Buckingham Palace

With so many imposing buildings in the capital, the Queen's well-proportioned but relatively plain city pad is an anticlimax for some. Built in 1803 for the Duke of Buckingham, Buckingham Palace replaced St James's Palace as the monarch's London home in 1837. When she's not off giving her one-handed wave in far-flung parts of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II divides her time between here, Windsor and Balmoral. If you've got the urge to drop in for a cup of tea, a handy way of telling whether she's home is to check whether the yellow, red and blue royal standard is flying.

Nineteen lavishly furnished State Rooms – hung with artworks by the likes of Rembrandt, van Dyck, Canaletto, Poussin and Vermeer – are open to visitors when HRH (Her Royal Highness) takes her holidays. The two-hour tour includes the Throne Room, with his-and-hers pink chairs initialled 'ER' and 'P'.

A Royal Day Out is a combined ticket including the State Rooms, Queen's Gallery and Royal Mews (adult/child £31/18).

If you're a fan of bright uniforms, bearskin hats, straight lines, marching and shouting, join the throngs outside the palace at 11.30am (daily from May to July and on alternate days for the rest of the year, weather permitting), when the regiment of guards outside the palace changes over in one of the world's most famous displays of pageantry. It does have a certain freak show value but gets dull very quickly. If you're here in November, the procession leaving the palace for the State Opening of Parliament is much more impressive.

Originally designed by John Nash as a conservatory, it was smashed up by the Luftwaffe in 1940 before being converted to a gallery in 1962, housing works from the extensive Royal Collection.

Indulge your Cinderella fantasies while inspecting the exquisite state coaches and immaculately groomed royal horses housed in the Royal Mews. Highlights include the 1910 royal wedding's Glass Coach and the 1762 Gold Coach, which has been used for every coronation since that of George IV. We're pretty sure that these aren't about to change back into pumpkins any time soon.