You might not expect to find such expansive green spaces in the middle of such a lively and cosmopolitan city. But London certainly is an extraordinary city if you love the outdoors. Parks and gardens abound, serving as a serene oasis where garden-lovers can get away from it all. And in one particularly green swath of London, you can experience a range of history, natural beauty and a variety of landscape architecture.

 In London, the amount of absolutely mouthwatering food experiences you can enjoy is limited only by the capacity of your stomach. With this mini-itinerary, taste the range of what London has to offer:

Dedicated shoppers know Oxford and Regent Streets like the backs of their hands. This mini-itinerary invites you to go off the beaten path and into the past…into vintage and some unique specialty shops.

Any Dickens fan knows that the famous writer loved nothing more than walking, talking long rambles throughout London to mull over ideas for his books. During this itinerary, follow in the famous author’s footsteps by starting out at the Charles Dickens House, at 48 Doughty Street. Though Dickens lived in several different London houses, this is the only one that survives. It’s certainly an auspicious place, as it is where he wrote Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickelby and Oliver Twist.

By all means, see the Tate Modern on your London trip. But if you really love art, and hunger to check out what’s on the cutting edge, head over to London’s East End, where a vibrant art scene has been taking shape in a concentrated cluster over the past ten years.