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 the Churchill War Rooms, the underground Cabinet War Rooms used from 1939 to 1945, and the Map Room

Board HMS Belfast, the cruiser that supported the D-Day landings of 1944 and is moored by Tower Bridge

Explore the Imperial War Museum on Lambeth Road

Stand in St Paul's Cathedral, which survived the Blitz

Under Whitehall, the Cabinet War Rooms were used from 1939 to 1945, Map Room included. HMS Belfast, the cruiser that supported the D-Day landings in 1944, is moored by Tower Bridge, the Imperial War Museum is on Lambeth Road in Southwark, and St Paul's Cathedral came through the Blitz.

London at War: The Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast

See Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Turner's The Fighting Temeraire at the National Gallery, founded in 1824

Walk the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, the former Bankside Power Station converted by Herzog & de Meuron and opened in 2000

See Michelangelo's marble Taddei Tondo at the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House

See Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère at the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House

The National Gallery, founded in 1824, holds Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Turner's The Fighting Temeraire. Across the river, Tate Modern opened in 2000 in the old Bankside Power Station, converted by Herzog & de Meuron around the Turbine Hall. The Royal Academy in Burlington House has Michelangelo's Taddei Tondo, and the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House has Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.

London's Galleries: The National Gallery, Tate Modern and the Courtauld

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 Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, and tour the State Rooms when they are open in the summer

Tour the Tower of London and see the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House, and find the White Tower begun around 1078 by William the Conqueror

Look for the Tower's ravens and meet a Yeoman Warder

Visit Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria was born on 24 May 1819, and walk in Kensington Gardens around it

William the Conqueror began the White Tower around 1078, and the Tower of London holds the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House, with Yeoman Warders and the ravens. At Buckingham Palace the guard changes and the State Rooms open in summer, and at Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria was born on 24 May 1819, Kensington Gardens lie all round the house.

Royal London: The Tower, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace

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

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

Walk the White Cliffs of Dover from the Langdon Cliffs visitor centre along the top of the chalk cliffs, about 110m above the sea

Tour South Foreland Lighthouse, the first lighthouse to be lit by electricity, in 1858, where Marconi received the first ship-to-shore radio message in 1898

Tour Dover Castle, Henry II's 12th-century fortress, and go into the Secret Wartime Tunnels from which the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940 was directed

See the Bronze Age Boat at Dover Museum, some 3,500 years old

The White Cliffs rise about 110m above the Channel at Dover, walked from the Langdon Cliffs visitor centre. Along them, South Foreland Lighthouse was the first to be lit by electricity, in 1858, and Marconi received the first ship-to-shore radio message here in 1898, and in 1899 made the first international radio transmission from it, to France. Henry II's castle stands above the town, and from the Secret Wartime Tunnels beneath it the Dunkirk evacuation was directed in 1940; in Dover Museum is a Bronze Age boat some 3,500 years old.

Dover: The White Cliffs, South Foreland and the Castle Tunnels

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.