London

Four or five days of London districts, with rail trips beyond

Four to five days in London covers Westminster and the South Bank, the Tower and the City, the British Museum and the West End, with a spare day for the Kensington museums, Greenwich or Windsor. London is also the gateway to Britain, with Edinburgh, York, Bath and Manchester all within reach by train for a longer trip.

Treat the city as a string of separate towns and give each one a morning or an afternoon. Crossing between them eats time even on the Tube, so a day built around two neighbouring areas beats a day spent zigzagging between famous names.

• Westminster and the South Bank: Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard, which usually begins at 10:43 (check the dates, it does not run every day), then Westminster Abbey and Parliament. Cross the river and walk east past the London Eye to Tate Modern.
• The City and the Tower: the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels at opening time, before the queues build, then Tower Bridge. Climb to the Whispering Gallery in St Paul's Cathedral after that, and eat lunch at Borough Market, which is at its liveliest late in the week.
• Bloomsbury and the West End: the British Museum in the morning, Covent Garden and Soho after lunch, a show at night.
• Days four and five: the Kensington museums with a walk across Hyde Park, Greenwich by river boat, or a day out of town. Windsor is about 30 minutes by train via Slough and Oxford about an hour from Paddington.

Book ahead for West End seats and the Buckingham Palace state rooms, which open only in summer. Timed museum slots help at busy times too. Room rates jump around the London Marathon and Wimbledon, as well as big football and rugby fixtures, so look at the sports calendar before you fix dates. A room a few minutes from a Zone 1 or 2 station saves more time than anything else; compare London hotels by their nearest Tube stop, since a postcode says little about travel time.

Trains for Bath leave Paddington and for York King's Cross.

London's long summer evenings, drizzle and quieter shoulder months

May to September is London's main season, with the longest evenings and July highs around 24°C, while March, April and October are cooler and quieter. Rain comes as drizzle, about 600 mm a year over more than a hundred wet days, so pack a compact umbrella.

About 31 days a year top 25°C.

May to September is the main season and the most crowded. Trooping the Colour marks the King's official birthday in June. Wimbledon takes over the city for a fortnight in late June and early July, and the Notting Hill Carnival fills the streets of west London over the August bank holiday weekend. The Buckingham Palace summer opening has recently run from late July to the end of September.

Winter is short on daylight. A January afternoon manages about 8°C and the nights hover near 3°C; even so, theatres, pubs and galleries make it an easy season for a city break, and hotel rates fall after New Year. December brings the lights on Oxford and Regent Streets, and the Boxing Day sales follow straight after Christmas. Plan around Christmas itself: public transport winds down early on Christmas Eve and does not run at all on Christmas Day.

Go in March, April or October for cooler days and thinner queues at the Tower; restaurant tables are easier to get as well.

Curry on Brick Lane, pie and mash and London's food neighbourhoods

Eat by neighbourhood, because the best food sits where communities live. Brick Lane in the East End is the street for Bangladeshi curry, and it also keeps two survivors of its old Jewish quarter, Brick Lane Beigel Bake and Britain's First & Best Beigel Shop, both selling hot salt beef in a beigel.

Southall and Tooting are better for cheaper Indian food, South Indian cooking included. Brixton does African and Caribbean food, and Chinatown sits just off Leicester Square.

The old working-class dish is pie and mash: a minced beef pie with mashed potato and a green parsley sauce called liquor. M. Manze in Peckham and F. Cooke on Broadway Market in Hackney still serve it. Jellied eels and whelks are the traditional seafood, and an acquired taste. Borough Market by London Bridge is the place to graze through British cheese, bread and street food. It is expensive but good, and liveliest from Thursday to Saturday.

Avoid the steak houses around the West End and the main stations, and be wary of restaurants near the British Museum, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus with picture menus in several languages. Pubs in tourist areas rarely cook well, though gastropubs on quieter streets can be excellent. Samuel Smith pubs in Soho and the City pour some of the cheapest pints in the centre.

For table service a tip of around 10% is usual, but read the bill first because a service charge is often already included. Nobody tips for a drink at the bar, and taxi drivers do not expect it.