London travel tips

Who doesn’t love the look of Chanel?

Standing on a strip-lit London Underground platform, I’m staring at the billboards across the tracks. Primary colours jump out above grimy rails. To the left is a placard for cheap holidays in the sun, to the right a poster for new West End play Diana’s Fortune. But the adverts are strangely vague when it comes to details. Holidays where, exactly? And why no mention of which theatre is staging the play? 

Last month I traveled by train from London to Berlin and back.

Anyone who visits London for the first time is sure to concentrate on eternal sights like Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and the British Museum.

1 Hotel Mayfair, is the first European property for the American-based, sustainable hotel group. The location is great, with Green Park across the road, museums like the Royal Academy down the road and the stylish shops of Bond street and Burlington Arcade nearby. This chic new luxury hotel claims to be London’s very first sustainable luxury hotel, a big assertion indeed but one that does appear to have substance. From the moment you walk through the doors, you’re surrounded by living things, natural materials and textures, complemented by muted colors from nature. Over 1,300 plants from 200 species can be found throughout the hotel.

I’ve never been to London, but I’ve experienced it many times. From sitting in on royal meetings in Buckingham Palace to passing through the walls of King’s Cross Station at Platform 9 ¾, London has come alive in my imagination through some of my favorite books and movies.

Could you justify spending $35,000 for a year’s worth of unlimited business-class flights between New York and London or Paris? Probably not. But if so, La Compagnie has a deal for you.

Supersonic speed – mainstream fares

When it comes to the world’s most popular destinations, two travel hubs have been in a tug-of-war match for the title of ‘most-visited’ over the past few years.

Google “La Compagnie” and the top non-sponsored result describes the airline thusly: “Discover Paris and London with La Compagnie, the unique French all-business-class airline, at an affordable price.”

Enter the PureWow “2016 London Trip” sweepstakes by May 14, 2016, for a chance to win the grand prize: a three-night trip for two to London, including business-class air on La Compagnie, hotel, breakfast, and afternoon tea.

Enter the Hamptons Lane “Discover Historic London” sweepstakes by July 15, 2016, for a chance to win the grand prize: a five-day trip for two to London, including air from New York, hotel, a $500 gift certificate redeemable for art at 20×200, and a Tarts & Pies box from Hamptons Lane.

Despite having over 584 locations, 19 distinct brands, and an expansive global footprint, I’d never really checked into Hilton—mostly because I’d gotten accustomed to a handful of other tried-and-true corporate brands.

When the food on a British Airways flight from the Caribbean to London went bad over the weekend, the crew came up with an im-peck-able plan B — with a little help from KFC. 

London is big and full of great places to visit, from museums to palaces, but if you plan strategically, you can spend your entire stay in the English capital in a hotel that will allow you to stroll to all the big sights — and even see them from your window. Booking a hotel near the Tower of London, a 1000-year-old historic royal palace, also means staying next door to Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and being less than three miles away from the British Museum, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace.  

“The city that never sleeps” is probably a cliché used for cities in almost every country in the world. But is London really a nocturnal city, where night-or-day you can find somewhere to play? Lottie Gross took up the challenge to find out...

Go to Venice or Amsterdam, and you can hardly cross a street without tumbling into a canal. In London, you have to dig deeper.

Drinking alcohol is so passé. In 2015 London, it’s all about inhaling vapourised booze through your lungs and eyeballs.

As a tourist in London, you won’t be short of company. The capital has the three most popular free visitor attractions in the UK (British Museum; National Gallery; Natural History Museum). It also lays claim to the top three paid-for sites (Tower of London; St Paul's Cathedral; Westminster Abbey).

Launched in 2012, the Avenue Verte is a low-traffic cycle route connecting London and Paris , making the most of southern England ’s extensive National Cycle Network and France ’s bucolic north. Greg Dickinson took to the saddle and put the route to the test.

London grew up around the Thames, and a stroll (or a boat ride) along its banks is one of the city’s real treats. This step-by-step itinerary, adapted from our brand new edition of ThePocket Rough Guide to London, takes in some of the river’s best sights. Pick a sunny day, sling a camera around your neck and pack some comfortable shoes for walking.