Shakespeare's London
Although there is no surviving documentary evidence that William Shakespeare was a resident in Bankside, Shakespeare part-owned The Globe theatre and many of his plays were performed there so he certainly spent long periods of time in the area and is likely to have had lodgings here.
One of the best ways to start this tour is on guided walk by London Walks. Shakespeare's London Walk takes place every Monday and every Saturday at 10 am from Westminster Tube, exit 4.
The tour starts with a wonderful boat ride - downstream and back down the centuries: from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and Elizabethan London. Ashore you will explore 
Bankside - the world of Shakespeare in Love. Home to the Globe Theatre, old and new, and the other Elizabethan playhouses...and bear-baiting dens. The tour ends at an ancient, swaybacked coaching inn in whose courtyard Shakespeare's plays are still performed - The George Inn is a great place to stop and have lunch. The boat ride costs £2 (£1 for kids), a brilliant discount!
On your way back towards Shakespeare's Globe, the faithful reconstruction of the original playhouse, stop at Southwark Cathedral, known as St Saviour's by Shakespeare, who buried his brother Edmund here. View the memorial to William Shakespeare and test your knowledge of Shakespeare's works by working out how many of his plays are represented in the stained glass window!
The jewel in the crown of this tour is Shakespeare's Globe. Here the world's largest exhibition devoted to Shakespeare and Elizabethan London brings Shakespeare's
world to life using a range of interactive displays and live demonstrations. Included in your visit to the Exhibition is a fascinating guided tour of the Globe Theatre bringing this extraordinary space to life.
If you are visiting during Shakespeare's Globe's theatre season (May - October), you should end your day with a performance of the work of Shakespeare, his contemporaries or modern authors - refer to the theatre season's programme for details. Today, audiences of this "wooden O" sit in a gallery or stand informally as a groundling in the yard, just as they would have done 400 years ago.
During matinee performances in the theatre, when guided tours of The Globe are not possible, visitors will be taken to the nearby site of Bankside's first theatre: The Rose. The space for which Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson wrote their greatest plays and in which Shakespeare learned his trade, The Rose is the only Elizabethan playhouse that has been excavated on a large scale by archaeologists.
