Guide by Vana · Free
London, the way we’d tell a friend.
A guide to the good stuff. Where to go, what to do, and what’s actually worth your time this month. Written by us, with opinions, and it learns your taste as you go.
Free, in your browser. Nothing to download, and no account needed to look around.
Free. The whole Guide, no account needed to look.
Chosen by us. Nothing here is pay-to-appear.
Yours. Your taste, your map, kept private.
A taste of the Guide
Not a listings site. A point of view.
Real cards from the Guide right now. Every one chosen and written by us, rated for what it’s actually good for.
Banya No.1
£££
Russian bathhouse · Hoxton
London’s original Russian banya, down in a Hoxton basement: birch-venik thrashings, scalding steam and an ice plunge, then tea and dumplings. The real ritual, and Time Out’s best spa in London.
on your own
a quiet two
Shankeys
££
Indian-Irish fusion · Hackney
Like a wedding reception two hours after the free bar opened, with the spice turned right up.
a big group
a quiet two
Grant Museum of Zoology
£
Museum · Bloomsbury
London’s last zoological museum, a free pocket cabinet of skeletons and the notorious jar of moles.
on your own
a quiet two
In Season · worth booking now
Exhibition
Whistler
The first major European Whistler show in thirty years.
On until 27 Sep 2026
Garden pavilion
Serpentine Pavilion 2026
This year’s pavilion: a brick wall by Lanza Atelier that ripples across the lawn.
6 Jun – 26 Oct 2026
Chef residency
Leo at Renegade
A bistro built inside a Walthamstow urban winery.
Ongoing residency
What’s inside
Four ways into the city.
The Guide is built around four places to look, depending on what you’re after.
Scene
Where to go
The bars, tables and rooms worth your evening, each one rated for what it’s actually good for. Just where we’d send a friend.
Rated for a big group, a quiet two, or going alone.
In Season
What’s worth it now
The shows, tables and one-off nights worth booking this month, and the ones to skip. Refreshed as the city changes.
Every pick carries a real date.
People
Communities, and your friends
An honest map of the good ways to meet people in London. Supper clubs, running clubs, reading groups, and the members’ clubs worth the money. In the app, add friends by invite link or handle and see where your circle has been lately.
The ones we rate, rated honestly. The ones we don’t, left out.
You
Everything you save
Your collections in one place, the out-of-town Escapes worth borrowing for a day or a night, and short reads in Vana’s voice for a slow Sunday.
Yours, and kept private.
Made yours
It gets to know your taste.
Take the archetype quiz, rate the places you’ve been, and the Guide starts to sort London the way you would. Your Recommended is built from your own taste and the people you trust.
Quiz · rate · a Recommended that’s actually yours
Ask the Guide
Ask it in your own words.
Tell the Guide the mood, the area or the occasion, and it points you somewhere. It only ever answers from places we’ve actually chosen, so you never get sent somewhere we wouldn’t.
Answers only from places chosen by Vana
Your London
A map of the city that’s yours.
Mark where you’ve been and the app fills in a private map of your London, borough by borough. Add a photo to any place and keep a quiet diary of the year. It stays on your phone unless you choose to share.
Been · photo diary · Your London, in review
Coming
Where it’s going.
More cities
London first. Switch cities when you land somewhere new, without the feeds bleeding into each other.
Day plans, with Trips by Vana
Turn a handful of saves into a day, then hand it to Trips by Vana to make a whole trip of it.
The places we’d send a friend
Open it and have a look.
The Guide is free. See what the city’s worth right now.