such as Shoreditch<\/a> and the northern half of Brick Lane.<\/p>\nThere is an array of contemporary galleries in the area.<\/p>\n
Brick Lane, incidentally, is a great place for some curry dishes if you can deal with all those waiters on the street trying to hustle you into their restaurants.<\/p>\n
Attractions you may want to visit if you\u2019re in the area include St. Clement Danes church, the Temple of Mithras, and Sir Christopher Wren\u2019s Monument to the Great Fire of 1666.<\/p>\n
Docklands<\/h2>\n
In 1981, in the most ambitious scheme of its kind in Europe, the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was formed to redevelop Wapping, the Isle of Dogs, the Royal Docks, and Surrey Docks.<\/p>\n
The area is bordered roughly by Tower Bridge to the west and London City Airport and the Royal Docks to the east.<\/p>\n
Many businesses have moved here; Thames-side warehouses have been converted to Manhattan-style lofts and museums, entertainment complexes, shops, and an ever-growing list of restaurants have popped up at this 21st-century river city in the making.<\/p>\n
Canary Wharf<\/h2>\n
on the Isle of Dogs, is the heart of Docklands.<\/p>\n
This 28-hectare (69-acre) site is dominated by a 240m-high (787-ft.) tower, which is the tallest building in the United Kingdom, and was designed by C\u00e9sar Pelli.<\/p>\n
The Piazza of the tower is lined with shops and restaurants.<\/p>\n
On the south side of the river at Surrey Docks, Sir Terence Conran has converted the Victorian warehouses of Butler\u2019s Wharf into offices, workshops, houses, shops, and restaurants.<\/p>\n
Butler\u2019s Wharf is also home to the Design Museum Chances are, you\u2019ll venture here for sights and restaurants, not for lodging, unless you\u2019ve got business in the area.<\/p>\n
The area is fun during the day and home to some of London\u2019s finest restaurants, offering good food and a change of pace from the West End this is post millennium London, whereas the West End is the essence of tradition.<\/p>\n
To get to Docklands, take the Underground to Tower Hill and pick up the Docklands Light Railway which operates Monday to Saturday from 5:30am to 12:30am, and from 7am to 11:30pm Sunday.<\/p>\n
South Bank<\/h2>\n
Although not officially a district, this is where you\u2019ll find the South Bank Arts Centre The largest arts center in western Europe and still growing.<\/p>\n
Reached by Waterloo Bridge (or on foot by Hungerford Bridge), it lies across the Thames from the Victoria Embankment.<\/p>\n
Culture buffs flock to its galleries and halls, which encompass the National Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Hayward Gallery.<\/p>\n
Although its day as a top hotel district in London may come in a decade or so (since there\u2019s no room left in the West End), that hasn\u2019t happened yet.<\/p>\n
The South Bank is a destination for daytime adventures and for evening cultural attractions. You may want to dine here during a day\u2019s or evening\u2019s exploration of the area.<\/p>\n
Nearby are such neighborhoods as Elephant and Castle, and Southwark, home to Southwark Cathedral To get here, take the Tube to Waterloo Station.<\/p>\n
Clerkenwell<\/h2>\n
This neighborhood, north and a bit west of the City, was the site of London\u2019s first hospital and is the home of several early churches.<\/p>\n
St. Bartholomew-the-Great Built in 1123, still stands as London\u2019s oldest church and the best example of large-scale Norman building in the city.<\/p>\n
In the 18th century, Clerkenwell declined into a muck-filled cattle yard, home to cheap gin distilleries.<\/p>\n
During a 19th-century revival, John Stuart Mill\u2019s London Patriotic Club moved here in 1872, and William Morris\u2019s socialist press called Clerkenwell home in the 1890s Lenin worked here editing Iskra.<\/p>\n
The neighborhood again fell into disrepair but has recently been reinvented by the moneyed and groovy.<\/p>\n
A handful of hot restaurants and clubs have sprung up, and art galleries line St. John\u2019s Square and the border of Clerkenwell Green.<\/p>\n
Lest you think the whole area has become trendy, know that trucks still rumble into Smithfield Market throughout the night, unloading thousands of beef carcasses. Farringdon is Clerkenwell central Tube stop.<\/p>\n
King\u2019s Cross<\/h2>\n
Long a seedy area in the heart of London, King\u2019s Cross is facing a massive regeneration program. Millions of pounds are going into its decaying infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The area is still far from chic, but was given renewed importance with the arrival of Eurostar, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link coming into St. Pancras instead of Waterloo.<\/p>\n
Because of this change in venue, it\u2019s estimated that some 50 million passengers will pass through King\u2019s Cross annually.<\/p>\n
Six tubes now convene underneath King\u2019s Cross Station, and it is the number-one connection hub enabling visitors to get to and from Gatwick and Heathrow airports.<\/p>\n
St. Pancras<\/h2>\n
Alongside King\u2019s Cross, St. Pancras International is the new transport hub for Eurostar, bringing renewed life to this once-decaying part of London.<\/p>\n
The station is to London what Penn Station was to New York, the finest architectural icon of the Age of Steam.<\/p>\n
British poet John Betjeman called the 1868 structure, with its gargoyles and Gothic revival towers, \u201ctoo beautiful and too romantic to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
He almost became a prophet in the 1960s when this landmark was slated for demolition until saved by preservationists.<\/p>\n
Today the glamorous and vastly restored station is a dazzling entry point into Britain for those passengers arriving on Eurostar from the Continent.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned for hotel, shopping, and restaurant developments to blossom around the station.<\/p>\n
West End Neighborhoods<\/h2>\nBloomsbury<\/h2>\n
This district, a world within itself, is bound roughly by Euston Road to the north, Gower Street to the west, and Clerkenwell to the east.<\/p>\n
It is, among other things, the academic heart of London.<\/p>\n
There are three colleges in Bloomsbury, including University College London The grandest and the oldest.<\/p>\n
A branch of the University of London is also here.<\/p>\n
Writers like Virginia Woolf, who lived in the area (it figured in her novel Jacob\u2019s Room), have fanned the neighborhood\u2019s reputation as a place devoted to liberal thinking, arts, and \u201csexual frankness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The novelist and her husband, Leonard, were unofficial leaders of a group of artists and writers known as the Bloomsbury Group.<\/p>\n
However, despite its student population, Bloomsbury is a fairly staid neighborhood.<\/p>\n
The heart of Bloomsbury is Russell Square Whose outlying streets are lined with moderately priced to expensive hotels and B&Bs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a noisy but central place to stay. Most visitors come to see the British Museum One of the world\u2019s greatest repositories of treasures from around the globe. The British Telecom Tower (1964) on Cleveland Street is a familiar landmark.<\/p>\n
The Old Curiosity Shoppe Said to be the oldest shop in central London and the inspiration behind Dickens\u2019s book of the same name, is found on Portsmouth Street.<\/p>\n
Of all the areas described so far, this is the only one that could be called a hotel district.<\/p>\n
Hotel prices have risen dramatically in the past decade but are nowhere near the levels of those in Mayfair and St. James\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Bloomsbury\u2019s hotels are comparable in price to what you\u2019ll find in Marylebone to the west.<\/p>\n
But Bloomsbury is more convenient at its southern doorstep lie the restaurants and nightclubs of Soho, the theater district, and the markets of Covent Garden.<\/p>\n
If you stay here, it\u2019s a 5-minute Tube ride to the heart of the action of the West End.<\/p>\n
At the western edge of Bloomsbury you\u2019ll find Fitzrovia bounded by Great Portland, Oxford, and Gower streets, and reached by the Goodge Street Tube.<\/p>\n
Goodge Street, with its many shops and pubs, forms the heart of the village.<\/p>\n
Charlotte Street has good and varied restaurants catering to the local media companies.<\/p>\n
Fitzrovia was once the stamping ground for writers and artists like Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis, and George Orwell, among others.<\/p>\n
The bottom end of Fitzrovia is a virtual extension of Soho, with a cluster of Greek restaurants.<\/p>\n
Holborn<\/h2>\n
The old borough of Holborn (Ho-burn), which abuts the City southeast of Bloomsbury, encompasses the heart of legal London, this is where you\u2019ll find the city\u2019s barristers, solicitors, and law clerks.<\/p>\n
Still Dickensian in spirit, the area preserves the Victorian author\u2019s literary footsteps in the two Inns of Court (where law students perform their apprenticeships and where barristers\u2019 chambers are located), featured in David Copperfield, and as the Bleeding Heart Yard of Little Dorrit fame.<\/p>\n
The Old Bailey courthouse, where judges and lawyers still wear old-fashioned wigs, has stood for English justice through the years, Fagin went to the gallows from this site in Oliver Twist.<\/p>\n
You might come here for some sightseeing, perhaps quenching your thirst in a historic pub. Everything in Holborn is steeped in history.<\/p>\n
For example, as you\u2019re downing a half-pint of bitter at the Viaduct Tavern 126 Newgate St. (Tube: St. Paul\u2019s), you can reflect on the fact that the pub was built over the notorious Newgate Prison.<\/p>\n
Covent Garden & the Strand<\/h2>\n
The flower, fruit, and \u201cveg\u201d market is long gone (since 1970), but memories of Professor Higgins and his \u201csquashed cabbage leaf,\u201d Eliza Doolittle, linger on.<\/p>\n
Covent Garden contains the city\u2019s liveliest group of restaurants, pubs, and cafes outside Soho, as well as some of the city\u2019s hippest shops.<\/p>\n
The restored marketplace here, with its glass and iron roofs, has been called a magnificent example of urban recycling.<\/p>\n
London\u2019s Theater district begins in Covent Garden and spills over into Leicester Square and Soho. Inigo Jones\u2019s St. Paul\u2019s Covent Garden is known as the actors\u2019 church; over the years, it has attracted everybody from Ellen Terry to Vivien Leigh.<\/p>\n
The Theatre Royal Drury Lane Was where Charles II\u2019s mistress, Nell Gwynne, made her debut in 1665 and was also where Irish actress Dorothea Jordan caught the eye of the Duke of Clarence, later William IV.<\/p>\n
The Strand forms the southern border of Covent Garden. It\u2019s packed with theaters, shops, first-class hotels, and restaurants. Old pubs,\u00a0Dr. Johnson\u2019s House and tearooms fragrant with brewing Twinings English tea evoke memories of the rich heyday of this district as the center of London\u2019s activity.<\/p>\n
The Strand runs parallel to the Thames River, and to walk it is to follow in the footsteps of Charles Lamb, Mark Twain, Henry Fielding, James Boswell, William Thackeray, and Sir Walter Raleigh, among others.<\/p>\n
The Strands’ Savoy Theatre Helped make Gilbert and Sullivan household names.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll probably come here for theater or dining rather than for a hotel room. Covent Garden has few hotels (although those few are very nice).<\/p>\n
I recommend the best ones.<\/p>\n
Piccadilly Circus & Leicester Square<\/h2>\n
Piccadilly Circus, with its statue of Eros, is the heart and soul of London. Its traffic, neon, and jostling crowds make circus an apt word to describe this place.<\/p>\n
Piccadilly, which was the western road out of London, was named for the \u201cpiccadilly,\u201d a ruffled collar created by Robert Baker, a 17th-century tailor.<\/p>\n
If you want grandeur, retreat to the Regency promenade of exclusive shops, the Burlington Arcade Designed in 1819.<\/p>\n
The English gentry tired of being mud-splashed by horses and carriages along Piccadilly came here to do their shopping.<\/p>\n
Some 35 shops, offering a treasure trove of expensive goodies, await you. A bit more tawdry is Leicester Square A hub of theaters, restaurants, movie palaces, and nightlife. Leicester Square changed forever in the Victorian era, when four towering entertainment halls were opened.<\/p>\n
Over time, the old entertainment palaces changed from stage to screen; today three of them still show films.<\/p>\n
There are a few hotels here, although they\u2019re invariably expensive. Stay here if you\u2019d want a hotel in Times Square in New York.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s convenient for those who want to be at the center of the action. The downside is the noise, congestion, and pollution.<\/p>\n
Soho<\/h2>\n
A confusing grid of streets crammed with restaurants. It\u2019s a great place to visit, but you probably won\u2019t want to stay here (there aren\u2019t many hotels, anyway).<\/p>\n
These densely packed streets in the heart of the West End are famous for their cosmopolitan mix of people and trades.<\/p>\n
A decade ago, much was heard about the decline of Soho with the influx of sex shops; even the pub where Dylan Thomas used to drink himself into oblivion became a sex cinema.<\/p>\n
Since then, non-sex-oriented businesses have returned, and fashionable restaurants and shops prosper.<\/p>\n
Soho is now the heart of London\u2019s expanding gay scene.<\/p>\n
Soho starts at Piccadilly Circus and spreads out, more or less bordered by Regent Street to the west, Oxford Street to the north, Charing Cross Road to the east, and the Theaters along Shaftesbury Avenue to the south.<\/p>\n
Carnaby Street, a block from Regent Street, was the center of the universe in the Swinging \u201960s but is now a schlocky tourist trap, though a few quality stores have opened recently.<\/p>\n
Across Shaftesbury Avenue is<\/p>\n
London\u2019s Chinatown<\/h2>\n
Centered on Gerrard Street.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s small, authentic, and packed with good restaurants.<\/p>\n
Soho\u2019s heart featuring great delicatessens, butchers, fish stores, and wine merchants is farther north, on Brewer, Old Compton, and Berwick streets (Berwick St. features a wonderful open-air fresh-food market).<\/p>\n
To the north of Old Compton Street, Dean, Frith, and Greek streets have fine restaurants, pubs, and clubs.<\/p>\n
The British movie industry is centered on Wardour Street.<\/p>\n
The average visitor comes to Soho to dine because many of its restaurants are convenient to the theater district.<\/p>\n
Most travelers don\u2019t stay in Soho, but a certain action-oriented visitor prefers the joie de vivre of the neighborhood as compared to staid Bloomsbury or swank Mayfair.<\/p>\n
Marylebone<\/h2>\n
West of Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia, Marylebone extends north from Marble Arch, at the eastern edge of Hyde Park.<\/p>\n
Most first-time visitors head here to explore Madame Tussaud\u2019s waxworks or walk along Baker Street in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes.<\/p>\n
The streets form a near-perfect grid, with the major ones running north-south between Regent\u2019s Park and Oxford Street.<\/p>\n
Architect Robert Adam laid out Portland Place One of the most characteristic squares in London, from 1776 to 1780.<\/p>\n
At Cavendish Square, Mrs. Horatio Nelson waited for the return of Admiral Nelson. Marylebone Lane and High Street are home to some specialist boutiques and food shops.<\/p>\n
Dickens wrote nearly a dozen books while he resided here. At Regent\u2019s Park You can visit Queen Mary\u2019s Gardens or, in summer, see Shakespeare performed in an open-air theater.<\/p>\n
Marylebone has emerged as a major \u201cbedroom\u201d district for London, competing with Bloomsbury to its east.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as convenient as Bloomsbury, but the hub of the West End\u2019s action is virtually at your doorstep if you lodge here, northwest of Piccadilly Circus and facing Mayfair to the south.<\/p>\n
Once known only for its town houses turned into B&Bs, the district now offers accommodations in all price ranges, catering to everyone from rock stars to frugal family travelers.<\/p>\n
Mayfair<\/h2>\n
Bounded by Piccadilly, Hyde Park, and Oxford and Regent streets, this is the most elegant, fashionable section of London, filled with luxury hotels, Georgian town houses, and swank shops.<\/p>\n
The area is sandwiched between Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s convenient to London\u2019s best shopping and close to the West End theaters yet (a bit snobbily) removed from the peddlers and commerce of Covent Garden and Soho.<\/p>\n
One of the curiosities of Mayfair is<\/p>\n
Shepherd Market<\/h2>\n
A village of pubs, two-story inns, restaurants, and book and food stalls, nestled within Mayfair\u2019s grandness.<\/p>\n
The hotels of Mayfair, especially those along Park Lane, are the most expensive and grand in London.<\/p>\n
This is the place if you\u2019re seeking sophisticated, albeit expensive, accommodations close to the<\/p>\n
Bond Street<\/h2>\n
shops, boutiques, and art galleries. Grosvenor Square (pronounced Grov-nor) is nicknamed \u201cLittle America\u201d because it\u2019s home to the American Embassy and a statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt.<\/p>\n
Berkeley Square<\/h2>\n
(Bark-ley) was made famous by the song \u201cA Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.\u201d You\u2019ll want to dip into this exclusive section at least once.<\/p>\n
St. James\u2019s<\/h2>\n
Often called \u201cRoyal London,\u201d St. James\u2019s basks in its associations with everybody from the \u201cmerrie monarch\u201d Charles II to Elizabeth II, who lives at its most famous address, Buckingham Palace The neighborhood begins at Piccadilly Circus\u00a0and moves southwest, incorporating Pall Mall, The Mall, St. James\u2019s Park and reen Park.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s \u201cfrightfully convenient,\u201d as the English say; within its confines are American Express and many of London\u2019s leading department stores.<\/p>\n
This is the neighborhood where English gentlemen seek haven at that male-only bastion of English tradition, the gentlemen\u2019s club, where poker is played, drinks are consumed, and pipes are smoked (St. James\u2019s Club is one of the most prestigious of these institutions).<\/p>\n
Be sure to stop in at\u00a0Fortnum & Mason 181 Piccadilly, the world\u2019s most luxurious grocery store.<\/p>\n
Launched in 1788, the store sent hams to the Duke of Wellington\u2019s army and baskets of tinned goodies to Florence Nightingale in the Crimea.<\/p>\n
Hotels in this neighborhood tend to be expensive, but if the Queen should summon you to Buckingham Palace, you won\u2019t have far to go.<\/p>\n
Westminster<\/h2>\n
Westminster has been the seat of the British government since the days of Edward the Confessor (1042-66). Dominated by the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey The area runs along the Thames to the east of St. James\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n
Trafalgar Square<\/h2>\n
One of the city\u2019s major landmarks, is located at the area\u2019s northern end and remains a testament to England\u2019s victory over Napoleon in 1805.<\/p>\n
The square is home to the landmark National Gallery, which is filled with glorious paintings. Whitehall is the main thoroughfare, linking Trafalgar Square with Parliament Square\u00a0You can visit Churchill\u2019s Cabinet War Rooms and walk by<\/p>\n
Downing Street<\/h2>\n
to see Number 10 home to Britain\u2019s prime minister (though the street itself is fenced in and guarded these days).<\/p>\n
No visit is complete without a call at Westminster Abbey One of the greatest Gothic churches in the world.<\/p>\n
It has witnessed a parade of English history, beginning with William the Conqueror\u2019s coronation here on Christmas Day 1066.<\/p>\n
Westminster also encompasses<\/p>\n
Victoria<\/h2>\n
An area that takes its name from bustling Victoria Station, \u201cthe gateway to the Continent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many B&Bs and hotels have sprouted up here because of the neighborhood\u2019s proximity to the rail station. Victoria is cheap and convenient if you don\u2019t mind the noise and crowds.<\/p>\n
Welfare recipients occupy many hotels along Belgrave Road.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve arrived without a hotel reservation, you\u2019ll find the pickings better on the streets off Belgrave Road.<\/p>\n
Your best bet is to walk along Ebury Street, east of Victoria Station and Buckingham Palace Road. Here you\u2019ll find some of the best moderately priced lodgings in central London.<\/p>\n
Since you\u2019re near Victoria Station, the area is convenient for day trips to Oxford, Windsor, or Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hold on to your crumpets, because I’m about to take you on a ride through the center of London, one Tube stop at a time! First up, we have The City – the OG square mile that the Romans called Londinium. This financial district may be rich in history and architecture, but let’s be real, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-great-britain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelmagma.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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