Watch a play at Shakespeare's Globe on Bankside, the reconstruction opened in 1997 of the theatre where Shakespeare's company performed: stand as a groundling in the open-air season, or in winter see a play in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

See a play at the National Theatre, Denys Lasdun's Brutalist building of 1976 on the South Bank

See a show at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, on the site where a theatre has stood since 1663

Shakespeare's Globe on Bankside, opened in 1997, reconstructs the theatre where his company played, and in the open-air season you can still stand as a groundling. Denys Lasdun's National Theatre of 1976 stands on the South Bank, and at Drury Lane a theatre has stood on the site of the Theatre Royal since 1663.

London Theatre: The Globe, the National and Drury Lane

Eat at Borough Market, one of London's oldest food markets, on its present site since 1756

Browse the stalls of Camden Market around Camden Lock

Walk Portobello Road on a Saturday, when the antiques market runs

Buy plants at Columbia Road Flower Market on a Sunday, among the Victorian shopfronts

Borough Market, one of London's oldest food markets, has been on its present site since 1756. Camden Market spreads round Camden Lock, Portobello Road's antiques market runs on Saturdays, and on Sundays Columbia Road fills with a flower market among Victorian shopfronts.

London's Markets: Borough, Camden, Portobello and Columbia Road

Climb the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, Christopher Wren's masterpiece built between 1675 and 1710, to the Whispering Gallery and the outer galleries

Go up The Shard, Renzo Piano's tower of 2012, 310m tall, to The View from The Shard

See the Palace of Westminster and the Elizabeth Tower, the home of Big Ben, designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin after the fire of 1834

Look up at 30 St Mary Axe, Norman Foster's 'Gherkin' of 2004, and Richard Rogers's Lloyd's Building of 1986

Christopher Wren built St Paul's Cathedral between 1675 and 1710, and its dome can be climbed to the Whispering Gallery and beyond. The Palace of Westminster and the Elizabeth Tower, the home of Big Ben, were designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin after the fire of 1834. In the City, Norman Foster's Gherkin of 2004 stands near Richard Rogers's Lloyd's Building of 1986, and across the river Renzo Piano's Shard of 2012 is 310m tall.

London's Landmarks: St Paul's, the Shard and Westminster

Visit Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, rebuilt soon after the Great Fire and traditionally linked with Dr Johnson

Drink at The Prospect of Whitby in Wapping, which claims the site of London's oldest riverside tavern, near the old Execution Dock

Visit The George Inn in Southwark, the last surviving galleried coaching inn in London, owned by the National Trust

Have a drink at The Mayflower in Rotherhithe, the riverside pub named after the Pilgrim Fathers' ship, and look out at low tide for the spot the pub gives as her 1620 mooring point

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street was rebuilt soon after the Great Fire of 1666, and tradition makes Dr Johnson, who lived round the corner in Gough Square, one of its regulars. In Wapping, the Prospect of Whitby claims to stand on the site of London's oldest riverside tavern, from around 1520, near the old Execution Dock; in Southwark, the George Inn is the last galleried coaching inn in London, owned by the National Trust; and the Mayflower in Rotherhithe is named after the Pilgrim Fathers' ship, which was based here on the Thames and whose master, Captain Jones, lived and is buried in Rotherhithe.

London's Oldest Pubs

Visit Temple Church, the round Templar church consecrated in 1185

Find the remains of the Roman London Wall at Tower Hill

Visit the Roman amphitheatre under Guildhall Art Gallery, discovered in 1988

Visit St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, the Norman church founded in 1123

Temple Church, the round church of the Knights Templar, was consecrated in 1185. At Tower Hill a stretch of the Roman London Wall still stands, under the Guildhall Art Gallery lie the remains of the Roman amphitheatre found in 1988, and in Smithfield St Bartholomew the Great is a Norman church founded in 1123.

Medieval London: Temple Church, the Roman Wall and St Bartholomew's

Watch the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London, the nightly locking-up said to date back to the 14th century, booking a ticket from Historic Royal Palaces well in advance

Ride the London Eye after dark, the 135m wheel that opened in 2000

Join a Jack the Ripper walking tour through Whitechapel and Spitalfields, past the sites of the 'canonical five' murders of 1888

Every night the Tower of London is locked in the Ceremony of the Keys, said to have been held in some form since the 14th century; tickets must be booked well in advance from Historic Royal Palaces. The London Eye, 135m high, opened in 2000, and walking tours follow the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 through Whitechapel and Spitalfields.

London After Dark: The Ceremony of the Keys and the Eye

Visit Dennis Severs' House at 18 Folgate Street, the Georgian house dressed as a 'still-life drama' of a Huguenot silk-weaving family

Visit the Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum, on Kingsland Road

Find the Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, unveiled in 1900, in Postman's Park

Tour Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where Hogarth's Rake's Progress hangs

At 18 Folgate Street, Dennis Severs' House is dressed as a still-life drama of a Huguenot silk-weaving family. The Museum of the Home, once the Geffrye Museum, is on Kingsland Road, Postman's Park holds the Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, opened in 1900, and Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields keeps Hogarth's A Rake's Progress.

London's Hidden Houses: Dennis Severs, Soane and Postman's Park

Stand under the Albert Memorial, opened by Queen Victoria in July 1872, and find the statue of the prince, seated in 1876

Find the Peter Pan statue by the Long Water, at the spot where Peter lands in Barrie's The Little White Bird

Go to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park on a Sunday afternoon and listen to whoever is speaking

Go into the Palm House at Kew, built in 1844–1848, the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron

The Albert Memorial at the edge of Kensington Gardens was commissioned by Queen Victoria after Prince Albert died in 1861: George Gilbert Scott's canopy, 176 feet high and paid for by public subscription, opened in July 1872, and the statue of Albert was ceremonially 'seated' in it in 1876. Further in, by the Long Water, is the bronze Peter Pan of 1912, commissioned by J. M. Barrie himself and put at the spot where Peter lands in The Little White Bird after flying out of his nursery — Barrie lived just across the road on Bayswater Road. At the Marble Arch end of Hyde Park is Speakers' Corner, where anyone can turn up unannounced and talk about almost anything, at the risk of being heckled by the regulars; Marx, Lenin and Orwell all went. Upriver is Kew, founded in 1759 and now a World Heritage Site with the largest and most diverse botanical collections in the world, where the architect Decimus Burton and the ironmaker Richard Turner built the Palm House between 1844 and 1848 — the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron.