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City of Westminster, London — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Stone crowns central London at the City of Westminster, a royal and governmental borough in Greater London, known for Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.
About City of Westminster
Where to stay in City of Westminster
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
The City of Westminster spreads across central London, and where you stay depends on whether you want the shops, the government quarter, or the calm of the parks. The West End holds the busiest streets. It is the natural place to begin.
Travellers drawn to the shopping settle around Oxford Street, Regent Street, and Piccadilly, where the stores, the theatres of Soho, and the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square stand within a short walk of one another. South toward the river the ground turns to government and ceremony. If you have come for the great sights, base yourself near Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, close to Whitehall, 10 Downing Street, and Big Ben above the Houses of Parliament.
Others choose the quieter streets around Marylebone, near the Wallace Collection and Madame Tussauds away from the crowds. Each part of Westminster reads differently. Decide by the London you came to see.
About City of Westminster
What are the main landmarks in City of Westminster?
The City of Westminster holds landmarks of crown, church, and state at the heart of Greater London. Buckingham Palace stands at the royal heart, its gates facing the parks, while Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament rise beside Big Ben. Whitehall and 10 Downing Street run the government.
Power sits here. Trafalgar Square opens before the National Gallery and St Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Royal Academy of Arts and the Wallace Collection keep the borough's art across the West End.
What is the history of City of Westminster?
The City of Westminster grew around the abbey and the royal court on the western reach of London. The abbey came first. Westminster Abbey rose as a place of coronation and burial, and the crown and its government gathered beside it, so that the Houses of Parliament and the great offices of state grew up along Whitehall in what became the seat of British power.
From that royal and political core the borough spread west across central London. Buckingham Palace became the sovereign's house while the West End filled with theatres, galleries, and the shops of Oxford Street and Piccadilly. Through every reign the abbey endured.
From a monastic settlement to a city within Greater London, Westminster carried its crown and its parliament into the heart of the capital.
Where is City of Westminster?
The City of Westminster lies in central London, England, a borough of Greater London on the north bank of the river. The West End fills its core. Its streets run from Oxford Street and Soho in the north down through Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament in the south, holding much of central London between the shopping quarter and the government seat around Trafalgar Square.
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Updated July 2026