Holborn

Holborn sits in the gap between the West End and the City, and it feels like neither. There's none of Covent Garden's crowds or Soho's neon here - instead you get quiet squares, the Inns of Court, and streets that belong more to barristers and law students than tourists. It's central London with the volume turned down, which makes it an easy base if you'd rather walk to the big sights than fight through them.

Because it's not a destination in the way its neighbours are, Holborn doesn't have a strip of hotels built for visitors - most people staying here are passing through for work or using it as a quiet, well-connected pocket from which to explore the rest of the city. Everything from the British Museum to the South Bank is within easy reach on foot or by tube.

There isn't much in the way of conventional sightseeing in Holborn itself, but what's here is worth knowing about. All Star Lanes Holborn does retro ten-pin bowling with a bar attached, good for a low-key evening, while the Oasis Sports Centre has a pool if you want to swim rather than sightsee. Both are the kind of local, useful venues that a place people actually live and work in tends to produce, rather than anything built purely for passing trade.

Holborn works best if you take it for what it is: a calm, central patch of London that's more about good food and easy access than headline attractions. Bowl a few frames, have a swim, then spend the evening working through its restaurants - that's Holborn done properly.