Notable places

St Paul's Cathedral

The forty-million-pound restoration that older accounts describe as under way finished in June 2011. Nothing comparable is in progress now.

Trafalgar Square

Nelson's Column is 169 feet 3 inches, not the 185 commonly quoted; the lions were designed by Landseer but cast by Marochetti and added in 1867.

The West End

Oxford Street became permanently traffic-free on 26 October 2026, under a development corporation that took planning powers from Westminster and Camden in August 2026.

Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens

West Carriage Drive is the boundary: the Serpentine and the granite Diana fountain are in Hyde Park, while the Long Water, the Albert Memorial and Peter Pan are in Kensington Gardens. The Queen's State Apartments are shut until spring 2027.

Montmartre

Getting up the Butte and the honest position on accessibility, the Guimard canopy moved to Abbesses, the first reinforced-concrete church in France, the martyrium and the Jesuit vow of 1534, the vineyard whose wine cannot be bought, the Valadon studio, the Moulin Rouge sails, and why bistro is not a Russian word.

Hyde Park

Charles I opened it to the public in 1637, which makes it the first of the royal parks to open rather than the oldest. The Serpentine, Speakers' Corner, the swimming club older than the sport's governing body, the memorials, the concert licence and the drought.

Kew Palace and Gardens

Kew is two organisations on one site: the Royal Botanic Gardens and Historic Royal Palaces. Samuel Fortrey was Flemish, not Dutch; the botanic garden was founded in 1759, not 1751; the Crystal Palace was never here; and the Palm House closes from 2027.

The Eiffel Tower

Timed tickets and the two entrances, the tower's growth to 330 metres, the construction figures, the troubled twentieth repainting and the colour-vote claim that is false, how radio saved it from demolition, Wulf's cosmic-ray measurement, the current restaurants, and the copyright on night photographs.

Shakespeare's Globe

The Globe is two theatres: the open-air amphitheatre of 1997 and the indoor candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, which opened in January 2014.

Sacré-Cœur

The national vow of 1870 and the contested siting on Montmartre, Paul Abadie and the five architects who finished the basilica, the self-whitening stone, La Savoyarde, the dome climb, and the perpetual adoration unbroken since 1885.

Whitehall

Explore Whitehall, the heart of British government, from the historic Banqueting House and Horse Guards to the Cenotaph and Downing Street.

Arc de Triomphe

The lift out of service and the underground way in, the corrected dimensions and the architect older accounts never name, Napoleon's canvas arch of 1810 and his funeral cortege of 1840, the flame rekindled nightly, the Christo wrapping and the 2018 damage, and why the monument can be seen from so far.

Notable places