No crowds and free upgrades: Why now could be the perfect time for a city break

One senses that purveyors of city breaks are going to struggle in the coming months. What previously made our bustling metropolises so special, like buzzing restaurants and lively bars, have become a reason for many to steer clear. Indeed, I’ve spent much of the last four months longing for wilderness. 

So when I was tasked with spending my “Super Saturday” weekend exploring the honeypots of London, I felt a little like I’d drawn the short straw. To my surprise, this would be a city break like no other: I had one of Europe’s most crowded capitals virtually to myself.

My day began at Westminster Pier for the 950am City Cruises departure to the Tower of London, its very first post-lockdown service. What mode of transport is better suited to Covid concerns than an open-top river boat, I surmised.

All the usual social distancing measures have been adopted: staff are asked to wear masks (but, mercifully, passengers are not), hand sanitiser is proffered, cash purchases banned, and every other row of seats has been roped off. Such measures turned rather redundant when it became clear I would be the only passenger on board. A private boat tour of the Thames for a tenner? Don’t mind if I do.

It was a similar story at Tower Bridge. Saturday marked the reopening of the famous Victorian crossing after a three-month hibernation. I waltzed to the top of it without having to queue, and inched nervously along its Glass Floor Walkway virtually alone.

The joy among staff at finally having tourists to entertain was clear. One guide was reduced to tears as she told me how happy she was to be back at work. It was a moving moment, and I was inspired enough to purchase a pair of Union Jack socks in the gift shop.

From there I walked along an eerily empty South Bank past a slew of shuttered attractions, including HMS Belfast (reopening date TBC), Shakespeare’s Globe (heaven knows when it will see live action again), and the Tate Modern (reopening on July 27). London’s great cultural attractions are slowly coming back to life – The National Gallery reopened today, for example – but with tourists absent and maximum capacities reduced, visitors in the coming weeks won’t be hindered by the hordes when they admire the works of Turner, or Elgin’s Marbles.

Indeed, a staycation in your own city might even be considered a patriotic duty. This week the Tower of London director, Brigadier Andrew Jackson, said: “Most of our income comes from our visitors, to the tune of £100m. This year we’re getting a fraction of that because we’re getting so few visitors so as a charity we’re in trouble. It’s a golden opportunity for every Londoner who’s always said ‘I want to come and visit the Tower but I’ve never had the chance’. Please come now.”

The crisis facing the capital’s restaurants is equally stark, and on the evidence of last weekend it appears to be the larger chains and those found in tourist hubs that will suffer the most. Covent Garden, where waiters were muzzled and venues offered plenty of outdoor seating, was nevertheless almost deserted. So much for ‘Super Saturday’. How long will these places remain open if, collectively, we don’t get our confidence back? Large parts of the West End could become a ghost town.

The situation in Soho was a little livelier. Happy drinkers mingled outside bars and took lunch on pavement terraces. It felt normal, and was certainly not the irresponsible street party depicted by media reports. I ate at Copita, my favourite London tapas, where I was greeted like an old friend by staff in masks with enormous smiles drawn on the front. Its delicious menu was thankfully unaffected (that truffled goat’s cheese was worth the wait), and with perhaps seven other tables occupied (the most that social distancing rules will allow) it had something approaching an atmosphere.

My final stop was Mayfair, and the Athenaeum Hotel. While some London properties – like the Ritz, just up the road –remain closed, it was eager to welcome paying guests as soon as rules permitted. In fact, it has been open all along –to key workers including NHS and Transport for London staff, as well as one elderly American lady and her pampered lap dog who have lived there for the last seven years.

The overzealous use of masks has made me think twice about trips to overseas cities – I find them uncomfortable, dehumanising, and utterly at-odds with a relaxing travel experience – but thankfully the Athenaeum, unlike some hotels, is not insisting on face coverings for staff (or guests). I was grateful to be greeted by the welcoming grin and grey mutton-chop sideburns of Jim Gardner Burns, reputedly London’s tallest hotel doorman at 6ft 6in.

Plenty of safety measures are in place, however. There’s a device that takes your temperature and a tub of sanitizer at the entrance, perspex screens at the check-in desks, and a one-way system to guide guests through the lobby and into the restaurant. To further ease concerns, those who don’t wish to eat in the restaurant can take their meals on the terrace, in their room, or on the 10th floor, where the hotel’s penthouse suite has been converted into an extra lounge with leafy views. Not that the additional space is needed just yet. I crossed paths with just a handful of other guests and occupancy rates both here and at other London hotels is expected to remain low for the rest of the summer. So expect free upgrades.

The Athenaeum’s spa remains closed, as does its swanky cocktail bar, but all the other good things that come with a hotel stay – mini-bar G&Ts (best taken in the bath), lavish breakfasts, flawless service – remain. Furthermore, perhaps its greatest asset, next-door Green Park, is also undiminished. An afternoon there spent working your way through one of the hotel’s vast picnic hampers is a must.

Perhaps city breaks do have a post-Covid future, I thought, as I sipped an old fashioned beneath a giant photograph of Joanna Lumley guzzling Stolichnaya straight from the bottle (the Ab Fab star is a frequent visitor). Yes, the experience has become a little santised (literally and figuratively), but you’ll get to enjoy some of the world’s great sights – the Louvre, the Colosseum, Sagrada Familia – minus the usual hordes. Restaurants won’t be busy, and you’ll get the best table in the house. Best of all, the welcome will be warm. So go now, before everyone else.