Free Things to Do in London
London's biggest advantage for a budget trip: its national museums have been free every single day since long before "free museum day" was a marketing gimmick elsewhere.
Free museums, every day
The British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, and Victoria & Albert Museum are all free to enter, permanently — no calendar to plan around. In Greenwich, the National Maritime Museum and the Queen's House are free as well. The V&A East Storehouse in Stratford (opened 2025) and the newer V&A East Museum add two more free options outside the central tourist core.
The Royal Parks
Hyde Park, Regent's Park, St James's Park, Greenwich Park, and Hampstead Heath are all free and open to the public. Hyde Park alone covers 350 acres and includes the free Serpentine Gallery and the Diana Memorial Fountain. Any one of these is a full free afternoon on its own.
Free to watch
- Changing the Guard — the ceremony outside Buckingham Palace costs nothing to watch from the street.
- Covent Garden street performers — licensed performers run through the day in the piazza; genuinely worth the stop.
- South Bank and Regent's Canal — both make for a free, scenic walking route with river or canal views the whole way.