Westminster Cathedral

The lowdown

Often confused with the Abbey, Westminster Cathedral is something else entirely, the mother church of Catholic England, built in a wildly exotic Byzantine style of candy-striped red brick and white stone that looks transported from Istanbul or Ravenna. It is free to walk into, and the contrast with the bright street outside is startling.

Inside, the lower walls glow with marble and gold mosaics, while the upper reaches remain deliberately dark, bare brick blackened by candle smoke, the decoration left unfinished for over a century. Eric Gill's celebrated Stations of the Cross line the nave, stark and modern.

It is one of London's most atmospheric free interiors, hushed and incense-scented. A lift up the campanile tower charges a small fee for the view, but simply stepping inside the cathedral costs nothing and is the real wonder.