Date night in London

Top spots in London

• Tate Modern

  Culture

  Bankside

  Turbine Hall installations and free Bankside views from the viewing terrace.

• Borough Market

  Food & Drink

  Southwark

  Centuries-old food market — salt-beef bagels, oysters and raclette.

• Hampstead Heath

  Outdoors

  Hampstead

  320 hectares of meadow, ponds for swimming and Parliament Hill skyline.

• British Museum

  Culture

  Bloomsbury

  Rosetta Stone and Parthenon sculptures under Foster's Great Court roof.

• Columbia Road Flower Market

  Culture

  Bethnal Green

  Sunday-morning Cockney shouts, peonies and Shoreditch coffee crawls.

Best date-night spots in London

12 curated picks — from candlelit dinners to sunset views.

• Clos Maggiore

  $$$$

  Restaurant · Covent Garden

  Conservatory dining room with blossom ceiling — the romance benchmark.

• Sketch (The Lecture Room)

  $$$$

  Restaurant · Mayfair

  Pink room, three Michelin stars.

• Andrew Edmunds

  $$$

  Restaurant · Soho

  Candlelit Georgian townhouse since 1986.

• Sky Garden

  $$

  View · City

  Free walk-up to 35th-floor garden, sunset cocktail.

• Gordon's Wine Bar

  $$

  Wine bar · Embankment

  1890 candlelit cellar by the Thames.

• Coppa Club Tower Bridge

  $$$

  Restaurant · City

  Riverside igloos with Tower Bridge view.

• Wilton's Music Hall

  $$$

  Live music · East End

  1850s music hall, candlelit performances.

• Hampstead Heath sunset

  $

  Walk · Hampstead

  Parliament Hill view at golden hour.

• Connaught Bar

  $$$$

  Cocktail bar · Mayfair

  World's #1 cocktail bar, jacket required.

• Brawn

  $$$

  Restaurant · Shoreditch

  Natural-wine bistro, ideal for second-date.

• The Standard rooftop

  $$$

  View · King's Cross

  Bright pink lift to rooftop with Pancras spires.

• BFI Southbank

  $$

  Experience · South Bank

  Repertory cinema in concrete brutalist gem.

Where to eat

• St. John

  $$$

  British · Smithfield

  Fergus Henderson's nose-to-tail classic — bone marrow and madeira.

• Dishoom Covent Garden

  $$

  Bombay café · Covent Garden

  All-day bacon naan and house chai in a Bombay Irani-café setting.

• Padella

  $$

  Italian · Borough Market

  Hand-rolled pici cacio e pepe; expect a 45-min queue.

• Lyle's

  $$$

  Modern British · Shoreditch

  Daily-changing produce-led tasting menu in a stripped-back room.