Covent Garden
Treasure Hunt

You are standing on the very spot where England's most famous puppet show was born. In May 1662, an Italian showman named Pietro Gimonde performed his anarchic puppet character — Pulcinella, later nicknamed Punch — right here in Covent Garden's piazza. The diarist Samuel Pepys was so enchanted he wrote about it in his diary that same day. The pub was built in 1787 and took the show's name, celebrating over three centuries of theatre on this very cobblestone stage. It survived the Blitz when much of the area around it was destroyed — a listed building that refuses to disappear.

Londoners have been coming to this corner of Covent Garden for opera, dance and drama since 1732 — making it one of the oldest performing arts venues in the world. The current building, opened in 1858, is the third theatre to stand on this site; the previous two burned down. Home to the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet, it has seen the debuts of legends from Handel to Margot Fonteyn. Its spectacular glass-and-iron Floral Hall, once a flower market, was restored in 1999 and is now one of London's most beautiful public spaces — and free to enter during the day.

Hidden among the theatres and restaurants of Maiden Lane, the Church of Corpus Christi is a quietly remarkable Catholic church that has served London's faithful since 1874. Maiden Lane itself is one of Covent Garden's oldest streets and was once home to Voltaire (who lodged here during his exile in London), as well as the painter J.M.W. Turner, who was born just steps away in 1775. The street's curious name likely comes from a figure of the Virgin Mary — "Maiden" — that once stood at one of its corners. Step inside the church and notice the unusual intimacy of its interior — a sanctuary of calm amid the West End's bustle.

Seven streets meet at this remarkable star-shaped junction — one of the only surviving examples of late Stuart town planning in London, unchanged since Thomas Neale MP laid it out in 1693. At the centre stands a six-faced sundial column, each face showing a different time using the sun. The original was torn down in 1773 when the neighbourhood had become one of London's most notorious slums — so dangerous that 39 night watchmen were needed to keep the peace. The replica you see today was unveiled in 1989 by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, the first project of its kind in London since Nelson's Column in the 1840s. Look closely — the column itself acts as the seventh sundial!

For over 300 years, Covent Garden's Piazza was London's most famous fruit and vegetable market. It began as a small garden in the grounds of a convent — hence "Convent Garden," later corrupted to "Covent" — and grew into a chaotic, beloved marketplace immortalised by Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady as the flower girl's patch. By the 1960s it was so congested that the market moved to Nine Elms in 1974. The Victorian market building you see today was restored and reopened as a shopping and entertainment hub in 1980 — and the street performers who fill the piazza carry on a tradition of public entertainment that stretches back to Samuel Pepys and beyond.

Housed in the Victorian Flower Market building on the east side of the Piazza, the London Transport Museum celebrates the city's remarkable journey from horse-drawn omnibus to the Elizabeth line. London's Underground — nicknamed the Tube — opened in 1863, making it the world's first underground railway. The iconic London Underground map designed by Harry Beck in 1933 was revolutionary: instead of drawing the lines geographically, he treated them like an electrical circuit diagram, making the system easy to navigate at a glance. That design principle has been copied by transit systems around the world ever since. Look for a vintage Routemaster bus and a classic Tube carriage outside.

Leicester Square has been London's centre of entertainment since the 17th century — and it's still where the world comes to premiere its biggest films. The square takes its name from Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who built his mansion here in 1631. At its centre stands a statue of William Shakespeare, erected in 1874, with the Bard gazing thoughtfully across the square he never knew. Around the base, four busts honour other famous residents of the area: Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth, Sir Isaac Newton, and John Hunter. Look also for the golden handprints outside the Odeon — left by Hollywood stars at film premieres.

Here's a secret about London's most photographed statue: that figure poised on one leg with a bow isn't actually Eros — it's his brother Anteros, the god of selfless love. Unveiled in 1893, the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain was built to honour the Earl of Shaftesbury, a Victorian philanthropist who campaigned against child labour and improved conditions for the mentally ill. Sculptor Alfred Gilbert chose Anteros — "reflective and mature love" — to represent the Earl's selfless generosity. The figure was groundbreaking in another way too: it was the first statue in the world to be cast entirely in aluminium. The lightweight metal allowed the figure to balance impossibly on one ankle — impossible in heavier bronze.

Founded in 1824, the National Gallery houses one of the world's greatest collections of Western European painting — and entry is completely free. Among its 2,300 works, Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888) is perhaps the most beloved. Painted in Arles in the south of France during a period of extraordinary creative energy, Van Gogh produced five versions of the sunflower series — the London painting is the most famous. Also look for his Chair (1888), a deceptively simple painting of an empty chair that carries immense emotional weight — Van Gogh himself said objects could speak louder than portraits. But don't stop there: can you find something else that catches your eye and surprises you?