Inside London Travel Guide

The largest segment of greenery in central London is Hyde Park, which separates wealthy Kensington and Chelsea from the city centre. The museums of South Kensington - the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum - are a must; and if you have shopping on your agenda, you’ll want to check out the hive of plush stores in the vicinity of Harrods.

The capital’s most hectic weekend market takes place around Camden Lock in North London. Further out, in the literary suburbs of Hampstead and Highgate, there are unbeatable views across the city from half-wild Hampstead Heath, the favourite parkland of thousands of Londoners. The glory of South London is Greenwich, with its nautical associations, royal park and observatory (not to mention its Dome). Finally, there are plenty of rewarding day-trips along the Thames from Chiswick to Windsor, most notably Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle.

When To Go

Considering the temperateness of the English climate, it’s amazing how much mileage the locals get out of the subject - a two-day cold snap is discussed as if it were the onset of a new Ice Age, and a week in the upper 70s starts rumours of drought. The fact is that English summers rarely get hot and the winters don’t get very cold, though they’re often wet. The bottom line is that it’s impossible to say with any degree of certainty that the weather will be pleasant in any given month. May might be wet and grey one year and gloriously sunny