With its wealth of attractions, restaurants and shops, London can be one of the priciest cities in the world – but for those in the know there are plenty of ways to enjoy it for free. Get to know the heart and soul of this vibrant capital without ever having to open your wallet, with our favourite free London activities!
Stray off the beaten path in the East End
Explore London’s East end and check out the graffiti art in Shoreditch © jenerationy
Historically known for its crippling poverty and criminal characters – from Jack the Ripper to the Kray twins – London’s East End has become a prime tourist destination. Its shabbily edgy streets are swarming at weekends with visitors checking out the hip graffiti art, retro shops and street markets.
Less well known are its quirky free museums, all of which unpeel another layer of this bric-a-brac part of town. The Royal London Hospital Museum, for example, which was home to the Elephant Man until his death; the Museum of Childhood, packed with antique toys and vintage playthings, and the Ragged School Museum, on the site of a free school for poor children, established by Victorian philanthropist Dr Barnardo.
After visiting the free museums, check out some of the markets around East London © Artificial Photography
All around, the collision of cultures – the East End has welcomed waves of French Huguenot, Irish, Jewish and Bangladeshi immigrants over the generations – reveals itself in small details, from Bangladeshi street signs and sari shops on Brick Lane to elegant Huguenot shopfronts now converted into desirable boho residences. The huge Jama Masjid on Brick Lane has been a place of worship for Huguenots, Methodists, Orthodox Jews and now Muslims. In a state of atmospheric disrepair, 19 Princelet Street, once a Huguenot silk weaver’s house and later a Victorian synagogue is open occasionally, its dusty rooms filled with evocative installations on local immigration.
Extra tip:
Still in the East? Check out First Thursdays, when, on the first Thursday of each month, around 150 of the East End’s galleries open their doors for free, with shows, private views, workshops and talks, canapés and wine, and bus and walking tours taking in lesser-known studios and spaces. The event is organised in association with the superb Whitechapel Gallery, which has long been an anchor of the local contemporary arts scene and is also – you guessed it! – free.
A tropical hideaway in the City
Take a deep breath and enjoy the lush conservatory at The Barbican © Max Colson, The Barbican Centre
The Barbican. A brutalist masterpiece. All windblown vistas and bleak walkways, right? Not quite … not if you head here on a Sunday and know where to look.
Every week, urban explorers who brave London’s iconic concrete jungle can discover a real jungle – or almost. This huge conservatory, a contemporary tropical garden bursting with lush greenery, trailing creepers and exotic blooms, is one of the City’s (London’s financial district) best-kept secrets. Get here early and you may find yourself with only fish, terrapins and squawking birds for company.
Extra tip:
When you’ve had your fill of the natural world, take a wander through the Barbican Centre itself and check out its art installations. All are intriguing, some are challenging – and many are free of charge.
Graze your way through Borough Market
Borough Market is a feast for all your senses … and tasters are free
Active since medieval times, and on this spot since the 1750s, Borough Market, near London Bridge, is the capital’s go-to foodie hotspot.
It’s undeniably fabulous, a feast for all the senses, but with many of its 100-odd stalls heading to ever-higher organic, gourmet and artisan heights, it’s hardly a budget option. However, with a dash of canny you can put together a whole lunch from free samples – chunks of sourdough bread dabbed into olive oil, cubes of cheese and sausage picked at on sticks, a spoon of creamy mushroom terrine here, a paella prawn there, a chocolate truffle or two to finish …
Once you’ve filled yourself up with foodie freebies, we recommend showing your gratitude with a few purchases – a jar of London honey, for example, would make a fantastic inexpensive souvenir.
Stroll along the South Bank
Stroll along South Bank for one of London’s best free experiences © Kid Circus
After all that market hall feasting, you’ll need a bracing walk. And at the bottom of Borough, you’ll find perhaps the best Thameside stroll in the city.
Wandering west down Bankside, you’ll be taken back in time past the Golden Hinde II, a reconstruction of the galleon in which Sir Francis Drake sailed the world in 1577–80, followed by the half-timbered Shakespeare’s Globe, on the spot where the Bard’s plays were performed to a rowdy Elizabethan crowd.
Then step into the future with the spectacular Tate Modern, which hosts one of the world’s greatest permanent collections of contemporary art in a gargantuan old riverside power station, all for the price of nothing!
From Tate Modern, you’ll have a view of Millennium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral © Oscar Nord
A further 20 minutes westward walking and you hit the jewel of the riverside; the South Bank. This cultural hub is buzzing with free festivals, street stalls, buskers, events and concerts in or around the Royal Festival Hall, National Theatre, Hayward Gallery and the British Film Institute.
On a hot day, kids and big kids can scamper in the jet fountains that shoot into the air at seemingly random moments. And then, if you’re dry enough, pop into the BFI mediathèque to watch cool free movies.
Pick up a cheap snack from one of the colourful food carts, or finish off the afternoon in style with a picnic in the Jubilee Gardens, which offers a perfect view of the capital’s big wheel, the London Eye.
Go mudlarking along the Thames
If all that sounds a bit high-brow, then why not get down and dirty with a spot of South Bank mudlarking? This thrilling treasure hunt-cum-scavenge is as old as the city itself. Picking through the muddy foreshore surface at low tide you may find anything from clay pipes to ceramic tiles, Victorian sea glass to lead brooches.
It’s rare not to leave without finding buried treasures, even if only a dramatic piece of driftwood: you might even find a message in a bottle, or send one of your own!
Soak up culture in South Kensington
Natural History Museum in South Kensington is quite the sight © Claudio Testa
With its imposing stucco-fronted Victorian villas and broad leafy streets, South Kensington is the very epitome of old-school English urban affluence. It’s also where you’ll find three of London’s biggest and best museums.
Sitting side by side are the Victoria & Albert (V&A), a treasure trove of decorative arts from around the world and across the centuries, the Science Museum, with its gadgetry and hands-on fun, and the Natural History Museum, where a giant whale skeleton greets you at the door. The three world-class institutions are open seven days a week and all of them are free.
Discover London’s offbeat collections
Go off the beaten museum track and explore, among others, Sir John Soane Museum
If ticking off big names isn’t your scene, let your imagination run riot at London’s more unusual free collections.
Prime among them, the Sir John Soane Museum was home to and designed by the architect of the Bank of England. Expect the unexpected – behind that elegant Georgian exterior is a warren of tricksy corridors, art-strewn secret rooms and whimsical surprises.
Out in up-and-coming Walthamstow, the William Morris Gallery is another house museum devoted to an extraordinary artist. Packed with his distinctive arts and crafts prints, ceramics and tiles, it’s a collection that London’s more famous museums would die for.
For a touch of gory fun, try the Wellcome Collection, founded by the eponymous early pharmacist, where you can pick your way through a wealth of medicine-related historical curiosities from Napoleon’s toothbrush to a tobacco resuscitation kit.
Catch classic movies in a working film studio
The New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival presents Grease. © Electric Pedals
Every Tuesday night the Sands Cinema Club screens the best in world and arthouse cinema in an atmospheric old Rotherhithe film/costume studio footsteps from the Thames.
Visits are a pure theatrical adventure: pass through the costume workshop, strewn with haberdashery tools and frock-packed clothes rails, to get to the homely screening room where a friendly crowd of movie enthusiasts cosy up on battered sofas and armchairs to enjoy seasons on anything from Cuban cinema to French poetic realism. Admission is free, but you need to join the email list and reserve a seat, and donations are much appreciated.
Ekstra tip:
Want more movie offerings to while away a rainy day in London? The capital boasts a growing number of free community film festivals throughout the year, which also make great opportunities to experience the thriving suburban communities outside the city centre.
Enjoy bargain belly laughs in the comedy capital
Arthur Smith at the Angel Comedy Club. © Simon Goss
London has long been a centre for stand up comedy. Stadium shows may be all the rage right now, but canny comedy fans get their giggles for free. The Angel Comedy Club is renowned for the quality of its free nightly gigs, from improv to open mic to established names trying out new material.
There are two venues, both in Islington: the Camden Head, a cosy local pub on a pretty back street, and the Bill Murray, devoted to all things comedic.
Blow away the cobwebs on Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath, a great swathe of woods, parkland and wild countryside, is perhaps the capital’s finest green space, packed with simple pleasures.
It’s traditional for North Londoners to fly kites on Parliament Hill, with its breathtaking bird’s eye views of the city beyond. An exhilarating tramp through heathlands and woods brings you to elegant Kenwood House (free entry) designed by Robert Adam, and with Rembrandts, Vermeers and Gainsboroughs lining the walls of its soothing rooms.
The rolling lawns outside, with their quintessentially English views, all landscaped lake, soft-edged hills and venerable trees, is perfect for a lazy picnic.
Get a fresh perspective on the Regent’s Canal
Get a new perspective on London with a walk along Regent’s Canal © agavsworld
At nearly ten miles long, stretching from west London to Limehouse Docks in the east, Regent’s Canal, built in 1820, offers a different angle on the city.
The towpath starts at Little Venice, with its bright barges, willow-lined banks and elegant Georgian houses, passing a couple of miles later around the northern end of Regent’s Park – one of London’s finest green spaces. Delightfully, the path skirts the back end of London Zoo, giving a free close-up of the spectacular aviary, designed by Lord Snowdon in the 1960s.
A mile or two beyond lies Camden Market, where vintage clothes, vinyl and furniture share space with hippie crafts and funky pubs.
If you can drag yourself away from the people-watching, stroll the waterside for around another mile to the regenerated Granary Square in King’s Cross. Soak up the arty student buzz – the prestigious Central Saint Martins College is here – and lively street food scene, and make sure to check out Word on the Water, a floating secondhand bookshop on a moored canal boat. You might even be lucky enough to catch a free poetry slam.
Get your music fix for free
Rough Trade is one of London’s best-loved record labels and shops, flying the flag for indie music since 1976. Today the famed Notting Hill store has a younger sibling, in the East End – both are cool places to catch intimate afternoon gigs by new finds and bona fide indie stars. Some performances require you to buy a CD or LP to enter, but many cost nothing at all
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