Obvious, but unbeatable value once you remember the big museums are free: dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, rockets at the Science Museum, mummies at the British Museum. Add pelicans in St James's Park, the South Bank's street performers and a ride on the front seat of a driverless DLR train. Do one big thing per day and fill the gaps with parks and playgrounds.
Featured in Ten easy city breaks that work with kids in tow · Family
London's cocktail scene runs from gilded hotel institutions — the Connaught and the Savoy's American Bar, both worth booking weeks ahead — to the dense, inventive cluster around Soho and the East End. The satisfying crawl is a contrast: one grand hotel martini, then the low-lit rooms of Shoreditch where the world's-best lists are written. Go Tuesday to Thursday; Friday in Soho is a contact sport, and Sundays half the good rooms rest.
Featured in Ten cocktail cities for a very grown-up bar crawl · Nightlife