The View from the Shard

From Friday you’ll be able to view London from Europe’s tallest building, as the View from the Shard opens for business. A ticket allows you access to the the building’s highest floors, from which you can enjoy a 40km-wide view over the city and its environs. Don’t forget to pay close attention to the displays on your way up – you might see a few familiar faces in surprising situations. Adult tickets start from £29.95.

Manet: Portraying Life at the Royal Academy of Arts

See the first major exhibition of Manet’s portraiture at the Royal Academy, which brings together works from around the world to highlight the artist’s skill in this complex field. This unique exhibition features more than 50 paintings, which depict everything from Manet’s friends and relatives to popular society figures of his day. For those looking to make a weekend of it, the nearby Athenaeum Hotel’s Manet Experience package offers a perfect combination of culture and luxury. Until 14 Apr

RAF Photographer of the Year 2012, at the RAF Museum

See stunning images of Air Force life at the RAF Photographer of the Year exhibition. The competition is now in its 23rd year and attracted more than 900 entries in 2012, depicting everything from life during overseas operations to the RAF’s world-class equipment. Not only can you see photographs by winner Corporal Mike Jones and many others, but you can also explore the rest of this fascinating museum, which features military aircraft displays, a 4D theatre and a chance to learn more about RAF history. Entry to the museum and exhibition is free.  Until 15 Apr

Snowdrop Days, Chelsea Physic Garden

Admire 10,000 newly-planted snowdrops in the Chelsea Physic Garden, which hosts this stunning celebration of the delicate white flower. As well as the garden displays, you can examine different varieties up close in the Snowdrop Theatre, or buy your own from the Chelsea Physic Garden shop. The Snowdrop Days are accompanied by programme of events that includes guided walks, lectures and workshops. Adult tickets are £9. Until 10 Feb

London Dungeon Car Boot Sale

Why exit through the gift shop when you can take the attraction home with you? Anyone who has enjoyed the deliciously terrifying delights of the London Dungeon will be delighted by the news that, on 3 February, the Dungeon will be selling off props from its old location at the Pimlico Car Boot Sale. You can purchase everything from cut-price period costumes to ghoulish fake body parts at this relocation sale, which precedes the start of the attraction’s new reign of terror at the Southbank in March. 3 Feb, from 11.30am

More events in London

Last year set the bar pretty high for events and attractions in London, but 2013 is shaping up to be just as exciting. Here are some highlights you can’t miss this year.

View from the Shard

When? From 1 February

What? The opening of the Shard – that spiky new building that you can see from all over London. You can visit the viewing deck on the (deep breath) 69th floor, where digital telescopes will fill you in on the various parts of London you can gaze at.

Why? It was Europe’s tallest building, until November last year when a tower in Russia inched ahead. But height isn’t everything – the Shard is iconic and will give you giddy views of the city from 40 miles around. If you’re feeling brave, head up to the 72nd floor – it’s partly open air and the highest point you can access.

New London Dungeon

When? From 1 March

What? The London Dungeon is moving to a new home at County Hall, due to building work at London Bridge station.

Why? The move to the South Bank means a refreshed and more scary dungeon – there are 18 new spine-tingling shows to watch, and a virtual 3D Brian Blessed will sentence you to death as Henry VIII.

The Coronation Festival

When? 11-14 July

What? Dust off that bunting from the Diamond Jubilee, it’s the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation, which happened a year after she became Queen. To celebrate, Buckingham Palace is hosting an exhibition featuring more than 200 companies who hold Royal Warrants of Appointment – the mark of recognition for companies who have supplied goods or services to the royal family. There will also be two evening galas celebrating music throughout Her Majesty’s rein.

Why? The goods on show will be the best of British – officially. And it’s in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, need we say more?

RideLondon

When? 3-4 August

What? A brand new cycling festival through the streets of London. RideLondon is made up of three events: a 100-mile road challenge beginning in the Olympic Park, a family fun ride around London landmarks for up to 70,000 cyclists and a city centre grand prix for women’s elite, junior cyclists and hand cycles.

Why? After Bradley Wiggins rode to glory in the Tour de France and then won the Olympic time trial, the appetite for cycling in London is huge – 50,000 people have registered for only 20,000 places in the road challenge.

What are you looking forward to this year? Let us know below.

The dungeon has been terrifying visitors in its current location at London Bridge for almost 40 years. But it will close at the end of January and re-open in the underground vaults of County Hall on the South Bank in March.

Owners Merlin Entertainments promise the new dungeon will be “bigger, bolder and better”. Some of the attractions’ favourite characters, including Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper, will be making the move to County Hall. They’ll be joined by new villains, including a murderous Henry VIII “virtually played” by actor Brian Blessed; and gunpowder plotter Guy Fawkes.

Rides at the new London Dungeon will take visitors condemned to execution on a turbulent journey along the Thames; provide a “deadly drop” of three storeys; and a disorientating journey through Bazelgette’s Victorian sewer system.

Fans of The London Dungeon will be pleased to know that the usual band of torturers, plague victims, giant cockroaches and rats will be providing live shows and scares at the new venue.

The London Dungeon, Tooley Street is open until 31 January 2012. The new London Dungeon at County Hall opens 1 March. Prices for the new venue remain same same. Book tickets

London’s famous double-decker buses are an ideal way to see the city if you’re on a budget. Buy a Travelcard for the day and take a self-guided city tour on London’s best bus routes. These five cover most of the major sights in the city. Their routes are described from west to east and the return journey passes the same sights in reverse.

Number 74
Starting in Putney, this route travels past London’s museums hub in South Kensington where the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum sit side by side. It then passes luxury department store Harrods and the boundary of one of London’s largest green spaces at Hyde Park Corner. You can catch a glimpse of The Dorchester hotel just after, followed by the famous haunt of public rhetoric – Speaker’s Corner at Marble Arch. The final stop is Baker Street, home to both the Madame Tussauds waxwork museum and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, at the site of the fictional detective’s residence.

Number 9
The number 9 is one of only two routes operating the old-style Routemaster buses on part of its route. Leaving from Hammersmith, it passes Kensington Palace (you’ll have to get off to see it) followed by the beautiful Royal Albert Hall and the monument to Queen Victoria’s husband which sits opposite it. Like the number 74, the 9 passes the museums in Kensington, Harrods and Hyde Park corner. It takes a different route afterwards to visit St James’s Palace, Trafalgar Square, The Savoy hotel and arts and cultural centre Somerset House.

Number RV1
The RV1 is a favourite route for us here at VL Towers! Despite being a single decker, it still passes through some of the best parts of London, giving you a great cultural tour of the city. Soak up some shops and street theatre at Covent Garden before taking the RV1. Hopping on it will take you to the South Bank where you’ll see the London Eye and Royal Festival Hall. The London Bridge stop is metres from the London Dungeon and City Hall is the next sight on the route, which crosses Tower Bridge to finish up at the Tower of London.

Number 24
The 24 sets off from Camden Town which offers alternative fashion and food. The bus then heads to the more mainstream Leicester Square in the centre, calling in at Trafalgar Square and Horse Guards Parade. The political heart of London is next as the bus passes Parliament Square where you’ll find Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, as well as the nearby Westminster Abbey where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were married last year. The final site is the city’s policing headquarters at the iconic New Scotland Yard building.

Be aware that some bus routes might change during the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games – read our top tips for Olympic travel here

Win a Standard Annual Merlin Pass and you’ll get 12 months’ free entry to Merlin attractions across London and the UK, including the London Eye, London Aquarium, Madame Tussauds and London Dungeon.

Don’t worry, though, you won’t have to go on your own – your special pass also gives you savings on tickets for friends and family, plus food and shopping discounts at Merlin attractions and other special offers.

Enter now to win a Standard Annual Merlin Pass

The My London Sticker Collection offers children a fun way to discover more about London’s landmarks, as well as creating a great “personalised” guide book with colourful pictures of the city.

Children can collect stickers of everything London; from famous sporting venues like Wembley Stadium and Lord’s Cricket Ground to notable Londoners such as Charles Dickens and Winston Churchill.

The book, which costs just £1 from newsagents and shops like WH Smith, also contains “money-off vouchers” and exclusive deals and discounts for a variety of family activities including West End shows, the London Dungeon and the Houses of Parliament.

If you’re stuck on the ground in London due to the volcanic ash cloud, here’s some cheering news at last. Merlin Entertainments is offering stranded travellers half-price tickets to top London attractions including:

• London Eye
• Madame Tussauds
• SEA LIFE London Aquarium
• London Dungeon

All you need to do is present your unused flight ticket (or e-ticket) and passport at the attraction’s ticket desk within two weeks of the flight being cancelled and you’ll only need to pay half the ticket price!

The offer ends on 14 May, but may be renewed if air traffic restrictions continue.

Winston Churchill’s Britain at War Experience

This permanent exhibition explores life for everyday citizens in Britain during the Second World War.

You can huddle under an Anderson shelter, see real wartime bombs and hear children’s experiences of evacuation.

You may have been stuck on the Tube before, but can you image sleeping down there? The underground tunnels were one of the places Londoners sheltered during the air raids of World War Two. With no toilets, people had to relieve themselves on the tracks – and by all accounts, things became rather stinky!

After the main exhibition, we entered a dark, smokey room to see the ruins of a bomb-hit building. Sirens, flashing lights and even body-parts brought home just how much damage the bombs did.

For me, the most fascinating aspect of the exhibition was finding out how people managed to carry on and make the best of things despite rationing and the ever-present fear of being bombed.

For example, couples getting married at the time would have to make do with a cardboard wedding cake as food was in short supply. Cake companies would hire out a replica cake for the day, and if you were lucky, there’d be a small drawer inside with a tiny slice of real cake to enjoy.

If you like retro-style postcards, magnets and badges, I’d also recommend a trip to the gift shop afterwards. You can even pick up a replica ration book.

Or if you’d like to try a 1940s Christmas this year, take a look at the Imperial War Museum’s Wartime Christmas Pudding recipe.

Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre, London

Gina Gitonga aged 11 lives in Kenya and recently spent a few weeks in London. We know it’s a bit early for Halloween, but here are her highlights for a frighteningly fun weekend in London.

Friday night kicks off with one of the best musicals around. Wicked is about the witches of Oz before they became Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. The pair meet at university: one is popular and one is not and yet they become friends. Catchy songs, brilliant singing and spectacular sets make an amazing show. I loved it!

Saturday morning is a visit to the London Dungeon. We braved the queues and once we got inside it was really scary! I found out about London’s horrible past from Jack the Ripper to the Great Fire of London. There are also two rides; a boat through Traitors’ Gate in the dark and the terrifying Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom where you get lifted up and then freefall down! To recover we went to Dim T – my first ever dim sum – delicious.

Then it’s off to the Tower of London for the afternoon to see the real Traitors’ Gate and the scene of many executions including Anne Boleyn. We also saw Henry VIII’s armour and the famous crown jewels.

On Sunday head off on a thrilling, high-speed boat ride with Thames RIB Experience. Our trip started slowly like a normal tour and then we sped up and the boat rocked from side to side! We went under Tower Bridge  and as far as Canary Wharf before turning round.

I enjoyed every minute of my time in London and look forward to coming back again soon.

Do you have any suggestions for Halloween high jinks in London?