Ed Cunningham

Europe might be home to 44 countries, 34 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and seven Wonders of the World – but the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen here could be something totally unknown. That’s the thing about beauty: it’s personal. So rather than list 35 of the most famous sights on the continent, we instead every year ask our network of editors and travel writers to name us the most beautiful thing they’ve seen on their European travels.  The result? Beautiful places that come with a story. Like taking boats out on Germany’s hidden lakes, and tucking into picnics in the park in Portugal at sunset. Holidays spent exploring vast sand dunes in France, afternoons wandering through Art Nouveau streets in Latvia and childhood tales of clambering over jagged stones in Ireland. And that’s just a few of the memories you’ll find on this list, which stretches from Iceland all the way to Greece, from solitary islands to well-trodden walking routes. Here are the most beautiful places in Europe, according to us.  ➡️ READ MORE: The most underrated destinations in Europe Updated April 2026: We’ve just added North Macedonia’s most enchanting Lake, a frozen-in-time Bosnian village and Italy’s answer to Turkey’s Pamukkale hot springs to our list – plus many more beautiful tales.    Ella Doyle is Time Out’s Europe editor. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links

Need a fun restaurant for your birthday dinner, or a classy dining spot for a celebration? In London, you've loads of great options to dine in style, no matter if you're a party of two or 20. Here's our pick of the best restaurants in London where you can dine in a larger group. It's all here: spaces big, small, cheap and fancy. Now let the planning commence.  RECOMMENDED: The most romantic restaurants in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.  

April 2026: There's a brand new Number 1, with Holy Carrot's Spitalfields opening taking the top spot thanks to some seriously creative vegetarian cookery. Other fresh additions include Guirong Wei’s latest joint The Wei in Fulham, Cafe Kowloon in London Fields, the new Forza Wine and super fun Osteria Vibrato and new branch of YeYe's Noodle & Dumpling (all three in Soho), numbing Chongqing spice at Jiāonest in Hoxton, perfect produce at Dockley Road Kitchen in Bermondsey, perfect pasta at Burro in Covent Garden, Georgian classics at DakaDaka in Mayfair, veggie-friendly Thai at Kruk in Peckham and Mexican seafood at Cometa in Fitzrovia. Hungry yet? Every week, a frankly silly amount of brilliant new restaurants, cafés and street food joints arrive in London. Which makes whittling down a shortlist of the best newbies a serious challenge. But here it is. The 20 very best new restaurants in the capital, ranked in order of greatness and deliciousness. All of them have opened over the past 12 months and been visited by our hungry critics. So go forth and take inspo from this list, which is updated regularly. Check in often to find out what we really rate on the London restaurant scene. And look here for all the info about the best new openings in April 2026. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍝 Central: Osteria Vibrato, Soho 🍠 North: Ling Ling’s, Islington 🇹🇭 South: Kruk, Peckham 🍝 East: Holy Carrot, Spitalfields 🥗 West: The Wei, Fulham Leonie Cooper is Time Out Lo

If you’re dreaming of finding sand in your shoes after a long day out and queuing too long for ice cream, then you could do a lot worse than venturing out of the city and planning a trip to one of the UK’s seemingly endless coastal towns. This is an island nation, after all, which means it’s packed with rugged cliffs and windswept headlands as well as quaint fishing villages and shoreline surf spots. We might not have the sunkissed weather of our European neighbours, but when it comes to costal charm, the UK ticks a hell of a lot of boxes. Planning a trip to the seaside? Check out our list of the best coastal towns in the country, from Scotland to Cornwall.   Which UK seaside towns get the best weather?  If you’re chasing sunshine, you’re probably going to want to go south. Brighton, Margate, St Ives, Salcombe and Falmouth can clock some serious sun hours in the right season – but we can’t make any promises, so be sure to pack a raincoat to be on the safe side.  Where are the best beaches in the UK? If beach walks and swimming in the sea is what you’re after, look no further than our list of the best beaches in the UK. From the list below, we’d recommend Brighton if you’re more of a pebble person. Head to Nefyn for natural beauty and extreme quiet. Try North Berwick if you want sand between your toes and can stomach chillier waters. And for higher temperatures, head to East Portlemouth beach and stay in Salcombe.  RECOMMENDED:🌊The best outdoor swimmming pools in the UK🏖️T

Another year, another stellar lineup of UK music festivals. Sure, Glastonbury – the UK’s tentpole music event, no pun intended – is taking a fallow year, but other lineups are more than making up for Worthy Farm’s absence. Established musical feasts (Reading and Leeds, Latitude) will return amid tantalising new blockbuster additions (Roundhay Festival), alongside the usual more specialised genre and scene events (Supersonic, AVA, FOCUS). While it might seem a little early (and a tad chilly) for planning a sun-glazed weekend of outdoors live music, these days the UK festival season lasts beyond the summer months. The festival calendar is pretty much a year-round affair, with events taking place not just in fields or parks but in venues across cities, from early spring all the way through to late November. Already confirmed for 2026 are several lineups that’ll have the heads drooling at the mouth. Reading and Leeds has Charli XCX, Chase & Status, Dave, Florence + the Machine, Fontaines D.C and Raye. Download has Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and Guns N Roses. London’s Victoria Park, across All Points East and LIDO, will host Tyler, the Creator, Deftones, Lorde, CMAT and Maribou State. Looking beyond the major fests, the lineups get even better. The 15th anniversary of Outbreak in Manchester has Alexisonfire and Basement topping the bill; Mighty Hoopla has scooped a headline performance from Lily Allen (performing West End Girl in full); FOCUS Wales will boast Fat Dog, Idlewild and S

Updated for 2026: Whatever you think of Netflix’s theatrical strategy, it continues to produce some of television’s most formally daring works, including Adolescence, a hard-to-watch but impossible to ignore limited series about an unimaginable crime. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s HBO’s hilariously profane The Righteous Gemstones, which stuck the landing in 2025 with its final season. In addition, we have moved Andor into the top 20 after its astounding second and final season.  Television used to be considered one of the lowest forms of entertainment. It was derided as ‘the idiot box’ and ‘the boob tube’. Edward R Murrow referred to it as ‘the opiate of the masses’, and the phrase ‘I don’t even own a TV’ was considered a major bragging right.  A lot has changed. Television is now the dominant medium in basically all of entertainment. The shift in perception is widely credited to the arrival of The Sopranos, which completely reinvented the notion of what a TV show could do. But that doesn’t mean everything that came before is primordial slurry. While this list of the greatest TV shows ever is dominated by 21st century programs, from The Wire to Succession to Adolescence, there are many shows that deserve credit for laying the groundwork for this current golden age.  Chiseling them down to a neat top 100 is difficult, so we elected to leave off talk shows, variety shows and sketch comedy, focusing on scripted, episodic dramas, comedies and miniseries. So don’t touc

April 2026: We've updated our roasts list to reflect the return of sunnier days. Try the Macbeth in Hoxton, which offers a great Portuguese-style Sunday sesh, and the ravishing Jamaican-inspired roast at Buster Mantis in Deptford. There are a couple of posh restaurants in the mix too, with a Nordic roast at the plush Ekstedt at the Yard near Westminster, and a serious meat feast at Quality Chop House in Clerkenwell. We also have a new Number 1 to welcome spring in; the bright and breezy offering at the super fancy-feeling Sessions Arts Club in Clerkenwell.  London’s best Sunday roasts at a glance: 🥩 Central: Sessions Arts Club, Clerkenwell 😇 North: The Angel, Highgate ⛪ South: Old Nun’s Head, Nunhead 🌈 East: The Nelson’s, Hackney 🍻 West: The Mall Tavern, Notting Hill Sunday lunch. There’s nothing quite like it. An elemental meal, one that Londoners take incredibly seriously. Debates about what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Sunday roast have been known to last for hours. There is no shortage of top roasts and Sunday lunch options in London. We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of pubs, restaurants and breweries all around town. What makes a good roast? For us, it’s simple; a welcoming room is a good start, maybe in a pub with an open fire during the winter months. Then it comes to the plate – we need perfect roast potatoes, well-cooked lamb, beef or pork and a decent plant-based option too. A Sunday roast is more than just lunch - it’s self-care. From s

London is full of perfect pizza. The finest of fast foods, this delicious staple has been elevated far beyond its humble roots by great Italian restaurants in London, pop-ups, street food vendors and pub residencies, and we know just where to find these world-class wonders, because we’ve been eating our way across London in order to discover the best. Whether it’s delivered in a cardboard box or served in a swish restaurant, excellent pizza is hard to beat. Browse our list of the best pizza places in town and try not to drool on your screen. Recent additions to the list include some nifty kitchen residencies; Dough Hands at the Spurstowe Arms and (from May 7) All My Friends in Hackney Wick, Hot Saint at the Old Queen’s Head in Angel, Little Earthquakes at the Railway Tavern in Dalston, and Short Road Pizza at the William The Fourth in Leyton and Three Colts in Bethnal Green. You can find Ace Pizza at the Pembury Tavern in Hackney Downs, but they have also opened their first standalone parlour in Victoria Park. Try also; Spring Street Pizza in Borough for pie with a Michelin-starred chefs touch, Carmela’s on Upper Street for a cosy slice and Vincenzo’s in Shoreditch for no-flop pizza. RECOMMENDED: The finest fish and chips in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

London’s South Asian food scene is a mosaic of flavours showcasing the culinary traditions of everywhere from India and Pakistan to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Rather than one unified cuisine, it reflects the complex cultural tapestry that has evolved through centuries of migration, trade, and gastronomic exchange across the subcontinent. For the diaspora, food goes beyond sustenance; it’s an expression of identity, memory, and community.  London’s best Indian and South Asian restaurants at a glance: 🇱🇰 Best for Sri Lankan food: Rambutan, Borough Market 🍛 Best for a quick curry: Tamila, Kings Cross ⭐ Best for a Michelin star meal: Trishna, Marylebone 🍚 Best for a street-food snack: Shree Krishna Vada Pav, Fitzrovia and various 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Best for a family feast: Kokum, East Dulwich Rooted in philosophical teachings, including the mindful and balancing principles of Ayurveda, South Asian food in London emphasises reverence for natural ingredients and the simple joy of eating. From masala-rich Pakistani karahis and delicate vegetarian Gujarati thalis, to the spicy thrum of Bangladeshi bhortha, this list spans the diversity of the cuisine in the city. Whether it’s fine dining, street food at a community centre, trailblazing female chefs, or a family-run canteen, these establishments are love letters to their heritage, connecting Londoners through the warmth of South Asian hospitality, shared flavours and stories.  RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London. Sh

Vinyl is back, baby. After decades in the dumps, records are now even more popular than CDs and are officially the best-selling of all physical music form. Suddenly your parents’ dusty Fleetwood Mac collection in the attic is looking a bit cooler, eh? London is one of the world’s best cities for crate-digging. Driven by stuff like dazzling vinyl-only editions and massive events like Record Store Day, this city’s independent record shops are thriving. Where, in the past, you’d have to head to Camden, Brixton, and Soho for your vinyl fix, these days, stores are flourishing all over the capital. Whatever your music taste, from reggae and hardcore to new wave and hip-hop, there’s a London record shop for you. Here are 30 of our absolute favourites. Get thumbin’ through those discs! RECOMMENDED:🛍️ The best markets in London.🎤 The best music festivals in London.👩‍🎤 The best London songs.🎸 The best shows and live gigs this month.

A red sandstone amphitheatre. An ancient woodland on the English coast. A teeny tiny island with a black sand beach. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes – luckily, the world isn’t held to the same rigid beauty standards as humans are – and we’ve curated this list to celebrate that.  It goes without saying that Time Out’s ranking of the world’s most beautiful places is entirely subjective and by no means exhaustive, but what we can guarantee is real-life experience. Every single beach, lake, city and valley on this list has been visited and vetted by our globetrotting network of travel writers. In short, they’re all well worth making the journey to see for yourself (no social media fakery here).We update this list regularly, ensuring we’re including the big-hitters while considering the impact of overtourism and spotlighting lesser-known beauty spots. So here it is: Time Out’s guide to the most beautiful places on planet Earth. Happy travels!Updated March 2026: There are seven new additions to the list this year, including a terracotta-coloured Old Town in Italy, an opulent Renaissance-style library in New York and a compact mountain range in northern Spain.Grace Beard is Time Out’s travel editor, based in London. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. RECOMMENDED:⛰️ The most beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Sites🗺 The most underrated travel destinations i

It will come as no surprise that Amsterdam is overrun with exceptional places to stay. And we mean every kind: 18th-century canalside mansions, converted bridge keepers’ houses, luxury historic hotels that have hosted royal weddings – the lot. But that isn’t to say that every stay here will blow the budget – there are plenty of affordable options in Amsterdam too, if you know where to look. On our list, we’ve made sure to include a bit of everything, all individually reviewed and rated by Time Out’s very own travel experts. Read on for five-star luxury, budget boutiques and everything in between. And for 2026, one hotel sits firmly at the top of the list: Rosewood Amsterdam, a spectacular new canalside stay that’s quickly become the city’s most talked-about address. What is the best neighbourhood to stay in Amsterdam?  There isn’t necessarily one answer to this, as each of Amsterdam’s districts offers something totally unique. If it’s your first time in the city, Centrum is best to access touristy experiences. For something more off-grid (and often more affordable), you’re best off catching the free ferry to Noord, Amsterdam’s creative warehouse district. But for a reliable all-rounder? We love hipster haven Oost, where you’ll find many of the city’s coolest bars, restaurants and hotels. For more, check out our full area guide.  🏘️ Looking for even more options? Check out our guide to Amsterdam’s best Airbnbs Amsterdam’s best hotels at a glance 👑 Best overall: Rosewood Hot

The Culpeper (the pub) is among east London’s most gorgeous boozers. Tall ceilings, vast windows onto Commercial Street, an extraordinary wraparound bar and – in the warmer months – one of the city’s great rooftops. The highest praise one can heap upon the Culpeper’s boutique hotel, therefore, is that it is a more than worthy accompaniment to its downstairs boozer. The Culpeper’s boutique hotel is neatly slotted into a four-floor Victorian pub that opened under its current name in 2014. The five rooms are all on the second floor – to regular pub-goers, that’s two floors above the pub, one above the restaurant and one below the rooftop. The restaurant’s ethos and décor continues to its rooms, which are shabby-chic in a very design-led, sustainable, waste-free sort of way. Even after being open for a decade, there’s an endearing familiarity to arriving at the Culpeper. You wander through an exceedingly pretty pub, pick up your keys at the restaurant’s booking desk, climb steep creaky stairs and head down a winding corridor to the rooms. What are the rooms like at The Culpeper? Like all great boutique hotels, staying at The Culpeper is like having discovered a secret, like being somewhere you shouldn’t really be – in this case, delightful rooms hidden away in a pub in prime E1. As downstairs, the room décor is shabby-chic with washed walls and ceilings, rugged furnishings and doors of various pleasing squeaks. The harsher features – a chunk of oak for a headboard, another hunk a

It’s alright to break the rules sometimes – especially if you’ve made them up yourself. Have that fourth pint on a weeknight. Nip to the 24-hour bagel shop for a post-dinner snack. You won’t get ill from oysters this time. Because, sometimes, very special things come from such rebellion: a miraculous non-hangover, a quiet joy, or one-of-a-kind deliciousness. In a decade of vegetarianism, I’ve been to few places better Depending on your degree of plant-based militancy, Holy Carrot’s second restaurant either vaguely bends its own rules or totally upends them. At the original outpost in Portobello, head chef Daniel Watkins’s live fire cooking and ferment laboratory established Holy Carrot as one of London’s great pioneers of vegan cuisine. But this new outpost in Spitalfields is not vegan, with all manner of dairy- and/or egg-based wonders across the menu. I previously reckoned that the first Holy Carrot was ‘[not] out to blow your mind’. Well, the second very much is. Their ‘sexy’ tofu – two mighty chunks loaded with a raucous display of Watkins’ fermenting chops (pickled carrot, onion and more) – shone in a blaze of fried orange and golden yellow. Each bite – thick with crunch but juicily tender inside – was accompanied by an eye-widening flash of sweet pickle and creamy smoked carrot XO. Burrata was my first experience of non-vegan Holy Carrot, and made for a similarly vivid sequence of textures and flavours: a plump dollop with a delicately brittle lemongrass pineapple hair

Sketch. You know it. That one from Instagram. Space pod loos. Loud art on the walls. Sort of like eating in an immersive theatre experience. But the Conduit Street institution is more than just a place for selfies and soundtracked bowel movements. Over two decades after opening it’s still very much a serious restaurant – and one that’s just had a redesign. An iconic dining destination In January 2026 Sketch revealed the first major rehang of its main Gallery restaurant since 2022, with Yinka Shonibare’s masks and quilts replaced by Jonathan Baldock’s faces and cocoons. The Gallery remains sunshine yellow, with its gorgeous domed skylight, though woven cocoons now curl down from the ceiling and 84 clay masks line the walls. The loos, you’ll be glad to hear, are the same: 2001-esque egg cubicles with ambient music and convex mirrors. Plenty might go somewhere like this with a certain wariness. Nice art doesn’t necessarily mean decent food, service and value for money. But Sketch is more than just a pretty face. In the Gallery, the menu is of the modern European variety, though with plenty of Asian touches and – in a way that fits the surroundings – a pleasing penchant for bright colours and presentational flair. All of which was clear from the off. We opened with the lily sing salad; creamy miso mayonnaise spun over avocado, tofu, mango, tomatoes, pomegranates and freeze-dried raspberries. Rather than just a garish splurge of colour on balmy yellow crockery, it was a mastercla

Soho, Marylebone and Mayfair – these are not London neighbourhoods that are in short supply of luxury. A hotel that sits at the intersection of all three, therefore, might be expected to be very glamourous indeed. And that the BoTree certainly is, though in a very modern and unstuffy sense, having only opened in 2023. Those familiar with this particular link between Oxford and Wigmore Streets might recognise the BoTree’s address from its previous life as home to the brutalist, geometrically-dazzling Welbeck Street car park. These days it doesn’t really resemble that structure, the eye-catching multi-storey replaced with a shiny grey-ish block – though latticed decoration on the corner does ever-so-slightly hint at the site’s previous life. Approaching the BoTree from Oxford Street, it’s miraculous – and a bit eerie – how the atmosphere shifts so quickly from the hectic stress of Europe’s longest shopping street to sleek, calm, palpably wealthy Marylebone. By the time you’ve stepped into the lobby, the blaring pedicabs, roaring buses and general hubbub of the West End are nowhere to be seen or heard. Why stay at The BoTree? The BoTree’s standout feature is its location, no contest. The primest of prime West End, stumble out of Bond Street station and you’re here – practically all of Soho and Marylebone is within walking distance, and the rest of the city is just a tube away. What are the rooms like at The BoTree? My room was the BoTree Suite, a seventh-floor space wrapping aro

art'otel and Hoxton: on paper, at least, a match made in heaven. Famously arty hotel chain meets famously arty London neighbourhood (well, if you lump Hoxton in with Shoreditch, which is fine by us). The address has arty history, too: the hotel occupies a site formerly home to the legendary Foundry, an ale bar and arts venue once described as ‘crucible of the Britart movement’. Not familiar with art'otel? Let us bring you up to speed. The brand posits its outposts as both hotels and art galleries, with your stay being a chance to encounter real pieces of art. Each location has its own ‘signature artist’, around whom not only is the hotel themed but who gets to actually design a lot of the hotel, from its wall artworks to its furniture. art'otel Hoxton’s signature artist is D*Face (Dean Stockton), titan of English street art known for his chaotic, colourful, attention-demanding works. Approaching the hotel there’s a sense of occasion fitting for D*Face’s rep: the building towers over the fork of Great Eastern Street and Old Street. Two original Banksys sit above the doorway; dramatic escalators glide past gigantic, blinding screens of video art; a human-size sculpture of ‘D*Dog’ (one of D*Face’s best-known figures) greets you at reception as a kind of concierge. It is very much like entering a proper art gallery. Why stay at art'otel London Hoxton? If you’re fond of art – specifically street art, even more specifically the work of D*Face – art'otel Hoxton is a real treat. It’s

You can spot the building that hosts Archives from miles around, a repurposed 1960s industrial tower standing tall above Tottenham Hale’s retail parks and marshland. And it’s a worthy local landmark: since opening in 2024 Archives has regularly hosted blockbuster nights, from James Blake’s CMYK to the second edition of Eastern Margins’ festival Margins United. The space itself is an 8,500-square-foot ground-floor blank canvas with thick concrete columns and capacity for 1,600; the 360-degree soundsystem is solid, the dancefloor is well-proportioned and the outdoor/rest areas are sizeable. The only downside is the bar prices. When I was last here pints were flatly priced at a very steep £8.50 (and £7.50 for cans).

A country home amid gargantuan piles of slate, Plas Weunydd sits atop a hill overlooking not just an old industrial town but the vast landscape of Snowdonia National Park. Needless to say, the hotel is all about its location: the location on a map, sure (it’s pretty much at the dead-centre of Snowdonia and surrounded by all manner of outdoorsy activities) but also its topographical location, with views galore.  For my visit to Plas Weunydd, the approach by car saw me wind my way past the hills and valleys of the national park, through old mining town Blaenau Ffestiniog and most of the way up a not-unsteep hill. The hotel is perched near the top, at the same turning as much-hyped adventure attraction Zip World and a mountain-biking course.  Why stay at Plas Weunydd? If you’re in Snowdonia for an adventure or outdoorsy holiday (and this is very much a region famous for that), Plas Weunydd is extraordinarily well-located. Hiking, cycling, mountain biking, zip-wiring and more is almost literally on your doorstep – as previously mentioned, Zip World is across the road – while countless mountains, waterfalls, lakes or rivers in Snowdonia National Park are no more than a half-hour drive away.  The building itself was built in 1870 as the home of John Whitehead Greaves, the founder of nearby Llechwed Quarry. It was turned into a hotel in 2021, and it relaunched in April 2025 following further refurbishment. Plas Weunydd prides itself on being an adventure holiday base, but also for b

Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson are good at this by now. Excellent, in fact. The pair have put together a small chain of top Indian eateries; Islington’s Tamil Prince and Tamil Crown, and the first Tamila in Clapham. Fourth time around with Tamila King’s Cross, the experience is more refined than ever. London’s second Tamila is at the other end of Caledonian Road from the Tamil Prince, and, like the Clapham edition, isn’t a ‘desi pub’ but a curry house for fast, casual dining and with an all-day menu. Without the loveable musk of an ex-pub, the space is much airier and restaurant-y, while the service is sharper and more attentive. Food-over-booze indicators don’t get much more obvious than Tamila’s massive interior window directly into the kitchen.  The dhal flashed all sorts of vegetables across your tongue, while paneer butter masala was creamy and mightily generous Our drinks flew out at an impressive pace. A bold harbinger of the strong, spiced flavours to come, the gunpowder margarita, boasting masala dust for salt and earthy smokiness, was sumptuous. The paloma had grapefruity sweetness but a proper, heaped dash of ginger that lingered powerfully.  Tamila’s dishes verge on the more generous side of ‘small plates’. On platters so spotless and shiny they’re genuinely mirrors, come miraculously un-greasy onion bhajis, each one just more than a mouthful of prickly, salty crackle. Retaining integral crispiness beneath dollops of mint chutney, one gets the impression that th

If you’re a history buff (particularly a pottery history buff), the surroundings of this DoubleTree alone will be enough to have you in awe. The hotel is attached to Etruria Hall, a neo-classical Grade II-listed structure once home to Josiah Wedgwood – renowned industrialist and the founder of Wedgwood, one of the world’s most famous pottery companies.  Etruria Hall is no longer a stately home but an events venue, and since the 1980s it’s been attached to a hotel. In 2020 that hotel opened as a Hilton, specifically of the DoubleTree brand – yet despite being part of an all-conquering global chain, it’s maintained plenty of character. Beyond the obvious (the in-house restaurant is called Josiah), the corridors and rooms come lined with nods to local heritage; bottle oven skylines, Stoke dialect phrases, that sort of stuff.  Stoke-on-Trent’s DoubleTree, therefore, not only occupies a special historical site but makes sure you fully aware just how special it is. But it’s also a comfortable, well-kitted-out place to stay. I stayed in a king guest room that was extraordinarily spacious and flawlessly clean, with a sprawling, comfortable bed, fast wi-fi, effective blackout curtains and a practical bathroom.  The staff couldn’t have been friendlier or more helpful, the common areas were bright and welcoming, and there was a very sleek indoor pool and leisure centre. There’s on-site parking, too.  Given the building’s age, some of Stoke’s DoubleTree is understandably rough around the

When Stoke’s Hilton Garden Inn opened in 2020 it was the city’s first and only Hilton. Admittedly it didn’t hold that title for long (the DoubleTree in Etruria was rebranded a month or so later) but you get the sense that this was a statement opening. A terracotta titan towering over Hanley, this Hilton Garden Inn cost £20 million and is part of the wider redevelopment of Smithfield – a mixed-use quarter named after the area’s old bottle works. Given it’s getting on for half a decade old, Stoke’s Hilton Garden Inn still looks and feels shimmeringly new. Sure, stepping into the lobby feels very much like stepping into any new-ish Hilton, anywhere, but this one is exceptionally well-kempt, making it very much a slick, shiny beacon of modern comfort.  I stayed in a ‘king room’ up on the sixth floor, a tidy and well-proportioned space with plenty of light and a bunch of amenities tidily packed in. The décor was pared back, minimalist(ish) and very much of-this-decade, and the room’s simplicity made it feel bigger. Stoke touches on the walls (images of pottery ovens and so on) reminded you where you were – as did my view, stretching out westwards towards Etruria, Burslem and Shelton. The rest was very much as one might expect of a somewhat new Hilton. The mattress was supple, the pillows and duvet ideally sink-in-able; the shower worked as required, accompanied by fragrant Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries and the flashy touch of an anti-steam mirror. The room was well insulated for so

Down the cavernous halls of Whitehall’s Old War Offices, surrounded by opulent Michelin-starred restaurants and the supremely swish Raffles hotel, lies Kioku Sake Bar – less blindingly flashy, sure, but just as high-calibre. The street-level accompaniment to Kioku’s top-floor, five-star sushi restaurant has the effortless style and homely hideaway calm of a Japanese listening bar, prim décor and lines of hundreds of sake bottles sitting beneath immaculately balanced light. And Kioku’s substance more than matches its style. There are over 140 sakes on offer, each affectionately described, plus a trim list of sake cocktails and a refined menu of innovative, Japanese-infused small plates. The drinks and food are entirely different to those of the upstairs restaurant Kioku By Endo, making the bar very much worth a separate visit.  Order this The Daikon Gibson suspends itself entirely on the front of your tongue, with silky and potent Ginjo sake ‘vermouth’ and tangy pickled daikon combining with clean Roku gin and yuzu tang. Kioku’s cocktails all exude a sense of craft – and this does even more so. Time Out tip Make the most of Kioku’s formidable sake collection and the bar’s in-house sake sommelier to explore the tipple. Discover how the vessel material affects each sake, get a taste of the many, many different styles and regional varieties – and find a new favourite.

Stepping into the atrium of The Conservatorium, it’s immediately obvious that this is a very special hotel indeed. Rich red brickwork meets sharp glass angles, heritage details fit snugly among silky modern luxury; from the fittings and furniture to the architecture, wherever you look something catches your eye. The Conservatorium’s sense of occasion is tied to the building’s history. Many of its cavernous halls date back to 1897, when it was built as a bank. In the 1980s it became a conservatoire, then it was reconfigured into a hotel by starchitect Piero Lissoni in the 2000s. It opened as a founding member of the luxurious Set Collection in 2011. The Conservatorium’s rooms, appropriately for a hotel inhabiting a building of many previous lives, vary massively – yet they share plenty of common ground. Whether one is in the basic ‘deluxe room’ or the three-floor, roof terrace-boasting ‘I Love Amsterdam’ suite, well-proportioned rooms boast plush beds, spacious bathrooms, bountiful storage and thoughtful, refined décor. My room was a ‘royal duplex suite’, with elegant double-height windows looking out onto the humming trams and cafés of Van Baerlestraat. The essentials – bed, space, storage, bathroom, toiletries – were all faultless. Little touches of Dutch-ness (decorative clogs, a Van Gogh coffee table book, Delftware ceramic plates) were unsubtle but still tasteful, restrained. Beyond the room, breakfast (served in the Lounge) was high-calibre and the staff were as helpful

In what promises to be the biggest bout of transport disruption since last September’s hugely impactful tube strikes, London’s rail network is set to be hit by tube strikes this week. A period of relative strike-free calm has come to an end – the first of six strike dates kicked off on Tuesday April 21, and the second one is one Thursday April 23.  A majority of RMT union members voted in favour of action in February, with strikes called for the London Underground. While the first walk-outs (which were supposed to take place on March 24-27) were suspended, six strikes were called across 12 days in April, May and June. The April strikes are now underway, with one strike (on Apr 21-22) finished and another one set for Apr 23-24.  The industrial action is in response to what the RMT says is the introduction of a ‘compressed four-day working week’ for tube drivers.  Worried about strikes hitting the capital once again? Here’s everything you need to know. RECOMMENDED:🛤️ When are the next UK-wide train strikes? What you need to know about nationwide industrial action.❌ London travel disruption to watch out for this weekend: tube and train closures on April 25-26. When are the next London tube strikes? Tube drivers are walking out on the following six occasions, each a 24-hour period (across 12 dates). The first two of those strikes are this week. April 21-22 (12pm to 11.59am) April 23-24 (12pm to 11.59am) May 19-20 (12pm to 11.59am) May 21-22 (12pm to 11.59am) June 16-17 (12pm t

This week London has seen two 24-hour strikes spread over four days, with RMT tube drivers walking out and causing major disruption across the network. Over the weekend (April 25-26) those strikes will come to an end (for now, they’ll likely be back in May) but there will still be planned service alterations and closures to know about. The big London ‘thing to do’ this weekend is the London Marathon, which is set to take place on Sunday April 26 – and even if you’re not taking part, you can find all the best places to watch (and cheer along) here. Otherwise, there’s plenty of non-marathon stuff to check out, from the new V&A East and the return of Avenue Q in the West End to North London Book Fest. Out and about in London this weekend? Here are all the planned TfL train and tube closures to know about on April 25-26 2026. RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London this weekend. London travel disruption and tube closures, April 25-26 2026 Piccadilly line On Saturday Apr 25 (from 5.30am) and Sunday April 26 (all day), no trains between Wood Green and Cockfosters No trains between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge all weekend. Use the Metropolitan line On Sunday in the early morning (1.30am to 5.30am – including night tube), no service between King’s Cross St Pancras and Cockfosters. Eastbound trains will not call at Barons Court until June. When travelling east, go one stop west (to Hammersmith) and bounce back east. Photograph: pedro emanuel pereira / Shutterstock.com Distric

This week drivers on the London Underground have begun a series of strikes set to take place across April, May and June 2026. However, they aren’t the only transport workers in the capital who’re walking out.  Do you rely on buses to get out and about in east London? Watch out, this week you might have to navigate strike action. Seven bus routes will be impacted by a strike.  The strikes are part of an ongoing dispute between bus drivers – represented by Unite – and the East London Bus & Coach Company, which is part of Stagecoach. A total of 300 drivers will walk out, with Unite alleging that drivers at the Bow garage are suffering from fatigue due to long-distance shifts without adequate breaks. The upcoming strikes follow a four-day walk-out on March 19-22, and another date last Friday April 17. Worried that your local bus route will be hit by strikes? Here’s what you need to know about the industrial action, including the dates and full list of affected routes. When are London bus drivers going on strike? Drivers will strike on Friday April 24, then again on Friday May 15. On each day TfL says the walk-out will impact services from 5am on the Friday until 5am on the following Saturday. Friday April 24 Friday May 15 Which bus routes will be affected by strikes? The following services are set to be impacted by walk-outs on April 17 and 24, and May 15.  8 25 205 425 N8 N25 N205 However, TfL anticipates that the 25 and 425 will run a ‘near normal’ service throughout most o

What’s the best way to get to know London? And I mean really get to know it. Take a guided boat or open top bus tour? Hop on a Lime bike and follow your instincts? Work your way through Time Out’s pub and restaurant lists (or other such guides)? All valid. But what about walking all the way around the Big Smoke on a vast, 150-mile orbital trail? Yes, it’s a bit more of a commitment, but let me explain. London is one of human civilisation’s greatest achievements. It is far, far more massive than most Londoners ever spare a thought for, full of neighbourhoods, landmarks and curiosities that many will never discover. Even for someone like me, who’s lived here all his life, whose goddamn job it is to know the ins and outs of this magnificent city. And so I decided to embark on the London Loop. The London Outer Orbital Path (Loop, for short) is a signposted trail around the capital. First proposed way back in 1990, it opened its first section in 1996 and became fully walkable in 2001. Its 150 miles are not intended to be done in one mighty, calf-pumping, blister-ridden swoop: the Loop is split into 24 stages, ranging in length from four to 10 miles. Photograph: Ed Cunningham for Time Out London It all starts in Erith, a Thameside town midway between Woolwich and the Dartford Crossing, and it wraps up in Purfleet (on the north side of said crossing). The Loop winds its way clockwise in and out of the city’s boundaries, crossing the Thames at Kingston and linking up some of the ci

Were you gazing at clips of The Strokes at Coachella over the weekend and thinking: I want to be there? Well, here’s just the thing. The iconic New York band have announced a vast world tour for this year – and it features several dates here in Blighty. The tour starts in Manchester (alas, not our one – the Tennessee city where Bonnaroo festival is held) in June before heading across North America and to Japan before landing in Europe in the autumn. The band are touring their upcoming seventh studio album Reality Awaits, which is set for release in June. Can’t wait to hear big tunes like ‘Reptilia’, ‘Last Nite’ and ‘The Adults Are Talking’ belted out at full volume? Here’s how to get tickets for The Strokes’ 2026 UK tour.   When are The Strokes going on tour in 2026? The tour, as outlined above, is spread across summer and autumn 2026. It’ll come to Europe in October. Make sure you’ve sorted yourself a leather jacket and some aviator shades well in advance. What UK tour dates have been announced so far? Find all the UK dates confirmed so far: October 6 – London, The O2 October 7 – London, The O2 (new date added) October 25 – Newcastle, Utilita Arena October 26 – Manchester, Co-op Live Photograph: Courtesy of the Artist When do The Strokes tickets go on sale? Set your alarms: general sale will go live this Friday April 17 at 10am. You’ll be able to get tickets on Ticketmaster here. Presale details Presales start from April 15 at 10am. Here are the major presale events to k

Next week London could be hit by the city’s first tube strikes since last September, but this weekend the city’s transport network also will not be running as normal. Rather than strikes, this disruption will be the result of planned closures and service alterations. But don’t let travel disruption deter you from getting out and about in London this weekend. There’s tonnes of exhilarating stuff to explore in the city, from the V&A’s brand new museum in Stratford to newly opened theatre productions of Inter Alia and A Doll’s House. Planning on travelling around London this weekend? Here’s what you need to know about train and tube closures in the city on April 18-19 2026. RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London this weekend. London travel disruption and tube closures, April 18-19 2026 District line On Saturday April 18 and Sunday April 19, no trains between Earls Court and Ealing Broadway/Richmond. Piccadilly line On Sat Apr 18 (from 1.30am) and Sun Apr 19, no trains between Hyde Park Corner and Acton Town. Closure includes Saturday night tube. Eastbound trains will not call at Barons Court until June. When travelling east, go one stop west (to Hammersmith) and bounce back east. DLR On Sat Apr 18 and Sun Apr 19, no service between Shadwell and Bank. On Sun Apr 19, no trains between Poplar/Stratford and Beckton/Woolwich Arsenal. Mildmay line On Sun Apr 19, no trains between Willesden Junction and Richmond. A reduced service will run between Stratford and Wille

The UK just can’t get enough of Noah Kahan at the moment. The folk-pop songwriter played these shores in summer 2024 on the We’ll All Be Here Forever World Tour and returned to headline BST Hyde Park in London last summer – and this year he’ll be back with The Great Divide World Tour. The tour will start in the US in June (almost all the American dates are flatly sold out) before heading to Australia in September, New Zealand in October and the UK in November. It’ll wrap up with a series of dates in continental Europe. The tour is named after Kahan’s upcoming new album The Great Divide, which is set for release next week. Can’t wait to hear Noah Kahan hits like ‘Stick Season’, ‘Northern Attitude’ and ‘All My Love’ performed live in UK arenas? Here’s how to get tickets. When is Noah Kahan going on tour in 2026? The tour, as outlined above, will last from summer through to winter 2026. It’ll arrive in Britain in November.  What UK tour dates have been announced so far? Find all the UK dates confirmed by Noah Kahan so far: November 5 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro November 6 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro November 9 – Manchester, AO Arena November 10 – Manchester, AO Arena November 13 – London, O2 Arena November 14 – London, O2 Arena November 17 – London, O2 Arena Photograph: Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock.com When do Noah Kahan tickets go on sale? Set your alarms: general sale will go live this Friday April 17 at 10am. You’ll be able to get tickets on Ticketmaster here. Presale details Presales ar

When you think of a city, green spaces and nature might not be the first things that come to mind. But cities can be very green places indeed. London, for instance, is more than 20 percent trees, making it the world’s largest urban forest. And another UK city just topped the 2026 edition of Time Out’s Best Cities for Green Spaces with Intrepid Travel. Our latest list of the world’s best cities for touching grass was the result of a global survey of 24,000 city-dwellers from all corners of the planet. Those responses helped us rank Time Out’s Best Cities with Intrepid Travel 2026 (in total, three places in Britain made the cut), as well as a nature-specific list. We asked locals how they’d rate their city’s green spaces and access to nature, rounding up the number that responded either ‘good’ or ‘amazing’. That combined percentage was then used to produce an overall ‘green spaces score’. Scoring a whopping 94 percent, which made it the best green city on the entire planet, was Bath. Second place in the UK went to London. Sitting on the southwestern edge of the Cotswolds, Bath is surrounded by lush countryside – but the city itself also contains plenty of gorgeous greenery. Time Out Travel writer explained that Bath is ‘peppered with both small green pockets and vast expanses’, picking out ‘the impressive eighteenth-century Prior Park Landscape Garden, owned by the National Trust’. Photograph: Shutterstock Indeed, some of Bath’s greatest attractions are notable for their gre

Sure, the weather in London won’t quite be so good this weekend as it has been over the past week, but that’s no reason to stay inside. There’s tons of stuff to see and do in the city on April 11-12, from the new Romeo & Juliet starring Sadie Sink and Forza Wine’s fresh Soho outpost to Hampton Court’s tulip display. Plus, four excellent art exhibitions close for good on Sunday. If you’re out and about in the city over the coming days, you’ll no doubt want to be in-the-know about any planned disruption on tube and train services in the city. Heads up: there are some major closures lined up. Not as much as over the Easter bank holiday weekend, but still plenty to be aware of. Here’s what you need to know about train and tube closures in London on April 11-12 2026. RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in London this weekend. London travel disruption and tube closures, April 11-12 2026 Circle line On Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12, no trains between Edgware Road and Tower Hill. District line On Sat Apr 11 and Sun Apr 12, no service between Embankment/Edgware Road and Ealing Broadway/Kensington (Olympia)/Richmond/Wimbledon. Eastbound trains will not call at Barons Court until June. When travelling east, go one stop west (to Hammersmith) and bounce back east Photograph: chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com Piccadilly line On Sat Apr 11 from 1am to 7am, no trains between Hyde Park Corner and Acton Town. Eastbound trains will not call at Barons Court until June. When travelling

It’s rooftop bar season. Finally. After a balmy (if a bit blustery) Easter bank holiday weekend, this week London is set to get a solid amount of sunshine and a fair bit of heat, with forecasted highs of 24C. So, time to head to the nearest rooftop, grab a bev and soak up some rays. Just in time, we’ve just published our latest guide to the city’s greatest rooftop bars. And this year there’s a new venue in top – no pun intended – spot. South Bank classic the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden will be London’s most unmissable rooftop spot, with its botany-inspired cocktails, city-wide views and sprawling green space. Photograph: Cesare De Giglio But what if you wanted to plan a sunny bar crawl, hopping from one view-tastic spot or open-air paradise to another? Well, Time Out has got you covered for that, too. We’ve put together a handy map of all the city’s best rooftop bars in 2026, allowing you to put together an itinerary of sky-high boozers. Image: Time Out From the map, you can see that there are several clusters of excellent rooftop establishments across the Big Smoke. Down south you’ve got Frank’s, Forza Wine and Bussey Rooftop Bar; on the South Bank is the other Forza Wine at the National Theatre and the aforementioned top spot Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden, while just over the river is Setlist at Somerset House. The Standard and Big Chill House aren’t too far from each other, sitting either side of King’s Cross, then Shoreditch’s Kaso and Queen of Hoxton, and nei

Last April (a year ago today – April 7 – in fact), the Silvertown tunnel opened in east London. The controversial road tunnel between Silvertown and the Greenwich Peninsula cost £2.2 billion and was London’s first sub-Thames crossing in 30 years. As part of the opening of the new tunnel, several perks were launched for those looking to cross the Thames in east London. It was announced that two sections of the DLR and three bus routes would be free to ride for at least 12 months – and now, in good news for the Londoners that made the most of those freebies, the free travel period is being extended. You’ll now be able to ride the DLR and buses across the Thames for free until Tuesday May 26. RECOMMENDED: ❓ Why was the Silvertown Tunnel controversial? 💰 How much is the tunnel’s toll charge – and who is exempt? Which buses can you ride for free in east London? The buses that are free to use as a result of the opening of the Silvertown tunnel are: 108 129 SL4 Which DLR routes are free? On the Docklands Light Railway – which has new trains coming into service this summer – you’ll be able to ride the following two sections for free. Between Greenwich or Cutty Sark (recently reopened) and Island Gardens Between Woolwich Arsenal and George V To get the free ride, you’ll still need to tap in (and out, on the DLR) with an Oyster or contactless payment card. TfL will then refund your journey. Photograph: chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com The ‘bike bus’ that carries cyclists through

The double Easter bank holiday is upon us! You’ve checked the weather (in short: it’s not great but not bad either), you’re ready for an Easter egg hunt, maybe you’re eyeing up some free stuff to see and do. So, how’re the trains looking? Due to the lack of commuters, the four-day stretch from Good Friday to Easter Monday is often a prime target for engineering works on London’s trains and tubes. This Easter weekend is no different: several major TfL services will be severely disrupted over the coming days. Notably, Euston will shut for six whole days. Worried about getting around the capital over the Easter bank holiday weekend? Here’s what you need to know about planned transport disruption. London Easter Bank Holiday 2025 tube and train closures, April 3-6 2026 Hammersmith & City line On Good Friday (April 3), Saturday April 4, Easter Sunday (April 5) and Easter Monday (April 6), no service on the entire line. District line On Fri Apr 3, Sat Apr 4, Sun Apr 5 and Mon Apr 6, no service between Earls Court and Kensington (Olympia) and no trains between Whitechapel and Upminster. Eastbound trains will not call at Barons Court until June. When travelling east, go one stop west (to Hammersmith) and bounce back east. Bakerloo line On Fri Apr 3 no trains between Stonebridge Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. On Sat Apr 4 and Sun Apr 5, no service between Queens Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. On Mon Apr 6, no trains between Stonebridge Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. Photograph: 4