UK Travel Guide

Portobello Road runs for about 940 metres through Notting Hill in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, west London, and is the city's most recognisable market street. Its name commemorates the British capture of Portobelo, Panama, in 1739. The road is not one market but five overlapping ones with different sections trading on different days: the southern antiques stretch, from Notting Hill Gate to Elgin Crescent, runs on Saturdays only and is reckoned the world's largest antiques market, with dealers on site from about 07:00. The central section is a workaday fruit, vegetable and household market, open Monday to Saturday. The stretch north to the Westway flyover is the vintage clothing and jewellery district, busiest on Friday and Saturday. Under the flyover and along Golborne Road the market turns Caribbean, Moroccan and Mexican, with Lisboa Patisserie's custard tarts anchoring the north end. A dozen indoor antique arcades, among them Admiral Vernon and Harris Arcade, hold much of the specialist trade. The pastel terraced houses date from the mid-19th century, though their colours came in the 1980s and 1990s, and are Notting Hill's most photographed streetscape, best early in the morning.

The Bridge of Sighs is a covered bridge at St John's College, Cambridge University, UK. Built in 1831 in Neo-Gothic style, this stone bridge spans the River Cam connecting New Court and Third Court, named after Venice's Bridge of Sighs for its resemblance — with fine lattice windows and a stone corridor, and the best view from a punting trip passing beneath, it is the most romantic and photogenic of Cambridge's college bridges. Designed by Henry Hutchinson in Neo-Gothic style — a covered stone bridge with lattice windows and dentiled cornice — named after Venice's Ponte dei Sospiri; the tale that students sighed crossing it before exams is apocryphal. The bridge links New Court and Third Court across the Cam. The best view is from a punting trip passing beneath — looking up at lattice windows and the stone vault with dappled light. Kitchen Bridge and Iron Bridge nearby offer distant views. Visiting to admire Neo-Gothic lattice windows while punting beneath is a classic, poetic Cambridge college-bridge experience.

The Tower of London is an ancient castle carrying nearly a millennium of English history—a mighty fortress by the Thames, once palace, fortress, prison and execution ground, now guarding the Crown Jewels, London's most absorbing historic sight. Built in the 11th century after the Norman Conquest, its core White Tower was raised by William the Conqueror; after nearly a thousand years it is among London's oldest, most important buildings and a World Heritage Site. Through the ages it was a royal fortress and palace, and a prison and execution site for important prisoners (queens, nobles, statesmen), witnessing bloody court struggles—hence a mysterious, eerie legend. Today its brightest draw is the Crown Jewels—diamonds and gems, crowns, scepters and regalia, breathtaking. Visitors also explore the White Tower, walls and towers, hear the Yeoman Warders ('Beefeaters') tell its history, and see the famous ravens. Exploring the Tower of London and its Crown Jewels across a thousand years is London's top sight.

Buckingham Palace is the British monarch's official London residence. Built 1703, it features the State Rooms (open in summer), the Changing of the Guard ceremony and the Victoria Memorial — the world's most famous royal building. Built 1703; monarch's London residence. 775 rooms; 19 State Rooms. Summer opening — royal art collection. Changing of the Guard — free; usually mornings. Victoria Memorial.

Stonehenge rises from the green swell of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire — a ring of Neolithic standing stones raised between about 3000 and 2000 BC. Tens-of-tonne sarsens, and bluestones hauled 250 km from Wales, still pose archaeology's greatest puzzle: how, and why, here? The monument's axis aligns precisely with the midwinter sunset, and scholars see a blend of calendar, temple and gathering place. Crows wheel over the grassland as the path from the visitor centre leads past the remains of Neolithic houses toward the stones — a slow walk into a 4,500-year-old ceremony. Britain's most iconic prehistoric site pairs naturally with nearby Woodhenge and Old Sarum for a fuller journey back in time.

Located in Bloomsbury, London, the British Museum was founded in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759 as the world’s first national public museum—owned by the state and open to all (the Ashmolean Museum opened earlier, in 1683, but as a university museum). Its collection of more than 8 million objects spans two million years of human history, art and culture: the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked Egyptian hieroglyphs; the Parthenon sculptures; Egyptian mummies and Assyrian palace reliefs; and treasures from every continent. The Great Court, capped by Norman Foster’s glass roof over the old Reading Room, is the architectural highlight. Entry to the permanent collection is free—book a free timed ticket online; on Fridays the museum stays open until 20:30. The provenance of major objects such as the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles and the Benin Bronzes remains the subject of long-running international debate, well worth understanding as you visit.