London Marylebone Tourist Map

Marylebone runs north from Oxford Street to Regent's Park, between Edgware Road and Great Portland Street. It feels like a village inside the West End: Marylebone High Street has independent shops, cafés and the Edwardian galleries of Daunt Books, while the side streets are lined with red-brick mansion blocks and Georgian terraces. It is calmer than Oxford Street, five minutes away.

The big ticket is Madame Tussauds on Marylebone Road, at its current site since 1884. A short walk away, the Sherlock Holmes Museum fills a Victorian house at 239 Baker Street, with a 221B plaque on the door. Near Marble Arch, Frameless is an immersive digital art space. At the district's south-west corner stands Marble Arch itself, designed by John Nash and moved here from Buckingham Palace in 1851.

The quieter treasures are free or cheap. The Wallace Collection in Hertford House is free and open daily, with Fragonard's The Swing, Hals's Laughing Cavalier and one of the best armour collections in Europe. Wigmore Hall, opened in 1901, is a world-class chamber music venue; its Monday lunchtime recitals, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, are among the best-value concerts in London.

When to go: book Madame Tussauds for an early slot, as queues build by late morning, especially in school holidays. Save the Wallace Collection for the afternoon, and try a Monday lunchtime or Sunday morning concert at Wigmore Hall. Stations: Baker Street, Marylebone, Bond Street, Regent's Park and Marble Arch.