London, England — Bella Via Travels
England
London
The city that contains multitudes
London is one of the great cities of the world — a city of extraordinary cultural depth and variety, where the National Gallery and the Tate Modern, Borough Market and the Ritz, the East End and Mayfair all exist within a few miles of each other.
The obvious London — the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament — is obvious for a reason. But the city rewards those who look beyond it. The National Gallery, with its collection of European painting from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, is one of the finest in the world and free to enter. The British Museum, the V&A and the Natural History Museum are all within walking distance of each other in South Kensington.
Borough Market, on the south bank of the Thames, is the finest food market in England — a covered market of extraordinary variety, with the best bread, cheese, meat and fish in London. The South Bank, from Waterloo Bridge to Tower Bridge, is the finest urban walk in the city — the Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre, the Southwark Cathedral and the Borough Market are all on the same stretch of river.
The neighbourhoods of London are as varied as the city itself — the Georgian squares of Bloomsbury, the Victorian terraces of Notting Hill, the Georgian and Victorian mix of Islington, the Victorian warehouses of Bermondsey. Bella Via designs London itineraries that combine the essential with the overlooked and find the version of the city that suits you.
“London on a Sunday morning, with Borough Market open and the South Bank empty — that is the city at its most itself.”
What to Expect
The Bella Via Experience in London
The National Gallery
One of the finest collections of European painting in the world — free to enter, and best visited on a weekday morning when the crowds are manageable.
Borough Market
The finest food market in England — bread, cheese, meat, fish and the best coffee in London, under the railway arches of London Bridge.
The Tate Modern
The finest collection of modern and contemporary art in Britain, in a converted power station on the South Bank — with a view of St Paul's from the top floor.
The V&A
The finest museum of decorative arts in the world — a collection of extraordinary depth and variety, from Renaissance bronzes to twentieth-century fashion.
London rewards those who arrive with curiosity and leave with a deeper understanding of what a city built on trade, empire and culture actually looks like.