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.
Kew Gardens: £10 Tuesdays, Ticket Prices and Which Gate to Use
£10 on a Tuesday against £28 at the gate. And a child ticket doubles if you do not book online.
Highgate Cemetery: Tickets, Opening Times and Free Parking
One ticket covers both sides. Street parking is free after midday, and the hours drop an hour in November.
Cutty Sark: Prices, and Which Greenwich Museums Are Free
£22 adult, £11 child. Two of the four Royal Museums Greenwich sites are free, and the Observatory shuts its door 15 minutes earlier.
Matilda the Musical London: Age Rules, Times and Holiday Matinees
Three different age numbers in one answer, latex balloons onstage, and holiday matinees at 2pm not 2.30pm.
The Book of Mormon London: £23 Tickets, Age Limit and GalaPro
Last-minute seats from £23, captioning on your own phone at every performance, and two different running times on one site.
The Lion King London: £29.50 Magical Mondays, Times and Ages
£29.50 seats released every Monday at noon. The shortest of the big musicals at 2h30, with a Wednesday matinee.
Moulin Rouge London: Booking, Times and the Six-Month Wall
Individuals can only book six months ahead. Groups can book to July 2027. One extra week goes on sale every Monday.
Serpentine Lido: Prices, Supervision Ratios and the £2.50 Swim
A full day is £8.40 and a slot after 4pm is £2.50, the cheapest outdoor swim in London. A sunbed costs more than the swimming.
Brockwell Lido: Prices, Winter Swimming and the 15 Degree Rule
Junior access is barred whenever the water drops below 15C. The £140 winter season ticket pays back after 15 swims.
Tooting Bec Lido: The UK’s Largest Pool, and When It Is Open
91.4 metres, the largest freshwater pool in the UK, and closed to the public from 1 October to 30 April.
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.