The Crystal


Although at times it does come over like an expensive advertisement for technology firm Siemens – whose groundbreaking sustainable building it inhabits – the Crystal's highly interactive displays on urban sustainability and the pressures facing the modern city are thoroughly engaging. There's also a cafe, with views over Royal Victoria Dock. You can tie it in with a cable-car journey across the river to North Greenwich.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Emirates Air Line

0.08 MILES

This cable car makes quick work of the journey from the Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks. Although it's mostly patronised by tourists for the views…

2. Trinity Buoy Wharf

0.36 MILES

As the site of London’s only lighthouse, its smallest museum and the world’s longest-running song, Trinity Buoy Wharf is an enclave of quirky superlatives…

3. Billingsgate Fish Market

1.32 MILES

This wholesale fish market is open to the public, but you’ll have to be up at the crack of dawn to see it in action. Formally established in 1699 in the…

4. Thames Barrier Information Centre

1.35 MILES

The Thames Barrier looks best when it’s raised, and the only guaranteed time this happens is when the mechanisms are checked once a month. For exact dates…

5. Mudchute

1.55 MILES

Entering Mudchute Park from East Ferry Rd through the canopy of trees, you’re greeted by the surprising sight of cows and sheep roaming in 13 grassy…

6. One Canada Square

1.56 MILES

Cesar Pelli’s pyramid-capped 235m-high skyscraper was built in 1991, and was the UK's tallest building when it opened – a title it held until 2010, when…

7. Museum of London Docklands

1.74 MILES

Housed in an 1802 warehouse, this educational museum combines artefacts and multimedia displays to chart the history of the city through its river and…

8. House Mill

1.74 MILES

One of two remaining mills from a trio that once stood on this small island in the River Lea, House Mill (1776) operated as a sluice tidal mill, grinding…