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

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

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

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

Visit the Charles Dickens Museum at 48 Doughty Street, his home from 1837 to 1839

Go into the Sir John Ritblat Gallery at the British Library and see the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Lindisfarne Gospels

Visit Dr Johnson's House at 17 Gough Square, where he compiled his Dictionary, published in 1755

Find the Platform 9¾ trolley at King's Cross station

Charles Dickens lived at 48 Doughty Street from 1837 to 1839, and it is now his museum. At 17 Gough Square, Dr Johnson compiled his Dictionary, published in 1755. The British Library's Sir John Ritblat Gallery shows the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Lindisfarne Gospels, and at King's Cross a luggage trolley disappears into the wall at Platform 9¾.

Literary London: Dickens, the British Library and Dr Johnson

See the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures at the British Museum, founded in 1753

Look up at the blue whale skeleton in Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum, in the Waterhouse building opened in 1881

Find the two halves of Trajan's Column in the Cast Courts at the Victoria and Albert Museum

See the Apollo 10 command module and Puffing Billy, the oldest surviving steam locomotive, at the Science Museum

The British Museum, founded in 1753, holds the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures. In South Kensington, a blue whale skeleton hangs in Hintze Hall in the Natural History Museum's Waterhouse building of 1881, the V&A's Cast Courts hold the two halves of Trajan's Column, and the Science Museum has the Apollo 10 command module and Puffing Billy, the oldest surviving steam locomotive.

London's Great Museums: The British Museum and South Kensington

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

See Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 and the Apollo 10 capsule at the Science Museum

Visit Michael Faraday's laboratory and the Faraday Museum at the Royal Institution on Albemarle Street, home of the Christmas Lectures

Visit the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, where he discovered penicillin in 1928

Visit the Old Operating Theatre Museum in Southwark, the operating theatre of 1822

At the Royal Institution on Albemarle Street, home of the Christmas Lectures, Michael Faraday's laboratory is kept as a museum. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 in his laboratory at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, now a museum too. In Southwark the Old Operating Theatre of 1822 survives, and the Science Museum has Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 and the Apollo 10 capsule.

Scientific London: Faraday, Fleming and the Old Operating Theatre

Walk Leake Street, the tunnel under Waterloo station where graffiti is legal, and where Banksy held the Cans Festival in 2008

Look for the big murals around Brick Lane and Shoreditch

Find the David Bowie mural on Tunstall Road in Brixton, painted in 2013

See the bronze statue of Amy Winehouse in Camden's Stables Market

Under Waterloo station, Leake Street is a tunnel where graffiti is legal, and Banksy held the Cans Festival there in 2008. Brick Lane and Shoreditch have the big murals, the David Bowie mural on Tunstall Road in Brixton was painted in 2013, and in Camden Amy Winehouse is remembered with a bronze statue in the Stables Market.