Ambience:
Bayswater offers an intriguing mix of placid Georgian houses lining tree-shaded streets, while only a few blocks away are lively clubs and shopping areas. This is one of the more popular areas for visitors to London, with the region boasting a wide variety of hotels and guesthouses. Those hotels close to Hyde Park are generally larger and more luxurious, but just a short walk away are smaller, family-run establishments offering alternative accommodation at a budget price.
Attractions:
- Hyde Park - Once a hunting ground for Henry VIII, Hyde Park's character stems from the Serpentine Lake, home to waterfowl and sweating oarsmen. Rotten Row, on the southern boundary of the park, is a famous horse-riding area, and Speaker's Corner, by the Marble Arch entrance, is the place to listen to soap-box orators on Sunday mornings.
- Notting Hill - famous for the recent hit film of the same name, this region is still better known as the site of a fabulous open-air carnival, which fills the streets with friendly mayhem and good times on the last weekend of August. It is billed as the largest free festival in Europe, and for three days the streets of Notting Hill are filled with musicians, dancers, and entertainers, and the beat of Caribbean rhythms fills the air!
- Portobello Road Antique Market - London's best-known destination for antique hunters; the road is lined with dealer's shops, and each Saturday market stalls are erected, bringing the total number of dealers to about 1500. A very wide variety of general and specialist antique dealers can be found at Portobello Road. website
- Oxford Street - this famous shopping street stretches for a mile, and for most of its length, it boasts some of London's finest shops.
- Marble Arch - an imposing arch built to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's triumph over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Located just across from Hyde Park and Speaker's Corner.
- Whiteley's Shopping Centre - the first department store in London (opened 1885), now one of London's most popular shopping centres. There are music concerts every week and a very large free art gallery.
- Bayswater Market - every Sunday, Bayswater Road is transformed into a large outdoor art gallery, with artists, painters and photographers showing their artwork on the railings beside Kensington Gardens.
- London Toy and Model Museum (21-23 Craven Hill, W2 3EN
tel:020 2629450, Lancaster Gate tube) - a fascinating museum sure to please the young and young at heart! Exhibits tell the story of toys throughout history, with working antique toys and a very wide variety of models. There are model trains, cars, aeroplanes, and more, plus dolls and plenty of cuddly teddy bears! Visitors can take a ride on a model railway.
