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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.

20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London, the Walkie Talkie, with the curved glass roof of the Sky Garden at its crown
Things to Do

Sky Garden: Is It Free, and How to Get a Ticket

Free, but ticketed, and the tickets are released weekly up to three weeks out. What to do when they have gone, where it actually is, and why the dress code answer is not what their own site says.

9 min read
A group of adults playing darts together in a bar, the competitive socialising format London does best
Things to Do

Darts Is £10 and Evensong Is Free. Fun Things to Do in London, Priced.

This site takes no bookings and earns no commission, so it can say the thing the voucher sites cannot: most of the best activities in London are not on sale, and the ones sold hardest are the weakest.

9 min read
Two people walking side by side down a tree lined avenue in a London park in the early evening
Things to Do

London Date Ideas: The Short List That Actually Works

Every date ideas list in London runs to seventy one items and most of them are variations on go for a walk. This one is short, names the place, and tells you what it costs and the catch.

8 min read
The Harrods building in Knightsbridge lit at dusk, its terracotta facade outlined in lights above Brompton Road
Things to Do

Harrods: Opening Times, Who Owns It, and the Sunday Rule

On Sunday it opens half an hour before it is allowed to sell you anything, which is the quietest hour of the week. The opening times, the Qatari ownership, and the dress code that no longer exists.

7 min read
A bread stall at Borough Market in London, loaves and baguettes priced in pounds under the market's green ironwork
Things to Do

Borough Market: Opening Times and When to Actually Go

It is closed on Mondays, which is how most visits go wrong. The full opening times, why Saturday at nine is the best hour of the week, and what to buy once you are in.

8 min read
Black cabs and umbrellas on a wet London street seen from above, with LOOK LEFT painted on the road
Things to Do

Things to Do in London When It Rains: Stay Dry Properly

A pedestrian subway runs from inside South Kensington station to three world class free museums, so a wet day need not start with a soaking. Which places are dry from the train, and which still leave you queueing outside.

15 min read
A herd of fallow deer grazing under a tree in Richmond Park, with walkers keeping their distance in the background
Things to Do

Richmond Park: Opening Times, Parking and Where the Deer Are

The pedestrian gates never close but the vehicle gates shut at dusk, not at a set time. Richmond Park's opening hours, seven free car parks, 630 deer and the 50 metre rule that matters from September.

10 min read
A red deer stag standing in autumn bracken at Richmond Park in London, where the Royal Parks ask visitors to keep 50 metres away
Things to Do

The Best Parks in London: Which One for Which Afternoon

Eight Royal Parks and a heath that beats most of them. Which is countryside and which is forty minutes, when the gates actually lock, and the 50 metre rule that matters from September to November.

12 min read
Giant gold bells and red baubles hanging under the glass roof of the Apple Market at Covent Garden in London at Christmas
Things to Do

London Christmas Markets 2026: Most of Them Are Not Markets

Most of what London sells as a Christmas market is a funfair, a light trail or a row of bars in wooden huts. Which ones are real markets, which are free, and what Winter Wonderland actually costs.

17 min read
The blue whale skeleton hanging in Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum in London, which is free to enter
Things to Do

The Best Museums in London Are Free. That Is Not an Accident.

Every great London museum is free and every one of them has a paid exhibition placed where you will walk into it. Which collections cost nothing, which need a booked ticket anyway, and which open late.

11 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.