One of the few remaining examples of 19th-century London’s attempt to clean up its reputation.

The fierce beast perches atop a pedestal marking where the historic City of London gates once stood.

A tongue-in-cheek arcade where the games are based on everyday life.

Formerly known as Saville Theatre, this mid-20th-century entertainment hub includes an ornate frieze.

Since 1887, this old-school shop has stacked its shelves with extraordinary coffees and teas.

The John Snow Memorial marks the epicenter of London's 1854 cholera epidemic.

London's marvelous wildfowl reserve along the Thames.

This unusually-named reservoir found a second life as a nature preserve.

This beautiful deer park was built so King Charles I and his court could go hunting while escaping a deadly plague outbreak.

A gallery specifically dedicated to the botanical illustrations of a remarkable traveling lady.

A marine aquarium with an astounding variety of fish hides in the basement beneath the famous Palm House.

London's Victorian Tower of Babel.

A masterpiece of Art Deco architecture hidden in plain sight in West London.

A little slice of Japan and its aesthetics in London's Holland Park.

The bridge is a secret gallery of discarded gum that has been transformed into miniature masterpieces.

On this wooded path, a stained-glass window creates a spellbinding forest cathedral.

The mysterious, fantastical woodland inspiration for "The Lord of the Rings."

This well-preserved Cistercian Abbey in a romantic pastoral setting has inspired artists like the poet Wordsworth.

The largest known medieval map of the world.

A 19th-century British industrialist built this Louis XIII–inspired chateau for his homesick French wife.

The world's smallest commercial theater is set up in what was once a urinal for Victorian men.

Modest by day, illuminated majestically at sunset.

An astounding 13th-century architectural and historical achievement

In this cobwebbed old operating theater, you can practically hear the screams of the unanesthetized patients.