London is a city where the neighbourhood you choose decides almost everything else. Mayfair, Notting Hill, Shoreditch, and Hackney are not variations of the same place. Each has its own shops, restaurants, prices, and crowd. The Thames separates north and south, but the lines that matter run along the streets, not the river. Most visitors try to cover too much. Cabs are expensive and the Tube takes longer than the map suggests. Coffee in Soho followed by dinner in Hackney is not a Sunday, it is forty-five minutes underground and a wasted late afternoon. The better approach is to pick one area, walk it, and let the trip take shape from there. The London Atrium recommends is built around postcodes. The Emory in Knightsbridge for quiet luxury close to Hyde Park. The Mandrake in Fitzrovia for a hotel built around its courtyard. Core by Clare Smyth and Juno Omakase, both in Notting Hill, for two different ways of doing restraint at the table. Tayēr + Elementary in Shoreditch and A Bar with Shapes for a Name in Dalston for the bars that the global cocktail world flies in to drink at. Pick the neighbourhood first. The rest is detail.