Travels in...Marylebone

Marylebone is one of London's most desired areas to live. Unsurprisingly, I don't live there, but I often make the trip to the leafy part of North London to discover it's many delights. Sandwiched between Oxford Street and Marylebone Lane is one of London's most appealing areas because it is secluded enough by the wealth and opulence of the surrounding streets, but near enough to the action that I imagine the locals don't get bored.

For visitors, too, Marylebone has plenty of cozy shops, flower stalls, backstreet pubs and dozens of other quintessentially British venues, some of which have been in business from the early 20th century. Many famous people live and have been born in this area including Ringo Starr of the Beatles, who lived for a short time at 34 Montagu Square, which later became famous as a frequent drop-in centre for most of the prominent musicians of the 1960s and was home to John Lennon and Yoko Ono when Lennon left his first wife.

There are some very important attractions to see too including one of my favourite museums, the Wallace Collection and the very inviting Sherlock Holmes museum. Typical traps also include the famous Madame Tussaud's waxworks and the London Planetarium.

Marylebone may not be a top spot in most tourist guides, but for any Londoner serious about getting to know their city, this is very a great spot at any time of year.

Travelling by ear

I've previously discussed a few web guides and videos that are great for finding out more about London and all the best areas to go, but now I've found something even better!

There's a fantastic audio guide to London from the fellas over at Come Away With Me.

It may not show you the action live from the streets but this interactive your of London gives the listener plenty of interesting facts, tips and history about London's top landmarks. To make things even better, they position this all of an easy to decipher map so that when you're out and about for yourself, you'll already know where your going.

Very handy stuff to people new to London, but also a great refresher course for those of us who still get a bit lost round Soho sometimes...

Travels in...Clapham

This South London suburb is very popular among commuters, no doubt because the area is vibrant and busy both during the day and night. Nearby Clapham Common also offers plenty of sporting opportunities and a place to chill out or have a picnic with friends and family.

By day, Clapham High Street offers a wide variety of shops and cafes with the weekly London’s Farmers’ Market also making an appearance every Sunday. By night, Clapham attracts crowds from all over the City due to its large number of restaurants, pubs and clubs. A spot where I've been many times is Metro. It's name may not make it stand out from the crowd but the decor certainly does. With a cozy bar area complete with leather booths you step outside into a dazzling al-fresco dining area complete with fairy lights which help recreate the feeling of a secret garden. The food is reasonable priced and very tasty to boot.

One of the most popular spots is award-winning cocktail bar and club, Lost Society, whose impressive cocktails and chaise longues attract a wide variety of customers. Turn up early to avoid the queue.When I’m feeling a little more relaxed I like to head for some pleasant beery fun in a beer garden or watch the football and the Windmill on the Green is a safe bet for that. For the keen late-nighters the infamous Infernos is always packed out with students, travelling Australians and general ne'er-do-wells. It's pretty fun you've got to admit!

Travels in...Chinatown

London's Chinatown is in the heart of central London, near Soho and centres in and around Gerrard Street. There are a huge number of Chinese restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries, souvenir shops, and other Chinese-run businesses to tempt toursits and locals alike.

It's obviously very difficult to know the best places to go if you're a tourist but even plenty of Londoners still don't know where to get the best Chinese food on their own doorstep. I've been to HK Diner quite a bit and that was very tasty I but wanted to know some of the other good Chinese places to eat.

It's also important to know which places to avoid and which restaraunts are going to over-charge. For this take a guided tour of Chinatown and find out the best places to eat and - perhaps most importantly - the worst!