London has a lot to offer in the world of cultural entertainment, particularly for tourists (reise Storbritannia). If it is musicals that tickle your fancy, many of the theatres can be found in London’s well liked West End. Inside the area of ‘Theatreland ‘, which is defined by The Strand to the south, Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the west, and Kingsway to the east, you’ll find approximately forty theatres that offer a large variety of shows. Prominent streets are Drury Lane, Shaftsbury Avenue and The Strand.

Most theatres will change their shows after they’ve run their course, but if a production is liked enough, a show can continue on for a very long time and musicals tend to run for longer than standard drama: Mamma Mia! has been running at the Prince of Wales theatre since 1999, Chicago has been running since 1997 (first at Adelphi, now at Garrick Theatre), Disney’s The Lion King at Lyceum Theatre since 1999, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre since 1986, to give you only a few.

If conventional drama is more up your street, you will naturally find plenty to make a choice from in London. Many of the venues that stage drama may also be found in the aforementioned ‘Theatreland ‘, though you might also have to go further away. If you’re a lover of William Shakespeare, you’ll often find at least one - likely more - of his plays showing at one of the theatres, though you will also have a lot to choose from by more recent playwrights too.

If you like Shakespeare, though, you may want to buy tickets for a play running at Shakespeare’s Globe - a modern reconstruction of The Globe, the theatre on the south side of the Thames where a lot of Shakespeare’s plays were first staged. The modern reconstruction that opened in 1997 is located close to where the first theatre once stood, and gives the onlookers a feeling of what going to the theatre would be like in Elizabethan times, though you are less likely to run into the common street rabble at The Globe nowadays. Do not forget that this is an outside theatre, so dress up warm if you are going on a cold London evening.

If opera or ballet is what you’re into, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden is where you need to be heading. The current building is the third on this location, the other 2 theatres being burned down by fire. Previously known as the Theatre Royal, it started as a playhouse, but later made the transition to an opera and ballet locale; this was were lots of George Frideric Handel’s operas premired - most of them written particularly for this venue. The Royal Opera House stages a number of operas and ballets each season, so if you’re hot for one or both, you are certain to find something to your liking here.

As for buying tickets to these shows, you will find quite a few ticket agents through a web search. If you prefer the phone, you can call the box office at the theatre directly. If you are in London already, you can buy your tickets for musicals and dramas from the ticket booth in the free standing clock tower building in Leicester Square. For ballet and opera, you can book tickets directly from the website, or you can phone the box office.

Siri Ram works at FirstChoice, a Norwegian travel company devoted to help travelers around the planet. London is one of their most well liked destinations. More information at Reise and Reise London.