Explore the real-world places that appear in The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include 221B Baker Street, The Criterion Bar, Barts — St Bartholomew's Hospital, Irene Adler's House, Briony Lodge, The Red-Headed League Offices & Wilson's Pawnshop and 10 more.
Baker Street, Marylebone — Holmes and Watson's lodgings
The nerve centre of the entire Holmes canon. From these first-floor rooms, Holmes receives clients ranging from the King of Bohemia to Mary Sutherland and Jabez Wilson. He plays his Stradivarius at all hours, conducts chemical experiments, maintains his famous indexes, and dispatches the Baker Street Irregulars. Watson describes Holmes lounging in his armchair, firing a 'VR' pattern of bullet-holes into the wall, and leaping into action at a moment's notice. Nearly every adventure begins or ends here.
Baker Street in the Victorian era was a respectable middle-class thoroughfare in Marylebone. The actual house that inspired 221B did not exist at the time — the street's numbering only reached into the 200s after the road was extended northward in the 1930s. The Abbey House building at the relevant stretch became associated with the fictional address.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum now occupies 239 Baker Street but is officially designated 221B. It recreates Holmes and Watson's sitting room with period furniture, wax figures, and props. It is one of London's most visited literary landmarks.
Visit: The Sherlock Holmes Museum (museum)
Piccadilly Circus — Where Watson first hears of Holmes
In 'A Study in Scarlet,' Watson — recently returned wounded from Afghanistan — runs into his old acquaintance Stamford at the Criterion Bar. Stamford mentions that a curious fellow named Sherlock Holmes is looking for someone to share rooms. That chance meeting over drinks sets in motion the entire partnership between Holmes and Watson, one of literature's most celebrated friendships.
The Criterion Restaurant and Bar opened in 1874, designed by Thomas Verity in a magnificent Byzantine-influenced style with gilded mosaic ceilings. It was one of the grandest establishments in Victorian London, located at Piccadilly Circus in the heart of the West End.
The Criterion Restaurant still operates at Piccadilly Circus and retains much of its original Victorian splendour, including the spectacular gold mosaic ceiling. It is a working restaurant and bar open to the public.
Visit: The Criterion Restaurant (restaurant)
West Smithfield, City of London — Holmes and Watson's first meeting
In 'A Study in Scarlet,' Stamford takes Watson to the chemical laboratory at Barts, where they find Sherlock Holmes beating a cadaver with a stick to study post-mortem bruising. Holmes instantly deduces Watson has been in Afghanistan, and the two shake hands for the first time. This brief scene in a hospital lab is the genesis of the greatest detective partnership in fiction.
St Bartholomew's Hospital is the oldest hospital in London still on its original site, founded in 1123 by Rahere. Its medical school, established in 1843, was one of the foremost in England during the Victorian era and would have been a natural haunt for a chemistry-obsessed investigator.
Barts remains a functioning NHS hospital and one of London's great medical institutions. Its museum — the Museum of St Bartholomew's Hospital — is open to the public and features a plaque commemorating the fictional first meeting of Holmes and Watson.
Visit: Museum of St Bartholomew's Hospital (museum)
Serpentine Avenue, St John's Wood — 'A Scandal in Bohemia'
Briony Lodge is the St John's Wood home of Irene Adler, 'the woman' — the only person ever to outwit Sherlock Holmes. The King of Bohemia hires Holmes to retrieve a compromising photograph she holds. Holmes disguises himself as a groom, then as a clergyman, and tricks his way inside by staging a fake fire. But Adler suspects him, dresses as a man, and escapes — leaving only a letter and another photograph in place of the one the King feared.
St John's Wood in the Victorian era was famously associated with kept women and theatrical types — a detail Doyle almost certainly intended when placing the celebrated opera singer Irene Adler there. The neighbourhood's grand villas and air of genteel bohemianism made it a perfect setting.
St John's Wood remains one of London's most exclusive residential districts, home to the famous Abbey Road Studios. The streets retain much of their Victorian character, with leafy avenues and detached villas.
Pope's Court, Fleet Street — 'The Red-Headed League'
Jabez Wilson, a pawnbroker with flaming red hair, consults Holmes about a peculiar organisation that paid him four pounds a week simply to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Holmes immediately deduces the League is a ruse — John Clay and his accomplice have been tunnelling under Wilson's shop in Coburg Square to reach the Coburg Branch Bank's vaults. Holmes, Watson, Inspector Jones, and the bank director wait in the vault's darkness and capture Clay red-handed.
Fleet Street was historically the centre of London's newspaper trade, lined with the offices of national papers and legal chambers. Pope's Court was a real alley off Fleet Street, representing the teeming commercial labyrinth of the Victorian City.
Fleet Street retains its historic character though the newspapers have departed. The alleyways and courts off the main street survive. The nearby area around Chancery Lane preserves much of its Victorian feel.
Wellington Street, Strand — 'The Sign of the Four'
In 'The Sign of the Four,' Mary Morstan receives a mysterious letter directing her to meet an unknown ally outside the Lyceum Theatre at seven o'clock. She arrives with Holmes and Watson, is met by a coachman, and taken blindfolded to Thaddeus Sholto's house. It is at the Lyceum steps that Watson first truly notices Mary Morstan and begins to fall in love with her — she will later become Mary Watson.
The Lyceum Theatre on the Strand was one of Victorian London's most prestigious playhouses. Under Henry Irving's management from 1878 to 1899, it staged spectacular productions including Hamlet, Macbeth, and Faust. It was the most fashionable theatre of the era.
The Lyceum Theatre remains one of the West End's leading venues. It has housed 'The Lion King' musical since 1999. The grand Victorian facade and interior are largely preserved.
Visit: Lyceum Theatre (theater)
Aldgate, City of London — 'The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans'
In 'The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans,' the body of Arthur Cadogan West is found near the tracks outside Aldgate Station on the Metropolitan Line, the top-secret submarine plans missing from his possession. Holmes deduces that the body was placed on the roof of a passing train at a signal stop where the line runs close to rooftops — one of his most brilliant pieces of reasoning about the geography of the underground railway.
Aldgate was one of the original stations on the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway, which opened in 1863. The tunnels and track layouts in this eastern section of the line were precisely as Doyle described — running close to rooftops in places.
Aldgate Station remains open as part of the London Underground's Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. The Victorian-era tunnels beneath the street are still in daily use.
Visit: Aldgate Station (landmark)
Baker Street — 'The Adventure of the Empty House'
In 'The Adventure of the Empty House,' Holmes returns from his apparent death at Reichenbach Falls and reveals that Camden House — the empty house directly opposite 221B — had been used by Colonel Sebastian Moran to position an air-gun for a shot at a wax bust of Holmes placed in the window. Holmes and Watson hide in Camden House and trap Moran as he fires, ending the reign of Moriarty's chief assassin.
The stretch of Baker Street opposite the building identified as 221B includes several Georgian terraced houses. Empty properties in such locations were not uncommon in Victorian London and provided exactly the kind of unobserved vantage point Doyle describes.
The street frontage opposite the Sherlock Holmes Museum still exists as a residential and commercial block. The area is popular with Holmes pilgrims who stand outside and contemplate the famous confrontation.
Hampstead — 'The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton'
Appledore Towers is the Hampstead mansion of Charles Augustus Milverton, 'the worst man in London' — a blackmailer who holds compromising letters over Lady Eva Blackwell. Holmes and Watson brazenly burgle the house at night, only to witness Milverton shot dead by a masked woman he had previously ruined. Holmes refuses to help Inspector Lestrade identify the murderer, and Watson notes that Holmes kept a photograph of the woman — whom Holmes later admits was a noble lady.
Hampstead has been one of London's most fashionable and leafy residential areas since the 18th century. Its grand mansions and proximity to Hampstead Heath made it a natural location for a wealthy, powerful villain like Milverton.
Hampstead retains its character as an exclusive residential village within London. The Heath remains a major public park. The area around Well Walk and Heath Drive contains large Victorian villas consistent with Doyle's description.
Meiringen, Switzerland — 'The Final Problem'
In 'The Final Problem,' Holmes and Professor Moriarty — 'the Napoleon of Crime' — grapple at the edge of the Reichenbach Falls after Holmes lures Watson away with a fake medical summons. Watson returns to find only their footprints leading to the edge and a farewell note from Holmes. The world mourns Holmes as dead. It is one of the most dramatic exits in literary history, and the location where Holmes later claims to have thrown Moriarty to his death while himself escaping via 'baritsu.'
The Reichenbach Falls near Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland are real and spectacular — a series of cataracts dropping 250 metres into a gorge. Doyle visited Switzerland and deliberately chose this remote, dramatic location for its visual power and sense of doom.
The Reichenbach Falls are a major tourist destination. A funicular railway built in 1899 takes visitors to the upper falls. A plaque and a bronze medallion of Holmes mark the spot of the fictional struggle. The Sherlock Holmes Museum in Meiringen is nearby.
Visit: Reichenbach Falls (historic site)
Pall Mall — Mycroft Holmes's club, 'The Greek Interpreter'
In 'The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter,' Holmes reveals that his elder brother Mycroft — a government official of vast, sedentary intelligence — is a founding member of the Diogenes Club on Pall Mall. The club is for men who want company without conversation; talking is forbidden except in the Stranger's Room. Holmes and Watson visit Mycroft there, and he helps untangle the case of the interpreter Mr. Melas, who has been abducted to translate for Greek-speaking kidnappers.
Pall Mall has been London's club land since the 17th century, lined with the Reform Club, the Athenaeum, the Travellers Club, and others. The fictional Diogenes Club is placed here among real institutions, giving it plausibility as an eccentric offshoot of genuine gentlemen's clubs.
Pall Mall retains many of its grand Victorian clubhouses. Several are still private members' clubs. The street itself can be walked freely and the exteriors of the historic clubs admired.
Surrey — 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band'
In 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band,' Helen Stoner consults Holmes in terror because her twin sister Julia died mysteriously, whispering of 'the speckled band.' Holmes and Watson travel to Stoke Moran in Surrey to investigate her violent stepfather Dr. Grimesby Roylott, who keeps a cheetah and a baboon on the grounds. At night, Holmes reveals the truth: Roylott has been training a deadly Indian swamp adder to travel through a ventilator and down a bell-rope — the 'speckled band' — to bite sleeping women in the adjacent room.
The area around Leatherhead and the Surrey Hills contains several Victorian manor houses of exactly the type Doyle describes — sprawling, semi-derelict, with extensive grounds. The story's setting reflects the real landscape of the Surrey commuter belt that Doyle knew well.
The village of Stoke d'Abernon near Cobham in Surrey is often identified as the model for Stoke Moran. The area retains rural character with historic manor properties, though the specific house is fictional.
Devon — 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'
The desolate moors of Dartmoor are the setting for Holmes's most famous case. The Grimpen Mire — a treacherous bog — conceals the phosphorous-painted hound that Stapleton uses to terrorise Sir Henry Baskerville into a fatal heart attack. Watson spends weeks on the moor alone, reporting back to a Holmes who is secretly hiding in a Neolithic hut. The chase ends with the hound shot dead on the moor and Stapleton swallowed by the Mire.
Dartmoor is a vast, ancient upland in Devon, covered in granite tors, bogs, and Bronze Age settlements. Fox Tor Mire is widely considered the real inspiration for Grimpen Mire. Doyle visited the area with his friend Fletcher Robinson, who first told him Dartmoor legends.
Dartmoor National Park is fully open to the public, covering 368 square miles. Fox Tor Mire, the ruined Neolithic huts, and the landscape Doyle described can all be explored on foot. The area is a major walking and heritage destination.
Visit: Dartmoor National Park (park)
Northumberland Street, Strand — Northumberland Hotel in 'The Hound'
In 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' Sir Henry Baskerville stays at the Northumberland Hotel near the Strand upon arriving in London from Canada. It is here that Holmes and Watson meet him, that his new boot and then an old one go mysteriously missing — used by Stapleton to give the hound Sir Henry's scent — and that Holmes spots Stapleton and a disguised Moriarty-era figure trailing Sir Henry through the streets.
The Northumberland Hotel, later the Sherlock Holmes Hotel, stands on Northumberland Street. In the Victorian era, this area near the Strand and Charing Cross was full of respectable hotels catering to newly arrived provincial and colonial visitors.
The building now houses The Sherlock Holmes pub, which contains a faithful recreation of Holmes's Baker Street study upstairs, including original Sidney Paget illustrations and memorabilia. It is one of London's great literary-themed pubs.
Visit: The Sherlock Holmes Pub (restaurant)
Old Bailey, City of London — Referenced in multiple cases
Newgate Prison and its successor, the Central Criminal Court, loom over many Holmes cases as the destination for captured criminals. Inspector Lestrade and Inspector Gregson frequently take Holmes's quarry here — from Jefferson Hope in 'A Study in Scarlet' to John Clay of the Red-Headed League. Holmes himself refers with satisfaction to having 'sent' numerous villains to Newgate or to the gallows, the ultimate vindication of his methods.
Newgate Prison stood on this site from the 12th century until its demolition in 1902. Public executions were held outside its walls until 1868. The Central Criminal Court — the Old Bailey — was built on the site and opened in 1907, incorporating a portion of the prison's outer wall.
The Old Bailey is England's foremost criminal court and still fully operational. Visitors can observe public gallery proceedings when the courts are sitting. The famous golden figure of Justice stands atop the dome.
Visit: Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey) (historic site)
More by Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles locations map · The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes locations map · All Arthur Conan Doyle books
More novels set in London: Browse all London books on Map A Story
Other nearby maps: Patriot Games by Tom Clancy locations map · The Time Machine by H.G. Wells locations map · The Italian Girl by Iris Murdoch locations map · The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett locations map