London's free offer isn't the leftovers — it's the main event. The British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Tate Modern and the V&A are all free, and each is world-class. Add the markets (Borough, Portobello Road, Old Spitalfields, Brick Lane), the royal parks, and the Changing of the Guard, and the free list beats most cities' paid list.
The best free view in London is from Sky Garden — free, but you must book a slot online in advance, and slots go fast. Hampstead Heath's Parliament Hill and Greenwich Park offer free skyline views with no booking at all. Walking the South Bank from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge at dusk is the best free "attraction" in the city and needs no planning whatsoever.
A practical trick: free museums make London's notoriously expensive weather-hedging easy. Rain moves the day indoors at no cost; sun sends you to the parks and markets. Structure days loosely around one area and let the weather decide the indoor/outdoor split.
Don't Miss
Highest-rated in London
British Museum
The world's oldest national public museum — eight million objects spanning two million years of human history, free to enter, from the Rosetta Stone to the Parthenon Marbles.
National Gallery
Over 2,300 Western European paintings from the 13th to the early 20th century, free to view, filling the north side of Trafalgar Square.
Natural History Museum
A cathedral-like Victorian building housing dinosaur skeletons, a blue whale suspended from the ceiling, and 80 million specimens — free to enter and one of London's most family-friendly museums.
Victoria and Albert Museum
The world's largest museum of art, design and performance — 5,000 years of human creativity from Raphael cartoons to Alexander McQueen couture, free to enter.
Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament
The Elizabeth Tower's Great Bell and the Gothic Revival Palace of Westminster — Britain's seat of government, viewable free from outside, or climbed on a rare, popular guided tour.
Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens
London's largest and most central royal park, split into Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, with the Serpentine lake, Speakers' Corner, and the Diana Memorial Fountain and Playground.
All Free Things to Do in London
37 places, all reviewed and rated
British Museum
The world's oldest national public museum — eight million objects spanning two million years of human history, free to enter, from the Rosetta Stone to the Parthenon Marbles.
National Gallery
Over 2,300 Western European paintings from the 13th to the early 20th century, free to view, filling the north side of Trafalgar Square.
Natural History Museum
A cathedral-like Victorian building housing dinosaur skeletons, a blue whale suspended from the ceiling, and 80 million specimens — free to enter and one of London's most family-friendly museums.
Victoria and Albert Museum
The world's largest museum of art, design and performance — 5,000 years of human creativity from Raphael cartoons to Alexander McQueen couture, free to enter.
Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament
The Elizabeth Tower's Great Bell and the Gothic Revival Palace of Westminster — Britain's seat of government, viewable free from outside, or climbed on a rare, popular guided tour.
Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens
London's largest and most central royal park, split into Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, with the Serpentine lake, Speakers' Corner, and the Diana Memorial Fountain and Playground.
Regent's Park & Primrose Hill
A 395-acre royal park designed by John Nash, home to London Zoo and formal rose gardens, with neighbouring Primrose Hill offering one of the city's six protected skyline viewpoints.
Sir John Soane's Museum
A Regency architect's own eccentric house, left to the nation exactly as he arranged it, crammed with antiquities, a sarcophagus and mirrored, skylit rooms designed to trick the eye.
Wallace Collection
A free national museum of French 18th-century art, arms and armour and Old Masters, housed unchanged in a grand townhouse just north of Oxford Street.
Hampstead Heath & Kenwood House
320 hectares of genuinely wild-feeling parkland in north London, with the city's best free panoramic view from Parliament Hill and a free Old Masters collection at Kenwood House.
Science Museum
Five floors of steam engines, spacecraft, aviation history and hands-on exhibits — free entry, with a paid IMAX cinema as the one notable add-on.
Imperial War Museum London
A free, unflinching museum covering conflict from World War I to today, housed in the former Bethlem Royal Hospital ('Bedlam') behind two genuine 15-inch naval guns.
Tate Modern
Britain's national gallery of modern and contemporary art, housed in a converted 1950s power station on the Thames, with a soaring Turbine Hall for large-scale installations.
National Portrait Gallery
Over 250,000 portraits of the people who shaped British history, from Tudor monarchs to contemporary celebrities, in a building reopened after a major 2023 refurbishment.
Trafalgar Square
London's grand ceremonial square, watched over by Nelson's Column and four bronze lions, fronted by the National Gallery — free, open 24/7, and the geographic heart of the city.
Borough Market
London's oldest food market, trading in some form since at least 1014, now a dense warren of artisan food stalls, cheesemongers and street-food vendors under Victorian ironwork by London Bridge.
British Library
The UK's national library and one of the world's great research collections, with a free Treasures Gallery holding a Magna Carta, Beatles lyrics and Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks.
Maughan Library
King's College London's Gothic Revival main library, a former Public Record Office headquarters whose round Weston Room reading room is genuinely worth a look for its architecture alone.
Hunterian Museum
The Royal College of Surgeons' free museum of anatomy and surgical history, built around 18th-century surgeon John Hunter's astonishing anatomical collection.
Diana Memorial Playground
A free Peter Pan-themed playground in Kensington Gardens built in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, centred on a large wooden pirate ship for climbing and imaginative play.
Somerset House
A grand neoclassical courtyard on the Strand that hosts a summer fountain display, a winter ice rink and year-round free exhibitions, alongside the Courtauld Gallery.
Tate Britain
The story of British art from 1500 to today in one riverside neoclassical building — Turner, Constable, the Pre-Raphaelites and Hockney, with far smaller crowds than its Bankside sibling.
Buckingham Palace
The monarch's official London residence, watched over daily by the Changing of the Guard, with its lavish State Rooms opening to visitors only during a short summer window.
Wellcome Collection
A free museum and library exploring the connections between medicine, science, life and art, built on pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome's vast personal collection.
Guildhall Art Gallery
The City of London's free art collection above the surprise ruins of a Roman amphitheatre, discovered by archaeologists during the gallery's own construction in 1988.
Leadenhall Market
An ornate Victorian covered market in the heart of the City of London's financial district, its green-and-maroon ironwork instantly recognisable as a Harry Potter filming location.
Covent Garden
London's original planned public square, now a lively piazza of street performers, an indoor Apple Market, the Royal Opera House and London's oldest working theatre.
Neal's Yard
A tiny, dazzlingly colourful courtyard tucked behind Covent Garden's main streets, once a derelict service alley and now one of London's most photographed hidden corners.
Portobello Road Market
London's largest antiques market, running the length of a Notting Hill street once made famous on film, busiest and best on Saturdays when the antiques stalls are in full swing.
Old Spitalfields Market
A Victorian covered market in the East End turned fashion, food and craft destination, with a history of feeding London stretching back to a 1638 royal licence.
Brick Lane
The East End's most famous street, a living record of successive immigrant communities from Huguenot weavers to Bengali curry houses, now also London's street art heartland.
Design Museum
The world's leading museum of contemporary design, free to enter, housed in a striking 1960s Grade II*-listed former commonwealth institute building in Kensington.
Serpentine Galleries
Two free contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, best known for commissioning a major new architectural summer pavilion from a different world-class architect each year.
Sky Garden
London's highest free public garden, spanning three storeys atop the "Walkie-Talkie" skyscraper with 360-degree views over the City and the Thames.
Piccadilly Circus
A famously chaotic junction of five major streets, its giant illuminated advertising screens and the winged Shaftesbury Memorial fountain making it one of London's most photographed corners.
Camden Market
A sprawling cluster of markets around Camden Lock on Regent's Canal — alternative fashion, global street food and live-music history, and one of London's most-visited free attractions.
Barbican Library
The largest lending library in the City of London, set inside the Brutalist Barbican Centre, worth a look for its striking 1980s architecture as much as its collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before you visit.
What are the best free things to do in London?+−
Is Sky Garden really free?+−
Are London's free museums worth it compared to paid attractions?+−
When is the Changing of the Guard?+−
How much money do you actually need for a London trip?+−
Where to stay
Hotels in London
Compare prices across hundreds of hotels near this attraction — from budget hostels to luxury stays. Free cancellation on most rooms.
Affiliate disclosure — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Powered by Booking.com.