What to do in South Kensington

No trip to London is complete without a visit to South Kensington. This affluent district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has some of the most exclusive real estate in all of London. With its beautiful architecture and exotic cars lining the streets it’s sure to make anyone’s jaw drop.

Kensington Gore

South Kensington is also home to a wide array of museums, parks, and restaurants that are guaranteed to peek anyone’s interests. The most popular museum in Kensington is the Natural History Museum, opening its doors in 1881. The museum started off as a display of Sir Hans Sloane’s personal collection of specimens and cultural artifacts that the British parliament purchased upon his death in 1753. Today the museum as expanded significantly since Sloane’s collection. Now it displays a variety of interesting collections ranging from rare minerals to dinosaurs skeletons. One of the most recent additions to the museum is the Darwin Centre. This collection is home to millions of preserved specimens like a eight story cocoon and the museums famous giant squid Archie.

Diplodocus skeleton AKA Drippy the Dinosaur

South Kensington Is also Home to London’s most famous park, Hyde Park. Covering 625 acres this park, originally used as the hunting grounds for King Henry VIII and closed to the public. Now home to music festivals, rallies, and outdoor activities. Hyde park has some unique features that not even locals might not be aware of. One of these being a pet cemetery right inside the park, although not open to the public you can still take walk past it. Head to Victoria Lodge garden in Hyde Park and per in to see if you can catch a glimpse of ghosts of London’s royal pets.

Arial view of Hyde park showcasing its beautiful lakes and greenery

When visiting South Kensington be sure the grab something to eat. An advantage of being in such a nice area is that there are numerous restaurants that line the street. Many of them being right outside the South Kensington tube stop making it perfect way of starting out or capping off your day.

Originally published at KOMPAS Blog.