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.
Hijingo: You Cannot Pay for the Bingo by Credit Card
The Gambling Act 2005 bars credit cards for the game, though not for food and drink. Prices, the three forms of ID accepted, and why your table may have strangers on it.
TOCA Social London: You Can Walk In Without Playing
Play from 10 pounds, boxes hold twelve, and the booking fee is charged per transaction rather than per person. You can also walk in and use the bar without playing at all.
Lift 109: Up the North-West Chimney, Which Is Not the Original
£17 to ride 109 metres up a rebuilt 1930s chimney, after an exhibition at ground level. Late opening Thursday to Saturday only.
Victoria Park: London’s Oldest, and the Splash Pool Rules
Open 7am to dusk every day of the year. The splash pool runs 11am to 5pm in summer and switches off when it rains.
Holland Park: Dusk Closing, the Kyoto Garden and the Dog Ban
Some gates shut 20 minutes before the posted time. Dogs are barred from the Japanese Garden and cycling is banned throughout.
Greenwich Park: The Free Meridian and the 7pm Gates
Stand on the Prime Meridian for nothing; the Observatory above it costs £24. The tightest hours of any Royal Park.
Regent’s Park: Why Cars Get In Later Than You Do
Pedestrian gates shut at 7pm while vehicle gates stay open to midnight. Primrose Hill stays open three hours later than the park.
Southbank Centre: Eight Free Events and Five Venues
Free art in the Hayward Gallery, which normally sells tickets, plus a free poetry library most people never find.
Saatchi Gallery: Free Right Now, and the Closures to Check
Both current exhibitions are free until 11 October. But the whole building shuts for days between shows, and its own closures list is out of date.
National Portrait Gallery: Saturday Lates and the Times Others Hide
Open to 9pm on Friday and Saturday, one of only two free collections available on a Saturday evening in London.
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.