London
United Kingdom • Europe
29
curated places
Claridge's
Art Deco landmark, quintessential London.
Tate Modern
Power station transformed, always free.
The Connaught
Mayfair's quiet power hotel.
The National Gallery
European painting's greatest hits, free forever.
The Wolseley
London's most glamorous grand cafe. A Venetian palazzo of a restaurant where power breakfast is an art form.
Chiltern Firehouse
Celebrity + fashion hotspot in converted firehouse.
St. John
The nose-to-tail temple. Fergus Henderson's whitewashed former smokehouse has been serving offal and bone marrow since before it was fashionable.
The River Cafe
Elegant Italian cooking on the Thames for 35+ years. Ruth Rogers' kitchen has trained more great chefs than culinary school. The produce is impeccable.
Victoria and Albert Museum
The world's greatest museum of art and design. 5,000 years of human creativity, free admission, and a courtyard cafe that's worth visiting alone.
Barbican Centre
Europe's largest multi-arts venue housed in a brutalist concrete fortress. A labyrinthine wonderland of culture.
Brat
Tomos Parry's wood-fired brilliance above a pub. Whole turbot cooked over fire, simple preparations, maximum flavor. Basque inspiration, London energy.
Browns
The boutique that discovered McQueen and Galliano. Now Farfetch-owned but still setting the pace for discovery and curation.
Liberty London
The Tudor-revival department store where the Liberty print was born. Haberdashery heritage with a fashion buyer's eye for the interesting.
The Edition London
Ian Schrager and Marriott's London debut. The lobby bar is where the night starts; Punch Room is where it gets interesting.
The Monocle Cafe
Monocle's own cafe serving Japanese-influenced dishes and excellent coffee in a design-conscious space.
The Ned
Soho House's grandest project: a 1924 Lutyens-designed former bank with multiple restaurants, rooftop pool, and members' club. The banking hall is jawdropping.
Design Museum
Terence Conran's legacy in a John Pawson-designed space. Design in all its forms - from sneakers to architecture.
$$$$Bulgari Hotel London
Italian luxury with British address. The spa and pool are subterranean temples; the mahogany and silver interiors are timelessly masculine.
$$$$The Clove Club
Isaac McHale's refined British cooking in a Shoreditch town hall. The tasting menu is precise, inventive, and proudly local.
$$$Gymkhana
JKS Restaurants' Michelin-starred Indian that treats the cuisine with the respect it deserves. Colonial club aesthetics, modern technique, traditional soul.
$$Dishoom
Bombay cafe nostalgia for the Instagram age. The black daal has cult status, the bacon naan roll cures all ills, and the queues are part of the experience.
$$$Quo Vadis
A Soho institution since 1926. Three floors of dining rooms plus a members-only club above.
$$$Selfridges
The department store reinvented. Where traditional retail meets experiential everything - cinema, skate bowl, restaurant floor.
$Wallace Collection
French 18th century painting and furniture in an aristocratic mansion. Free, uncrowded, and home to Hals' Laughing Cavalier.
$$$$Harrods
The world's most famous department store. Excessive, overwhelming, and irresistible. The food halls alone justify the crowds.
$Serpentine Galleries
Free contemporary art in two buildings on either side of a bridge in Hyde Park. The annual pavilion is a highlight of the architecture calendar.
$$COS
H&M Group's elevated line. Architectural clothes at democratic prices, with store design that matches the minimalist aesthetic.
$Saatchi Gallery
Charles Saatchi's showcase for emerging and established contemporary art. Free admission, King's Road location, and shows that often provoke.
$$The Hoxton Shoreditch
The original Hoxton that proved boutique hotels could be affordable. The lobby is East London's living room; the rooms are compact but designed.