Two dazzling London buildings are in Time Out’s 2026 list of the most beautiful places in the UK

When you really stop and look, London and the rest of the UK are packed with beauty, often in the most unexpected of places. You will, of course, find it in places like the Lake District and the Highlands, but there’s also beauty hidden down unassuming streets, on housing estates and in big bulky buildings. 

Last week, Time Out revealed its pick of the 23 most beautiful places in the UK. The places chosen by our editors and writers span the entire country, from St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall to Tenby in Wales to the V&A Dundee. Two spectacular pieces of architecture here in London also feature. And they couldn’t look more different from one another. 

The breathtaking Neasden Temple in northwest London ranked seventh on the list while the somewhat controversial Barbican Estate came 11th. Here’s why they made the cut. 

Neasden Temple

Officially named the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, this is was the first traditional Hindu stone temple in all of Europe. It’s made up of two buildings, the haveli and the mandir, and every last inch has been hand-carved by Indian craftsmen with incredible, intricate detail. The 5,000 tonnes of marble depict lacy motifs, floral patterns and stories from the scriptures. It came to be in northwest London thanks to 3,000 volunteers who assembled the carvings sent over from India on site, without any reinforcing iron or steel. As our news editor Ed Cunningham says, it’s ‘quite the glow-up for a site that was previously a disused truck warehouse’. 

Barbican Estate

This City of London brutalist monument has always been controversial. To some, it’s a concrete abomination, to others a thing of beauty. And to Time Out things to do editor Rosie Hewitson, the Barbican is ‘stark, cool, imposing and utterly magnificent’. The estate was built between 1965 and 1976, and earned Grade II-listed status back in 2001. It may seem like nothing special at first glance, but on closer inspection, it’s not hard to find beauty in its curving balconies, satisfying symmetry, labyrinthine streets, lush foliage and rippling lake. Even if the exterior isn’t to your taste, inside the main building, you’ll find the indisputably aesthetic Barbican Conservatory filled with 2,000 plant species from palms to ferns to tropical blooms.

Discover more of the most beautiful places in the UK here.