What if you only have 24 hours to spare in London. What's the best that you can see in that time period to get a flavour of London? Yes, there will be considerable moving around - but better to give you more places so you can drop some, than not enough and leave you twiddling your thumbs. Ready, steady, Go!

The Inside Guide to London’s recommended single day in London.

Buy a travelcard and take the tube to Charing Cross, walk over the Hungerford bridge to the London Eye for a panoramic start to your day. Walk north, over Westminster Bridge to the Palace of Westminster, built by Barry and Pugin. Cross over Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey, the coronation and burial place for British monarchs. Down Birdcage Walk to Buckingham Palace, London residence of the Crown since 1837. Cross Green Park and up Piccadilly to stop at the Wolseley, for a 'full English' breakfast.

Refreshed, venture over to Bond Street and walk north taking in the well-heeled shops and boutiques. At the top, cross Oxford Street and head for the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square. Peerless paintings and furnishings, in a beautiful stately home which is free to visit. When leaving, head south for shopping in Selfridges & Co, Oxford Street. Catch a number 15 double-decker for a sightseeing bus ride past Oxford Circus, down Regent Street (past Hamleys, Liberty & Co. and the Apple Store) - jump on and off, as a travel card gives unlimited travel. When the bus passes Piccadilly Circus, leave and walk through Leicester Square, and into Covent Garden.

Take the Tube, Piccadilly Line to Holborn and head north to the British Museum (free entry). See the Great Court, Lewis Chessmen and the Vindolanda Tablets, voted Britain's greatest treasure. Cross over to Busaba Eathai in Bloomsbury for lunch, authentic Thai canteen eating. Have a snifter in the Cittie of Yorke pub on High Holborn, with its jaw-dropping interior before crossing to Lincoln's Inn fields for the Sir John Soane Museum, London’s quirkiest and free to enter. Wander south through the rural Inns of Court to the Temple Church, off Fleet Street.

Catch the Riverbus from Embankment Pier to Greenwich, and head to Greenwich Park for the Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory (see the Harrison Clocks while there) and Greenwich Prime Meridian. Take the train back to London Bridge and alight into Borough Market and Southwark Cathedral, a hidden treasure in plain sight. Follow the Thames walk past the replica Golden Hinde to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to watch a Shakespeare production (groundling tickets can be had for only £5). Take a stroll across Tower Bridge afterwards and afford yourself a black cab to Trafalgar Square. A short walk up St. Martin's Lane you'll find J Sheekey's (booking required) one of those restaurants that 'gets it right'. As the evening draws to a close, wander into the Covent Garden Piazza to catch some free evening entertainment and finish with a drink at the Cross Keys pub in Endell Street. Time to think about bed before that early morning flight.

Slideshow of sights you'll see along the way

{besps}slides/24Hours|auto=0|sort=0|cfwd=>>|cbwd=<<|csort=-415|{ besps="" p="">

{besps_c}0|London01.jpg|London Eye|Creeping up on the London Eye from Jubilee Gardens.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London02.jpg|London Eye Pods|The Eye turns at a speed slightly faster than a tortoise. You get on while it's moving.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London03.jpg|Westminster Palace|The government seat in London was built by Barry and Pugin after the previous palace was destroyed by fire.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London04.jpg|Westminster Abbey|Was saved by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries because he couldn't bring himself to destroy it.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London05.jpg|Buckingham Palace|Queen Victoria was the first Royal to move into the extended Buckingham House and it has been home of the monarch in London since.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London06.jpg|The Wallace Collection|Hertford House in Manchester Square holds the Wallace Collection. This was all fields when it was built, now a stones-throw from Oxford Street.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London07.jpg|Liberty & Co.|The store is built in the 'Arts & Crafts' style, with reclaimed timber from decommissioned battleships.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London08.jpg|Covent Garden|The original market was fruit & veg, which moved to Nine Elms in the 1970s. Entertainments have been performed on the Piazza long before Pepys first wrote about them.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London09.jpg|British Museum|The Great Court at the centre of the British Museum houses the old reading room of the former British Library - Karl Marx wrote 'Das Kapital' in the huge circular room.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London10.jpg|Holborn|Staple Inn on High Holborn was one of few Tudor buildings to survive the Great Fire of 1666, but was badly damaged during The Blitz.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London12.jpg|Greenwich Naval College|Maritime Greenwich is one of four UNESCO World Heritage sites in London. It was formerly a hospital.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London13.jpg|Greenwich|Greenwich and the London Docklands at Canary Wharf, seen from Greenwich Hill, the site of the Royal Observatory - The City (and 'Gherkin') are on the far left.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London14.jpg|Royal Observatory|Flamsteed House was built by Christopher Wren. Flamsteed was the first Astronomer Royal - who lived and worked at the observatory.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London15.jpg|Golden Hinde|Is a replica of Drake's Golden Hinde, but has in fact travelled further than the original and also circumnavigated the globe.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London16.jpg|Shakespeare's Globe Theatre|The theatre is based on the design of the original Globe and was the first building in London to be built with a thatched roof since the Great Fire of London in 1666.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London17.jpg|Tower Bridge|The Mayor of London runs the city's administration from the London Assembly near Tower Bridge.{/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|London18.jpg|Black Cab|London cabs actually come in a variety of colours, though most are black. Drivers must pass 'The Knowledge' a strict examination to show they know all the streets in Central London.{/besps_c}

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