Westminster is the ceremonial and political heart of Britain, the riverside district where the country has been governed and its monarchs crowned for a thousand years. The Houses of Parliament and the great clock tower of Big Ben stand on the Thames, faced across the road by Westminster Abbey, where every English coronation since 1066 has taken place. Between them runs Whitehall, lined with the buildings of government, the Cenotaph, and the discreet entrance to Downing Street.
It is the London of set-piece sights, and they come close together. Walk from Parliament Square up Whitehall past the Banqueting House and Horse Guards, through the trees and pelicans of St James's Park, to Buckingham Palace at the far end. Underground, the Churchill War Rooms preserve the wartime command bunker exactly as it was left, and downriver at Millbank, Tate Britain holds the national collection of British art. Crowds and ceremony are constant; come early to have the Abbey and the park to yourself.