40 Free Things to do in London

Poet William Shenstone once famously said 'Nothing is certain in London but expense', but Shenstone clearly did not spend 4 years as student here living off Lidl pasta and Sainsbury's basics wine.

While those years are well behind me now, they did teach me how to keep yourself entertained on a very tight budget.

As proof, I've compiled 40 free sights across London, including quite a few slightly off-the-beaten track ones, so you too can save all that money for overpriced coffee and Uber Eats...

Click on the map below to view/save the Google Maps list with them all on for whenever you need them👇

FOR VIEWS...

A 15th floor rooftop garden in The City. While it's gained in popularity over the last year or so, it's still not as well-known as the Sky Garden, and no booking is required. If you go on a weekday, you probably won't even need to queue.

Find full visitor information here.

Horizon 22 is London's highest free viewing platform (and the highest free viewing platform in Europe), with 300-degrees views of the city. It technically requires advance booking, although they do accept walk ins. There's a little cafe up there too.

This place has the best views of St Pauls, and it's not too well known by tourists. You can reach it by going up in the lift in the shopping centre - a lot of people seem to think you can only use the lift to go to the bar, Madison, but you can also say you want to just visit the terrace and they'll let you up.

This is by far the most famous option. The Sky Garden viewing gallery on the 43rd floor of the Walkie Talkie offers panoramic views over London, a few cafes and bars, and lots of plants. What more could you want? You'll need to book in advance here, but tickets are free. Try to go at sunset. They take walk ins to the bars in the evenings as well.

Location: The City (by Monument Station, within reach of Bank, Tower Hill, Tower Gare and Aldgate)

Walking around Camden Market kind of counts as a standalone activity even if you don't buy anything there (walking around CyberDogs is a whole experience in itself), and it's a short walk from there to Primrose Hill, a grade II listed park with a hill that offers views overlooking the city.

I'd maintain after eight years here that Primrose Hill has the best views and atmosphere on a sunny summer evening.

GARDENS

Located on level 3 of The Barbican, the conservatory is a hidden oasis in London and the second largest in the city, housing more than 1,500 species of plants and trees. The conservatory is also home to koi, ghost, and grass carp from Japan and America.

You need to book a ticket in advance on the Barbican's website.

Crossrail Place Roof Garden is free to visit and one of London’s largest rooftop gardens.

The garden is divided into two sides, with the planting is arranged according to which hemisphere they’re from (with Asian plants to the East and plants such as ferns from the Americas to the west).

The garden is totally free and doesn't require in advance booking, you can just walk in. It's definitely a nice place to visit if you're in the area, but I would not go out of my way to get to Canary Wharf just to see it.

Location: Crossrail Pl, London E14 5AB

The Kyoto Garden, complete with a waterfall and koi carp, was a gift from the city of Kyoto to commemorate the long friendship between Japan and Great Britain in 1991, and it's now a popular part of Holland Park, but there's actually another Japanese Garden in the park - Fukushima Memorial Garden. Both are worth visiting, especially if you're visiting the Notting Hill area in general - it's a 10 minute walk away from the station.

Location: Fulham Road (near Notting Hill, Holland Park and Shepherd's Bush tube stations)

This park is a quiet oasis located on top of an electricity substation just off of Oxford Street (2 minutes from Bond Street station), and it's also right next to Mercato Mayfair (also a great hidden gem), which is Mercato Metripolitano's second site in insanely pretty Grade-I listed St Mark's Church. It has a really good variety of independent food and drink stands.

The flower garden is unsurprisingly best to visit in summer, and even then, it's a lot less crowded than the rest of the park. If you walk through to the back of the flower garden (it's not very easy to spot, so follow the signs), there's also a little deer park.

WALKS

This 15 mile route (broken down into smaller sections) walks you through most of the main attractions in the city and is one of the best ways to show a visitor London in a day (if they're willing to walk 15 miles...).

From around 200 AD, London's city wall, stretching from Tower Hill in the East to Blackfriars Station in the West, was one of the largest construction projects carried out in Roman Britain.

The London Wall walk was set up by the Museum of London in 1984 to track the remains of the wall, with 21 marker panels explaining the history of the wall. The majority of panels are missing, but someone usefully created a map online here to show the full path for the walk.

ANIMALS...

Because visiting one farm is just isn't enough, Vauxhall farm is a perfect option if you want to pat an alpaca, and really, who doesn't want to pat an alpaca?

There are a lot of city farms dotted about - Hackney and Shoreditch also have their own you can freely walk around, and they're very close to other popular areas (for example, Shoreditch city farm is just a few minutes walk away from Brick Lane).

There are about 650 deer across Richmond Park, and they've been roaming freely in the park since the 1600s. This is probably what the massive park is most famous for.

The deer aren't the only thing to see, though. I'd also recommend visiting the Isabella Plantation for colourful flower gardens, and King Henry's Mound for views over London.

Set in 32 acres of farmland but with brilliant views of the country's tallest skyscrapers, Mudchute Farm and Park in the Isle of Dogs is a budget way to 'escape the city' if you're in search of a little piece of the countryside.

Fun fact: The farm is London's only Rare Breed Survival Trust's Approved Conservation Farm Park.

The pelicans in St James' Park were first introduced as a gift from the Russian Ambassador in 1664, and there are still about six of them roaming freely through the park. If you want to be sure to see them, they’re almost always next to Duck Island between 2:30 and 3pm being fed.

ART

God's Own Junkyard is an art shop with a random collection of colourful neon & lightbulb signs. It doesn't sound that appealing when you put it like that, but it's kinda cool to see.

Basically, just walk around Brick Lane and the rest of Shoreditch... you can also do a free guided tour here though if you want a more structured approach.

Under the platforms and tracks of Waterloo Station is Leake street, where all of the walls are decorated in graffiti. First created during the Cans Festival organised by Banksy in 2008, the tunnel now feels like an ever-evolving mural.

TOP TIP: There's more to do than just observe the street art. Click here to see Leake Street's restaurants and bars.

Location: under Waterloo Station!

If you look down carefully on Millennium bridge, you'll notice hundreds of tiny art pieces crafted out of trodden in gum. They were created by artist Ben Wilson (better known as The Chewing-Gum Man...).

Across London, he's converted 10,000 trodden-in chewing gums into tiny pieces of art, using a blowtorch and layers of acrylic paint and lacquer to make everything from abstract patterns to detailed images of famous tourist attractions in London.

RANDOM

There are a few of these across the city, including one in Merchant Square in Paddington, The Scoop by Tower Bridge and at Coal Drops Yard by Kings Cross.

This old telephone box in Lewisham has been converted into a public book exchange. It's also right by Brockley Market, which is pretty nice in itself.

This church, a few minutes away from Tower Bridge, was built in around 1100 and is one of London's prettiest hidden gems. Fun fact, it's named after a 10th century monk who became the Archbishop of Canterbury after “surviving brushed with black magic and leprosy”.

This street market in Bethnal Green in normally only open on Sundays and has been a plant-lover’s dream since 1869. The nearest stations are Hoxton and Shoreditch High Street.

One of London's oldest markets, Spitalfields Market is open every day of the week with jewellery, art, homeware and most importantly food stands. Humble Crumble is sooo good. Top tip: Download the free Spitalfields App for in App deals, to browse menus in advance and pre-order food.

Location: Brushfield Street (close to Liverpool Street Station)

UK residents can get a free 75 minute guided tour of the Houses of Parliament, which I'm yet to do, but I've been reliably informed that it's surprisingly interesting.

HISTORY

Covering over 5,000 acres of historic parkland, Brompton cemetery is very much still alive with the stories of all the interesting and inspiring people buried there since the 1830s, including some the likes of John Snow and suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst.

Top tip: Click here for the Royal Park's map of the cemetery, which will help you to find the most famous memorials if there are any you're particularly interested in rather than looking through all 35,000!

Location: Fulham Road (near West Brompton and Earl's Court tube stations)

You know the blue plaques around the city that link famous figures in history to the places they lived? There are 950 of them around London, and if you download the free English Heritage Blue Plaques app, it contains guided walks around Soho and Kensington that take you around them. It's also just a nice route around those areas.

The Imperial War Museum has an extensive collection of exhibits, and interactive displays, offering visitors comprehensive insight into the UK's military history, from World War I to the present day.

Wellcome Collection is a free museum with varied interactive exhibitions that aim to get people to think more about the connections between science, medicine, life and art. (I had a brownie in their café once too, and it was really good...but that's for another post. You have to pay for the brownies.)

TOP TIP: Visit the 'Reading Room' on the top floor.

Location: Euston Road (by Euston Station)

Grouped together because they're all on the same stretch in South Ken, on Exhibition Road.

These are both part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.

Most people probably know that The British Museum exists - with eight million works in its permanent exhibitions, it is among the largest and most comprehensive in the world - but not everyone knows that it's totally free to visit.

One of the largest libraries in the world, everyone is able to visit The British Library building (although you can't take books out). The library is estimated to contain 170–200 million-plus books.

Sir John Soane was one of England's greatest ever architects over a century and a half ago, and the museum is located in his former home. It's been kept exactly as it was at the time of his death nearly 180 years ago and has over 30,000 architectural drawings on display.

The Petrie Museum houses roughly 80,000 objects, making it one of the greatest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world.