50 of the best · London, United Kingdom
Great galleries, opera, theatre and concerts.
Our 50 favourites, listed A–Z · Updated October 2026
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Three of our favourites from this list, vetted by people who know and love London.
European masterpieces
One of the world’s great collections of European painting, from the 13th to the early 20th century, on Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DNExplore View on map
Modern art in a power station
The national museum of modern and contemporary art, in a former power station on Bankside, with the vast Turbine Hall.
Bankside, SE1 9TGExplore View on map
Royal Ballet and Opera
The home of the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera, on Covent Garden’s Bow Street, with the glass Paul Hamlyn Hall and a terrace over the piazza.
Bow Street, WC2E 9DDExplore View on map
In-depth stories behind the list.
The back story
From the Restoration playhouses of Drury Lane to the musicals of Shaftesbury Avenue: how the West End became one of the world’s great theatre districts.
Great collections.
Design under a sweeping roof
A museum of contemporary design and architecture on Kensington High Street, in the former Commonwealth Institute with its sweeping roof.
224-238 Kensington High Street, W8 6AGExplore View on map
Two musicians, two houses
The neighbouring Mayfair homes of George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix, two centuries apart, now a museum.
25 Brook Street, W1K 4HBExplore View on map
The Arab Hall
The extraordinary studio-house of the Victorian painter Frederic Leighton in Holland Park, famous for its tiled Arab Hall.
12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZExplore View on map
A century of packaging
A museum of packaging, advertising and everyday design in Notting Hill, with a time tunnel of brands from Victorian times to today.
111-117 Lancaster Road, W11 1QTExplore View on map
Faces of British history
A gallery of portraits of famous Britons, from the Tudors to today, beside the National Gallery.
St Martin’s Place, WC2H 0HEExplore View on map
Hope, the blue whale
Alfred Waterhouse’s Romanesque cathedral of nature on Cromwell Road, with the blue whale skeleton Hope in Hintze Hall.
Cromwell Road, SW7 5BDExplore View on map
The Summer Exhibition
The Royal Academy, in Burlington House on Piccadilly, with major exhibitions and the famous Summer Exhibition.
Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BDExplore View on map
Contemporary art on the King’s Road
A gallery of contemporary art in the Duke of York’s Headquarters on the King’s Road, showing exhibitions since 1985.
Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RYExplore View on map
An architect’s house of wonders
The extraordinary house of the architect Sir John Soane on Lincoln’s Inn Fields, kept as he left it, full of antiquities, paintings and architectural fragments.
13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3BPExplore View on map
A palace for the arts
A great 18th-century building between the Strand and the Thames, now an arts centre with exhibitions, a fountain courtyard and a river terrace.
Strand, WC2R 1LAExplore View on map
British art since 1500
The national gallery of British art from 1500 to today, on the Thames at Millbank, with the largest collection of Turner’s work.
Millbank, SW1P 4RGExplore View on map
Modern art in a power station
The national museum of modern and contemporary art, in a former power station on Bankside, with the vast Turbine Hall.
Bankside, SE1 9TGExplore View on map
Impressionist masterpieces
A jewel of a gallery in Somerset House, with famous Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings.
Strand, WC2R 1LAExplore View on map
European masterpieces
One of the world’s great collections of European painting, from the 13th to the early 20th century, on Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DNExplore View on map
Photography in Soho
A gallery devoted to photography, just off Oxford Street, with changing exhibitions, a bookshop and a café.
16-18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LWExplore View on map
A collector’s town house
A great private art collection displayed in a historic town house on Manchester Square, with Old Masters, French 18th-century art and armour.
Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1U 3BNExplore View on map
Art and design across 5,000 years
The great museum of art, design and performance on Cromwell Road, from fashion and jewellery to sculpture, ceramics and the original café rooms.
Cromwell Road, SW7 2RLExplore View on map
Art in the East End since 1901
A public gallery of modern and contemporary art on Whitechapel High Street, founded in 1901.
77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QXExplore View on map
An evening out.
Brutalist arts centre
A great arts centre in the Brutalist Barbican Estate, with concerts, theatre, cinema, art galleries and a tropical conservatory.
Silk Street, EC2Y 8DSExplore View on map
Comedy above the canal
A small fringe theatre above a pub by the canal at Little Venice, known for comedy and its long-running satirical show.
13 Westbourne Terrace Road, Little VeniceExplore View on map
Theatre on Kilburn High Road
A theatre and cinema on Kilburn High Road, known as the Tricycle until 2018, presenting new plays since 1980.
269 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JRExplore View on map
Home of English National Opera
London’s largest theatre, on St Martin’s Lane, home of English National Opera and English National Ballet seasons.
32-35 St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4ESExplore View on map
Three stages by the river
The National Theatre’s Brutalist home on the South Bank, designed by Denys Lasdun, with three auditoriums: the Olivier, the Lyttelton and the Dorfman.
Upper Ground, SE1 9PXExplore View on map
On Charing Cross Road
A West End theatre on Charing Cross Road, opened in 1930, staging major musicals and plays.
Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0JPExplore View on map
Theatre under the trees
An open-air theatre in the Inner Circle of the Regent’s Park, established in 1932, with a 1,304-seat auditorium and a summer season.
Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, NW1 4NRExplore View on map
Royal Ballet and Opera
The home of the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera, on Covent Garden’s Bow Street, with the glass Paul Hamlyn Hall and a terrace over the piazza.
Bow Street, WC2E 9DDExplore View on map
London’s dance house
A theatre devoted to dance in Clerkenwell, presenting companies and choreographers from around the world.
Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TNExplore View on map
Shakespeare in the open air
A reconstruction of Shakespeare’s open-air playhouse on Bankside, with plays in summer, candlelit performances in winter and tours.
21 New Globe Walk, SE1 9DTExplore View on map
On Shaftesbury Avenue
A Delfont Mackintosh theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, renamed in 2019 in honour of Stephen Sondheim.
51 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6BAExplore View on map
Concerts, art and the riverside
The riverside arts complex of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery, with concerts, exhibitions and riverside terraces.
Belvedere Road, SE1 8XXExplore View on map
A theatre afloat
A marionette theatre aboard a converted barge moored at Little Venice, staging puppet shows for children and adults.
Blomfield Road, Little VeniceExplore View on map
A Victorian engine shed for music
A music and performing arts venue in a Grade II* listed 1840s railway engine shed on Chalk Farm Road, Camden.
Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EHExplore View on map
A historic West End theatre
One of London’s oldest theatre sites, home to big musicals in a grand restored auditorium.
Catherine Street, WC2B 5JFExplore View on map
Chamber music and song
A small, beautiful concert hall for chamber music and song, famous for its acoustics and Monday lunchtime concerts.
36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BPExplore View on map
Film on the South Bank and in Notting Hill.
Britain’s biggest screen
The BFI’s IMAX cinema in the drum-shaped building at the Waterloo roundabout, which the BFI describes as the biggest screen in Britain.
1 Charlie Chaplin Walk, SE1 8XRExplore View on map
The home of the BFI
The British Film Institute’s cinema under Waterloo Bridge, with four screens of new releases, classics and seasons, and the BFI Mediatheque.
Belvedere Road, SE1 8XTExplore View on map
Independent cinema in the Brunswick
An independent cinema in the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, with several screens including one devoted to documentaries.
The Brunswick, WC1N 1AWExplore View on map
Armchairs on Portobello Road
A historic cinema on Portobello Road with armchairs, sofas and beds in the front rows.
191 Portobello Road, W11 2EDExplore View on map
Two small screens on Baker Street
A small Everyman cinema on Baker Street, with two screens of sofa seating and a bar with a retro feel.
96–98 Baker Street, W1U 6TJExplore View on map
Sofas in north London
An Everyman cinema on Haverstock Hill in Belsize Park, with sofa seating and food and drink served to your seat.
203 Haverstock Hill, NW3 4QGExplore View on map
Next door to Borough Market
A two-screen Everyman cinema on Dirty Lane in Borough Yards, right next to Borough Market.
3 Dirty Lane, SE1 9PAExplore View on map
A 1970s-style lounge by Liverpool Street
A three-screen Everyman cinema at Broadgate by Liverpool Street, with a Spielburger kitchen and a 1970s-inspired bar and lounge.
1 Finsbury Avenue, EC2M 2PFExplore View on map
Underneath the Crossrail Place roof garden
A three-screen Everyman cinema on the lower level of Crossrail Place at Canary Wharf, with a statement bar.
Crossrail Place, Level −2, E14 5ARExplore View on map
Sofas on the King’s Road
A three-screen Everyman cinema on the King’s Road in Chelsea, with a bar and drinks served to your seat.
279 King’s Road, SW3 5EWExplore View on map
A 1928 Art Deco cinema
An Art Deco cinema on Church Road in Crystal Palace, first opened in 1928, now with four Everyman screens and two bars.
25 Church Road, SE19 2TEExplore View on map
Five screens in maritime Greenwich
A five-screen Picturehouse cinema on Greenwich High Road, with a café and bar and The Crow’s Nest upstairs.
180 Greenwich High Road, SE10 8NNExplore View on map
Seven screens off Piccadilly Circus
A seven-screen Picturehouse cinema on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Great Windmill Street, a two-minute walk from Piccadilly Circus.
Corner of Great Windmill Street and Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7DHExplore View on map
Cult films off Leicester Square
An independent cinema just off Leicester Square, known for its mix of cult classics, sing-alongs, marathons and recent releases.
7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BYExplore View on map
Brixton’s picture palace
A much-loved Picturehouse cinema in an Edwardian picture palace on Brixton Oval, with a café-bar and live events.
Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, SW2 1JGExplore View on map
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