Covent garden and the Temple make a great contrast: Covent Garden's market and Piazza are full of pubs, bars and restaurants (see our food and drink section for details), while the Temple area houses the beautiful Inns of Court - an oasis of 17th C calm beside the river. Make sure you visit the Temple Church. Somerset House, on the Strand is one of the newest 'grands projects' - housing the Courtauld Gallery, the (St Petersburg) Hermitage Museum and the Gilbert Collection as well as restaurants and coffee bars - a great place for coffee outside on a sunny day.
There's also the Freemason's Temple on Great Queen Street , the Actor's Church in the middle of the Piazza, Seven Dials' trendy new-age shopping, London's best small theatre: the Donmar Warehouse, the warren of old passageways round Dicken's favourite pub, the Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, Dr Johnson's House and at the area's northern tip, Bloomsbury and the British Museum. Tube: Charing Cross or Covent Garden.