Been up the Sky Garden already and ticked it off your list? Here are some excuses for a second visit.
1. Watch a gig at 525 feet
Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are music nights at the Sky Garden, with live bands and DJs performing from sunset onwards. Book a table for drinks at Sky Pod online, and watch the lights of London switch on, to a soundtrack of anything from Sinatra classics to contemporary pop and R&B.
2. Do the downward dog before breakfast
If you're anything like us, you're lucky if you make it to the gym before work, let alone up a 160m building for yoga before breakfast. But those blessed with the early-bird gene are in for a treat.
The Sky Garden boasts some seriously soothing surroundings, not to mention that view – perfect for realigning your chakra (probably).
Afterwards, head down to Darwin Brasserie for a slap-up breakfast, made all the better by the 20% discount for all yoga participants.
3. Watch a Thames Flotilla
Lord Mayor's river pageant. Royal jubilee celebrations. Doggett's Coat and Badge. Nigel Farage firing water cannon at Bob Geldof: while most of London will be straining for glimpse of these from the banks of the Thames, you can lord over them all from your glassy lookout. For extra smug points, take binoculars.
4. Say hi to the window cleaners
Those 38 floors of floor-to-ceiling glass don't clean themselves — that's the job of a hardy team of window cleaners. If you time it right, you'll catch them when they're swabbing the upper decks, and you can get a snap of them — as we did, above. They're friendly.
5. Discover your inner Alan Titchmarsh
Well, it is a garden after all. The terraces each have a different theme; tree ferns and fig trees evoke the feeling of a prehistoric forest. Elsewhere, there are Mediterranean and South African flowers — normally found in mountainous ravines — and plants chosen to work in harmony with the particular quality of light found under the roof canopy.
Do your research before, and impress you mum/other half by pointing out the African lily (Agapanthus), red hot poker (Kniphofia) and bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) interspersed with fragrant herbs including French lavender and rosemary.
