London Things to Do

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With Eurostar trains taking a mere 2 hours and 20 minutes from Paris to London, there’s no reason why you can’t be dining atop the Eiffel Tower one night and enjoying Afternoon Tea at the Ritz the next. In fact, it’s so easy to hop between the 2 capitals, that it’s even possible to take a day tour to London from Paris.

From floral extravaganzas to family football events, there are plenty of ways to celebrate spring in London this week.

England’s longest river running all the way from the Cotswolds Hills in Gloucestershire through to the North Sea, the Thames has long been the lifeline of London running right through the heart of the city center and flanked by many of the city’s key attractions.

One of England’s most iconic television series dating back to 1963, the BBC’s hugely popular science fiction series ‘Doctor Who’ features a fictional time traveler whose escapades are filmed on location in central London. The cult series, still running today with an alternate cast, celebrates its 50th anniversary in November 2013 and there’s no better time for fans to follow in the footsteps of the beloved eccentric.

With the Mayor of London instigating a cycling revolution in the British capital, London has worked hard to cement its reputation as a bike friendly city. A fun, eco-friendly and cheap way to get around the city, London offers a surprising array of bicycle routes even for those unaccustomed to urban cycling and a large number of the city’s sights are easily accessible by bike.

London’s most popular paid-for tourist attraction and one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, the EDF Energy London Eye towers over the banks of the River Thames in London’s city center. At 135-meters high, the London Eye is one of the world’s tallest observation wheel, offering 360-degree panoramic views spanning up to 40km away on a clear day. The famous glass viewing pods each take up to 28 people but with almost 10,000 visitors taking to the skies each day, the queues can be overwhelming.

Along with the vintage red telephone boxes, black taxi-cabs and the red-suited Royal guards with their towering bearskin hats, the double decker bus, traditionally painted in fire-engine red, has become one of the most famous symbols of London. While the classic red versions are now more commonly found emblazoned across souvenir mugs and key rings than chugging along the streets (although there are still some in action), the double-decker bus is still one of the most popular methods of transport for Londoner’s to get from A to B.

Like the fire-engine red telephone boxes, double decker buses and suited Royal guards in their bearskin hats; London’s famous Black Cabs are so iconic, they’ve even been immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds. Despite recent fears that the Coventry manufacturer who produces the ubiquitous Black Cabs is going bankrupt, the Austin FX designs are still very much a part of everyday life in the capital. London celebrities fall in and out of them on a seemingly nightly basis; politicians opt for them over a limo; Sir Laurence Olivier and Stanley Kubrick owned their own; and even Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly had a fleet shipped out to California. Regardless of economic difficulties, it seems like the time-honored Black taxicab is here to stay.

The mania of 2012′s Olympic games may have died down, but there’s still plenty of reasons to visit London in 2013. Here’s our top picks of the capital’s best attractions.

1. Best Museum