The first time you visit London, you will do the things on the list: the Tower of London (the Crown Jewels, the Beefeaters, the ravens whose departure, the legend says, will herald the fall of the kingdom), the British Museum (the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, the Egyptian mummies, 8 million objects, one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of human civilisation on Earth), and Big Ben (which is not called Big Ben, the bell is Big Ben, the tower is the Elizabeth Tower, and the clock is the Great Clock. But you knew that). The list is not wrong, the attractions on the list are extraordinary, but the list is not London. London is the park that is not on the list (Hampstead Heath, the swimming ponds, the view from Parliament Hill, the best free view in the city), the pub that is not on the list (the Mayflower in Rotherhithe, the oldest pub on the Thames, the jetty where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America in 1620), and the street that is not on the list (Cecil Court, the 17th-century alley of antiquarian booksellers off the Charing Cross Road, the gas lamps, the shop windows full of first editions, the most beautiful street in London, five minutes from Trafalgar Square, and almost entirely empty of tourists). Here is your guide to London’s best attractions.

London, The Essential Attractions

• The Tower of London, and the ceremony of the keys: The Tower is the most famous castle in Europe: the White Tower (built by William the Conqueror in 1078, the oldest part of the complex, the armour of Henry VIII, the enormous suits, the tiny armour of the young king at 23, already showing the effects of the diet and the lifestyle that would kill him at 55), the Crown Jewels (the Imperial State Crown, the Cullinan diamonds, the Koh-i-Noor, the most controversial diamond in the world, claimed by India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and the subject of a diplomatic dispute that shows no sign of resolution. The jewels are magnificent, and the moving walkway, designed to prevent the crowds from lingering, carries you past them at a pace that feels, appropriately, like a conveyor belt at a factory of awe), and the Yeoman Warder tour (the Beefeaters, the ceremonial guardians of the Tower since 1485. The tours are free with admission, they depart every 30 minutes from the main entrance, and the Yeoman Warders, all former British military personnel with at least 22 years of service, are among the best tour guides in the world). Ticket: ~£33 (buy online, the queue is notorious). Essential extra: the Ceremony of the Keys, the 700-year-old ritual of locking the Tower at night. Free, but you must book months in advance (the waiting list is long). More UK →
• The British Museum and the smaller museums that are better: The British Museum is free, enormous, and overwhelming. The essential strategy: pick three things and do them well. The Rosetta Stone (the key to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics, the same text in hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek, the linguistic detective story of the 19th century), the Sutton Hoo treasure (the Anglo-Saxon ship burial, the helmet, the gold, and the sense of a civilisation emerging from the dark), and the Assyrian Lion Hunt reliefs (the 7th-century BC panels from the palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, the dying lions, the arrows, and the most powerful artistic statement of imperial power in the ancient world). Then leave. You will return. The alternatives: The Sir John Soane’s Museum (the former home of the architect of the Bank of England, a labyrinth of paintings, sculptures, and architectural fragments, the sarcophagus of Seti I in the basement, the Hogarth paintings in the Picture Room, and the sense of being inside the mind of a genius. Free. Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm), the Wallace Collection (the finest collection of 18th-century French art, furniture, and arms in the world, the Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals, the portraits by Rembrandt and Velázquez, and the most beautiful courtyard restaurant in London. Free. Manchester Square, daily, 10am–5pm), and the Hunterian Museum (the Royal College of Surgeons, the 3,500 anatomical specimens collected by John Hunter in the 18th century, the skeleton of the “Irish Giant” Charles Byrne, and the most fascinating, disturbing, and illuminating museum in London. Free. Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm)
• The South Bank and the Tate Modern: The south bank of the Thames, the walk from the London Eye to Tower Bridge (2.5 miles, the most beautiful urban walk in Europe: the river, the skyline, the book stalls under the National Theatre, the skateboarders under the Southbank Centre, the buskers, the Globe Theatre, Shakespeare’s theatre, rebuilt, the plays performed in the open air. The groundling tickets are £5, and standing in the pit for a performance of Henry V on a summer evening is one of the most memorable cultural experiences in London). The Tate Modern (the former Bankside Power Station, the most visited modern art gallery in the world, and the Turbine Hall, the enormous entrance hall, the site of the most ambitious art installations in the country. Free. Daily, 10am–6pm) is the gateway to the South Bank. The view from the 10th-floor viewing level of the Blavatnik Building (free) is the best view of the Thames and St Paul’s in London, better than the London Eye, and free
• The park Londoners actually use: Greenwich Park (the Royal Observatory, the Prime Meridian, the 0° of longitude, stand with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one foot in the western, and the view of the city from the hill. The Royal Museums Greenwich day pass, ~£30, covers the Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory, the Queen’s House, and the National Maritime Museum, the most efficient way to do Greenwich in a day), Hampstead Heath (the wild, unmanicured park that is the lungs of North London: the swimming ponds, the mixed pond, the men’s pond, the ladies’ pond, the water is cold, the atmosphere is a living piece of London social history, and the experience of swimming in a pond in the middle of London, the trees on the bank, the flat sky overhead, is one of the most surprising and delightful experiences in the city. ~£4 for a swim), and the Richmond Park (the largest of the Royal Parks, 2,500 acres, the red deer and the fallow deer, 600 deer in a park that feels like a piece of wild countryside. The Isabella Plantation, the azalea garden, the streams, and the most beautiful spring garden in London. Free)