Things to do in London

Five days minimum, ideally a week. One for the South Bank and the British Museum, one for the West End and Westminster, one for Tate Modern–Shoreditch–Spitalfields, one for Hyde Park–Kensington museums, plus a day for a Greenwich or Hampstead excursion. London rewards repeated visits more than most cities.

Westminster from the south bank of the Thames at dusk — Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey across the water. Combine with the London Eye if you want the high view, or just walk the Queen's Walk from Tower Bridge to the Royal Festival Hall.

Shoreditch and Spitalfields for street art and Brick Lane curry; South Kensington for the cluster of free national museums; Marylebone for upmarket cafés and Daunt Books; Borough Market and Bermondsey for food. Walk between them rather than tube-hopping for the real feel.

A proper Sunday roast at a pub — the Anchor & Hope in Waterloo or the Harwood Arms in Fulham. Borough Market for street food on a weekday lunch. Indian food in any Brick Lane or Tooting curry house. Add a pint of cask ale, and a flat white from a Monmouth Coffee outpost.

Both. The Tube is fast across long distances and a contactless card or phone is all you need; trains are crowded on the Central line at rush hour. Buses are slower but you see the city — the 11 bus past St Paul's and Westminster is a free sightseeing tour. Walk shorter hops in central London.

The Sir John Soane's Museum on Lincoln's Inn Fields — the architect's own house, preserved as he left it: corridors lined with Roman fragments, a Hogarth gallery with hinged folding panels, and an Egyptian sarcophagus in the basement. Free, ridiculous, and easily missed two streets from Holborn.