The church where England has crowned its monarchs since 1066, and the riverside palace where its laws are made, side by side on one square.
Westminster is where the British state lives and dies: crowned in the Abbey, argued over in Parliament.
Westminster Abbey has hosted every coronation since William the Conqueror's in 1066 and holds the graves of seventeen monarchs, along with Newton, Darwin, Dickens and the Unknown Warrior. The fan-vaulted Lady Chapel of Henry VII and Poets' Corner are the reasons to pay the roughly £31 ticket. Choral Evensong is free, and on Sundays the Abbey is open only for services.
Across the square, the Palace of Westminster runs guided and audio tours on most Saturdays and during recesses. When the Commons is sitting, the public galleries are open to watch debates, free. The Elizabeth Tower, home of Big Ben, can be climbed only by UK residents.
Book the Abbey online and go at opening.
A half-day around Parliament Square.
Enter at opening and follow the route past the tombs to the shrine of Edward the Confessor.
Look up at the stone lace of Henry VII's chapel.
Find Chaucer, Dickens and dozens of other writers' memorials.
Take a Saturday tour, or queue for the public gallery when the Commons sits.
Return for free choral Evensong in the quire.
Westminster tube (Jubilee, Circle, District), or walk over Westminster Bridge from the South Bank.
Book the Abbey online; Parliament tours sell out in summer.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
