56 July 2012

The Olympics may occur once every four years, but the joys of London are eternal. The British capital is getting ready to wel-

come hundreds of thousands of overseas vis-itors to the games from 27 July to 12 August.

The good news for tourists is that the num-ber of Olympic visitors appears to be lower than initially expected, and hotel rates during the games have started to fall.

Whatever the time of year, London has one of the longest must-see lists of any interna-tional city. Start with Westminster Abbey, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the British Museum and work your way on

from that – but the city should be seen as a de-light, not a challenge.

It’s a supremely walkable metropolis and many attractions are clustered in the his-torical centre. For attractions further afield, the much-maligned London Underground, though no MTR in terms of efficiency, is vast and generally does well to move its millions of daily passengers.

One way to tour the city is from east to west. The East End, once poor and ignored, is now a fascinating cultural melting pot due to streams of Jewish, South Asian, Caribbean, African and Eastern European migration over recent decades.

Start at Liverpool Street station and make your way along Brick Lane, a vibrant com-mercial thoroughfare popularized by Monica Ali’s Booker Prize-nominated 2003 novel of the same name set in London’s Bangladeshi community.

This colourful road leads to Commercial Street in Whitechapel, an area famous in Victorian times for poverty, prostitution and Jack the Ripper. It’s far more fashionable now, and nearby Spitalfields Market, London’s old-est, offers stalls featuring food, antiques, new and vintage fashion, music, toys, jewellery and housewares. It is open Tuesday to Friday and Sunday.

Lazy days in London

Institute member and CFO of Travelzoo Asia Pacific Honnus Cheung wanders through the attractions, both historical and modern, in Britain’s capital

Business travel

Where to eat• Avista Italian dining in posh setting.

39 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair. 020-7596-3399.

• Dinner by Heston Blumenthal Celebrity English grub. Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge. 020-7201-3833.

• DSTRKT Popular high-volume hangout. 9 Rupert Street, Piccadilly. 020-7317-9120.

• Hawksmoor Great British steakhouse. 11 Langley Street, Seven Dials (also Guildhall and Covent Garden). 020-7420-9390.

• Hix Time Out’s best new restaurant in 2010. 66-70 Brewer Street, Soho. 020-7292-3518.

• Market Porter Famous tavern in market setting. 9 Stoney Street, Borough Market. 020-7407-2495.

• Maze Outpost of Gordon Ramsay’s empire. 10-13 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair. 020-7107-0000.

• Rhodes Twenty-Four Traditional foods with a view. Tower 42, Old Broad Street, City. 020-7877-7703.

Where to stay • Britannia Hotel One of the first luxury

Canary Wharf hotels. Marsh Wall, Docklands. 020-7712-0100.

• The Lensbury Hotel Riverbank charm. Broom Road, Teddington. 020-8614-6444.

• The Petersham Hotel Boutique accommodation on Richmond Hill. Nightingale Lane, Richmond. 020-8940-7471.

• The Stafford London by Kempinski Mix of elegance and tradition. 16-18 St. James’s Place, St. James. 020-7518-1119.

What to do• City Cruises See iconic landmarks

from the water. Cherry Garden Pier, Bermondsey. 020-7740-0400.

• London Eye Spectacular city views. County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road. 0871-781-3000.

• Royal Botanic Gardens More than just plants. 26 West Park Road, Richmond, Surrey. 020-8332-5655.

July 2012 57

Previous page: Tate Modern and Millennium BridgeThis page (from top): Shakespeare's Globe; a London Underground train; curry in Brick Lane; Borough Market

Business travel

Financial professionals might well be drawn to the City of London, a separately governed area of less than three square kilometres. The City features St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Guildhall and the Monument to the Great Fire of London among its notable structures. The renovated St. Paul’s remains an architectural treasure to ad-mirers of any or no faith.

From there the Millennium Bridge, a pedes-trian crossing opened in 2000, leads across the River Thames to the Tate Modern, a museum of contemporary art inside the former Bankside power station. It is the most visited modern art gallery in the world, attracting almost 5 million people in 2011.

Nearby is Shakespeare’s Globe, a reconstruc-tion of an Elizabethan playhouse about 250 me-tres from the site of the Globe Theatre, where William Shakespeare’s company of actors per-formed in the early 17th century.

The River Thames is the city’s life-giving ar-tery and stretches nearly 350 kilometres from its source in the Cotswold Hills to the open sea near Southend. Several operators offer river cruises.

London’s bridges are attractions in them-selves. Tower Bridge is perhaps the most impres-sive span. Blackfriars Bridge in central London and the Albert Bridge, which connects Chelsea with Battersea, are also eye-catching crossings.

A number of tourist attractions have been renovated recently. The waxwork of Queen Elizabeth II at Madame Tussaud’s – consistently London’s most popular attraction – was updated for her recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

On the river, Cutty Sark, the famous China tea clipper ship, was reopened in April after a di-sastrous fire in 2007. In addition, HMS Belfast, a Royal Navy light cruiser that gave heroic service in World War II, was reopened in May after a six-month facelift.

The area south of the river should not be over-looked. Attractions include Vinopolis, a one-hectare site devoted to wine, the Gothic South-wark Cathedral, the London Film Museum and the modern-day frights of the London Dungeon.

Foodies must visit Borough Market for whole-sale and retail food from all over the world. And after all that sightseeing, visitors can relax at the Market Porter, a famous real ale pub nearby.

Further west, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew feature not only horticultural treasures but also a range of exhibitions, plays, concerts and other activities.

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: GEO

RGE W

. RUSSELL