Pose, snap, “smoast”: An Instagram guide to #London

Smoasting is to boast about your life on social media, and no other platform does this quite as beautifully as Instagram. It’s the perfect tool to share and show off your tales of faraway travels, and to inspire others to follow in your footsteps. To help you get the most of your “smoast”, we’ve created a series of Instagram guides to the most Instagrammed cities in the world. First up was the always-fabulous New York, and second, the ever-so-lovely London.

London has fascinated photographers since the invention of the camera. The old brick buildings, impressive landmarks, diverse population, red double decker buses (look right when you cross the street!), hipster culture, and yes, even the fish and chips, have a prominent place in the Instagram ether.

The best photo ops in London

#BigBen (999,838 photos and counting on Instagram) – You haven’t really been to London until there’s solid Instagram proof of you striking a pose with this old fellow. Big Ben selfies, a group jump or a superimposed pic of you looking as tall as the clock-tower are sure to coax some likes from your followers.

#LondonEye (770,495 photos and counting) –  A ride on this giant Ferris wheel will give you one of the best panoramic views of the city. The London Eye even has its own official Instagram account, so don’t forget to tag!

#Shard – For an alternative, but equally impressive city panorama, head over to the impressive Shard building in the Borough neighborhood and buy a ticket to their 69th floor observation deck. This one’s a new kid on the block but there are already 212,165 Instagram photos tagged with the hashtag!

#TowerBridge (359,803 and counting) – An iconic bridge if there ever was one. Often mistakenly labelled as the London Bridge (London Bridge is actually a very normal looking bridge close by), the Tower Bridge is fun to photograph and looks especially good in the evening sun.

#Boroughmarket (68,510 and counting) – Also not one of the most frequently hashtagged London locations, but this amazing food market near the London Bridge provides a delicious way to spend a Friday or Saturday afternoon and is an unbeatable spot to snap some food-themed pics for Instagram.

Your top hashtags in the swinging city

Always hashtag your photos with #london, #londontown or #londonlife and don’t miss a chance to tag your location, especially if you’re shopping around in #nottinghill, graffiti-hunting and cafe-hopping your way through #shoreditch, or soaking up the posh atmosphere in #chelsea or #southkensington. Don’t forget to tag your photos with #efmoment as well if you’re traveling with us!

Instagram accounts to make you fall in love with London

@alanisko, @burberry and @mrwhisper will inspire you to get lost in the city one snapshot after another.

…and some trusted wifi hotspots to keep those Instagram juices flowing

Lucky for London Instagrammers, the city now boasts one of Europe’s biggest free wifi zones – kindly provided by O2. Say cheerio to #latergrams!

Images by (from top then top left to bottom right): Yann Caradec, S Pakhrin, Paul Tridon, Berit Watkin, Loco Steve – all Flickr / Creative Commons