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Condé Nast Traveler picks
 Best of London
For a lot of Americans, London conjures thoughts of history, majesty, and pomp and circumstance—strains of "Hail, Britannia" played to establishing shots of Big Ben, Parliament, and the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. But there's so much more, and so much that's new, in this European capital, one of the world's most exciting and cosmopolitan destinations. A spree of projects marking the turn of the century yielded a crop of new icons that have joined the historic stalwarts. And steady immigration and an influx of the young have pushed the international and hipness factors through the roof, contributing to the dynamic art, theater, fashion, and food scenes. London is booming right now—meaning it's an exciting (and for travelers who earn their living in dollars, expensive) place to be.
Attractions & Activities There will always be England, of course, and there will always be visitors who yearn to draw near to the tradition and glamour of royalty. For them, Buckingham Palace, the queen's digs in town, is the first stop. The closest that your average commoner can get most of the year is just outside the iron fence. In late summer, however, several rooms and parts of the garden are open to the public (44-20-7766-7300; royalcollection.org.uk). An earlier royal residence, Kensington Palace is more accessible. Open year-round, it has permanent displays, including the private apartments of William III and Mary II, and selections from the wardrobe of Diana, Princess of Wales, who lived here (44-870-751-5170; hrp.org.uk). It's no longer a royal residence, but the Palace of Westminster, more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament, is where the real business of governing the constitutional monarchy takes place. During the legislative bodies' late summer recess, visitors who reserve in advance can walk the halls of power. Tours include stops at Big Ben, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords (44-20-7219-4272; parliament.uk). Adjacent to Parliament, the outsized Gothic Westminster Abbey is the site of English monarchs' coronations and burials. Some royal subjects have pride of place here, too, most notably in the famed Poets' Corner, where you'll find the tombs of such luminaries as Charles Dickens and Laurence Olivier (44-20-7222 5152; westminster-abbey.org). One of the best-received of Britain's hit-or-miss millennium projects, the London Eye was erected to coincide with New Year's Eve 1999, and has since become a skyline icon. The mammoth Ferris wheel's 32 pods peak at some 450 feet over the south side of the Thames, affording views that stretch 25 miles on a clear day (44-870-220-2223; ba-londoneye.com). Another recent addition to the skyline is 30 St. Mary Axe. With a steel lattice climbing a bulging exterior of two-tone glass, the 40-story tower—affectionately called The Gherkin—has an aerodynamic outline that makes the surrounding plaza less gusty, the better for brown-bagging it in the shadow of greatness. The seriously smitten should make nice with those who work in the building: Its best vantage point, a glass-domed restaurant with wraparound views, is off-limits to all but tenants and their guests (44-20-7071-5011; 30stmaryaxe.com). In the past several years, London has become a town of museums, rivaling New York City. The galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum have been dazzlingly redone, revitalization signaled as soon as you see the entrance dome's weirdly colorful 27-foot blown-glass chandelier by Seattle artist Dale Chihuly (44-20-7942-2000; vam.ac.uk). The nineteenth-century rooms of the National Gallery, on Trafalgar Square, have been brought back to their original multihued splendor (44-20-7747-2885; nationalgallery.org.uk). And the British Museum has been transformed by its spectacular courtyard (44-20-7323-8299; thebritishmuseum.ac.uk). But the most surprising addition to the cityscape rises over the Thames: the Bank Side power station, which is now the Tate Modern. The entrance, a long ramp into what was once the turbine hall, offers an unforgettable frisson that can carry you through even unmemorable shows. And the exterior is both stalwart and seductive. Atop the building, the architects placed a light box that filters daylight into the galleries and that glimmers at night, beckoning visitors (44-20-7887-8888; tate.org.uk). A 20-minute walk from the Tate Modern is Borough Market, the area where Bridget Jones's Diary and its sequel were shot. The ultimate in trendiness is to shop at its unparalleled Friday and Saturday farmers' market (44-20-7407-1002; boroughmarket.org.uk). Or follow the Thames to the Oxo Tower, another successful rehab story—this one of a former factory turned shopping and restaurant arcade (44-20-7401-2255; oxotower.co.uk). Walk along a little farther and you come to the South Bank complex, with its array of theaters and concert halls (no phone; southbanklondon.com). Shoppers flock to London for outsized department stores such as Harrods (87-135 Brompton Rd.; 44-20-7730-1234), Harvey Nichols (125 Knightsbridge; 44-20-7235-5000), and the revamped Selfridges (400 Oxford St.; 44-20-7318-3679). The wee boutiques on tiny, old-fashioned Ellis Street get attention from the small-is-better crowd. Lulu Guinness, the designer's eponymous shop, is a must-stop for her fanciful, ladylike accessories (No. 3; 44-20-7823-4828). Pop into Georgina von Etzdorf for an embroidered tulle cape or other whimsical finishing touches (No. 4; 44-20-7259-9715). The quirky sculptural hats and shawls at Gabriela Ligenza (No. 5; 44-20-7730-2200) and the retro ballet pumps at French Sole (No. 6; 44-20-7730-3771) will keep you cozy-chic from head to toe. Lodging An even ten properties in metropolitan London are on Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List, and all are in fashionable parts of town: Claridge's, off Bond Street; the Dukes and Stafford hotels, in St. James's Place; the Four Seasons Hotel, overlooking Hyde Park and Park Lane; the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, near Harrods; One Aldwych, in Covent Garden; The Connaught, in Mayfair; The Landmark and The Lanesborough, across from Hyde Park; and The Ritz, in the West End. The city is constantly reinventing itself, and its hotels are getting in on the act. Brown's Hotel, on busy Albemarle Street, is a Victorian landmark overhauled for the twenty-first century with op art, low lighting, potted orchids, and large baths with pie-plate showerheads. San Domenico House, two redbrick houses on Draycott Place, now lavishly furnished with late-eighteenth- and nineteenth-century paintings and antiques, is a reincarnation of the former Sloane Hotel and is ideally situated for exploring Chelsea's upscale shops. And in Clerkenwell, one of London's hottest hoods, The Zetter, a former warehouse, has everything that constitutes a cutting-edge big-city boutique hotel: duck-down pillows, CD/DVD players, and 24-hour room service from the fashionable Italian restaurant downstairs. London hotel rates are famously steep, but if you know where to look, there are deals to be had. A pocket of Merchant-Ivory London on a tranquil Victorian street in Kensington, Five Sumner Place is a little gem. Though small, it has a sunny garden conservatory. Aimed at economy-minded business travelers, the Express by Holiday Inn–London City would have seemed Siberian before its location, a mile north of the financial district, bloomed into a locus of all that's hip. Right behind it is the very wired Hoxton Square, with restaurants, galleries, and an art-movie house. A sister hotel in another hot location with few properties as yet, the Express by Holiday Inn–Southwark is near the revived south bank of the Thames, the Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge, the Globe Theatre, and historic Southwark Cathedral. Dining Gone are the jokes about English food being bland verging on distasteful. The country has experienced a culinary renaissance over the last several years, and throughout London, chefs play with recipes that are both traditional and innovative, and with ingredients which are everything from fresh and local to foreign and exotic. At Amaya, a spacious and airy new Indian restaurant, exotic chutneys are brought to the table—tomato and rhubarb, peanut with cumin and coriander seed, and rose petal with garam masala—for dipping as you graze your way through a succession of dishes served tapas style (Halkin Arcade, 19 Motcomb St.; 44-870-780-8174; entrées, $16–$44). Another hot haute Indian place, Sir Michael Caine's Deya occupies a historic building on Portman Square. Chef Sanjay Dwivedi's cuisine is a blend of modern and traditional dishes that's oddly fitting in the rather oddball Regency setting (44-207-224-0028; entrées, $24–$32). Nobu is well-known from its numerous locations in cities around the world. Part of the new generation of hip restaurants and shops to open in previously stuffy Mayfair, this iteration serves the now-famous sushi fusion—yellowtail with jalapeño, popcorn-crisp rock shrimp tempura with spicy sauce—in a room with a huge white tree sculpture decked out with votive candles (15 Berkeley St.; 44-207-290-9222; entrées, $5–$34). One of super-chef Gordon Ramsay's newest London outposts, Maze may have a decor that's a bit chilly, but the food is on fire. Chef Jason Atherton, influenced by the Spanish culinary avant-garde, serves pure and complex flavors with touches of humor (10-13 Grosvenor Sq.; 44-20-7107-0000; entrées, $12–$38). The Wolseley, the latest from the former owners of some of London's chicest restaurants (The Ivy, Le Caprice, and J. Sheekey), occupies a former automobile showroom next to the Ritz Hotel. The menu, like the dining room, is a vast affair with brasserie staples such as moules marinière, snails, and steak tartare (160 Piccadilly; 44-207-499-6996; entrées, $18–$40). Truth in Travel is the guiding principle for all content published in Condé Nast Traveler. Other travel publications often accept free travel and accommodations. Condé Nast Traveler does not. It is independent of the travel industry. The magazine always pays its way, and, as far as possible, its correspondents travel anonymously. By doing so, they experience the world—both the good and the bad—as other travelers do, and their reports and recommendations are fair, impartial, and authoritative.
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