Things to Do
What to actually do in London when you have limited time and no interest in the tourist trail. Written for short stays, weighted toward the evening.
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The landmark pages carry the numbers the attractions themselves bury. The queue at the London Eye runs up to forty five minutes on top of your ticket time rather than inside it, and the Harry Potter Studio Tour sells a package with a hotel in it for less than the one with a bus. The Shard, Sky Garden and Horizon 22 cover the views from above, and two of the three cost nothing.
Then the free half of the city: the parks, the museums that charge nothing and the food markets, where the published closing times regularly contradict each other on the market’s own website.
Seasonal pages appear when they are useful and are rechecked rather than recycled. Rain, weekends and Christmas each have their own.
You Can Walk Into Christie’s for Nothing
Selling exhibitions are open to the public, free, Monday to Friday. The weekend hours that need a call, and the lift that is out.
Every Way to Book Fairgame Has Gone Dark
Three parked domains, and the company that bought it does not list it among its 124 locations. What we could and could not verify.
The Beach That Bans Your Dog in August Welcomes It in November
Thanet and Brighton both restrict dogs from 1 May to 30 September. The full beach by beach list, and the eleven that never restrict them.
The Minecraft Experience No Longer Lists London
Six cities on the operator's site and none of them is here, with no closure notice. What it was, what it cost, and the buggy rule.
Trampoline Parks Have a Weight Limit Nobody Mentions
125kg, the compulsory grip socks you cannot substitute, the 30 minute arrival rule and the term-time days it is shut.
London’s Planetarium Is Closed, and the Observatory Shuts on 2 November
Where to see a planetarium show instead, what you can still visit before it closes, and why the 2028 reopening is not confirmed.
Whitehall Opens at 8am on Remembrance Sunday
Three hours before the silence, and entry closes once it fills. The 2026 timings, the screens, and the wheelchair enclosure you cannot book.
Changing the Guard: Its Own Pages Give Two Different Times
10.45 or 11, depending which official page you read. Which days, the 45 minutes, and the cancellation that can come after you arrive.
You Cannot Book The Traitors as a Group of Nine
Tables cap at eight or take all fourteen. The 29.50 pound operator price, the age rules that reconcile the ticket sites, and the late arrival rule.
MJ the Musical Has Closed in London
The final Prince Edward performance was 28 February 2026. What replaced it, the tours announced, and why ticket sites still disagree.
Elsewhere in the guide
Questions we get asked
What can you do in London for free?
The national museums, which includes the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate galleries, the V and A and the Natural History Museum. Permanent collections are free and always have been; only the temporary exhibitions charge.
How many days do you need in London?
Three gets you the centre without rushing it. Five lets you spend a day outside zone one, which is where London stops being a list of sights and starts being a city. Anything under two days is a transit stop rather than a visit.
What is worth doing in London in bad weather?
Most of the best of it is indoors anyway. The museums, the department stores, afternoon tea, the pubs that have been there for centuries, and the theatre. London is not a city whose case rests on the weather.