Cool, dark and out of the sun

It is not always the rain. When the city hits thirty degrees these are the coolest rooms in London: shaded, indoors and usually air-conditioned.

• ESPA Life at Corinthia: Luxury spa with pool and treatments. Embankment 3 mins.
• Churchill War Rooms: Underground WWII bunker and museum. Westminster direct access.
• British Museum: World-famous collection spanning 2 million years of human history. Direct Russell Square tube access
• Victoria & Albert Museum: World's leading museum of art, design and performance. South Kensington tube adjacent.
• Natural History Museum: Dinosaur skeletons, wildlife specimens, and the famous blue whale. South Kensington.
• National Gallery: European paintings from 13th-19th centuries in Trafalgar Square. Direct Charing Cross access.
• Science Museum: Interactive exhibits showcasing scientific innovations. South Kensington station adjacent.
• Imperial War Museum: Military history from WWI to present day conflicts. Lambeth North 3 min walk.
• Electric Cinema Notting Hill: Luxury cinema with sofas and footstools. Notting Hill Gate 5 mins.
• London Library: Historic independent library. Piccadilly Circus 5 mins.
• Electric Cinema: Luxury cinema with leather armchairs. Notting Hill Gate 2 mins.
• The Postal Museum: Ride the underground Mail Rail through hidden tunnels. Direct access.
• Liberty London: Tudor-style department store. Oxford Circus 3 mins.
• Fortnum & Mason: Historic food hall and tea rooms. Piccadilly Circus 2 mins.
• Sir John Soane's Museum: Eccentric home of the Neo-classical architect. Very narrow.
• The Cinema at Selfridges: Boutique cinema experience inside the department store.
• The Courtauld Gallery: A compact but world-class gallery with Impressionist highlights in a beautiful indoor setting at Som
• The Cinema Museum: A lovingly curated museum of cinema history with guided tours and rare memorabilia. A proper indoor
• Yoga Haven Camden: Peaceful yoga studio offering various classes. Camden Town station 3 min walk.
• British Library: View original manuscripts from history's greatest writers. King's Cross 2 mins.
• V&A East Storehouse: Walk straight into the V&A's working store: half a million objects on open shelves, no glass, no que
• Two Temple Place: An Astor mansion off the Embankment, opened to the public only for its winter exhibition. Stained gl
• Foundling Museum: Britain's first children's charity, told through Hogarth paintings and the heartbreaking tokens moth
• Eltham Palace: A medieval great hall bolted onto a jaw-dropping Art Deco house. Worth the trip south for the circul
• London Glassblowing: Watch glass being blown from a few feet away in Peter Layton's Bermondsey studio. Free to walk in an
• Wiener Holocaust Library: The oldest Holocaust archive in the world, with free exhibitions on the ground floor. Quiet, serious
• Old Royal Naval College: The Painted Hall took Sir James Thornhill nineteen years and is often called Britain's Sistine Chape
• Cutty Sark: The last tea clipper afloat, raised on stilts so you can stand underneath the hull and look up at it
• Banksy Limitless London: Two floors of Banksy on Old Brompton Road, unauthorised by the artist and fairly open about it. Good
• Tower Bridge: The high-level walkways are forty metres up with a glass floor, so you can watch the traffic and the
• HMS Belfast Tour: WW2 warship museum on the Thames with nine decks to explore.
• Tate Britain Exhibition: Special exhibitions focusing on Turner and Constable works.
• Frameless Immersive Art: Multi-sensory digital art experience with projection-mapped rooms and interactive displays.
• Barbican Centre: Multi-arts venue with cinema, galleries, and performances. Barbican direct.
• Prince Charles Cinema: Cult classics and sing-alongs. Leicester Square 2 mins.
• Covent Garden Market: Historic covered market with boutiques. Covent Garden direct.
• Third Space Tower Bridge: Premium gym and spa facilities. Tower Hill 5 mins.
• London Transport Museum: History of London's iconic transport. Covent Garden direct.
• Old Operating Theatre: Oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe near London Bridge.
• Harrods: Iconic luxury department store. Knightsbridge direct.