Deck the halls with boughs of hashtags! Welcome to our London Christmas guide to the most Insta-worthy photo opportunities in the city.   100% certified Instagram gold Don’t miss Regent Street’s monumentally elegant Christmas lights (pictured above). These look best if you take a photo from the pedestrian reservation that runs up the middle of […]

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The Hidden London underground tours reveal another side to the world’s oldest subterranean railway. Organised by the London Transport Museum, you’ll find out which ones have been used as film sets, hotel accommodation and lots more besides. Take your pick from these options. Piccadilly Circus Station ‘Piccadilly Circus: The Heart of London’ is the newest […]

Our guide to London Bridge proves that the area packs a real punch: it has sights, experiences, restaurants and bars, all within five minutes’ walk of London Bridge Tube. If you’re in London for a short trip, Sarah Riches recommends spending a day in the area – it beats wasting time stuck on public transport. […]

Intrepid travellers keen to understand London’s diverse communities should visit Shri Sanatan Hindu Mandir, a Hindu temple in Wembley. Completed in 2010, the temple’s exterior is yellow Jaisalmer limestone, while pink Bansi Paharpur clads the interior above a floor of Makrana marble. Like Neasden Temple in the northwestern London borough of Brent, Wembley temple, Shri Sanatan Hindu Mandir’s marble was […]

Also known as Neasden Temple, Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha (BAPS) Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is an active place of worship for Hindus and features an incredible display of spires, domes, columns and balconies, all lit by chandeliers.  Built in 1995, it was hand-carved in India from 5,000 tones of Italian Carrara and Indian Ambaji marble for the […]

Our multicultural capital is home to all sorts of groups: Neil Simpson finds out how London’s Chinese community have built a home away from home Parallel to the bright lights of Shaftesbury Avenue, China Exchange on Soho’s Gerrard Street works to promote China’s impact on the world. China Exchange CEO Freya Aitken-Turff reveals the story […]

In defiance of our obsessive screen scrolling, bookshops have become cultural oases; sanctuaries that can expand the mind and let the imagination run wild – often with a good cup of coffee to hand. This is certainly the case at Stanfords, which continues to satisfy wanderlust more than 165 years after it was founded. Its new […]

Calling all thrill seekers: have you climbed The O2 yet? Self-proclaimed scaredy-cat Flora Neighbour reaches the summit and lives to tell the tale. Up at The O2 is a 90-minute climb over the roof of Greenwich’s massive entertainment venue. Choose from a day, sunset, or twilight climb (all from £36) and see panoramic views of […]