Royal Greenwich

The Royal Navel College and the Observatory are probably the best known sites here - but there's also the Cutty Sark, St Alphege's church, and the market to keep you busy! If you want to see some greenery, the park is beautiful too, and has great views over London.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

The best way to come here as a tourist is by boat. It isn't the cheapest, or the fastest way to arrive, but is the most interesting. Boats leave from Westminster Pier.

The tube has recently reached Greenwich - take the Jubilee Line to North Greenwich station. The Docklands Light Railway - DLR - also goes near here.

You can also get to Greenwich by overland train - from Charing Cross, Waterloo and London Bridge Termini.

Buses also go to here from all over London - in fact, there's an embarrassment of transport options!

This small, beautiful building was designed by Christopher Wren - the same genuis who designed St Paul's Cathedral and many other gems of churches in London. Since the light pollution in London grew, not much astronomy has taken place here, as the sky is often obscured.

Parts of it are now open to the public as a museum. It contains sky maps, antique instruments, and a very interesting display of early watches - necessary to calculate longitude accurately. The top room, octaganol in shape, contains a fascintating camera obscura.

Entrance costs £4, less for concessions, and you can buy a combined ticket for this, the Queen's House, and the National Maritime Museum, for £5, which is a bargain!

Greenwich is a collector's dream... and a bank manager's nightmare! The market itself sells arts and crafts, not a cheap market, but there's some really good things here. The surrounding streets sell antiques, books, and prints of London pictures. It's open Thurs-Sat, form 9am to 6pm. Thursdays is mostly antiques, other days mostly arts and crafts. There is also a specialised antiques market, on Burney Street. It's open Saturday and Saturday, 8am to 4:30pm.

This is one of the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. It was originally annexed to the Royal Palace, which is north of the park. It was a particular favourite of the Tudors - Henry VIII did a lot of hunting here, and two of his three surviving children were born in the palace. Elizabeth I was also very fond of Greenwich, being one of Henry's children born here.

The park is in two parts - the northern part is on a very steep slope, popular for biking down and sledging when it snows. The southern part is flat, higher land, and contains the bandstand and a small deer enclosure. The observatory is at the top of the hill, and the Queen's House at the bottom.

In the summer, there are free concerts at the bandstand, every Sunday, which start at 3pm, and 6pm.

The house is perfect - a classical Palladian villa, it looks just right from every angle, and best from the top of the hill in the park. It was built in the 17th century, and is now home to the great National Maritime Museum.

The museum documents clearly and carefully Britain's great maritime adventures and adventurers, and contains a huge number of interesting exhibits, such as materials from Nelson's ships.

The most famous of the beautiful clippers that brought tea from China, the Cutty Sark is now tethered at Greenwich. It could carry over a million pounds of tea in each vogage, and was one of the fastest ships of the day, setting records during the 1890s for speed. It is now a museum, showing details of its own trips, and those of the tea trade to China in general. There are some fascinating documents on display about pacific trade routes, trading conditions, and some great maps and sea charts.

two words - don't bother. This running joke in the Uk is not worth your time. It's a patronising, extremely expenisve waste of your time and cash.