London for book lovers: 10 spots and activities you shouldn’t miss

The city of London was home to some of history’s most renowned scribes, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Virginia Woolf and George Orwell. Its cobbled streets, parks, and iconic landmarks—once frequented by these writers—have been immortalized in the pages of classic novels, plays, and other literary works.

If you’re a book lover, you’ll feel right at home in London, where almost every corner is brimming with literary history. You can use the city’s blue plaques app as a guide for finding places where notable figures (including authors) worked and lived. Or you can browse our guide and put together a literary tour of your own.

From libraries to pubs to museums, here are some of the best literary locations and things to do in London for book lovers.

Unlike in the fictional world of Harry Potter, Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross station is visible to Muggles. The spot, marked by a disappearing luggage trolley and almost always attracting a long line, is hard to miss.

Attendants from the Harry Potter Shop beside it will let you choose a wand and a house scarf. Channel your inner wizard, strike a pose, and have your photo taken before shopping for magical treats and collectibles from the gift shop.

A neighborhood steeped in history, Bloomsbury lent its name to the Bloomsbury Group, a collective of influential authors and artists including Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, and Desmond MacCarthy. Stroll through the Bloomsbury Square Gardens to see where the group frequently met and keep an eye out for the blue plaques outside buildings in Gordon Square.

Continue your literary tour by heading to the Charles Dickens Museum on Doughty Street. The author lived here for only two years but this is where he penned Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, so this site is well worth visiting. The museum houses over 100,000 memorabilia including Dickens’ manuscripts, rare editions, paintings, and personal items.

Also in Bloomsbury is the Senate House Library, one of London’s first skyscrapers and the University of London’s central library. The enormous Art Deco building, once used by the U.K.’s Ministry of Information, served as inspiration for the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s famed dystopian novel, 1984.

The library rooms, which hold over two million books and thousands of special and archival collections, are open to registered readers but the Convocation Hall (4th floor) occasionally runs public exhibition spaces.

Shakespeare’s Globe is a modern yet strikingly authentic reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, the open-air playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays. For a full experience, watch a Shakespearean production from the pit. You can also travel back in time to the early 1600s as you enjoy an immersive guided tour of the theater, followed by afternoon tea at the Swan at the Globe.

Technically standing between 237 and 241 Baker Street, the Sherlock Holmes Museum claims the address 221B by permission of the City of Westminster. The museum, built in honor of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous fictional detective, is a painstaking recreation of the Victorian flat that Holmes shared with Doctor Watson.

From Holmes’ study on the ground floor to the wax figures of villains on the third floor, taking in the small museum will require less than an hour. Afterward, score some souvenirs from the gift shop next door.

Literature fans shouldn’t miss the British Library, the world’s biggest library. It has between 170 and 200 million items from almost every language and faith group, squeezed into over 300 miles of shelves—and growing each year!

You’ll need a reader pass, which you can get for free, to access the library’s massive collection. With comfy seats and free Wi-Fi, it’s easy to while away an afternoon here. Make sure to check out the drafts of the Magna Carta, Leonardo da Vinci’s Notebook, original copies of Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and Jane Eyre, and handwritten lyrics from the Beatles.

Most of us know Peter Pan for his adventures in Neverland. But did you know that the first setting for this famous literary character was Kensington Gardens, one of the Royal Parks of London?

Peter Pan was first introduced in J. M. Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird and later in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, published in 1906. In both stories, Peter was a seven-day-old infant who escaped from his nursery to Kensington Gardens, where the fairies and birds taught him to fly.

Visit the sprawling park to see the 100-year-old statue of the boy himself (not the infant though). The Darling’s house—more specifically the house of the Llewelyn Davies family who inspired the 1904 play and 1911 novel—is just a few steps away at 31 Kensington Park Gardens.

The final resting place of many of Britain’s most esteemed authors, poets, and playwrights, the Poets’ Corner is a must-see for those making a trip to Westminster Abbey.

The list of literary legends interred in the Poets’ Corner includes Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, and Alfred Tennyson. Get an audio guide with your ticket or join a skip-the-line tour of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.

Browse through Libreria Bookshop’s shelves—arranged in themes such as ‘wanderlust’, ‘enchantment for the disenchanted’, and ‘the city’—pick a cozy spot, and get lost in the world of words. Keep your phone in the deepest corner of your bag though and don’t expect to snap Instagrammable photos as this tech-free bookshop bans mobile phones and other digital distractions.

Trace the steps of some of the biggest names in literature and drink with their spirits by visiting some of the English pubs they frequented.

Take your pick from Fitzroy Tavern on Charlotte Street, a favorite hangout of George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw, and Dylan Thomas, or the celebrated George Inn in Talbot Square, whose patrons included Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. For authentic British pub fare and ancient cellar vibes, pop inside Fleet Street’s Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, the drinking den of Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson, W. B. Yeats, Voltaire, and Charles Dickens.

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