London area of City guide

What to do and where to stay in London's City neighbourhood

The Square Mile is the space that was contained within the mediaeval walls of London, a history remembered each November in the pomp of the Lord Mayor's Show. Now it is the nation's financial centre and embodies the capital's mix of tradition and change. A place of mighty skyscrapers, this tiny area (only twenty minutes walk from one side to the other) generates 3% of the UK's income. The City by night is among the most stunning sights in London, a ghost town of towering skyscrapers and stunning ancient buildings, including St. Paul's Cathedral, the spiritual heart of Great Britain, and the Bank of England, which has regulated the finances of Britain from the same spot since 1694. Around the edges of the city are a few business hotels and stupendously expensive restaurants and bars, where the super-rich can blow their bonuses.

See our recommended nearby City Hotels, Entertainment, Sights and Attractions, Shopping, Restaurants, Pubs, Nightlife, Leisure, Education, and Meeting Venues.