What are the best romantic activities for couples visiting London?
Date post added: 18th February 2025
Move over Paris, London makes a perfect destination for couples. Whether you’re planning an intimate date night or a weekend packed with unique experiences, London offers a wealth of romantic activities for couples.
Indulge a shared passion, book a gastronomic dining experience, spend a day sightseeing or simply grab your loved one’s hand and stroll around the city’s magical streets and green spaces. There’s a lot to love about London. Here, we’ll share our favourite places to visit and fun things to experience with a loved one.
Foodie experiences
Are you a fine dining kind of couple? Would your other half delight in date night at a chi-chi restaurant? You’re spoilt for choice in London. An impressive 78 restaurants hold a prestigious Michelin star – some have two or three of the gastronomic accolades. You’ll find award-winning three-star restaurants in Central London’s Mayfair, Notting Hill and Chelsea.
But some of our favourite places to eat are neither award-winning nor chi-chi. They’re welcoming, relaxed and serve up great food. We recommend you head to Hampstead for brilliant gastropubs, Kensington for global cuisine or Brick Lane in East London for the best curry around.
How about afternoon tea? The ultimate in sophistication and luxury has to be at The Ritz or Fortnum & Mason. But you’ll find a wonderful array of afternoon tea experiences in the capital. Whether you want to eat it on a double decker bus, alongside a London cabbie, with a Japanese or German style, or a dog theme, you’ll find your choice of afternoon tea in London.
Fancy something a bit more down to earth? Explore eclectic food markets like Borough Market, Brixton Market, or Broadway Market in Hackney. You’ll find authentic, diverse street food alongside old school fruit and veg stalls.
Our foodie walks: we run several special walks to explore epicurian London. Look our for our London gourmet and foodie walk, the biscuits and banquets tour or the pie crust to upper crust walk. They make the ideal appetiser to your foodie activities.
Raise a glass
Cheers to you! Toast your relationship with a glass of something chilled and bubbly in a lovely London setting.
There are some incredible rooftop bars offering the best views over the London skyline. If you’re happy to splash the cash (or tap your device), head to swanky venues in The Shard, the OXO Tower or London Hilton Bar on Park Lane. Sky Garden on Fenchurch Street is well worth a visit, whether you choose to indulge in a glass of cold Champagne in the bar or sip a warm cuppa in the free public garden on the roof.
If you’re looking for old school glamour, try Nightjar in Soho and Shoreditch. It’s a speakeasy style cocktail bar with live music and world class drinks. Then there’s the Soho legend that is Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, serving up smooth vibes and sublime live music.
If the traditional British pub is more your vibe, then you’re spoilt for choice. Some of the best can be found in Soho, Covent Garden, Bermondsey and Hampstead – and that’s just for starters.
Our pub tours: Discover the hidden pubs of London old town, the pubs along the Thames and our Rotherhithe walk with the oldest riverside pub in London.
Unique experiences
Trying something different and having unique experiences is bang on trend in London. And it’s the place that’s brimming with fun things to do. There are endless possibilities, but these are a few suggestions.
Take on your partner with a spot of competitive ping pong. Bounce is a fun table tennis bar with venues in the City and Battersea. Weather permitting, you can also challenge your loved one to a table tennis contest for free in outdoor venues across the city including Merchant Square in Paddington.
A new addition to London’s Canary Wharf, Fair Game is filled with nostalgic funfair classics revamped for the modern age. Whack a mole, shoot hoops and hook a duck reimagined with the aid of technology.
For a date night with a difference, check out a cabaret. It’s always a spectacular event, often combined with a dining experience. The London Cabaret Club is great for dinner and a live show. Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is both a wonderful West End musical and an intimate, electrifying experience. It makes a memorable night.
Have you ever seen London from the water? Take a river cruise along the mighty River Thames or even a canal boat tour along the Regent’s Canal. It’s a wonderfully relaxing way of sightseeing. It may not be a gondola in Venice, but it’s the next best thing.
Our pub tours: Join our river cruise to explore London’s attractions from the River Thames, guided by Brunel supremo, Robert.
Date ideas for culture lovers
London does culture so very well. Choose from globally renowned art galleries, museums or West End shows. What’s your passion? Share a magical experience with your loved one.
Artists have been celebrating romantic love for centuries. Marvel at classic masterpieces in the National Gallery which houses famous paintings by great masters like Van Gogh and da Vinci. For more recent artworks, head to Tate Modern on the South Bank. The Tate Britain is also always worth visiting, and on Valentine’s Night it has an 80s special with live DJs (to coincide with their recent 80s exhibition).
Another cultural activity after dark is the candlelit twilight tour of Sir John Soane’s Museum. It’s a truly unique, and fascinating, experience.
The iconic Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington always makes us happy. There’s so much to discover, in particular the design and fashion collections. If that floats your loved one’s boat, we highly recommend it.
London’s West End is hard to beat for live shows. There are diverse theatre productions from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Wicked to The Mousetrap or Shakespearean classics. Then of course there are superb performances of opera and ballet to be enjoyed. Settling yourself in a velvet seat at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House for a breathtaking performance is a truly special experience
Our cultural tours: Let us guide you round some of London’s cultural attractions. Join us at the British Museum, the V&A, the Wallace Collection or the National Portrait Gallery. An afternoon at Tate Britain with distinguished art critic, Rick Jones will bring the incredible pictures to life – don’t miss it!
Explore the past
Fascinated by history? Learn more about London’s grisly and glorious past and feed your curiosity.
Maybe as a couple you enjoy exploring London’s dark past filled with true crime. Follow in the footsteps of the Victorian infamous criminal, Jack the Ripper, and his poor victims. Tales of the notorious murderer captivate visitors to capital as much today as they always have.
For a less gruesome day out, as well as an exploration of maritime history and time, Greenwich is a must-visit destination. Check out the Cutty Sark and National Maritime Museum. Grab your partner’s hand, lay back and enjoy some stargazing at the Royal Observatory. It’s a good way to stop, think and have a mindful moment.
Gaze in awe at the historic architecture of London landmarks like Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral (the gallery’s the perfect place to whisper sweet nothings!). The variety of beautiful historic buildings is quite incredible and they’re wonderful places to admire together.
Our history tours: Let’s share tales together as we explore Old Westminster, the impact of the Great Fire of London, or our bestselling Jack the Ripper walk. For something a little more bawdy, trace the steps of the king’s lover, Nell Gwynne in Covent Garden. Or explore the area’s sordid past on Ian’s Valentine’s tour.
Enjoy spectacular views of London
We may be biased (we definitely are!), but we think the London skyline is simply breathtaking. As you look over the mix of centuries-old and super modern buildings interspersed by green spaces and winding waterways, you can’t fail to stop in awe. And if you’re planning to pop the question to your other half, a beautiful backdrop makes the moment even more memorable.
Standing 42 metres above the River Thames, the Tower Bridge walkway spans its north and south towers. There’s a glass floor which can spook some people, but it does give you a unique vantage point and a wonderful panoramic view of London.
If you and your partner are fond of adrenalin-fuelled experiences, why not climb over the O2? Your reward for climbing to such a great height is a wonderful view (even if your legs have turned to jelly by the time you get there).
The London Eye provides a gentler way to see London from above. You can even private hire one of the glass pods for a particularly special experience as a couple.
For an alternative view from the South Bank, head to Battersea Power Station. You can take the express lift up one of the iconic chimneys for a marvellous view from the top.
Our tours with a view: One of our favourite walks involves climbing to the heights of Hampstead Heath and taking in the panoramic view back across the city.
Go for a walk
We’ve talked a lot about London’s buildings and cultural hotspots, but the city has a surprising amount of green space – probably more than you think. There are eight sprawling royal parks including Hyde Park, Richmond Park and Regent’s Park which are well worth walking around or stopping to enjoy a picnic. If you love horticulture, you must visit Kew Gardens or Chelsea Botanic Gardens.
A firm favourite for us, London’s South Bank is ideal for a romantic walk. There’s so much to see along the way from London Bridge to Waterloo or Victoria. Alternative waterside walks are along one of the capital’s canals. Little Venice is a particularly pretty place to start, and we highly recommend the canalside walk from Little Venice to Camden Lock.
Come walk with us
A guided tour of London, focusing on the area or topic that fascinates you, is a wonderful experience for couples. Indulge your passion – be that history, geography, art, music, royalty or true crime for example – by joining us on a London walk. Spend two hours walking with us and you’ll have plenty to talk about together for hours (days) afterwards. If you prefer, you can book a private tour tailored to your specific interests. Please get in touch to create your ideal guided walk.
Pippa Jackson
Pippa is a word nerd and content aficionado with a background of working in TV on both sides of the globe. She loves to discover and share the diverse and wonderful stories of her much-loved London. When she’s not writing blogs and articles, you’ll find her walking beside the Thames or even paddleboarding on it (in the finest of conditions only!) or enjoying a coffee in the sunshine with a good book.
David Tucker
David – the Seigneur of this favoured realm – broods over words, breeds enthusiasms and is “unmanageable.”* He’s a balterer, literary historian, university lecturer, journalist, logophile and lifelong thanatophobe. For good measure, he’s the doyen of London guides.