London

The art deco grande dame of Mayfair, all chequerboard marble and faultless service. A London institution that still sets the standard.

A Firmdale charmer set around a planted Soho courtyard, with the group's exuberant, no-two-rooms-alike style. Central but cocooned from the bustle.

An art deco-styled Mayfair five-star with a cult following, fronted by an Antony Gormley sculpture. Rosi and Le Magritte make it a destination for a drink too.

A mid-century landmark — Eero Saarinen's former US embassy on Grosvenor Square — reborn as a polished Rosewood with interiors by Joseph Dirand. Head up to the seventh-floor Eagle Bar for the view.

A grand former bank turned buzzy hotel and members' club, its marble banking hall packed with restaurants and a rooftop over the City. Lively, glamorous and open to walk-ins.

The only Chinese restaurant outside Asia with two Michelin stars, elevating familiar classics to dazzling effect. Come for the tasting menu or just exceptional dim sum.

Jeremy King's glamorous return to the site of his beloved Le Caprice, all monochrome sparkle and easy transatlantic classics. A grown-up room for a proper night out.

Santiago Lastra's inventive, Michelin-starred take on Mexican cooking using British produce. Surprising, playful and seriously good.

A wine-led restaurant from the magazine of the same name, set in a creaky 1701 townhouse. Brilliant bottles and food to match.

Monocle's own Chiltern Street café, a decade-old fixture for good coffee, cardamom buns and a browse of the latest issue. A friendly home base in Marylebone.

A riverside institution that helped define modern Italian cooking in Britain, still humming after three decades. Save room for the Chocolate Nemesis.

The original Marylebone branch of London's most beautiful bookshop, with Edwardian galleries and a famous travel section arranged by country. A pilgrimage for book lovers.

Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe's genre-defining fashion emporium, mixing Comme des Garçons with rotating concessions across several floors. As much an art space as a shop.

A pioneering British furniture brand and shop, long associated with designers like Jasper Morrison and Matthew Hilton. A reliable stop for modern design.

Monocle's Marylebone shop, stocking its magazines and travel guides alongside well-made own-label clothing and accessories. A natural stop for readers.

Part proper pub, part serious grill, turning out live-fire cooking and pints of Guinness in equal measure. One of the city's hottest tables since it opened.

A brutalist Southbank institution staging bold contemporary shows since 1968. A reliable stop for ambitious art.

The eccentric, light-and-shadow house-museum of a great Georgian architect, crammed with antiquities including an Egyptian sarcophagus. Utterly singular.

The country's flagship modern-art museum in a converted power station, with a permanent collection and ambitious Turbine Hall commissions. Hard to beat if you see just one.

The world's first national public museum, home to the Rosetta Stone and Parthenon sculptures under Norman Foster's great glass roof. Endlessly rewarding and free.

A vast, gloriously diverse museum of art and design, from Raphael cartoons to fashion and Trajan's Column. You could lose a day and barely scratch the surface.