Victoria

The national collection of British art, housed in a neo-classical building on the Thames at Millbank. Five centuries of British painting in chronological galleries — from the Tudor portraits of Holbein through Stubbs, Constable, and the Pre-Raphaelites to Hockney, Bacon, and Freud. The Clore Gallery houses the Turner Bequest: the largest collection of Turner's work in the world, including the studies for Fighting Temeraire. Free entry to the permanent collection.

The mother church of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales, completed in 1903 in a striking Byzantine Revival style — red brick with white stone banding, a soaring interior of striped marble and golden mosaics, and the widest nave of any church in England. Eric Gill's Stations of the Cross panels are considered among the finest religious art produced in Britain in the 20th century. Free entry. The bell tower has a lift and costs under £10 for one of the better central London views.

The most beautiful of London's Royal Parks — a formal lake with pelicans, the Blue Bridge with its views toward Buckingham Palace, and mature plane trees creating a green corridor between Westminster and St James's Palace. The view from the middle of the Blue Bridge looking west (Buckingham Palace framed by trees) is one of the most photographed views in London for very good reason.

The development built over and around Victoria station (completed 2016) that significantly changed the neighbourhood's food options. A concentrated cluster of restaurants around Cardinal Place includes Aster (Modern European, consistently good), Bocconcino (Italian), and a range of options from serious dining to casual. The street food market operates weekdays for lunch and is the best accessible-pricing food option near the station.

The working headquarters of the British monarchy, a ten-minute walk west from Victoria station along Buckingham Palace Road. The State Rooms are open to visitors in summer (late July to September) — the Picture Gallery contains works by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Vermeer. The Victoria Memorial at the gate provides a better vantage point than the railings for the Changing of the Guard (11am, check the schedule).

A Scottish restaurant and jazz bar on Eccleston Street that has been a Victoria institution since 1989. The menu is built around Highland beef, game, Scottish salmon, and a whisky list of over 800 bottles — the largest in London by some margin. The basement jazz bar has live music most evenings. Eccentric, opulent, and entirely sure of itself.