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London is often described as a collection of distinct urban villages rather than a single sprawling metropolis, due to the way it developed over time. Discover each neighbourhood's unique character and charm.
South Kensington Three of the world's great museums, a concert hall and a science university, all bought with the profits of one exhibition.
Exhibition Road, the museums either side. Photo by mattbuck ( category ), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Kynance Mews, off Gloucester Road. An entire quarter built out of a single event. The Great Exhibition of 1851 made a profit of £186,000, and Prince Albert persuaded the commissioners to spend it on 87 acres of market gardens south of Hyde Park, to be filled with institutions for art and science. The nickname for what they built was Albertopolis, and most of it is still doing the job it was made for.
The Victoria and Albert Museum holds the national collection of art and design, from Raphael's cartoons to Alexander McQueen's dresses. The Natural History Museum, in Waterhouse's terracotta cathedral of 1881, has the blue whale hanging in the main hall. The Science Museum has the machines, including Stephenson's Rocket and the Apollo 10 command module. All three are free, and between them they take over ten million visits a year. The Royal Albert Hall, opened in 1871, holds the Proms every summer; Imperial College and the Royal College of Music are next door.
The Victorians even built a tunnel so that nobody had to cross the road: the subway from the station still runs most of the way to the museums.
Above ground it is also, unexpectedly, French. The lycée and the French Institute are here, and the cafes along Bute Street sell croissants to a queue of people speaking French, which has earned the district the nickname of Paris's twenty-first arrondissement.
Open everything What's On What’s On 37 American Photographs Until 16 May 2027 How photography made America, from the V&A's own collection. Astronights Sleep under the rockets: the Science Museum's sleepover for seven-to-elevens. BBC Proms Until 13 Sept Eight weeks of orchestral concerts, and standing tickets for the price of a pint. Becoming America: How Science Shaped a Nation From 23 Oct A 1776 print of the Declaration, George III's microscope, and the science behind a new nation. Beethoven's Ninth 19 Sept The Choral Symphony, in the hall built for choirs this size. Bharti Kher at the V&A Until 24 Jan 2027 Sari-fabric, resin and bronze figures set among the V&A's historic sculpture. Bubble Explorers Until 8 Nov A family show about bubbles, which is more science than it sounds. Classical Coffee Mornings From 20 Sept Chamber music at eleven on a Sunday in the Elgar Room, with a coffee and a pastry in the price. Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires From 7 Nov Sixteen hundred years of one city, Byzantine and Ottoman, in the V&A's first show on it. Digital Design Weekend 2026 18–20 Sept Thirty installations, live coding and arcade games across the V&A, free, first come first served. Dimensions: Contemporary Chinese Studio Crafts Until 26 Sept 2027 How Chinese makers turned craft into art from the 1980s onward. Freddie Mercury | Splendid Things From 24 Oct A free display of what Freddie Mercury kept, from the Garden Lodge sale. Free daily tours of the V&A Volunteer-led introductions to the collection, several times a day, no booking. Golden Threads: Dress from Saudi Arabia Until 30 May 2027 Gold-threaded thobes that King Abdulaziz gave to an ambassador's daughter in the 1940s. Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep Until 3 Jan 2027 Pliosaurs, ichthyosaurs and the mosasaur, and you get to touch a fossil poo. Lasting Impressions: Women Printmakers 1900 – Now Until 27 Sept Kollwitz, Faith Ringgold, Laura Knight and the Guerrilla Girls, in prints. Lost Music Venues Until 30 Oct 2027 Fifty vanished gig venues from the 1980s to the 2010s, in flyers, posters and merch. Messiah from Scratch 8 Nov You bring a score and sing it yourself, in the Albert Hall, having rehearsed that afternoon. Orchestral Qawwali Project 24 Oct Sufi devotional singing scored for a western orchestra. Power Up evening sessions From 17 Sept A hundred and sixty consoles, no children, and the games the daytime cannot show. Rishab Rikhiram Sharma: Sitar for Mental Health 1 Oct Ravi Shankar's last student, playing the hall he filled twice over. Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific Until 10 Jan 2027 Forty artists from the Asia Pacific, in a partnership with Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at eighty 23 Sept The orchestra Beecham founded in 1946, marking eighty years. Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art Until 8 Nov The Skeleton Dress, the Tears Dress, and a century of Schiaparelli in one room. Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience Forty minutes in virtual reality among galaxies, black holes and supernovas. Solemn Latin Mass with the Oratory choir From 13 Sept Renaissance polyphony sung every Sunday at eleven by a professional choir, and you walk in. Sun Artists: A Serial of Artistic Photography Until 9 May 2027 The eight issues of an 1889 journal that argued photography was art. The Natural History Museum's permanent galleries A blue whale overhead, a roaring T. rex, and an earthquake you can stand in. The Planets 19 Sept Holst's Planets in the round hall it suits, on a Saturday afternoon. The Science Museum's permanent galleries Watt's workshop, the Apollo 10 capsule and a V-2 rocket, free on seven floors. The V&A's permanent galleries Seven miles of galleries, from Trajan's Column in plaster to the first iPhone. Urushi Now: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer Until 30 Apr 2027 A 7,000-year-old Japanese craft, as practised by artists working now. V&A Illustration Awards 2026 Until 4 Oct The year's best illustration, from picture books to advertising, free for a month. V&A x LDF: Awakenings Until 18 Oct The V&A's London Design Festival installations, scattered through the galleries. Visions of Nature A mixed-reality headset trip a hundred years into a hopeful future. Wildlife Photographer of the Year From 16 Oct A hundred new photographs of the natural world, in a darkened, contemplative hang. and 6 later in the year, on What’s On Things to do Museums 6 Baden-Powell House Exhibition History of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting. Natural History Museum A cathedral of terracotta animals with a blue whale diving through the nave, free, and the finest building in South Kensington. Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum Contributions of the Polish Armed Forces in the West in World War II. RCM Museum of Music Musical instruments, art, documents and accessories, part of the Royal College of Music. Science Museum Watt's workshop, the Apollo 10 capsule and a hall of steam engines, in the museum that grew out of the Great Exhibition. Victoria and Albert Museum The world's largest museum of art and design: 2.8 million objects, 145 galleries, and the Cast Courts with Trajan's Column in two halves. Art 2 Performance venues 2 Shopping 2 Food & drink Coffee 2 Bakeries 1 Desserts & Gelato 4 Breakfast & Brunch 1 Food Markets 1 Themes Royal London 1 Sacred London 1 Architecture 2 Monuments & Ruins 1 Science & Engineering 3 Literary London 2 The World in London 1