Free things to do in London

There are so many free things to do in this amazing city! I have thus divided my very long list into a few sections to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. 

One thing in advance: It is definitely possible to explore this city on a budget without missing any of the greatest sights!

First of all, we have got the Skygarden. These are the top floors of the skyscraper standing on Fenchurch Street from where you have amazing views over the river Thames, the Tower of London, St Pauls Cathedral , the London Eye and much more. The best thing about is: The access is free, so all you need to do is book a time slot 2 - 3 weeks ahead when it is open on the internet. 

Once you are up, you can enjoy the amazing views, see the several plants set up, or have a picnic. Obviously you could also go for the more luxurious option of dining in one of the restaurants or have a drink at the bar, but this is relatively expensive up here. Thus I rather recommend bringing your own things, which is allowed apart from alcohol. Before going up you need to go through security, as you have to do it with most museums and theatres as well.

Some other, definitely lesser known, roof tops around the city are the Crossrail Place Roof Top in Canary Wharf which also hat a beautiful garden and is indoors, the roof top of the One New Change shopping mall with fantastic views on St. Pauls Cathedral as well as The Garden at 120, also located on Fenchurch Street, which is an outdoor area on the roofs of London.

London`s green lungs - the beautiful parks all around the city centre are a perfect free thing to do. You can stroll around the green lawns, see the ducks at the ponds, look at wonderful flowers in the rose gardens: There are so many opportunities. Read my London`s parks post to find out more about the parks. In some of them there are even art installations, like you see in the photo in Regents Park. And in Richmond Park, which is a bit our of the city though, you can even spot some deer!

Apart from all these things, you can obviously go and visit all the fantastic areas in London, like Camden, Brixton, Notting Hill, Westminster and so on. Read my article on the most beautiful quarters all over London to find the ones you definitely want to visit. 

Additionally, London has plenty of markets that are worth visiting and great for grabbing a lunch. These would be, amongst others, Camden Market and Borough Market. When looking for something to eat, I can only recommend everything, meaning there is actually nothing that doesn`t taste great. Simply dare to try something you have never eaten before! But before you decide to buy anything, walk around a little, as mostly you can try a little at every stall, so that you might even be filled up with all of these already.

Also, there are often free classical concerts, like in the St Martins in the East church or the National Opera in Covent Garden, which is, by the way, a fantastic area to visit itself. 

And you can also go to see some of the special events all over London taking place every now and then. For example on Trafalgar Square for every major religious holidays there are some festivities taking place. Sometimes you can even watch the live broadcasts of a ballet or at the West End Live enjoy lots of parts of the most famous West End musicals in London - everything for free!

On top of all of this, in Hyde Park there is the Winter Wonderland taking place every year between November and January. It is free to enter and all the roller coasters, stalls and light installations are fantastic to look at!

Additionally, there are som independent special days, like the Free Cone Day at the Ben & Jerrys store in London, one day in autumn where you can go up to the top of the CIty Hall and a day where climbing the walkways of the Tower Bridge is completely free. The dates change every year, so check the respective websites to find out more.

Furthermore, lots of museums in London are for free. And when I say lots, I mean pretty much every single one of them: the Tate Modern (contemporary art), the British Museum (history), the Natural History Museum (nature), the National Gallery (classical art), the Science Museum (science), the Design Museum (design/modern art)... You see, the list is pretty long and not even complete yet. To find out more for about museums for literally any kind of interest, check my post on London's museums.

A good thing about museums: you always find a warm place for cold and rainy days, you get free wifi there and there are toilets in every single one. 

As you can probably already tell by the names of the museums, they are about all types of topics and go from ancient historic to very modern interactive exhibitions.