First, the famous sights, normally in centrally located areas, which not coincidentally, are the most historic ones.

1. The City of London. 2000 years of history. From the Roman wall to 22 Bishopsgate. St.Paul's Cathedral, Guildhall, the Tower of London and the famous Bridge  (although in order to be a purist I will tell you that the Tower is off any district of London... and Tower Bridge spans the districts of Wapping and Bermondsey), Wren's post-Great Fire churches, contemporary architecture (think Rogers, Foster, Vinoly, Nouvel...), Leadenhall Market, Dr. Johnnson's House...

1bis. The Inns of Court.  Midway between the City and the West End. Those are places that you only visit, when you are in trouble, with the law... Now, seriously. Beautiful architecture, interesting history, amazing characters. Pure English history!. I bet you have heard about Temple (do you remember the Da VInci Code?)

2. Westminster and Whitehall. The corridors of power are here. Iconic institutions like the Abbey or the Palace of Westminster. Magnificent architecture.

3. The West End. Districts like Soho, Mayfair, Marylebone, or Covent Garden are the meccas of shopping and entertainment. But, what about some of the best know attractions of London, in terms of museums, like the British Museum or the National Gallery?. 

4. Southbank, Bankside, Borough. The 21rst century has seen a completely rebirth of not so long ago industrial districts that were off the path of any visitor to London, south of the river. The Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre, Borough Market are some of the attractions. 

This central areas of London are relatively small and compact. You can literally walk in between those areas, enumerated up to here.

5. West London: Chelsea, Kensington, Notting Hill, Bayswater, Maida Vale. West of the main touristic drags of London lay a group of districts, mainly residential, but as well commercial that contain some interesting attractions as the Royal Hospital, the Royal Palace of Kensington, the National Museums in South Kensington. Only think that, a couple of centuries ago Chelsea and Kensington were two isolated villages. a few miles from London... London starts to look different when you get to West London.

Dear visitor, up to here we were in familiar territory. The areas that I am going to enumerate from  now on are rather off the beaten track, with a few exceptions.

6. North West: Brentford, Ealing, Neasden, Wembley, Harrow.

Brentford: the river port and the Grand Union Canal

Ealing; the famous cinema studios

Neasden: the Hindu Temple

Wembley: Stadium, shopping, Indian restaurants

Harrow: the Village, Churchill's Public School days

7. North London: Camden and Hampstead. North of the Central areas lay a series of very contrasting districts -from former industrial areas to ancient villages. Definitely, the best know drag here are the super-famous Camden Town Markets. But, what about Primrose Hill, or Belsize Park. Definitely Hampstead and Highgate are little gems!.

8. North London: Clerkenwell and Islington. In fact, only a short walk from St.Pauls's Cathedral lay a former industrial and working class area called Clerkenwell. Now Clerkenwell is one of the creative areas of London. And, to its North, Islington mixes residential areas with lively shopping and leisure quarters where local Londoners enjoy themselves...

9. North East: Hoxton,  Shoreditch, Hackney, Newington, Clapton. Close to the City and extending towards the North, along a Roman road, working class areas sprang up where the fields and the gardens of the old manors and aristocratic residences were only 200 years ago. Now, some of the slums have been gentrified, but as well ethnic  or religious communities, like the Turkish and the Jewish, with their own shops and restaurants. Lovely and lively street atmosphere. Georgian and Victorian terraced houses make up part of the area. Some of those aristocratic mansions are still there!. And lots of social housing. This is real London!.

And this area, and here lies the charm is that it can be reached by walking and, especially cycling, along the valley of the River Lea, a fantastic experience.

10. The East End. Immediately to the East of the City, lay a series of quarters (Spitalfields, Whitechapel, Bethnal Green, Stepney, Wapping, Shadwell, Poplar, Isle of Dogs) traditionally the haunt of the working classes, the poor, the factories, the old docks, with its dockers and sailors. And some criminal characters. Well, you have heard about Jack the Ripper, don't you?. However, there is more to the East End that Jack the Ripper. So now, forget about old Jack. The East End has got beautiful and contrasting architecture, quirky shops and street markets (the East End Markets!), all types of restaurants (do you like curries?), and lots of history, to keep us entertained without even mentioning Jack!. By the the way there no such a place called Walford. And... the E20 postal district was given a few years ago to the Olympic Park area!.

11. East London. Did you know that London, for the most part of the beginning of our century, is shifting its interest to the East?. Since the celebration of the 2012 Olympic Games and on its wave, the poor, industrial, working class quarters are immersed in a huge change. Definitely the Olympic Park is a must. Areas like Stratford, West Ham, Leyton, Leytonstone (do you know the most famous son of Leytonstone?. No, no, I didn't mean David Beckham. Alfred Hitchcock!)

Walthamstow has the longest street market in the world and, half way down towards the marshes and the Lea Valley  you will find Manzes's, the pie and mash restaurant. This is real London!. However, more to the East, and away ay of the inner city parts of the district, the old village of Walthamstow is delicious, charming spot, as they are as well the villagey and suburban Wanstead, Woodford or Chingford. I know, youn have never heard about those places. You are around 12 miles from Charing Cross. An Epping Forest is at your feet.

This area can be reached as well along the River Lea Valley. Can you imagine yourself cycling and walking along a Regional Natural Park, only a few minutes away from a tube line that drops you back in Central London?

12. South East: Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich. Now, we are South of the River Thames, in old inner city areas dominated by the docks and the industries around the port. Greenwich is a well known destination, with popular attractions as the Cutty Sark Clipper, the Royal National Maritime Museum or the world famous Royal Observatory. Rotherhithe has got a little pub, by the church: the Mayflower. Does it ring you bells, that name?. But then, in the 17th c, Rotherhithe, as the rest of the settlements, was a fishing hamlet... Only that King Henry the VIII set up the Royal Navy around the area. An that decision, changed... the world.

13. South: Lambeth, Kennington, Brixton, Clapham, Tooting, Morden.

South Lambeth

Kennington

Brixton

Clapham

Tooting

Morden

14. South West: Battersea, Wandsworth, Wimbledon.

Battersea old Vilage

Wandsworth; the former brewery

Wimbledon: the tennis club

15. South West: Chiswick, Kew, Richmond, Hampton Court. Aristocratic, green, well healed areas to the South West of Greater London. So expect aristocratic houses and royal palaces that you can visit, nicely manicured parks and gardens,  and the Thames Path, if you like nature, Or beautifully kept urban streets lined with independent shops and restaurants...

LET'S SEE SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW A DAY TOUR CAN LOOK...

Our time frame, is a whole day.  My tours are not sealed: you command the excursion. I will offer you ideas and it a lot of space for improvisation.

- A full day  CYCLING  in East London: departing from the  Olympic Park our tour is taking us along cycling lanes and mainly quiet roads, through interesting areas as  Stratford, West Ham, Forest Gate, Wanstead, parts of Epping Forest, and Leytonstone and  Leyton. The  one time Olympic venues, a cathedral-like sewerage pumping station, village churches, almshouses, natural spaces (the Lea Valley Regional Park), a former workhouse, the birth-place of Alfred Hitchcock, exotic food...

- A round CYCLING tour to the CIty of London from the Olympic Park:

Olympic Park - Hackney Wick (from warehouses to artists) - Victoria Park -  Broadway Market (Saturday Food Market - Spitalfields - City of London - Guildhall (the City of London city-hall - St.Paul's Cathedral- Bank of England and Royal Exchange - Leadenhall Market and  the Gherkin - Tower of London -  St.Katharine Docks and Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse (Dock areas) - Three Mills Island (the largest extant watermill)- Olympic Park.

- CYCLING from the Olympic Park to Westminster, on a Boris Bike

We can follow the same route of the previous tour but, instead of returning to the Olympic Park, we are going to continue from St.Paul's, towards the Old Bailey, and then on:  Smithfield  (Victorian market) - Hatton Garden (the Diamonds district) - Lincoln's Inn (on of the four historical Inns of Court) - Covent Garden - Trafalgar Square - Buckingham Palace - Parliament Square.

- What about touring the East End on a Sunday morning?. You won't be disappointed... A part of the history and the architecture of Spitalfields you will  browsing through four street markets (do not miss the Columbia Road one!), After enjoying  some street food, why not catching the bus towards the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. After crossing the famous bridge, bus 188 is going to take us to Rotherhithe (a little drink in the Mayflower pub?), Deptford and Greenwich. After dinner in, let's say, the Trafalgar Tavern, in  Greenwich, the train, the bus, or the DLR takes you back towards central London.

- Or... Any day of your stay, but preferably working days: why not enjoying a walk  through the City  towards Hoxton...Hipsters land!. Once at Shoreditch or Kingsland we hop on a bus towards Dalston. Our Turkish lunch  maybe is waiting for us... After lunch, why not catching a bus to Stoke Newington. A charming village... After a walking tour, tea is going to be served  for us at the old Clissold House. The buses and the Overground take us back to Central London.

- Or... Let's go to Kensington and Notting Hill. After a morning tour (the former village  around the Royal Palace is absolutly charming...),  a short bus journey  on number 52 takes us to Notting Hill Gate or bang in the middle of Notting Hill.  Lunch at The Wellingon Pub?. After lunch  we take all the atmosphere and the colours of the Portobello Road market, and the streets of Notting Hill,  we carry on walking, until we reach the canal (well, before that, a short break for a coffee and a Portuguese pastry or cake at Lisboa or O'porto cafes) and alongside the canal you will reach Little Venice in half an hour time!. Dinner at Little Venice?.

- Or... shall we go to SW London. London Arcadia!.  Green, unpolluted, bucolic...

We will be starting at Turham Green. A long walk is going to take as through Chiswick  (we will be admiring the exteriors of Chiswick House) and Strand-on-the Green. Once ar Kew Bridge we will be taking the bus to Richmond. unless you prefer a light lunch at the Maids of Honour, at Kew, finished by tea and a "Maid of Honnour " cake!. The afternoon is going to be spent walking in RIchmond, one of the most charming of the London villages.

-  Now, another idea. It is the turn of the North: Hampstead. Again, a delicious London village. A few stops away from the crowds of the Camden Markets. However, maybe you want to see the markets, as well... We will drop in on! We could be walking across Primrose Hill and/or Belsize Park, I will give you the choice. On arrival to Hampstead we will be starving...  Or, perhaps, we will be having lunch somewhere  in between... Afterwards, a Hampstead walk tour is going to give us great satisfaction. Time permitting, what about reaching Kenwood House (if an aristocratic country house is of your taste, otherwise, the Spaniards Inn Pub won't disappoint us -knowing that Dick Turpin hasn't been around the inn for ages...).