Ways to Be a Local

• Read Time Out for What's On and the London Evening Standard.
• Visit the South Kensington museums for the last hour or so when admission is free.
• Shop at one of the many street markets.
• Settle down to watch a game of cricket on Kew Green.
• Take a historic walking tour.
• Eat in one of London's few surviving pie 'n' mash shops.
• Ride the top deck of any regular London bus.
• Buy a sandwich and eat it in one of London's parks, or if you're in the city, in a churchyard.
• Go to Speaker's Corner on a Sunday morning.
• See the Changing of the Guard at Horse Guards, Whitehall.

Good Places to Have Lunch

• The Orangery (Moderately priced-Expensive) Address: Kensington Palace Gardens. Part-designed by Wren. Go for tea. No telephone bookings.
• Jasons (Expensive) Address: Opposite 60 Blomfield Road, Maida Vale. Phone: (020) 7286 6752. Mauritian seafood in a beautiful canalside setting.
• The Ritz Hotel (Expensive) Address: 150 Piccadilly Phone: (020) 7493 8181. Palatial luxury at a set price.
• The Belvedere (Expensive) Address: Holland Park Phone: (020) 7602 1238. Great views and a beautiful setting.
• Café-in-the-Crypt (Inexpensive) Address: St Martin-in-the-Fields, Duncannon Street, Phone: (020) 7839 4342. This oasis of calm will provide a welcome break from the frenzy of Trafalgar Square.
• Neal's Yard Bakery (Inexpensive) Address: Neal's Yard, Covent Garden Phone: (020) 7836 5199. One of a choice of wholefood eateries set in a charming courtyard.
• Odette's (Expensive) Address: 130 Regent's Park Road Phone: (020) 7586 5486. Excellent food served in the garden.
• China City (Inexpensive) Address: White Bear Yard, 25a Lisle Street Phone: (020) 7734 3388. For some of Chinatown's best dim sum.
• Prêt à Manger (Inexpensive) For lunch on the move; good-quality fresh hand-made snacks and sandwiches. Branches all over central London.
• A London park (Inexpensive-Expensive) Regent's Park, Greenwich Park, Hampstead Heath. Take a picnic.

Best London Vantage Points

• St Paul's Cathedral
• Parliament Hill
• British Airways London Eye
• Oxo Tower
• Hilton Hotel, Hyde Park
• Tower Bridge
• The Monument
• The London Skyview Balloon Get hauled up in a tethered balloon hundreds of feet above south London at Spring Gardens, Auckland Street Phone: 0345 023 842
• Greenwich Park,Old Royal Observatory
• Waterloo Bridge

Good Pubs

• Fox & Anchor Address: 115 Charterhouse Street. Atmospheric Smithfield market pub with unique opening hours to suit the workers (7am- 9pm Monday to Friday).
• Grenadier Address: Old Barrack Yard, Wilton Row. Fine 18th-century Knightsbridge mews pub.
• Red Lion Address: Duke of York Street. Tiny St James's Victorian gin palace (closed Sundays).
• Salisbury Address: 90 St Martin's Lane. Bustling, beautifully preserved Victorian pub at the heart of Theatreland.
• Spaniards Address: Spaniard's Road, Hampstead Heath. Bags of history and a lovely garden.
• Sun Address: 63 Lamb's Conduit Street. Small Bloomsbury boozer with a great choice of beers.
• Trafalgar Tavern Address: 5 Park Row, Greenwich. Perfect riverside location.
• Windsor Castle Address: 114 Campden Hill Road. A real 'country pub' in Notting Hill.
• Ye Grapes Address: 16 Shepherd Market. Typical Victorian pub in the centre of Mayfair.
• Ye Olde Cock Tavern Address: 22 Fleet Street. Classic City inn, once frequented by Pepys and Johnson.

Top Activities

• Jetski in Docklands at the Docklands Watersports Club. ( Phone: (020) 7511 7000)
• Go horse riding in Hyde Park.
• Row on the Thames at Richmond ( Phone: (020) 8948 8270).
• Indulge yourself at The Sanctuary, Covent Garden (ladies only) - a wonderful, if expensive, health club ( Phone: (020) 7420 5151).
• Ice skate in the heart of the City at Broadgate Ice Rink from late October to early April ( Phone: (020) 7505 4068).