• Tower Bridgelondon bridge image by Adkok from Fotolia.com
  
  Close to 15 million tourists visit London every year, and there's a good reason why London is year after year one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Whether you're interested in art or history, sports or science, music or theatre, architecture or fine dining, London has it all. You can spend a year in London and barely scratch the surface of what it has to offer.
  
  

Tate Modern

• Opened in 2000, Tate Modern is the UK's third most popular museum. Built in an old power station, the Tate attracts almost five million visitors a year. One of the main reasons for this is that it's free. The main collection consists of contemporary art works from 1900 onwards. There are pieces by Monet, Rothko, Matisse, Picasso, Warhol, Malevitch, Kapoor, Lichtenstein and many more. The most popular part of the museum is the huge turbine hall. The museum commissions well-known artists to create purpose-built pieces to fit this impressive space.
  
  Tate Modern
  
  53 Bankside
  
  London SE1 9TG
  
  44-207-887-8752
  
  tate.org.uk/modern
  
  

Natural History Museum

• If you like dinosaurs, the Natural History Museum is for you. Walking into the Central Hall, you are greeted by the giant Diplodocus skeleton. Go through the dinosaur section until you come face-to-face with a life-size moving model of a T-Rex. There are full-size replicas of a blue whale and other mammals. Learn about fossils and ecology in the Green Zone. The Red Zone includes an escalator that goes through the center of a model of planet Earth. Admission is free.
  
  Natural History Museum
  
  Cromwell Rd
  
  London SW75BD
  
  44-207-942-5000
  
  nhm.ac.uk
  
  

Tower of London

• Standing on the River Thames, the Tower of London has been a part of London's history for almost 1,000 years. William the Conqueror began building the fortress in 1066. It has since been an armory, a prison, a menagerie, and the home of the Royal Mint. Anne Boleyn died there. Guy Fawkes was interrogated there. Richard II and Elizabeth I were both incarcerated there. In the 16th century, two Princes were locked up there, never to be heard from again. The Tower of London now houses the Royal Jewels.
  
  Tower of London
  
  202-203 Grange Road
  
  London SE1 3AA
  
  44-844-482-7777
  
  hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon