Tate Britain

Lonely Planet review

You'd think that Tate Britain may have suffered since its lavish, sexy sibling, Tate Modern, took half its collection and all of the limelight up river when it opened in 2000, but on the contrary, things have worked out perfectly for both galleries. The venerable Tate Britain, built in 1897, stretched out splendidly into the increased space with its definitive collection of British art from the 16th to the late 20th centuries.

The permanent galleries are broadly chronological in order, and you can expect to see some of the most important works by artists such as Constable and Gainsborough - who have entire galleries devoted to them - and Hogarth, Reynolds, Stubbs, Blake and Moore, among others. Adjoining the main building is the Clore Gallery, which houses the superb JMW Turner, including the two recovered classics Shade and Darkness and Light and Colour which were nicked in 1994 and found nine years later.

Just before you thought that all the moderns and contemporaries were up at the Modern, Tate Britain's got work by Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, David Hockney and Howard Hodgkin, as well as Anthony Gormley and bad-girl Tracey Emin. Tate Britain also hosts the prestigious and often controversial Turner Prize of contemporary art from October to early December every year.

There are several free one-hour thematic tours each day, mostly on the hour (last tour at 15:00 ), along with free 15-minute talks on paintings, painters and styles at 13:15 Tuesday to Thursday in the Rotunda. Audio tours for the collection cost around £4 . The best way to see both Tates and have a fabulous art day is to get the boat that connects the two galleries. A good time to visit the Tate is for its Late at Tate nights on the first Friday of every month, when the gallery stays open until 22:00 .