Escorts in Mayfair: ring the bell by Berkeley Square, W1K and W1J

The Royal Academy of Arts anchors the south of the district. Its Summer Exhibition fills Burlington House from June, and the Friday late openings let a visit run past nine with a drink in hand. Behind it, Cork Street and Albemarle Street hold a tight cluster of commercial galleries whose opening nights are informal, crowded and free to walk into, while Dover Street mixes gallery spaces with fashion houses that keep their windows lit long after closing.

Sale weeks change the whole mood. Sotheby's and Bonhams, both on New Bond Street, open their viewing rooms to the public before the big auctions, and an evening preview is one of the most civilised free hours in London. A companion who enjoys pictures turns it from a quick look into a conversation that carries on through dinner.

October brings the heaviest run of gallery evenings in W1, when collectors arrive from every continent and the dealers hold late openings night after night. A day of notice helps the desk offer the widest choice of girls.

W1S 4BP on Albemarle Street is the natural base for a gallery evening, two minutes from Cork Street and panelled from floor to ceiling. W1J 9BR faces Green Park across Piccadilly, a few steps from the Academy courtyard. W1K 4HR on Brook Street and W1K 2AL on Carlos Place stand further north, nearer the salerooms, and W1K 1QA and W1K 1PN look over Hyde Park from the western edge.

Naming them is only a way to picture the route: no hotel in W1 has any agreement with London Babes. She arrives as your guest, and a flat above Dover Street or a townhouse near Grosvenor Square is visited with exactly the same care.

Green Park is closest to the Academy and the Piccadilly hotels, roughly four minutes away on foot, and three lines stop there: Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria. Bond Street is a five minute stroll from the salerooms and brings the Central and Elizabeth lines, the latter running straight to Heathrow. From Park Lane, the Piccadilly line platforms at Hyde Park Corner are a seven minute walk. At night our companions come by taxi, and because Mayfair sits wholly inside Zone 1 the ride is already part of the fare.

Openings rarely keep to the time printed on the invitation, so tell the desk the gallery and the hour you plan to arrive, and she can meet you on the pavement outside or at the bar of your hotel beforehand. Your name, hotel and room are checked once on WhatsApp, and the desk then writes back with her name, the time and the fare in one short message. That line is the whole agreement.

Mayfair is one of the nearest stops on our route, yet a same evening booking is still best planned at about an hour from confirmation, longer on an opening night when Cork Street fills with taxis. You settle her fare with her personally when you meet, and with three hours of notice a standard booking can be released without charge.

Six, the Friday late at the Royal Academy, the main galleries half empty while the courtyard fills below. Half past seven, a short walk up Albemarle Street to a Cork Street opening, one glass each and a canvas neither of you would ever buy. Half past eight, dinner at Sketch on Conduit Street, where the pink dining room is part gallery and part joke. Eleven, a nightcap in the drawing room on Albemarle Street, the fire burning low, before the lift upstairs.

That whole route fits a dinner date, four hours for £1,300. A preview and a single drink fit easily into ninety minutes at £600, and an evening that runs on to breakfast is £2,400.

Collectors and dealers in town for a sale, who have spent all day talking about prices and would like someone to talk about the pictures. Visitors who planned a trip around the Summer Exhibition and would rather not walk it alone. Guests at the Piccadilly hotels with one free evening and an invitation in their pocket. They want someone curious, well dressed without trying and happy to hold an opinion about a painting, and they want the fare fixed before anyone sets off.

Angelika is the obvious first call for an opening, since contemporary art and live jazz are how she spends her own evenings; long straight black hair and a tennis player's calm. Luna, dark auburn, loves the theatre and will steer you away from the obvious bottle at dinner. Samanta plays the violin, collects languages and notices the design of a hotel before anyone else in the room does.

All three call Mayfair home and know its galleries and late bars by heart. Anyone else on the girls page comes to W1K or W1J on the same fares.

Cross Regent Street and the Soho lights take over. Oxford Street divides Mayfair from Marylebone to the north, Hyde Park Corner leads down into Belgravia, and Piccadilly Circus opens onto the West End.