6 things you must do while in London

ZOE HATTON, public relations manager for Singapore Airlines’ London office, gives her take on how to get the best of the great British capital.

Eat, eat and eat
There is no shortage of good food in London. Different parts of the city celebrate the various foods of its multicultural communities. You can have Indian curry on Brick Lane in the East End or Vietnamese cuisine on Pho Mile along Kingsland Road in Shoreditch.

For the best in fresh local produce, have a gourmet lunch at Borough Market near London Bridge. Anchor Bankside, one of London’s oldest pubs, offers great fish and chips and overlooks the River Thames.

Visit the markets
For quirky goods from crafts to one-off clothing items – all found along windy alleys – travel to Camden Market. If you’re more into knick-knacks and antiques, try Portobello Market near Notting Hill.

If you want to while away the hours leafing through second-hand books, take a weekend stroll along the South Bank under the arches of Waterloo Bridge. Covent Garden is also great for art, bespoke jewellery and craft.

Hit the museums
London has more than its fair share of bars and nightspots, but I particularly love the monthly Lates series that turns some of the city’s museums into pop-up bars – with free entry.

At the Natural History Museum on the last Friday of every month, watch up-and-coming artistes perform and enjoy beer and food beneath the museum’s most famous resident – a giant diplodocus skeleton. The last Wednesday of the month at the Science Museum is billed as a drinking and thinking event. It features DJs, comedy shows, fun pub quizzes as well as workshops.

Go for afternoon tea
A favourite nook of mine is Tea and Tattle, a little known cafe-bookshop in Bloomsbury, which keeps things quintessentially British. Serving a range of tasty sandwiches, homemade cakes and scones on traditional crockery, it also offers an extensive menu of teas to choose from.
If you want something unconventional, try the Gin & Tonic Afternoon Tea at Le Meridien Piccadilly’s Terrace Grill & Bar. You can choose not only your tea but also flavour-infused gin (served in a glass teapot) to go with it. Or if you prefer, just stick to regular champagne.

Enjoy views of the river
Don a harness and literally climb over the top of one of London’s best-known venues, The O2, to view the city in a fun way. There are no steps, just a slightly steep and bouncy walkway to get you to the top and an observation area to see the surrounding city.

Many of London’s famous landmarks lie along River Thames and you can get a great view of them from the water itself. Often forgotten are the many riverboat services that run each day. They pass by landmarks like the London Eye and the Tower of London.

Explore the parks
Richmond Park is a spot just outside central London overlooking the city, and it’s great for having a picnic during the summer months. From the top of the hill, you can see as far as St Paul’s Cathedral on a good day. Get close to the local resident deer population that roams free.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is now a public space, with parklands that boast intricate fountains, plenty of wildlife and even a climbing wall. Go and see where all the action of the 2012 Olympics took place.

This article was originally published on SilverKris.com. 

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