standard mainstream sites are really worth it, though. In particular, it has always baffled my why Piccadilly Circus should be on anybody's itinerary at all. (Maybe many decades ago when large-scale neon adverts were something new and spectacular in Europe, but now … come on!) Similarly overhyped is Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. It’s the sort of place that only gets visited because it’s in the guidebooks.
Whitehall, the seat of government power is also rather underwhelming as a tourist site – and Downing Street (the residential street where the Prime Minister's house is at No. 10) is not accessible for tourists. The neo-Gothic splendour of the Houses of Parliament, however, admittedly doesn't fail to impress.
Of the great cathedrals in London I would recommend Westminster Cathedral as a less well-known gem of architecture (I especially like the gloomy interior) rather than the more famous but overly touristy Westminster Abbey, or St. Paul's in the City.
As regards modern architecture, London also has plenty to offer. For one thing those into ‘brutalism’ can find several textbook examples here, and there are even brutalism-themed guided walking tours (see this sponsored page!) One of London’s newer modern landmarks is the "Gherkin" building, and it is indeed a stunningly extravagant example – much more so than the nearby Lloyd's building (which, like the Centre Pompidou in Paris, is rather of the inside-out, guts-exposed type of modern). Over the past few decades lots of modern structures have joined (and significantly altered) the skyline of London and yet more are in the making. Perhaps the most outstanding one (at least literally) is the so-called “Shard”, a pyramid glass covered super-tall tower that at just under 310m is the tallest building in the UK (there’s an observation deck at the top for unparalleled views). But not everybody likes it – I’ve heard some pretty dismissive remarks about it from some Londoners. Personally I have no issue with it.
And speaking of modern – the Tate Modern, housed in the former Bankside Power Station building on the southern side of the Thames opposite the City is probably my favourite gallery of modern art in the world. And the interior of the building, more precisely: the enormous main hall, is by itself the most stunning exhibit!
London is, no surprise, full of museums and galleries. The most famous of all its museums in the eminent British Museum, which has some of the world’s most significant archaeological objects (amongst them the trilingual Rosetta Stone, which provided a key to deciphering old Egyptian hieroglyphs). Other world-renowned museums include the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in Kensington.
London Zoo is also one of the world-leading institutions of its kind, as are the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
Of the many parks in London, the duo of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens is just the most famous, along with the neighbouring pair of Green Park and St James’s Park. Other noteworthy parks include the similarly huge Regent’s Park, Battersea Park and the historical Greenwich Park.
London is also an entertainment metropolis, especially with regard to theatres – the hotspot with the densest concentration of theatres is the West End, especially Soho (“theatre land”). The same is true for music. Smaller venues have been coming under pressure in recent years, but big venues are still firmly established. The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) is the largest of London’s indoor venues.
And when it comes to shopping, few cities can rival London. The most famous shopping temple and the icon of the old department store concept is of course Harrods, the most significant shopping street is still Oxford Street, but there are a myriad of other shopping opportunities from mainstream to extremely quirky.
I could go on and on and on, but will leave it at this here …
