Your guide to summer in London

It’s all over: Glastonbury; the magic of Wimbledon; the nail-biting thrill of England’s last-ball victory in the Cricket World Cup. Sport’s Super Sunday left us reeling, wondering what’s next.

The good news is it was just the warm-up. Cricket fever resumes with the Ashes in two weeks’ time, and festival season is only just beginning. From a continental heat dome to Fleabag in the West End, here’s what summer has in store.

Fever pitch

There’s plenty more sport to sink your teeth into. The Tour de France is already under way with Britain’s defending champion Geraint Thomas a strong contender again. Watch the action with a spritz and a Gelupo ice cream at Vermuteria in Coal Drops Yard. On this side of the Channel, the annual Prudential RideLondon takes over the capital over the first weekend in August. Or get into netball — 16 teams are battling it out in Liverpool to be crowned World Cup champions this Sunday, with England’s Roses currently third in the rankings, beating teams including Samoa and Jamaica. In cricket, England play Australia in the Ashes Test series starting next month — and in September we have another World Cup: this time, the rugby over in Japan.

Hot stuff

The capital is set for a scorcher over the next couple of days with highs of 28C — and the city’s restaurants, bars and lidos are ready. Salvador & Amanda restaurant in Covent Garden is hosting a tapas and sangria evening tonight. Forecasters are predicting what they’re calling a “continental heat dome” over the next three months, with parts of southern and eastern England expected to reach highs of 32C by the end of August, so you can have your holiday at home. To cool down, stay near the water. Luna cinema is showing Aquaman at Brockwell Lido, Richmond’s Pools on the Park are open for summer, and the golden sands of Ruislip Lido and its 60-acre lake await near the end of the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines.

Get the party (re)started

The Glasto recovery is (almost) over, so dust off the bucket hat, restock the bum-bag and prepare for festival season 2.0. Lambeth Country Show returns this weekend to ease you in — think jousting, jamborees, and a competitive vegetable sculpture display in Brockwell Park — or head east for George Ezra, Cat Power and Lana Del Rey at Latitude. August kicks off with the Wilderness Festival — Robyn, Bombay Bicycle Club and Tom Odell will all be on stage — while the late-summer line-up also includes South West Four (Clapham Common), Eastern Electrics (Morden Park) and the world’s largest philosophy and music festival, How The Light Gets In (Hampstead Heath). Notting Hill Carnival returns for its 53rd year over the bank holiday.

Screen time

Don’t let a spell of sunny weather fool you into feeling as if you have to be outside all day — summer is a golden TV-watching season. Missing the drama of Wimbledon? There’s plenty to fill that gap in Poldark, Love Island, The Handmaid’s Tale and Big Little Lies. The next show to look out for is Euphoria, on Sky Atlantic and Now TV from August 6. It’s an American adaptation of an Israeli show about high school students contending with drugs, first love and social media. Zendaya stars, it’s executive-produced by Drake, and Labrinth is responsible for the music.

The UK version of Drag Race is set to sashay onto screens in the next few months, with guest judge appearances from Michaela Coel and Andrew Garfield. Keeping Faith starts its second series on Tuesday, with Eve Myles playing lawyer Faith trying to hold her family together; there’s Peaky Blinders on the BBC soon, with Sam Claflin and Anya Taylor-Joy joining the cast; and the final series of Orange is the New Black, which lands on Netflix on July 26.

Some big beasts are coming to the big screen too. Beyoncé, Donald Glover and Seth Rogen star in Disney’s live-action The Lion King from Friday. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood lands on August 14, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. For movies under the stars, Somerset House’s Film4 open-air cinema returns at the start of August — a highlight is Inna de Yard, a love letter to the music of Jamaica — and The Luna Cinema runs screenings everywhere from Alexandra Palace to Regent’s Park until the end of September.

The lit fix

The beach reads are rolling in just in time for next month’s minibreak. Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead’s follow-up to The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys, lands on August 1. Sophia Money-Coutts’s second novel, What Happens Now?, out on August 8, is perfect light summer reading — it’s been described as “Bridget Jones trapped inside a Jilly Cooper novel”. Next month sees Platform Seven, a high-concept mystery by Louise Doughty, the author of Apple Tree Yard, while September brings another Robert Harris thriller, The Second Sleep and David Cameron’s much-awaited memoirs, For The Record.

The show must go on

Missing Fleabag? Phoebe Waller-Bridge is bringing her one-woman show to the West End for four weeks in August — the last time she’ll appear in it. She’s not the only star taking to the stage: Idris Elba’s new show Tree kicks off at The Young Vic on July 29,and Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion Freak Show starts at Southbank Centre on July 23. Madonna loves it.

The crowning jewel of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s summer season is a new production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Evita. At the Noël Coward Theatre, Tennessee Williams’s The Night of the Iguana has just begun its 12-week run starring Clive Owen and Julian Glover. A season of music is also upon us: the BBC Proms start on Friday with a series of interstellar concerts marking the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings, while Nile Rodgers’ Meltdown takes over the Southbank Centre from August 3.

Max out

August in London means you can enjoy the capital’s hottest spots without the queues and crowds: a drink at Kensington’s flower-festooned pub, The Churchill Arms, which has spent £25,000 on this year’s floral installations, or a frolic in the fields at Sutton’s Insta-famous Mayfield Lavender Farm. The owners have previously had to ask selfie-seekers to keep clear at weekends due to overcrowding.

August is the best time to hit up London’s best restaurants — like Padella in London Bridge, known as much for its prohibitive, spaghetti-like queues as its steaming pasta plates — and new Lyle’s offshoot Flor. Can’t go to Italy? Gloria in Shoreditch, and new sister restaurant Circolo Popolare in Fitzrovia, are the next-best thing, with dizzyingly flamboyant decor, carbonara served in a wheel of cheese, and towering slices of lemon meringue pie. Hong Kong-style diner Wun’s replaces Soho’s Bun House next week, and the new restaurant at Claridge’s, Davies & Brook opens later this summer.

At West India Quay, Skuna Boats — the team behind the famous hot-tub boats on Regent’s Canal — have launched new BBQ boats for post-work antics, and next month a giant immersive ABBA-themed dinner, Mamma Mia! The Party, kicks off at the O2. How can you resist it?