London Bridge

Cross the river from the City and London Bridge feels like a different sort of London. Where the north bank runs on glass towers and lunch-hour crowds, this stretch south of the water has grown up around its markets, its railway arches and its river views, and it still has the texture of somewhere people actually spend an evening rather than just pass through on the way to work. The Shard punctuates the skyline above it all, but the streets underneath keep a lower, older rhythm.

Most visitors base themselves here for the location as much as anything else: you are minutes from Tower Bridge in one direction and Borough Market in the other, with the river as a constant reference point. It suits people who want to walk everywhere - the area rewards wandering between the market stalls, the cathedral, and the maze of arches that have been filled in with bars and small restaurants over the years.

The sights lean into the area's two identities, historic and slightly theatrical. Tower Bridge remains the obvious landmark, and The View from The Shard gives the wider context you can't get at street level. But London Bridge also does a good line in the playful and immersive: The London Bridge Experience digs into the darker corners of the area's past, while a Doctor Who London Walking Tour and Tour for Muggles turn the streets themselves into the attraction, tracing filming locations and fictional geography through very real alleyways.

It's a compact place to stay, dense rather than sprawling, and that's part of the appeal: everything from the historic set-pieces to dinner is within walking distance, without needing to cross back over the river at all.