First ports of call for shopaholics are Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street. There, they will find the big department stores such as Selfridges and Marks & Spencer, plus huge international designer names, from Stella McCartney to Burberry. As well as the best of British fashion, you can buy goods here from all over the world.
At the heart of the West End is Trafalgar Square, and a few minutes away is Soho, the city’s entertainment centre, with its pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants.
There’s plenty of culture here too, from the Royal Academy of Arts to the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are huge green spaces in the centre of a big city, where Londoners come to relax.
Most of London’s famous hotels are found in the West End, along Park Lane and edging into Mayfair and the more modest ones around Victoria, one of the city’s major rail terminals. Oh, and Victoria is also home to the Queen and Buckingham Palace!
Must see and do
- Covent Garden, London's West End
- Soho, London's West End
- Musicals in the West End, London's West End
- Leicester Square, London's West End
- Chinatown, London's West End
- Carnaby Street, London's West End