by Marlex Apartment
I’ve lived in London for over fifteen years, and I can still remember my first visit as a tourist, dutifully ticking off Big Ben, the Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace while secretly wondering if there was more to this city than the postcards suggested. Spoiler: there absolutely is. London’s real magic doesn’t live in the queues outside tourist attractions. It lives in tiny courtyards painted in rainbow colours, along tranquil canals where narrowboats bob gently in the current, inside Victorian markets with soaring iron and glass ceilings, and on hilltops where locals gather to watch the sun set over one of the world’s greatest cities.
These are London’s hidden gems, the places where the city breathes, where you’ll find yourself surrounded by Londoners rather than tour groups, where photographs capture something authentic rather than something you’ve seen a thousand times on Instagram. And the beautiful thing? Most of these spots sit within easy reach of central accommodation, accessible to anyone staying in well-located short-stay apartments that London offers across its diverse neighbourhoods.
This local travel guide London residents actually use will take you beyond the obvious, into corners of the city that reward curiosity and offer experiences you’ll remember long after you’ve forgotten which day you visited Westminster Abbey. Whether you’re here for a weekend, a month, or somewhere in between, these are the must-visit spots in London that transform tourists into temporary Londoners, people who don’t just see the city, but feel it.
Most visitors don’t realize London has canals at all, let alone beautiful ones. Little Venice, where the Grand Union and Regent’s Canals meet near Paddington, offers one of London’s most unexpectedly peaceful experiences, a world of painted narrowboats, waterside cafés, and tree-lined towpaths that feels utterly removed from the urban chaos just streets away.
Walk here on a Saturday morning and you’ll find boat owners tending to their floating homes, their vibrant paintwork reflecting in the still water. The Puppet Theatre Barge, a working puppet theatre on an actual barge, performs shows that enchant children and adults equally. Waterside cafés serve excellent coffee and brunch while you watch ducks paddle past and cyclists cruise along the towpath.
But Little Venice’s real gift is the walk it offers. Follow the canal east toward Camden, and you’ll spend an hour or more on one of London’s loveliest walks, past Regent’s Park (where you can detour through the rose gardens), through the edge of Primrose Hill, past the zoo where you can sometimes hear lions roaring, and eventually into Camden’s vibrant chaos. It’s a journey through multiple Londons, all connected by water that’s been here since the early 1800s.
This area sits minutes from Paddington and Warwick Avenue stations, making it easily accessible from serviced apartments London offers around Bayswater and Paddington, neighbourhoods that provide affordable accommodation London visitors often overlook despite their excellent connectivity and proximity to both Hyde Park and the West End.
Right in the heart of tourist-heavy Covent Garden, hidden down a small alley, sits one of London’s most photogenic secrets. Neal’s Yard is a tiny courtyard where every building explodes with colour, bright blues, yellows, purples, and greens covering the facades of health food shops, vegetarian restaurants, and natural remedy stores that have occupied this space since the 1970s.
The courtyard itself is barely larger than a tennis court, but it’s become one of London’s most beloved hidden gems because it represents everything Covent Garden used to be before chains and tourist tat took over: bohemian, independent, slightly hippie, and utterly charming. Neal’s Yard Remedies, the British natural cosmetics company, started right here and maintains its original shop alongside the Salad Bar (which has been serving wholesome vegetarian food since 1974) and Wild Food Café.
Visit mid-morning on a weekday when the courtyard is quieter, order a fresh juice or vegetarian bowl, and sit at one of the outdoor tables watching the light play across those brilliantly painted walls. Photographers love this spot, the colours, the contrast with surrounding grey London, and the intimate scale make it endlessly photogenic.
You can walk here in ten minutes from any accommodation around Covent Garden or Holborn, making it perfect for guests staying in the area who want to discover something beyond the main market crowds. It’s these tiny discoveries, colourful courtyards hidden behind busy streets, that make staying centrally in well-positioned serviced apartments worthwhile. You’re close enough to stumble upon magic between bigger plans.
The City of London, the ancient square mile of financial towers and historic churches, harbors an exquisite Victorian market that most tourists never see despite its starring role in the first Harry Potter film (it doubled as Diagon Alley). Leadenhall Market, with its ornate cobalt blue and maroon painted roof, graceful arches, and polished stone floors, represents Victorian commercial architecture at its most elegant.
Walking into Leadenhall feels like stepping back 150 years. The structure dates to 1881, built on a site that’s housed markets since Roman times. Today, it holds boutique shops, wine bars, traditional pubs, and upscale food vendors. The architecture alone justifies the visit; look up at those soaring painted ceilings, the decorative ironwork, the way light filters through the glass roof, creating patterns on the stone below.
But Leadenhall also offers a glimpse into City life, at lunchtime, bankers and traders in expensive suits grab sandwiches or pints at the Lamb Tavern, a pub that’s occupied the same spot since the 1700s. This is working London, beautiful London, hidden-in-plain-sight London all at once.
The market sits minutes from Monument, Bank, and Aldgate stations, tucked among the City’s towers. It’s easily accessible from things to do in London itineraries that include the Tower of London or St. Paul’s Cathedral. For visitors staying in areas like Shoreditch or Liverpool Street, excellent value neighbourhoods with superb transport links, Leadenhall makes a perfect lunch destination between larger attractions.
London offers numerous viewpoints, the London Eye, the Shard’s viewing platform, and Sky Garden, all impressive, all expensive, and all perpetually crowded. Then there’s Primrose Hill, a grassy park summit in North London offering arguably the city’s finest panoramic view, completely free, and beloved by locals who gather here for sunset throughout summer.
The hill rises just 78 metres above sea level, but its position north of Regent’s Park provides unobstructed southward views across the city’s entire skyline, from the BT Tower to the Shard, St. Paul’s dome to the Gherkin, the London Eye to Westminster’s towers. On clear evenings, particularly during the golden hour before sunset, the light turns the whole scene honey-coloured and dreamlike.
Locals bring wine, cheese, and blankets, settling on the grass to watch the sun drop behind the city. It’s profoundly romantic without being manufactured, just people appreciating a beautiful view together. The surrounding Primrose Hill village offers excellent pubs (the Princess of Wales is particularly lovely), independent shops, and the kind of understated affluence that makes North London so appealing.
Chalk Farm and Camden Town stations both sit within 15 minutes’ walk, and the canal towpath connects Primrose Hill to Little Venice, creating a beautiful extended walk. This is the kind of local experience that makes London special, not an attraction you pay to enter, but a neighborhood hill where the city reveals itself spectacularly and freely.
For travellers staying in North London areas like Camden or Kentish Town, neighbourhoods offering excellent value and an authentic local atmosphere, Primrose Hill becomes a regular sunset destination rather than a special trip.
Near St. Paul’s Cathedral, hidden behind modern buildings and barely signposted, sits one of London’s most moving hidden spaces. Postman’s Park is a small public garden created in 1880 by combining several churchyards. It’s pleasant enough, benches, flower beds, office workers eating lunch, but the Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice makes it extraordinary.
Victorian artist George Frederic Watts conceived this memorial to honour ordinary people who died saving others’ lives. Hand-painted ceramic plaques line one wall, each commemorating an individual act of fatal heroism: “Alice Ayres, daughter of a bricklayer’s labourer who by intrepid conduct saved 3 children from a burning house in Union Street Borough at the cost of her own young life.” “William Fisher, aged 9. Supported his drowning playfellow and sank with him clasped in his arms.”
There are 54 plaques, each a tiny window into Victorian London life and the courage of ordinary people in extraordinary moments. Reading them is profoundly moving; these weren’t soldiers or famous heroes, just people who chose to help at the ultimate cost. The park remains remarkably quiet despite sitting minutes from St. Paul’s, offering contemplative space in the midst of City busyness.
You can visit between St. Paul’s and the Museum of London, or include it in walks exploring the City’s hidden corners. It’s the kind of discovery that enriches London visits immeasurably, a place of genuine historical significance and emotional weight that most tourists never encounter.
If you’re in London on a Sunday morning, get yourself to Columbia Road in East London for one of the city’s most joyful experiences. This narrow Victorian street in Bethnal Green transforms every Sunday into a spectacular flower market, the entire street lined with stalls bursting with blooms, the air thick with vendors’ cheerful calls of “Twenty pounds for three! Best price in London, darling!”
The market runs from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, but arrive before noon when the crowds are manageable and the selection is best. Beyond the flowers themselves, spectacular tulips, roses, orchids, potted plants, and seasonal blooms sold at prices that would make Mayfair florists weep, the experience itself enchants. The surrounding independent shops, normally closed during the week, open on Sundays: vintage boutiques, artisan bakeries, record shops, and cafés spilling onto the pavement.
Angela Flanders’ perfume shop, housed in a Victorian shop, sells bespoke fragrances in gorgeous bottles. Treacle sells handmade bread and pastries that create queues down the street. The Royal Oak pub, covered in Victorian tiles, becomes the social hub where market-goers recover with pints and Sunday roasts.
Columbia Road captures London’s village atmosphere perfectly, locals catching up with neighbours over bunches of tulips, families with young children in tow, couples treating Sunday morning as a weekly ritual. This is London being London, unpretentious and wonderful.
The market sits near Hoxton and Bethnal Green stations in East London, easily accessible from accommodation in Shoreditch or nearby areas. For guests staying in serviced apartments around here, Columbia Road becomes a weekly highlight rather than a special expedition, the kind of local experience that staying in residential neighbourhoods enables.
West London’s Holland Park is beautiful throughout,55 acres of woodland, formal gardens, and peacocks roaming freely, but its Japanese Kyoto Garden creates something truly special. This authentic Japanese garden, gifted to London by Kyoto in 1991, offers a serene, contemplative space that feels utterly removed from surrounding London.
Enter through the traditional entrance, and you’re immediately in a different world. A waterfall cascades into a pond filled with enormous koi carp. Stone lanterns line carefully raked paths. Japanese maples, bamboo groves, and perfectly pruned shrubs create compositions that look painted rather than grown. Stone bridges arch over the water, reflecting in the still surface alongside the koi’s brilliant orange and white bodies.
The garden remains surprisingly quiet even when the rest of the park is busy. People instinctively lower their voices here, respecting the contemplative atmosphere. It’s perhaps a five-minute walk from one end to the other, but you could easily spend thirty minutes sitting on a bench watching the koi, listening to the waterfall, and feeling your London stress dissolve.
Holland Park station provides easy access, and the surrounding Kensington area offers numerous must-visit spots in London, from the Design Museum to Kensington Palace. It’s a particularly lovely addition to cultural days exploring the area’s museums and shops, providing peaceful respite between more active attractions.
Here’s something completely unexpected: a warehouse in North East London filled with thousands of vintage neon signs, creating one of the most visually spectacular spaces in the entire city. God’s Own Junkyard, run by the same family for decades, houses the collected neon works of the late Chris Bracey, who created neon for films (including Blade Runner and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and musicians (from Morrissey to Rihanna).
Walking into this space overwhelms the senses, every surface covered in glowing, flickering, buzzing vintage signs. “Paradise,” “Motel,” “Girls Girls Girls,” classic Las Vegas signage, custom artworks, and rescued cinema signs create a visual cacophony that’s absolutely mesmerizing. The adjoining Rolling Scones café serves excellent coffee and cakes among the neon glow, making it a proper destination rather than just a quick photo stop.
Photographers, artists, and anyone appreciating visual spectacle love this place. It’s also become a popular backdrop for fashion photography and music videos, giving it cultural credibility beyond pure novelty. But mostly, it’s just gloriously, exuberantly excessive, thousands of neon signs declaring nothing in particular, simply celebrating light, colour, and vintage Americana.
Walthamstow is in Zone 3, but Victoria line trains reach here from central London in 25 minutes, making it entirely feasible as a morning or afternoon expedition. It’s the kind of quirky, off-the-beaten-path discovery that rewards travellers who venture beyond central zones, perfect for anyone staying in well-connected serviced apartments London offers across various neighborhoods with good transport links.
The common thread connecting all these hidden gems in London is accessibility; none require special tours, expensive tickets, or advance booking. They’re simply there, waiting for curious travellers who’ve moved beyond the checklist mentality of “seeing London” and embraced the infinitely more rewarding approach of experiencing it.
This is where your choice of accommodation fundamentally shapes your London experience. Staying in well-located short-stay apartments rather than peripheral budget hotels means you’re genuinely integrated into London’s fabric. You can walk to Little Venice for Saturday morning coffee, catch sunset from Primrose Hill on Tuesday evening, and explore Columbia Road before Sunday lunch; these experiences become part of your routine rather than special expeditions requiring complex planning. Companies like Marlex Apartment position their properties specifically to enable this kind of London discovery. Serviced apartments across multiple neighborhoods mean you can choose areas that align with your interests and exploration goals. Want to be near East London’s creative energy? Stay in Shoreditch with God’s Own Junkyard and Columbia Road on your doorstep. Prefer West London’s elegance? Base yourself near Holland Park and Little Venice. Each neighborhood unlocks different hidden gems while maintaining connectivity to everything else.
When you book an apartment in London with thought given to neighborhood character rather than just proximity to Buckingham Palace, you transform your visit from tourism into something richer, a temporary residency in one of the world’s most endlessly fascinating cities.
The Tower of London and the British Museum deserve their fame; they’re genuinely spectacular. But London’s hidden corners, secret gardens, and local spots reveal the city’s soul in ways big attractions simply cannot. They show you London as Londoners experience it, colorful, surprising, historically layered, and perpetually worth exploring.
These places also don’t overwhelm or exhaust the way tourist attractions can. You won’t queue for an hour or fight crowds for photographs. You’ll simply discover beautiful, interesting, moving, or quirky spaces, enjoy them at your own pace, and carry on with your day feeling you’ve genuinely connected with the city rather than just consuming it.
Ready to explore London’s hidden gems like a local? Marlex Apartment offers comfortable, well-located serviced apartments across London’s most interesting and accessible neighborhoods, from creative East London to elegant West London to perfectly central areas in between. With the space and flexibility to settle into London properly, you’ll discover that the city’s real magic lives in the places most visitors never see. Book your stay today and start planning your journey through the London beyond the postcards, the London that locals love, the London that rewards curiosity, the London you’ll never want to leave.
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