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.
Sir John Soane’s Museum: A Rake’s Progress Is Revealed at 2pm, Once a Day
The Picture Room walls are hinged and open only at set times. Plus the 2pm tour that clashes with it, and the wheelchair width limit that means most visitors transfer.
London Days Out on Universal Credit: £1 at Kew, £5 a Year at the Transport Museum
What every major London attraction actually charges on benefits, the proof each one demands at the gate, and the one rule that wastes most trips: the ticket desk sells full price.
Leighton House: Pay What You Want on the First Monday of the Month
Three hours a month where you can pay nothing, four areas that are free any day, and why a joint ticket with Sambourne House only works Wednesday to Sunday.
Camden Passage: Not in Camden, and Three Markets on Different Days
The nearest tube is Angel, not Camden Town. All three market areas open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; Thursday is vintage only, Friday misses one, and Monday and Tuesday are shut.
Two Temple Place: Four Open Slots Before Christmas, Then Free Until April
You cannot turn up. A £12 building tour on two dates in 2026, then a free exhibition from 23 January 2027. Plus the stair climber whose model number and dimensions are published.
Nunhead Cemetery: Free Guided Tours Every Other Sunday, No Booking
Two-hour volunteer-led tours for a suggested £3, including the crypt that is not otherwise open. Plus free parking, bag storage, and why Abney Park shuts in high wind.
London Wetland Centre: A Family of Four Can Get In for £16
A £5 adult ticket for anyone on seven listed benefits, bookable online only, against £19 at the desk. Plus the ANPR tablet that makes the free parking free, and published hide door widths.
Thames Clippers: The Rush Hour Is the Off-Peak Fare
Peak and off-peak are inverted against the rest of London transport, the daily cap does not apply, and the All Zones return costs £7.90 less at the pier than online.
Up at The O2: The Maximum Thigh Measurement Is 75cm
Published physical limits almost nobody checks before booking, a weekday twilight climb that costs less than a weekend daytime one, and why the £250 wheelchair climb works out at £25 a head.
Whitechapel Gallery: Pay What You Can Every Thursday Evening
Free displays all year, one ticketed show a season, and that show is Pay What You Can from 6pm to 9pm every Thursday. Plus a fire alarm text service for deaf visitors.
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.