Two days in central London with friends (book these bits first)

Somebody in the group has to take charge of booking. The Barbican Conservatory releases its free tickets a month out, the good Mayfair tables go days ahead, and six seats together for a West End show won't just turn up. Once that's sorted, the two days below mix the grand with the slightly odd.

Day one: the Wallace Collection and Mayfair

Start in Manchester Square, behind Selfridges, at the Wallace Collection. It's free, rarely busy before lunch, and the rooms are as much of a draw as the paintings: Fragonard's The Swing, Frans Hals's Laughing Cavalier, and more armour than you'd ever expect in a townhouse. An hour and a half is plenty for a group that isn't up for a museum marathon.

Walk south through Marylebone into Mayfair. Scott's on Mount Street is the classic group booking, with seafood, oysters, a proper crowd to watch and a terrace in summer. It's expensive and it knows it, so book well ahead for a Friday or Saturday. Murano on Queen Street, Angela Hartnett's Italian-leaning dining room, is calmer, and its lunch menu suits a long, unhurried table. Afterwards the Mount Street boutiques (Christian Louboutin among them) are good for window shopping, and the Royal Arcade off Old Bond Street is worth the small detour for its Victorian shopfronts.

Day two: the Barbican, the City and Waterloo

The Barbican Conservatory is a tropical glasshouse wrapped round the arts centre's fly tower, all palms, ferns and fish ponds, and nothing like the concrete estate outside. It's free, but it only opens on selected days, with timed tickets released online a month ahead from 9.30am. Without a ticket, get on the waiting list and keep checking the Barbican's site, because turning up on spec doesn't work.

From there, walk south-east to Bank. The Royal Exchange's covered courtyard is now the Fortnum's Bar and Restaurant, a good place for a glass of something, and five minutes away is Leadenhall Market, whose painted Victorian roof anyone who's seen the first Harry Potter film will recognise. Go on a weekday. The market's liveliest at City lunchtimes and after work, when the pubs spill onto the cobbles, and some of the shops and bars shut at weekends.

Then take the Northern or Waterloo & City line to Waterloo and find Leake Street, a road tunnel under the station where graffiti is legal and the walls get repainted constantly. It's a ten-minute walk through, with bars and places to eat in the arches either side, and if anyone fancies adding a tag, the etiquette is to paint the walls rather than someone else's work in progress. From there it's a short stroll along the South Bank to the Southbank Centre and the National Theatre, where on a weekday evening the riverside terraces are the easiest spot round here to find a table for a group without booking. Borough Market is a bit further east if anyone wants lunch, but it's closed on Mondays.

A show on the second night

Book a show for the second evening. On the Theatre Tickets Direct feed this September, the cheapest seats for The Book of Mormon, Matilda and Les Misérables started in the mid-twenties, with Hamilton nearer fifty pounds. Six together in the stalls will cost several times that, so book early for weekend performances. If you're staying in Mayfair or Marylebone, the London Palladium and Wigmore Hall are both within easy walking distance, and a three- or four-bedroom serviced apartment keeps a group of six or eight under one roof, with a shared sitting room for going over the show at midnight.

Food hygiene ratings for the places in this guide

Official fact Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, checked 23 September 2026. 5 is the top rating.

Name	Registered address	Rating	Inspected
Murano	20-22 Queen Street, W1J 5PR	5	Mar 2024
The Fortnum's Bar and Restaurant at The Royal Exchange	The Courtyard, Royal Exchange, EC3V 3LQ	5	Aug 2025

Ratings cover hygiene only, not food quality. Matched by name and address; a venue not shown was not found or could not be matched with confidence.

London weather by month

July is the warmest month, averaging 23°C by day. July has the fewest wet days (9) and October the most rain (80 mm). For sightseeing on foot, June scores best on our combined warmth-and-dryness measure.

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Rain	Wet days	Chance a 7-day stay sees a washout	Record high / low
January	8°C	2°C	74 mm	13	53%	16°C / -12°C
February	8°C	2°C	51 mm	10	43%	18°C / -8°C
March	11°C	4°C	45 mm	9	44%	23°C / -7°C
April	14°C	5°C	54 mm	10	44%	26°C / -3°C
May	17°C	8°C	54 mm	9	39%	30°C / -1°C
June	20°C	11°C	58 mm	9	35%	34°C / 2°C
July	23°C	13°C	52 mm	9	34%	34°C / 4°C
August	22°C	13°C	68 mm	9	37%	37°C / 4°C
September	19°C	11°C	62 mm	9	39%	29°C / 2°C
October	15°C	8°C	80 mm	11	47%	27°C / -2°C
November	11°C	5°C	76 mm	12	52%	18°C / -6°C
December	8°C	2°C	69 mm	12	50%	16°C / -8°C

Calculated NOAA GHCN-Daily observations at the Hampstead weather station, north London (records 1960–2015; averages from about 25 years per month). A wet day has 1 mm of rain or more.