Palace of Westminster, London
London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. A city with an urban population of 8.2 million people and a metropolitan population of 12.3 million, London is the biggest city in the United Kingdom as well as in Western Europe.
London covers an area of 1,572 sq km (607 sq mi). It has a complicated administrative structure comprising 32 areas known as "boroughs", collectively known as Greater London, and a central core known as the City of London.
Royal Albert Hall, London
The City of London, popularly referred to as The City or The Square Mile, is a small area in Inner London. It should not be confused with Greater London as a whole. The City is the oldest part of London developed by the Romans as Londinium circa AD 121. Today the City of London is the main financial center of London. It has a high concentration of banks and financial institution, but in terms of population, not many people live here. Of the 500 largest companies in Europe, 100 have their headquarters in London, and a good percentage are based in the City of London.
There are two areas within Greater London with city status. Apart from the City of London, the other is the City of Westminster, located immediately to the west of The City. This is the location of the Palace of Westminster, the parliament of the United Kingdom, as well as major government offices and Buckingham Palace.
Of the 32 boroughs of Greater London, two are conferred "royal" status, namely the Royal Borough of Kensinton and Chelsea, and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. They are the two out of three boroughs with royal status in England.
Somerset House, London
Jan van der Crabben
The river Thames slices London into two parts, the north bank and the south bank, as it meanders eastwards into the Thames Estuary. The major part of London is located on the northern bank of the river.
London is served by three major international airports with the biggest, London Heathrow, being the world's busiest in terms of international passenger numbers. The city also has the oldest underground railway network, the London Underground, which is the second most extensive after Shanghai's.
The Shard London Bridge
Leaving for airports in LondonThere are numerous options when travelling to the airport including using the trains, catching a bus, coach or taxi or simply driving to the airport.
At Paddington rail station you can pick up the Heathrow Express train service which takes a maximum of twenty minutes to get to the airport. For Gatwick airport, the same service runs from Victoria rail station every fifteen minutes. For London City Airport, a shuttle bus transfer operates between Canary Wharf and Central London and is pre-bookable in advance.
Kings Cross Railway Station
Category of Sights in London