Natural History Museum

Home to botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology collections containing around 70 million items including specimens gathered by Charles Darwin, Alfred Waterhouse's vast Victorian Romanesque structure is the exquisite, zoologically decorated neighbour of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Science Museum in South Kensington. This exhaustive collection of natural world remnants — from insects to dinosaurs — lived in the British Museum until 1881, when it moved to this maze-like Victorian jewel, which is also home to a major research facility. Access to the library is possible, but by appointment. Even if the contents have limited appeal, the building is a must. And if creepy crawlies drive you to distraction [ie shopping], then Harrods and Harvey Nichols [see entries] are less than a ten-minute walk away.