Home to Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, Westminster is stacked with things to see well beyond the postcard shots.
We’ll admit it: Westminster is the bit of London that ends up on every keyring, tea towel and jigsaw puzzle in the city, and it’s easy to assume you’ve already seen it before you’ve arrived. Then you actually walk it, past the crowds photographing the same three landmarks, and realise how much gets skipped.
This is the seat of British government and the Church of England rolled into one small patch of SW1, so the history comes thick and fast: a 1,000-year-old abbey, a wartime bunker that ran a global war from underground, and pubs that have been pouring pints for politicians and journalists for well over a century. Wedged between Victoria and the river, it rewards a proper wander rather than a dash between photo stops.
Here’s what we’d put on the list.
The best things to do in Westminster
Look up at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
If you had to name one London landmark, it would probably be this one, though technically “Big Ben” is the name of the bell rather than the tower around it. The tower itself is properly called the Elizabeth Tower, renamed for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and its Victorian Gothic spire looms over the equally ornate Houses of Parliament below.
The Palace of Westminster is worth visiting in its own right, not just as a backdrop: UK residents can watch a debate for free from the public galleries, and UK Parliament also runs paid tours of both chambers and, for the properly keen, the Elizabeth Tower itself, up 334 spiral steps to stand by the bell. Worth knowing: tower tours book out fast and aren’t available every day, so sort tickets well ahead of a visit.
Wander the naves of Westminster Abbey
Officially the Collegiate Church of St Peter in Westminster, Westminster Abbey was founded by Edward the Confessor in 1065, and most English sovereigns have been crowned, married or buried here ever since, most recently King Charles III’s coronation in 2023. It’s a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, and inside there’s a genuine wealth of art, chapels and shrines, including Poets’ Corner, where memorials to Chaucer, Dickens and Hardy are crammed in among each other.
Give yourself longer than you think: between the Lady Chapel, the cloisters and the royal tombs, it’s easy to lose the best part of two hours here without noticing.
Peer through the gates at Downing Street
Long closed off to the public, you can’t stroll down Downing Street to get a close-up of the famous black door of Number 10 any more, security gates have blocked the entrance since the 1980s. You can still peer down the street from the gates on Whitehall, though, which is about as close as most of us are ever going to get.
Take in the domes of Westminster Cathedral
Not to be confused with its Abbey namesake down the road, one glance at Westminster Cathedral sets it apart. It’s the mother church of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales, and its striking red-brick and Portland stone Byzantine-style exterior, all stripes and domes, looks like nothing else in the city. Inside, look out for the widest nave in England and mosaic work that’s still being added to, more than a century after the cathedral opened in 1903.
Hint: the viewing gallery near the top of the 83-metre bell tower is one of the better value views in London, and considerably less crowded than the Shard or the London Eye.
Spot the Knight Bus squeeze on Lambeth Bridge
Westminster turns up in a few Harry Potter scenes without most visitors noticing they’ve walked through a film set. The Knight Bus famously squeezes between two ordinary buses on Lambeth Bridge in The Prisoner of Azkaban, while the entrance to the Ministry of Magic’s red telephone box sits in a courtyard just across from Downing Street on Great George Street.
Neither spot is signposted, so it’s a case of knowing roughly where to look and using your imagination for the rest.
Lose an afternoon in Tate Britain
Tate Britain is one of London’s best museums and, unlike its younger sibling Tate Modern across the river, one that tourists routinely walk straight past. It holds one of the country’s largest collections of British art inside one of its most handsome Neoclassical buildings, running from William Blake and Turner’s swirling seascapes through to Francis Bacon and Henry Moore.
Wear comfortable shoes. It’s easy to lose a few hours here, and entry to the permanent collection is free.
Find the quiet of Dean’s Yard
Tucked behind Westminster Abbey and hemmed in by Westminster School, Dean’s Yard is a small green square with good views of the Abbey’s flying buttresses that surprisingly few visitors bother to seek out. It’s a genuinely peaceful spot to sit for ten minutes once the crowds around the Abbey’s west front get too much, and worth building into a visit rather than treating as an afterthought.
Descend into the Churchill War Rooms
The 21 rooms of the Churchill War Rooms sit only a few metres below ground, but they were the nerve centre of the British war effort for the whole of the Second World War, and were left largely untouched for decades after VE Day. The museum, now run by Imperial War Museums, includes the Cabinet Room, the Map Room with its pin-pricked charts, Churchill’s spartan bedroom and the hotline telephone he used for calls with Roosevelt.
The attached Churchill Museum, a separate exhibition on his life beyond the war, is worth the extra half hour if you’ve got it.
Watch the guard change at Horse Guards
The official ceremonial entrance to St James’s and Buckingham Palaces, Horse Guards is best known for the mounted troopers standing sentry outside and the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony held on the parade ground behind. Time it right, around 11am on weekdays or 10am on Sundays, and you can also catch the daily Changing of the Guard here, generally with far smaller crowds than the Buckingham Palace version. The small Household Cavalry Museum next door lets you peer into the working stables.
Horse Guards Parade backs directly onto St James’s Park, home to a colony of pelicans that’s been resident, on and off, since a Russian ambassador presented a pair to Charles II in 1664. Worth combining the two if you’ve got the time.
Settle in at The Albert
The Albert is a proper British boozer, a Grade II listed pub on Victoria Street with plenty of original Victorian features still intact, from the etched windows to the island bar. It’s popped up in a fair few films and TV shows over the years thanks to that unmistakable frontage. Order traditional pub food and settle in with a pint or two.
Book a smart lunch at The Cinnamon Club
Housed in the old Westminster Library, just across from the Houses of Parliament, The Cinnamon Club is a long-running favourite with politicians and civil servants popping in for a smart lunch between votes. The high-end Indian cooking, all spice-forward tasting menus and confident modern plating, is some of the best in the city, and the panelled, book-lined dining room adds to the occasion.
Grab a pint at St Stephen’s Tavern
Another Victorian-era pub that’s survived largely untouched, St Stephen’s Tavern is named after the old chamber where the House of Commons used to sit, and is always busy thanks to its spot directly opposite Big Ben. Good for a drink and a bit of people-watching, not so good if you want peace and quiet.
Investigate the clues at The Sherlock Holmes
A pub dedicated to Britain’s most famous fictional detective shouldn’t really work, but The Sherlock Holmes pulls it off. Alongside the usual pub trinkets there are glass cases of clues lifted from famous Holmes stories and, upstairs, a full recreation of his 221B Baker Street study, complete with deerstalker and violin.
Fry up at the Regency Café
For a traditional English breakfast in Westminster, the Regency Café is hard to beat. It’s a classic Art Deco London caff, tiled floor to ceiling and largely unchanged since it opened in 1946, that’s even made it onto the big screen, appearing in the film Layer Cake. The fry-ups, shouted out by name from the open kitchen, are the main draw.
Rub shoulders with journalists at The Westminster Arms
Slap in the middle of the action, a short walk from both the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square, The Westminster Arms draws tourists nipping in for a pint and a fair few suited government workers looking to unwind after work. It’s also become something of a hotspot for political journalists filing stories from Westminster, and has seen a few famous faces drop in over the years, one for people-watching as much as the beer.
