Is London safe for tourists?

Yes, central London is very safe by big-city standards; the main risks are pickpocketing in crowds and phone-snatching by riders on e-bikes, so keep phones off the curb edge. Standard precautions apply at night around transit hubs, and licensed black cabs and the Tube are safe at all hours they run.

What is the best way to get around London?

The Tube and buses are fastest and cheapest — just tap a contactless bank card or phone at the gates; daily fares cap automatically, so you never need a paper ticket. Central districts like Soho, Covent Garden, and the South Bank are best explored on foot.

Do I need to tip in London?

Restaurants usually add a 12.5% service charge to the bill, in which case no further tip is expected; if no service is added, 10-12% is standard. There is no tipping at pubs when ordering at the bar, and taxi fares are typically just rounded up.

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City guide · UK

London

Royal pageantry, world-class museums, and reinvented pub culture

Royal palacesFree museumsWest End theatreHistoric pubsPremier League football

Best time to visit

May–June & September–October

Currency

Pound Sterling (GBP)

Language

English

Region

Europe

The guides

The best of London, by category

London layers two thousand years of history onto a restlessly modern city, where Roman walls sit beneath glass towers and Borough Market traders shout beside Michelin-starred kitchens. Its free national museums, West End theatres, and 3,000-plus parks make it one of the few megacities you can explore deeply without spending a fortune.

Best Hotels

Where to stay, from icons to boutiques

6 curated places

Best Restaurants

Fine dining and beloved institutions

6 curated places

Best Bars

Cocktail rooms, rooftops and locals’ favorites

6 curated places

Best Attractions

The sights actually worth your time

6 curated places

The shortlist

If you only have time for the best

The single highest-rated picks across every category in London.

Hotels

See all 6

1
Claridge's
Mayfair
4.7★5,000+ reviews
2
The Savoy
Strand, Covent Garden
4.7★7,500+ reviews
3
The Ritz London
Piccadilly, St James's
4.7★5,000+ reviews

Restaurants

See all 6

1
St. JOHN
Smithfield, Clerkenwell
4.5★2,000+ reviews
2
Dishoom Covent Garden
Covent Garden
4.7★25,000+ reviews
3
The Ledbury
Notting Hill
4.7★1,000+ reviews

Bars

See all 6

1
American Bar at The Savoy
Strand, Covent Garden
4.6★1,500+ reviews
2
Connaught Bar
Mayfair
4.6★1,000+ reviews
3
Nightjar
Old Street, Shoreditch
4.5★3,000+ reviews

Attractions

See all 6

1
Tower of London
Tower Hill, City of London
4.7★100,000+ reviews
2
British Museum
Bloomsbury
4.7★150,000+ reviews
3
Westminster Abbey
Westminster
4.7★50,000+ reviews

Where to base yourself

London neighborhoods, decoded

Pick your area first — it shapes everything else about the trip.

Soho

Neon-lit nightlife and theatre

London's longtime bohemian quarter packs jazz clubs, West End stage doors, and some of the city's best casual restaurants into a few square blocks. Once the red-light district, it now blends LGBTQ+ landmarks on Old Compton Street with old-school Italian delis from its 1950s espresso-bar era.

NightlifeTheatreRestaurants

Shoreditch

Street art and creative energy

The East End's creative engine room is covered in commissioned murals and houses Boxpark, Brick Lane's bagel bakeries, and a dense cluster of cocktail bars and breweries. Sundays bring the flower market on nearby Columbia Road and vintage stalls around Spitalfields.

Street artMarketsBars

Notting Hill

Pastel terraces and market browsing

Famous for its candy-colored Victorian houses and the Saturday antiques sprawl of Portobello Road Market, Notting Hill is West London at its most photogenic. Each August it hosts Europe's biggest street festival, the Caribbean-rooted Notting Hill Carnival.

MarketsPhotographyBoutiques

South Bank

Riverside culture mile

A traffic-free Thames promenade links the London Eye, the National Theatre, Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, and Borough Market in one walkable stretch. It is the single best half-day walk in London, with skyline views of St Paul's and the City the whole way.

WalkingMuseumsRiver views

Beyond the city

Day trips worth the ride

Windsor

35 min by train from Paddington

Home to Windsor Castle, the oldest occupied castle in the world, with St George's Chapel where Queen Elizabeth II is buried and Eton College just across the river.

Oxford

1 hr by train from Paddington

The honey-stone university city of dreaming spires offers Christ Church's Harry Potter-famous dining hall, the Bodleian Library, and punting on the Cherwell.

Bath

1 hr 20 min by train from Paddington

A UNESCO-listed Georgian city built around Britain's only natural hot springs, with the 2,000-year-old Roman Baths and the curving Royal Crescent.

Eat like a local

What to order in London

Fish and chips

Beer-battered cod or haddock with thick-cut chips, properly doused in salt and malt vinegar.

Try it at: Poppies Fish & Chips, Spitalfields

Sunday roast

Roast beef or chicken with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, and gravy, the sacred weekly pub ritual.

Try it at: Blacklock, Soho

Full English breakfast

Eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, black pudding, mushrooms, and fried bread on one heroic plate.

Try it at: Regency Café, Westminster

Pie and mash

A minced-beef pie with mashed potato and parsley liquor, the East End's original working-class lunch.

Try it at: G Kelly, Roman Road, Bow

Good to know

London essentials, answered

Four to five days covers the marquee sights — Tower of London, Westminster, British Museum, South Bank — at a humane pace with time for a market morning and a West End show. With a full week you can add neighborhoods like Greenwich or Hampstead and a day trip to Windsor or Oxford.

Keep exploring

More of Europe

Paris

Rome

Barcelona

Madrid

Amsterdam

Berlin