London National Portrait Gallery

This artistic Who’s Who in Britain began in 1856 and is now the place to see Britain’s freshest new artwork as well as centuries-old portraiture. New facilities include the sleek Ondaatje Wing, completed in 2000: an IT Gallery with computers that allow you to search for pictures and print out a personalized tour. A restaurant on the third floor affords an excellent view of Westminster, although its high prices (meals around £15) will limit most visitors to coffee.

SECOND FLOOR. To see the paintings in historical order, take the escalator from the reception hall in the Ondaatje Wing to the top floor. Pay your respects to Henry VIII in Room 1 and Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I in Room 2 before making your way to the Stuarts and Hanoverians. Pride and Prejudice enthusiasts should stop off in Room 18 and see the only known portrait of Jane Austen, not much bigger than a playing card, as well as portraits of the Romantics including Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, and others.

FIRST FLOOR. Explore the early Victorian arts in Room 24, including portraits of both Charles Dickens and all three Brontë sisters. The Brontës’ portrait—crease lines and all—was discovered folded up on top of a dusty cupboard. The Balcony Gallery holds some of the gallery’s most fun (and irreverent) works, including large, head-on portraits of Diana and Charles and Sam Walsh’s painting of Paul McCartney, jokingly titled Mike’s Brother—Walsh was friends with the slightly less-famous Mike McCartney.

GROUND FLOOR. Check out contemporary works in the ground floor gallery, which boasts work by the hottest artists and the most famous stars, from 1990 to the present.