St Katharine Docks

East London

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Sitting in the shadow of Tower Bridge, this once-booming part of London's Docklands was built in 1828 by engineer-extraordinaire Thomas Telford. To make way for it, 1250 'insanitary' houses were razed and 11,300 people made homeless. The dock was badly bombed during WWII and was finally abandoned altogether in 1968. Its current incarnation, as a marina for luxury yachts, surrounded by cafes, restaurants and twee shops, dates from the 1980s.

It's the perfect starting point for a stroll along the Thames Path to Wapping and Limehouse.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • The Long Walk, the pathway leading to Windsor Castle is 2 1/2 miles long.

    Windsor Castle

    23.07 MILES

    The world’s largest and oldest continuously occupied fortress, Windsor Castle is a majestic vision of battlements and towers. Used for state occasions, it…

  • Westminster Abbey.

    Westminster Abbey

    2.47 MILES

    A splendid mixture of architectural styles, Westminster Abbey is considered the finest example of Early English Gothic. It's not merely a beautiful place…

  • Tate Modern museum on the southern bank of the River Thames.

    Tate Modern

    1.21 MILES

    One of London's most amazing attractions, Tate Modern is an outstanding modern- and contemporary-art gallery housed in the creatively revamped Bankside…

  • London Natural History Museum

    Natural History Museum

    4.6 MILES

    With its thunderous, animatronic dinosaur, riveting displays about planet earth, outstanding Darwin Centre and architecture straight from a Gothic fairy…

  • St. pauls cathedral with red double decker bus in London, United Kingdom

    St Paul's Cathedral

    1.25 MILES

    Sir Christopher Wren’s 300-year-old architectural masterpiece is a London icon. Towering over diminutive Ludgate Hill in a superb position that's been a…

  • The Tower of London

    Tower of London

    0.21 MILES

    Few parts of the UK are as steeped in history or as impregnated with legend and superstition as the titanic stonework of the Tower of London. Not only is…

  • Dusk view of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the banks of the River Thames in London

    Shakespeare's Globe

    1.11 MILES

    Seeing a play at Shakespeare's Globe – ideally standing under the open-air "wooden O" – is experiencing the playwright's work at its best and most…

  • Great Court, British Museum, Bloomsbury, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

    British Museum

    2.53 MILES

    With almost six million visitors trooping through its doors annually, the British Museum in Bloomsbury, one of the oldest and finest museums in the world,…

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Nearby East London attractions

1. Tower Bridge Exhibition

0.15 MILES

The inner workings of Tower Bridge can't compare with its exterior magnificence, but this geeky exhibition tries to bridge that gap with details of the…

2. Tower Bridge

0.18 MILES

It doesn't matter from where you first glimpse Tower Bridge, with two neo-Gothic towers rising gracefully from either side of the Thames: London's…

3. Tower of London

0.21 MILES

Few parts of the UK are as steeped in history or as impregnated with legend and superstition as the titanic stonework of the Tower of London. Not only is…

4. Trinity Square Gardens

0.33 MILES

This pleasant little park was the site of the Tower Hill scaffold, where a confirmed 125 people met their fate, including St Thomas More, St John Fisher…

5. City Hall

0.36 MILES

Home to the Mayor of London, the bulbous glass-clad City Hall was designed by Foster and Partners and opened in 2002. Visitor access is limited to the…

6. All Hallows by the Tower

0.37 MILES

The oldest church in the City, All Hallows has been a place of worship since 675 CE. It was spared in the Great Fire, but much of today's building is from…

7. St Olave's

0.43 MILES

St Olave’s was built in the mid-15th century and is one of the few churches to have survived the Great Fire. However, it was badly damaged by a bomb in…

8. HMS Belfast

0.44 MILES

HMS Belfast is a magnet for kids of all ages. This large, light cruiser – launched in 1938 – served in WWII, helping to sink the Nazi battleship Sand…