At the heart of Bloomsbury and originally laid out in 1800 by Humphrey Repton, Russell Sq was dark and bushy until a striking facelift early in the new millennium pruned the trees, tidied up the plants and gave it a 10m-high fountain and lovely glassed-in cafe.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
20.82 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…
1.52 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…
1.5 MILES
One of London's most amazing attractions, Tate Modern is an outstanding modern- and contemporary-art gallery housed in the creatively revamped Bankside…
2.81 MILES
With its thunderous, animatronic dinosaur, riveting displays about planet earth, outstanding Darwin Centre and architecture straight from a Gothic fairy…
1.31 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…
2.35 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…
1.56 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…
0.19 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,…
Nearby The West End attractions
0.07 MILES
The Wiener Library was established by German Alfred Wiener in 1933 to document the rise of anti-Semitism in his home country, from which he had fled in…
0.08 MILES
Part of the University of London's School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), this gallery features permanent displays and exhibitions of art from…
0.19 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,…
0.25 MILES
Tavistock Sq, the 'square of peace', contains a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, a memorial to wartime conscientious objectors and a cherry tree recalling the…
0.25 MILES
Lovely Bedford Sq is the only completely Georgian square still surviving in Bloomsbury.
0.27 MILES
The centre of literary Bloomsbury was Gordon Sq, where some of the buildings are marked with blue plaques.
0.29 MILES
A large, constantly updated 1:2000-scale model of the capital highlights planned and new buildings, as well as various neighbourhood regeneration…
0.29 MILES
One of a half-dozen designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, this superbly restored church (1730) is distinguished by its classical portico of Corinthian capitals…