Travel Tips

Lots of students ask me to recommend places to go in London so I thought I'd start a list. In case you want more than my biased views, The Guardian website has a really good travel section in which readers submit their own recommendations and the section on London is huge and here. You could also try looking at my former student Ana's blog and at the cool website, Gridskipper.





My top tips for the capital are as follows:




1. Hampstead Heath - walk around the Heath for hours (or days) and make sure you enjoy the views from Parliament Hill. If you're lucky you might see crazy people swimming in the lakes. At the opposite end of the Heath to Parliament Hill, it's worth stopping briefly in Kenwood House (even just the cafe). You might recognise the building from the end of Notting Hill (Julia Roberts films a period drama there).

2. Hampstead High Street - nothing amazing but some beautiful houses and pubs around the back streets. You should try...

3. crepes from the street vendor

4. watching a film in The Hampstead Everyman Cinema. There are “love seats” for couples to sit in…or you can pay extra to sit in a VIP area with comfy sofas and a bar.

5. Primrose Hill - a lovely quiet pocket of green hills and famous people...if you walk down Primrose Hill high street you'll see some lovely little shops and you might even bump into Jude Law.

6. Highgate Cemetery - sounds a bit morbid, but there are quite a few important dead people there. Famous as the home of Karl Marx's grave.

7.Take a boat trip down the Thames. You can get a commentary to point out the most important buildings. The London Eye is worth going on too, but it’s a good idea to book in advance to avoid the queues. Personally, I like just walking near the river – from Big Ben to The Tate Modern takes a long time but on a nice day it’s a glorious walk and you get some lovely views. At the Tate Modern there a re some nice cafes with great views. If you don’t mind spending a little extra you can eat good food on the 7th Floor Restaurant, which in my opinion, is one of the coolest locations in London.