London Helicopter Tours

Six-seated choppers take off from Battersea and supply an epic bird’s-eye view of the city, following the Thames to Greenwich, back to Hammersmith, and returning to Battersea in a lightning-quick 20 minutes. Your pilot is pressed uncomfortably into double duty as a guide, dispensing dubious information such as dating the Cutty Sark 300 years before its actual construction. Never mind; the view is the thing, and it’s an unrepeatable view: You’ll see the Shard from above, the ligature of countless rail lines binding the city together, and flights at 11:30am will spy Changing the Guard in the distance at Buckingham Palace. One downside: There are two seats in the front at the dashboard and four in a row along the back, so those two middle passengers are getting a poorer view for the same money.