Recently we shared the travel guide for designers visiting Berlin. Today’s post continues the series and offers you the must-visit places in London.

London belongs to the cities where the visuals present a real problem of choice, with a great variety of museums and galleries, markets and bookstores, cafes, parks, rooftops, and other incredible locations. Based on recommendations from the locals, we’ve prepared a list of places to be visited and seen by designers who are going to land up in the capital of Britain.

Brief intro about our London experts:

• Sergiy Voronov, Senior Product Designer for Bulb.co.uk, Co-founder of Projector London;
• Anna Ginzburg, Producer for Creative Work Studios and Central Saint Martins graduate;
• Max Shkinder, Lead Concept Designer for McLaren Automotive;
• Albina Cholak, Service Designer for Octopus Labs London.

The Design Museum

224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG

All four of London experts we asked have included The Design Museum into the recommendation list. Search for expositions of product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design, as well as a Designer Maker User which is a permanent exhibition displaying an interaction of three roles: Designer, Maker and User. Regular public meetings, workshops, courses or family events are very common there.

“Stunning architecture of the building itself is a must-visit place for all designers”, says Anna Ginzburg.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Just imagine, V&A has over 2.3 million art and design exhibits. You can get lost for a whole day. The museum features numerous national collections of Great Britain. There you can study the history of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewelry, glass, ceramics, weapons, book industry, Asian art and design, theater and performance.

Tate Modern

Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Tate Modern is a free museum to visit. It is located on the bank of the Thames in the building of the decommissioned Bankside power plant. On the 10th floor, there is an incredible terrace and a cafe overlooking the city center. After the museum, walk through the Millennium Bridge – yep, the one from the “Harry Potter” – directly to Saint Paul’s, the main and first cathedral in London.

“Most London museums are free. At the entrance, you can often see donation banks and mistake them for a place to buy tickets,” says Sergiy Voronov.

Saatchi Gallery

Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY

This one is the gallery with a minimalist interior and provocative modern art collection.

Serpentine Galleries

Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA

One of the most popular art spaces of contemporary art situated in the Kensington Gardens. It neighbors with Chucs Restaurant&Café designed by architect Zaha Hadid.

The Tate Modern Bookshop

Bankside, London SE1 9TG

The Tate Modern Bookshop is the home for catalogs of previous and current exhibitions of the Tate Modern museum, countless illustrated children books, and publications of the Tate Publishing, the London leader in visual arts area.

Artwords Bookshop

69 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3AY

Go straight away to the Artwords Bookshop if you’re searching for books on contemporary art and visual culture, object and graphics design, fashion, architecture, photography, painting and visual art theory.

Taschen Store London

12 Duke of York Square London, SW3 4LY

A small store selling books from the world-famous Taschen Publishing House.

Word on the Water Bookshop

Regent’s Canal Towpath, Kings Cross, London N1C 4LW

A lively bookshop on the water that not only sells books and magazines but also plays vinyl records.

Electric Cinema

191 Portobello Rd, Notting Hill, London W11 2ED

Electric Cinema is one of the oldest operating cinemas in Britain; its impressive interior with velour dark red sofas will impress you.

Rooftop Film Club London

Cinema hunters are highly recommended to explore London roofs. Rooftop Film Club hosts showings on various rooftops, but only in warm weather. So keep this advice till the warm season.

Sketch Bar / Restaurant

9 Conduit St, Mayfair, London W1S 2XG

The Sketch bar is the one to visit not just for a unique gastronomic experience but also to get a portion of pink inspiration. The interior was created by the designer India Mahdavi.

“The restaurant is a pink dream with the most Instagramish interior you can imagine, even in lavatories. Here you’ll be feasted with Michelin meals followed by a classic British afternoon tea” Albina Cholak says.

Green Bar at Hotel Cafe Royal

15 Glasshouse Street, London W1B 4DY

The Green Bar at Hotel Cafe Royal is a portal to the extravagant world of the late 19th-century era. A spectacular interior and a bar where you can check out cocktails made according to a traditional English formula.

Sans Père

15 Broadway Market, London E8 4PH

A cafe with dainty pastry, a shop and creative studio gathered under the roof of Sans Père. It is situated at the very center of the Shoreditch district. That is the place where visual ideas of Wes Anderson came true.

Hackney Flea Market

73A Stoke Newington Church St. London, N16 0AS

The Hackney Flea Market is a gathering place for passionate fans of a vintage decor. The market appeared spontaneously at Stoke Newington’s Church Street five years ago. Since then, Hackney Flea Market has grown to a monthly market at weekends. Now it’s the place to look for unique things. You can find everything from synthesizers to furniture, as well as get acquainted with young artists.

Brick Lane Market

91 Brick Ln, London E1 6QR

Filled with noise, color, and lifestyle, the Brick Lane is a vibrant blend of Indian curry, freshly baked bagels, Chinese flavors, and healthy sweets. It’s a real alternative food comparing to classic British burgers. There are also many independent music studios, small craft shops, hipe clubs and bars.

Columbia Flower Market

Columbia Rd, London E2 7RG

Every week there’s an explosion of a color at Columbia Flower Market. It’s better to come here in the morning since it becomes really crowded later.

Shoreditch

London N1 6BY

That’s a must-see for the fans of hipster districts. The Shoreditch is all about graffiti on every second building, dozens of cafes, shops and studios.

“There’s a great number of design spots! If you give up to them without control, you’ll probably get lost in that variety. The capital of Britain is awake 24/7, even at night the number of people outside doesn’t decrease” says Max Shkinder.

Barbican

Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS

Barbican is the biggest art center of its kind in Europe. If you come here, be sure you’ll get a concert of classical or contemporary music, or a theater performance, or a film showing or an art exhibition. The local library is also worth paying attention to.

Sky Garden

20 Fenchurch St, London EC3M 8AF

The lovers to combine nature and cocktail parties will like the Sky Garden, a glass dome garden with an incredible view of the city. Enjoy live music and light cocktails offered there.

Richmond Park

London TW10 5HS

Richmond Park is the place to hide from the city noise and dynamics. The royal park was founded by Charles I in the 17th century as a reindeer reserve and a flower garden of 40 acres. Deers got used to people and just walk among them.

Mandrake Hotel in Fitzrovia

20-21 Newman St, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1PG

A trendy, surrealistic hotel filled with art objects from furniture to bar glasses. It offers an interesting cocktail card and inspirational terrace.

Central Saint Martins

Granary Square, Kings Cross, London N1C 4AA

Central Saint Martins College is located in the square near the canal with English bars and fountains. You are also recommended to take a guest pass to the local library.

Trafalgar Square

School books do not tell about one of the columns in Trafalgar Square, where the exposition of contemporary sculpture is regularly refreshed.

Liberty Store

Regent St, Carnaby, London W1B 5AH

Old British department store made in the style of the Tudor times.

Neasden Temple

105-119 Brentfield Rd, London NW10 8LD

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is the first authentic Hindu temple in the UK with incredibly fascinating details of architecture.

Institute of Contemporary Arts

The Mall, St. James’s, London SW1Y 5AH

A modern cultural center where you can visit a gallery, theater, bookstore, and two cinema halls.

Greenwich Sunset

An excellent ending of the day in London is watching the sunset near the Royal Observatory (Prime Meridian) in Greenwich. Also, take a walk along the embankment with pubs and come round to the famous fish market. Be sure to visit Greenwich University, the one you could see in the Thor movie.

The original article was published on Telegraf Design

Read about the trend of getting back from freelance to office in the design sphere, check the design travel guide for Berlin visitors and review a list of free tools for graphic designers