The City & Tower
Two thousand years of money in one square mile: Roman wall fragments, Wren churches and Victorian markets wedged between glass towers, with the Tower of London and Tower Bridge anchoring the river end. Frantic on weekdays, eerily empty on Sundays.
Who it's for: History people — this is the oldest continuously inhabited part of London. Architecture watchers, who get Roman, medieval, Wren, Victorian and hyper-modern within a few streets. Anyone who wants a skyline view, since half the good ones are here and one is free.
Things to know
- The City empties at weekends. Restaurants, pubs and sandwich shops close on Saturdays and Sundays — but the sights (Tower, St Paul's, Tower Bridge) are open and the streets are wonderfully quiet. Plan food around that.
- Sky Garden, on top of the Walkie-Talkie at 20 Fenchurch Street, is a free public viewing gallery with the best skyline view in London. Tickets are released weekly on Monday mornings for three weeks ahead and go fast — book the moment you know your dates.
- The Tower of London's last admission is mid-afternoon and the Crown Jewels queue is longest 11am–2pm. Go at opening, do the Jewels first, then take a Yeoman Warder tour.
- St Paul's is free to enter for services — morning prayer, Eucharist and Evensong — which is the cheapest way to see the interior, though you can't wander or climb the dome.
- There's a cheap Sunday dome ticket at St Paul's: £13.50 between 12:30pm and 2pm on Sundays from mid-March to late October, giving the three galleries only.
- The Wren church walk is the City's underrated free activity: a dozen surviving Wren churches within twenty minutes' walking, most open weekday lunchtimes, all free.
- Distances are shorter than they look. Tower Hill to St Paul's is a 20-minute walk along the river and through the back streets, and it's one of the better walks in London.
- Almost everything here is step-heavy — the Monument's 311 steps, St Paul's 528 to the Golden Gallery, Tower Bridge's towers. Check lift provision if that matters.