6 Days. 4* LONDON - Thistle Trafalgar Leicester Square (BB)

Of all the European capitals, London resonates most profoundly in the minds of travellers. We soak up London before we even realise it exists and when we finally approach the city, it doesn't let us down. There are the red double-deckers, the bobbies and stoic guards at Buckingham, Westminster Abbey, and the chimes of Big Ben, sounding familiar, as we've heard them before. We see these things with a sense of satisfaction. Yet there's plenty to surprise. London isn't quaint. London isn't a museum, though you could spend all your time hopping from one to the next. It's a bustling, urban sprawl, with traffic jams, shops, and a remarkable international population. Visit the many monuments with nearly a millennium's worth of history, from Chaucer's grave to the pub where the captain of the Mayflower had a pint to Piccadilly Circus, one of London’s most snapped sights. But don’t overlook modern London, with its intensely active theatres, international cuisine, political protests, the latest in music and fashion, punks and peers, and everyone in between. In 1777, writer Samuel Johnson said when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, and the phrase still rings true. There's something different to experience every day in London.