By Lindsey Granger

To many Americans, London embodies both a sense of kinship and a touch of the exotic. It’s a place where democratic ideals meet the grandeur of monarchy, a blend that continues to shape the city’s unique identity.

Recently, President Trump attended a state banquet hosted by King Charles III during his second visit to the United Kingdom, highlighting the ongoing ceremonial connections between the two nations. The royal pageantry, as much a cultural export as any political tie, captivates U.S. visitors, adding to London’s allure.

World of Travel embarked on a journey to the U.K. to uncover why London endures as a top global destination. The city’s timeless appeal lies not just in its famous sights like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, the Tower of London, and the Houses of Parliament, but in the seamless blend of history and modernity visible at every turn.

For a breathtaking view of the city, the World of Travel team chose to stay at Shangri-La The Shard, London, perched in Western Europe’s tallest skyscraper. Standing nearly twice the height of any other vantage point in the city, the hotel offers expansive views that stretch up to 40 miles on a clear day, providing a perspective where the vibrancy of modern London comes to life.

The team also immersed in the city’s architectural heritage at the Town Hall Hotel in East London, a former Edwardian civic center built in 1910 and now reimagined as a design-forward destination that still preserves features like its original Council Chamber. The building is a fusion of craftsmanship and contemporary style and it continues to play a role in storytelling through its use as a film location for productions like the 2007 drama film Atonement.

London is also a launchpad for onward exploration, which is why the Eurostar remains one of the most transformative ways to experience Europe. A traveler can wake up in London and have lunch in Paris, a level of cross-border fluidity Americans rarely experience.

Beyond the city, the journey continued to Stonehenge, a 2.5-hour drive southwest through the countryside to one of the world’s oldest engineered structures. Built in stages beginning around 3100 BC, it served spiritual, astronomical and ceremonial purposes, including alignment with the summer and winter solstices. While folklore often credits sorcery or aliens, the archaeological record shows a monumental human effort that required planning, labor and coordination across generations.

London today is a city negotiating continuity and change in real time. Its global appeal comes not only from its history, but from the way that history is still lived with — not preserved behind velvet ropes.

It is a place where gothic cathedrals coexist with glass towers, royal tradition sits beside street art in Shoreditch, and medieval cobblestone lanes feed into some of the world’s most modern transit networks.

Travelers come for the monuments they’ve seen in textbooks, but they return because London remains a working blueprint for how a nation can honor its past without being defined or limited by it.

In this moment, when so many places around the world are deciding what parts of their identity move forward,  London stands as proof that heritage is not the opposite of innovation, it is its foundation.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Lindsey Granger and Kolyn Boyd are the co-creators of “World of Travel,” a series that explores the past, present and future of extraordinary places around the globe. You can watch the episode on London here and future episodes each Wednesday at 4 p.m. EDT on The Hill’s YouTube page.

Lindsey Granger is the co-host of “Rising.” Kolyn Boyd is a film director based in Washington, D.C.

Catch complimentary podcasts every Thursday at 4 p.m. on The Hill’s YouTube channel.

The London episode of “World of Travel” was sponsored by Eurostar, Shangri-La The Shard London, Town Hall Hotel London, and daytrip.