Why London in May is a secret worth sharing

By Ian Packham
Published: July 18, 2024
March is a good time to head to London's parks

Whisper it quietly – London in May feels a lot like the more popular summer months to come. Daylight hours stretch from 5:30AM until 8:30PM, temperatures nudge towards 20°C, and rain showers seem to lessen by the day.

It means May in London is all about getting outside. Visit the likes of Borough Market and you’ll soon have more than enough goodies for a picnic in a Royal Park. Then cruise along the Thames for picturesque scenes of London’s historic skyline or meet the residents of London Zoo in their outdoor paddocks. These are just some of the great al fresco attractions that await visitors to the British capital in May.

Wild beasts (and where to see them)

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Choose to stay in southwest London and you may be a little early for Wimbledon fortnight but you will have the chance to soak up the sun in Richmond Park thanks to the improving weather in London in May.

The largest of London’s parks at 1000 hectares and a Site of Special Scientific Interest to boot, this former royal hunting ground still provides a habitat for several hundred fallow deer whilst King Henry’s Mound offers vistas reaching St Paul’s Cathedral.

But it’s fashionable Chelsea that's the center of attention in May, when the Chelsea Flower Show takes over the grounds of the borough’s Royal Hospital – a home for military veterans. An annual event par excellence since 1912, attracting senior royals and a smorgasbord of A-list celebrities, this is much more than a garden show, occupying hours of television and pages of newspaper coverage.

Further north, Regent’s Park is home to animals as diverse as penguins and tigers, being the site of ZSL London Zoo. A filming location in the first Harry Potter movie and a major conservation project, the zoo looks after around 20,000 animals, from leaf-cutter ants to less numerous pygmy hippos.

All the world’s a stage

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The zoo isn’t the only reason to visit Regent’s Park, whose Open Air Theater kicks off its season of performances as the calendar hits May. Amphitheater style in form, weather conditions mean no performance is the same twice for the 1240 audience members who’ve come to enjoy the show.

The South Bank’s Globe Theater also sees its actors hit the reproduction Elizabethan stage come May, though if you don’t make it to a performance of Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet, it’s still possible to head behind the scenes with a Globe Theater Tour.

Don’t forget that London is home to the West End, perhaps second only to New York’s Broadway for the quality of its shows. Its 38 theaters are packed out on a nightly basis with the latest in musicals, comedies and plays, whilst Hollywood blockbusters can be enjoyed in the comfort of the Curzon Soho Cinema.

Explore London’s top shopping destinations

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Dating back to at least 1276, Borough Market would have been known to Shakespeare and his troupe of actors, albeit in a slightly different form than the market takes today. Back then, and until the early 2000s, it served as a wholesale and retail vegetable market. It was then transformed to become a hub for curries rather than carrots and top-notch pies rather than pineapples as the street food craze took hold.

Combining everything from food stalls to antiques and bric-a-brac, Portobello Road offers something different each day of the week (excluding Sundays when traders are given the day off but the stores lining the street are still open). The main day for antiques is Saturday, when a bit of friendly haggling may well get you that souvenir of your trip for a bargain price.

The other big name in shopping has to be Oxford Street. This broad central London thoroughfare will be able to scratch any shopping itch, since there’s around 300 stores including most of the big names and a fair few flagship stores too.

Discovery the importance of sea power to British history

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Say ‘flagship’ to a sailor and they’ll probably point you in the direction of HMS Belfast, the Royal Navy’s command vessel for the D Day landings in World War Two. Now a museum ship moored between London and Tower Bridge, visitors are able to explore nine decks to discover what life was like on the high seas in peace and war time.

Belfast is just one of a series of things to do in London in May visible on Thames City Cruises alongside the Houses of Parliament, London Eye and Tate Modern. Four piers dotted along the river allow you to hop-on and hop-off as you choose, with the full journey occupying the historic stretch of the river from Westminster Pier to Greenwich, a part of London bursting with attractions.

Among them are the Royal Observatory and Greenwich Meridian, from where the world takes its timings. The orange ball on the top of the observatory continues to drop at precisely 1PM each day, connected to an atomic clock – the most accurate timepieces in existence.

But the naval links don’t stop there. As well as the scientific treasures awaiting in the National Maritime Museum, including objects used by Captain Cook in his ‘discovery’ of Australia, visitors to Greenwich can also step aboard the fastest tea clipper that ever set sail – the Cutty Sark. Compare the life of sailors onboard to that of HMS Belfast built just 70 years later, or soak in the atmosphere with a traditional afternoon tea in sublime surroundings.

Unleash the secret of London in May!

Thanks to relatively stable weather conditions you won’t have to worry too much about what to wear in London in May. Instead, you can concentrate on enjoying all that London has to offer. Travel with Go City, and you’ll also have the peace of mind of knowing you’re getting substantial savings on admission compared to turning up at ticket gates on the day!

Ian Packham
Go City Travel Expert

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Where to stay in London

London is increasingly becoming a 24-7 city. With the advent of the Night Tube and museums that don’t close on Mondays like in much of Europe, there’s always somewhere new to explore. At the same time, it’s a big place – with over 30 boroughs (neighborhoods). Each can then be subdivided into smaller districts, many packed with hotels and Airbnbs, making it even harder to decide where to stay in London. If you’re wondering which neighborhoods in London are popular to stay in, stay tuned for the only guide you’ll ever need! Best areas to stay in London If money’s no object, staying centrally can save a lot of travelling time, meaning greater opportunities to see and do all the things London is famous for – from its museums and historic palaces to its restaurants and nightlife. You probably haven’t come to London to listen to ‘mind the gap’ announcements on rotation on the Tube. The area around Covent Garden and the West End is the obvious pick, although there are a growing number of choices in Westminster, the South Bank and London Bridge too. That said, London’s mix of underground, trains, buses, black cabs, rental cycles, Ubers, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and trams means you’re never going to be short of ways to get from attraction to attraction. A stay in east London’s Shoreditch and Hoxton neighborhoods will have you mixing with the capital’s trendsetters in no time. Look further afield if value is your main concern. Outer areas, particularly south of the River Thames such as Crystal Palace, are still only 20 minutes or so from the center of the city by train but are much kinder on the wallet. Top areas to stay for tourists in London For visitors keen to place themselves right at the heart of quintessential London scenes – red double decker buses, policemen with unnecessarily tall helmets and Union flags gently fluttering in the breeze – you can do a lot worse than Westminster. Stays here tend to be set back from the river by a block or two, and you’ll find more homestay-style apartments than hotels. But the trade off is your proximity to one of London’s four UNESCO World Heritage Sites – the Houses of Parliament – as well as Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square and the riverside, with views across to the London Eye. Another smattering of attractions and even better transport links makes London Bridge and Bankside other options. Hotels span the spectrum, from the Premier Inn London Southwark to the Shangri-La a few stories below The View from The Shard. Nearby attractions range from the gourmet stalls of Borough Market to HMS Belfast and the Tower of London. Places to stay in London for a long weekend For a two or three day stay in London, Covent Garden and the West End have all you’re going to want and need. As well as being home to the big theaters of Drury Lane and Shaftesbury Avenue, there are also enough restaurants and bars to keep you entertained for every weekend of the year. On top of that, staying in Covent Garden puts you within a radius of a couple of kilometers of the British Museum, shopping on Oxford Street and the nightlife of Soho. There can also be some great deals in the hotels of Canary Wharf on the weekend, since most who stay here are on business, leaving hotels scrambling for guests on Friday and Saturday nights. The area is connected to central London by the swish Jubilee Line extension to the Underground network as well as the DLR. Cool places to stay in London If you’re not quite ready for the opera, east London has an edgier feel and some of the coolest spots in the city. The painfully trendy-not-trendy residents of the apartments around Old Street do their best to look unimpressed and nonchalant about the street art and themed bars which define Shoreditch and Hoxton. But they secretly know how great a place it is to live – and that’s much of the pleasure of staying in Shoreditch. You get to rub shoulders with real Londoners with real lives. Despite its local vibe, it’s a very welcoming neighborhood. Indeed, it’s one of the best neighborhoods for those who feel they don’t conform. Plus, there’s been plenty of money spent making the area’s hotels as attractive to stay in as those in Covent Garden and Westminster. The best place to stay in London for nightlife is probably Soho however. This is where you’ll find many of the big name clubs, including G-A-Y and Borderline, whilst Chinatown is just down the road for an authentic taste of the east. Places to stay in London with kids If Kensington is good enough for the latest generation of royals, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s good enough for your family too. Comprising quiet, traffic-free streets, Kensington has a suburban feel whilst being within a few Tube stops of Buckingham Palace and Covent Garden. And let’s face it, children are going to love the expanse of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together with three of the best museums in the country – the Natural History, Science and Victoria and Albert museums. Named after the Great Exhibition of 1851, which moved from Hyde Park to a permanent home on Sydenham Hill, Crystal Palace has become orientated towards families with children. There’s a slew of cafés where you won’t be afraid of your kids becoming too noisy, a large park home to the earliest modern representations of dinosaurs in the world. It has some of London’s cheapest accommodation too. Discover London with Go City You now know where to stay in London. The next thing to consider is what to see and do in a city with more attractions than some countries. Travel with Go City and there’s incredible savings to be had on admission to many of London’s biggest attractions, leaving you cash to spend on, well, whatever you like!
Ian Packham
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Things to do in Angel London

The north London neighborhood of Angel manages to do something most city areas aren’t able to – successfully combine the stylish with the down to earth. This is what has made pretension-free Angel a magnet for creatives from British television stars to chart topping acts. Named after a now-lost pub – The Angel Inn – this part of London may lack the big ticket attractions like St Paul’s Cathedral and The View from the Shard but you miss out on Angel at your peril. Why? Just take a look at these top things to do in Angel London and the surrounding area! Regent’s Canal Reappearing in Angel after disappearing under the streets of north London for around half a kilometer, Regent’s Canal slips silently through the neighborhood close to several small community parks and gardens. Footpaths and sidewalks follow it all the way to its eastern end at Limehouse but even the shortest walk gets you under the skin of this well-to-do yet still quirky part of London. What’s more, with plenty of pubs on the route there are various options for enjoying views of the tranquil canal side and some conversation over a pint. Upper Street Vying against Caledonian Road to be Angel’s most desirable address, Upper Street is more than a main thoroughfare. Stretching north from Angel Underground station, it’s often the first road in the neighborhood visitors see, and doesn’t disappoint. If you’re hungry there’s a world of options to choose between, with Mexican, Vietnamese, modern British and European cuisine just some of the choices. But if shopping is more your bag, there’s also plenty you won’t find anywhere else thanks to the independent boutiques of what Charles Dickens once called the ‘devil’s mile’. Emirates Arsenal Stadium Soccer fans can get their fill of the action with an Emirates Arsenal Stadium Tour. Having been one of north London’s top teams for more than a century, there’s certainly a lot to take in at The Arsenal’s new 60,000 seater stadium. As well as standing pitch side you’ll have a chance to take in the exhibits and nostalgia of yesteryear at the club museum. Renovated in 2016 and updated with the latest achievements and important signings, the only way better to get a sense of what the club means to the area is to return on the day of a big match. Little Angel Theatre Performance spaces aren’t hard to come by in Angel, with even the local library doubling up as a live music venue. However, few are able to charm its audiences quite as well as the Little Angel Theatre. One of the top things to do in Angel London with children, this puppet theater is aimed primarily at under 12s. Basing many of its productions on children’s books old and new, it also hosts various fun days and clubs to get kids away from their screens and thinking creatively. Postal Museum ‘Going postal’ may be slang for having an angry outburst, but its origins surely have nothing to do with the Postal Museum, covering everything from the world’s first pre-paid postage stamp – the penny black – to how a modern letter can get from A to B in under 24 hours. The highlight of any visit has to be a ride of the mail train. A network of underground tracks entirely independent of the Tube, this miniature railway was once a vital cog in the postage chain. Today it provides visitors with 20 minute rides beneath the streets of Angel. Union Chapel If you’ve been brought up with the sober singing of the Church of England it can initially feel a little strange heading to a functioning church to see a band. Hear the notes bubble around the vaulted ceilings and you’ll soon understand why this has become a leading live music venue despite its relatively small size. Elton John, Patti Smith and Beck have all performed here in the past, with ticket sales going to the structures upkeep and charitable foundations. Sadler’s Wells Another performance space with an incredible pedigree, Sadler’s Wells has existed in various forms since 1683 – the current 1500 seater auditorium is the sixth to bear the name. Although predominantly known for ballet, the company welcomes in many of the world’s top dance troupes as well as performing its own productions, meaning its possible to enjoy a night of everything from Andalusian flamenco to local break dancers. Camden Passage Turn off of Upper Street and into Camden Passage and you’ll go back a couple of centuries to Georgian London in a pedestrianized road that has managed to survive the ravages of redevelopment and the Blitz to become an area so well known for its antiques dealers it rivals Portobello Road. Whilst some of the former antiques stores have been turned into galleries, cafés and clothing boutiques this only increases the reasons to make this one of the things to do in Angel London. Plus, there are still more than enough antiques available at the covered Pierrepoint Arcade Market on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays to complement the Thursday and Friday bookstalls. Victoria Miro Gallery Situated in a former warehouse space beside Wenlock Basin – a dead end in Regent’s Canal – the Victoria Miro Gallery is one of London’s small private galleries. No less impressive because of that, its focus is on contemporary art. Representing both established and new faces from around the world, it’s a place where you can see works by the likes of Chris Ofili and Grayson Perry – both Turner Prize winners – even if you have no intention of buying. Discover London’s Angel with Go City With its independent spirit and pubs lining Regent’s Canal, London’s Angel neighborhood has a very different vibe to Greenwich or the areas around the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. From antiquing to stadium tours the things to do in Angel London are many and varied as we’ve hopefully shown. Travel with Go City and you can take advantage of all this diversity and make huge savings on entry to many of London’s top attractions! Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for all the latest.
Ian Packham

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