Best places to visit in London and Around
London Skyline at Sunset
London as a city
There would be hardly anybody from cities across the world who doesn’t know about this amazing place. Travellers put this place on top of their bucket list & dreamers plan their future here. It is known for Macca of Cricket & it is a place where a well known fiction character of consulting detective - Sherlock Holmes spent his life. Yes, you guessed it right, the capital of England - London ! We are about to go on a ride of this city in a different way here. Let me start with interesting fact before that. Did you know that London was originally founded by Romans in 43 AD ? During that time, it was famous as Londinium. Before today’s world wide accepted name as London, it was also fondly known as Ludenwic, Ludenberg etc. The name London is actually derived from the Celtic word “Londinous” which means ‘to be bold’ and no doubt this city proves so !
Today London is one of the most important cities in the world. London is most desirable, one of the powerful, expensive & influential city. It is the heart of tourism, arts, commerce, education, fashion & lifestyle. I will not have to say much on how famous the city is if I say that Heathrow airport welcomes a plane every 45 seconds ! Due to diversified settlements over the years, today there are more than 300 languages in London alone. So don’t be surprise if you hear yourself in or around London. So when I say traveling to London is a real fun & life time memory to cherish, I really mean it. If London is not into your list yet, I am sure you will add it by end of this.
London city is settled on the banks of Thames river. The river flows through the heart of the city & covers some iconic places of London across its bank. Over the ages, city still managed to protect this river & it is still a mode of transport for ships & boats traveling across places through London.
Millennium Bridge with St. Paul’s Cathedral
We will be visiting some famous and best places of London and around in this blog post. So, tighten your seats and let us take the ride to this beautiful city of London through some explored and unexplored visual stories.
St. Paul’s Cathedral
St. Paul’s Cathedral Interior Architecture
Out of many amazing marvellous architectures of London such as the famous London Bridge, Big Ben, London eye and many, my absolute favourite is St. Paul’s Cathedral. St. Paul’s Cathedral has to be my most favourite and absolute best place to visit in London when it comes to architectures and monuments. It is a masterpiece of engineering & craftsmanship. St. Paul’s Cathedral has dominated the London Skyline for over 300 years & been known as the tallest building from 1710 to 1967. The interior of St. Paul’s Cathedral is soothing & enchanting for sure. St. Paul’s top of the building is accessible through stairs which takes some serious efforts as you move along. Domes of cathedrals always awestruck me all across places & so does this one too. The dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral is one of the highest in the world. So don’t miss an opportunity to climb up & view London skyline if you get a chance. St. Paul’s Cathedral should be definitely on top of the list while visiting London.
Millennium bridge
It is the well known suspension bridge across Thames river in between St. Paul’s cathedral & bank of Globe theatre. It is also known as Wobbly bridge in Locals. The bridge offers a chance to enjoy the view across both sides of river. The view towards tower bridge is absolute delight from here and has to be one of the hidden best places to visit in London! If you are interested to know facts about millennium bridge in detail read this article : 11 interesting facts about the millennium bridge.
Millennium Bridge at Sunset
Tourist on Millennium Bridge
Tate Modern Art Gallery
The name of this famous art gallery comes from Sir Henry Tate, for establishing the Tate Gallery, on the banks of Thames river. Sir Henry Tate was an English sugar merchant and philanthropist whose name is engraved on this gallery now. As the name suggest, Tate modern art gallery is one of the biggest to hold international modern & contemporary art. Tate modern art gallery was first opened in 2000 however today it attracts around 6 million visitors a year. You would agree now that this places has to be one of the best places to visit in London. But this place is not for everyone. If you are one of those art lovers, this is go to place for you. While, I am pretty dumb to understand modern art, I was more intrigued by the architecture and opportunity of photography shots at this place. I was surely not disappointed when I visited it. The best part is the Tate modern art galley is free of cost and anyone can visit this place. Also, there is hardly prohibition for photography and you can dive into the world of creative minds here easily. So, take a chance and visit this place for sure. Read more here if you want to know some amazing facts about Tate Modern art gallery, London : 10 interesting facts about Tate modern art gallery London.
221B, Baker Street
If you are one of my kind, then I don’t need to explain this address. But if you are not, you would have surely heard the name Sherlock Holmes - The famous fiction character of mind-blowing detective by Arthur Conan Doyle. This particular place belongs to him in stories.
Do you know that the address of Sherlock Holmes was never a part of initial stories ? However as the story progressed 221 B, Baker Street became his identity. How intriguing it is to know that fiction character gets a real identity in the heart of city & becomes a must visit place in London ? For Sherlock Holmes fans, this is dream come true moment when in London and I am so pleased I have been here.
Guard at 221B Baker Street - Sherlock Holmes House, London
Tubes of London
Tubes of London is the biggest transport network of London city today. London underground trains known as Tube connects around 270 stations across the city. Over 5 millions passengers travels each day & most of the London rely on tubes for their work commute. Each of these stations have unique look & feel. Even just getting lost in tube travels with a travel card is an absolute experience. And thus Tubes of London are on my list of Best places to visit in London. While London on the ground is diversified, underground life is no exception. If you really want to enjoy the London travel experience, you should be practising reading tube commute maps and chasing trains from hustling crowd of London. You will surely have a ball of experience.
Canary Wharf Tube Station
Canary Wharf
What a place Canary Wharf is. I was totally fallen for this place when I was looking out for places to shoot in London. You will hardly see this in must visit places of London or best places to visit in London search of google. But, trust me, if you love exploring different lifestyles and cultures, your couple of hours visit here is not a waste of time. If you don’t know, Canary Wharf is one of the biggest financial hub of United Kingdom and the world. Around 105,000 people work here everyday and it is home for headquarters of some world known banks, firms & media agencies. Canary Wharf even has its own international airport which connects 30 destinations. Now you can imagine how iconic this place has to be for United Kingdom !
The image below is covers different clocks at Canary Wharf which is actually famous artwork named “Six Public Clocks”. These functioning clocks surely make this place unique and interesting subject for me from photography point of view. And mind you, this is just one part of the place !
Six Public Clocks at Canary Wharf
Buckingham Palace
This needs no brief for London Travellers and it has to be best place to visit in London. Buckingham palace is pride of London’s royal history, home of royal family & their hospitality. Speaking about some amazing facts, Buckingham palace has whooping 775 rooms in total. 188 are just staff bedrooms, 92 offices, 78 bathrooms, 52 royal & guest bedrooms and 19 state rooms. Amazing isn’t it ? And if you think I have counted these myself, you are right ! LoL !
Another informative fact is, if the royal flag is flying on the palace, it is the indication that Queen is residing at the moment. Buckingham palace is indeed a town in itself as it holds all essential places inside - it has its own post office, pool, police station, cinema hall, health clinic & many more.
In case, you are wondering about famous queens guards, the change of guard still happens everyday here at Buckingham palace and people can witness the ceremony here. Word of caution - Don’t try to intimidate guards, they are pretty serious about their job and you surely don’t want to mess with them. The entire tour of Buckingham palace takes around 2 hours so wisely plan your visit and ensure that the palace is open for you to visit.
Guard on Duty at Buckingham Palace
Windsor Castle
After Buckingham palace, another interesting place to visit in London is - Windsor castle. While, Buckingham palace is in the heart of the London city, Windsor castle resides in countryside atmosphere at Windsor about hour long journey from London. Windsor castle often hosts many royal ceremonies & historic moments. Fun fact, If you feel like reading queen’s diary, it is available at Windsor Castle. Windsor castle often offers job opportunities and if you are good at old timed works, feel free to reach out. The castle is active place of life inside and even today, more than 500 people live and work in Windsor castle. So as a fact in all likelihood it is the only castle with so many people settled inside. Another historic fact of the Windsor Castle, did you know that royal family sheltered in the Castle during World war II ? As rumoured Adolf Hitler did not want to destroy the castle & wanted to make it as his house. So cleverly royal family took advantage of it & stayed inside the castle secretly. No wonder current queen Elizabeth II was part of this history too.
Inside Windsor Castle
Long walk of Windsor Castle during autumn
This one blog post will be insufficient to cover all amazing places to visit in London alone. But I tried my level best to cover places which I personally enjoyed and were little unique and different for me. In case you are wondering about more places to explore in London here is the list :
London Eye
Big Ben Clock Tower
Tower Of London
Piccadilly Circus
Trafalgar Square
Madame Tussauds London
Westminster Abbey
Tower Bridge
The British Museum
National Gallery
Natural History Museum
Hyde Park
Warner Bros Studios Tour
The O2
Chinatown London
Oxford Street
Platform 9 and 3/4 from Harry Potter
The Victoria and Albert Museum
St. Jame’s Park and many more.
And if you are worried, that you will not have sufficient time to explore all these places, you better make some time purposefully for all. And you will surely need some more extra time for destinations around London at a distance of couple of hours from the city which are more unique than what you have witnessed till now and you should not be missing them during your visit for sure.
Best Places to visit Around London
University of Oxford
Well, I had to cover this place for the sheer fact that university of Oxford is one of the oldest universities in the world after University of Bologna and it is just one and half hours away from London. The fastest and easiest commute to reach Oxford is by train. We all know that this university trained some of the world’s best brains. Even if I am not one of them, nobody restricted me from visiting it !
One of the first thing that I learnt when I visited it was that Oxford university is not just a single college or institution as I had imagined. In fact the complete Oxford town itself is a University. Speaking about numbers, It has around 39 colleges and holds around 300 graduation programs to choose from. Let me add one more fun fact - Did you know that Oxford has more bicycle users than any other mode of transport ? You will be surely fascinated while roaming around the town of Oxford. Every ally, corner, road or parking space would be filled with bicycles all around here in Oxford.
Oxford university at Autumn
Architecture of Oxford University
Student of Oxford university
Durdle Door
Durdle Door is another secret gateway from London and by far one of my favourite destination. The journey is of 3 hours to reach there but totally worth it if you are planning for weekend gateway around London. Durdle door is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England. Tour buses are available from London to visit this world heritage site, so you don’t need to worry about transportation as such. However, my advice would be to avoid the crowd and try to make it personal gateway. Walking down from a cliff towards never ending aqua coloured sea is experience to cherish alone while no one is watching ! If you are introvert, you know what I am talking here.
Skyline Over Durdle Door Jurassic Coast
Cuisine & Lifestyle in London
Being settlement of multiple communities, you can expect every kind of cuisine around the city. But when it comes to english food & lifestyle, english people are at their very best. They exactly know how to spend their weekends, and that’s what I have experienced during my visit to London. You would not miss to see real english crowd enjoying evenings & discussing life on street cafes or bars here. Another favourite part of England is, Cricket is major part of their culture & you would see many english men on cricket grounds playing for some club around their houses during summer time. The core city life is full of energy & vibrance. Places like Piccadilly Circus & Oxford Street are must visit for such experiences. Just like many other iconic cities from the world, London also never sleeps ! However, if you are one of my kind, I would encourage you to travel towards country side of London and explore some hidden places.
All in all, London is not just about world famous monuments & attractions. It is a city with its own existence, vibe and culture. As a traveller it is important to look out for such experiences than visiting tourist destinations all the time. These images are surely mirror of my soul while traveling around in London. And I hope they will inspire you to travel or experience different side of London all together.
Travel Photography Tip for photographers
All I can say, while exploring such vast subject and well known place like London city, is to look out for different perspectives. Look out for local stories. Look out for interesting facts of such places and try to photograph them as you experienced them. Do little bit of research well in advance & add your own creativity in final piece. Make each image as your own art. Travel photography is a job, a job to look out for own soul at unknown places. It is a search of own life & stories. Make sure to build such experiences.
I hope you have loved this small guide of famous places to explore in London and Around. Let me know what else you would like to know about photography here in blog or at my YouTube channel. I would definitely like to read your comments down below.
Until next time - Adios Amigos… ! Enjoy exploring the world... !
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