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Independent, London 465 guides to London Nobody pays to appear Every price checked at the source We take no bookings Est. 2026

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.

The lit model of Hogwarts castle in the darkened model room at the Studio Tour
Things to Do

The Studio Tour Package With a Hotel Costs £13 Less Than the One With a Bus

Tickets with an overnight hotel and breakfast start at £81. Tickets with a return coach start at £94. Both sit on the same page, and the bus replaces a twenty minute train that takes your Oyster card.

11 min read
Shoppers crossing Oxford Street beside an Underground roundel, with high street stores and a red bus behind
Things to Do

Oxford Street Shuts Half the Day on a Sunday

Twelve and a half hours Monday to Saturday, six on a Sunday, and nothing opens before half eleven. The hours taken from the shops themselves, plus why Zara has four stores on one street.

8 min read
A broad lakeside path in a London royal park, with walkers, benches and spring blossom along the water
Things to Do

Hyde Park Opens at Five in the Morning and the Toilets Cost 20p

Free, open nineteen hours a day, three miles round. And everything inside it has a published rule: no swimming outside one marked lido, no barbecues, cycling on named roads only.

7 min read
The London Eye beside County Hall on the Thames at sunset, with the wheel lit against a pink sky
Things to Do

Your London Eye Ticket Time Is When You Join the Queue, Not When You Board

The operator says so on its own site, and the peak wait from that point is 45 minutes. Plus the bundle arithmetic: four combinations save real money and one costs more than buying both tickets separately.

10 min read
The dome and colonnade of St Paul's Cathedral seen from below against a clouded sky
Things to Do

St Paul’s Cathedral Has a One Pound Ticket Hiding in Its Price List

An adult ticket is 27 pounds. In the same table there is a 1 pound ticket for anyone on Universal Credit, Pension Credit or ESA, plus up to four children. Plus the honest answer on getting in free.

8 min read
Tower Bridge with its bascules raised and a sailing barge passing through on the Thames
Things to Do

Tower Bridge Lifts 800 Times a Year and Publishes Every One

The best thing Tower Bridge does is free and listed weeks ahead: every lift, with the time, the direction and the name of the ship. By November there are only a handful of dates left.

7 min read
A Christmas fairground at night, with an illuminated big wheel rising above lit ride fronts and crowded stalls
Things to Do

Winter Wonderland London: You Should Never Pay the Entry Fee

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland charges up to 9.50 a head at the gate and publishes four separate ways to get in for nothing. Dates, gates, and why the opening time on your date is probably not ten.

8 min read
The Shard rising above the Thames and the City of London at sunset, seen from above
Things to Do

The Shard Will Give You a Free Return Visit, If You Ask Before You Leave

Cannot see three of five named landmarks from the top? The View Guarantee gets you a free return ticket, but only if you speak to the Duty Manager before you walk out. Plus the honest answer on Shard or Sky Garden.

9 min read
A busy covered street food hall under timber beams, with counters, hanging plants and a crowd at the tables
Things to Do

London Food Markets: The Halls Run Late and the Streets Do Not

One word for four different businesses. Camden's food halls serve until eleven every night, Broadway Market has packed up by five on a Saturday, and Seven Dials has three separate booking rules.

12 min read
The Camden Lock Market buildings and painted signage beside the canal bridge, with stalls and a cyclist on the road
Things to Do

Camden Market Is Open Every Day of the Year Except One

Christmas Day is the only closure, bank holidays included, which makes it the answer whenever the day is not yours to choose. Its own pages disagree on the closing time by an hour.

8 min read

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.