Canary Wharf rose from the derelict West India Docks in the 1990s and is now the cluster of glass towers that forms London's second financial centre. It is unlike anywhere else in the city: a planned estate of skyscrapers, polished plazas, and underground malls, busy with suited workers by day and quieter at the weekend. One Canada Square, for years Britain's tallest building, still anchors the skyline.
For a visitor the appeal is the contrast between the gleaming new and the surviving old docklands. The Museum of London Docklands, in a Georgian sugar warehouse on West India Quay, tells the story of the river and the port that the towers replaced. The Crossrail Place Roof Garden floats a slice of tropical and temperate planting above the Elizabeth line station, and the dock-side walkways, bridges, and public art make for an easy, watery wander between the high-rises.