Journal 1 September 2026
Free London: what actually costs nothing, and what only looks like it does
The museums, the views, the parks and the markets are free. The confusion is everything around them: the timed ticket that costs nothing, the exhibition that does, and the difference between the two.
London is unusually good value if you know which half of it is free, and unusually confusing about saying so. Almost every argument about the cost of a day here comes down to one thing: free entry and free experience are not the same, and the places that are free rarely explain the difference.
This is the whole of it in one place. Each section links to the detail.
The museums are free, the blockbusters are not
Almost all the big museums cost nothing to walk into. The British Museum, the National Gallery, both Tates, the V and A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum are all free, permanently, and always have been. What you pay for is the touring exhibition, which is why the queue outside a free museum is usually for a ticketed show.
Several ask for a free timed slot at weekends and in the holidays. It costs nothing and it saves the queue. The quieter ones, Sir John Soane’s and the Wellcome Collection among them, rarely need one at all.
The views are free, and two of them are the highest
Horizon 22 and the Sky Garden are both free and both above most of the paid observation decks. Both need a ticket booked ahead, which costs nothing and runs out. If you have not booked, the protected views from the hills need no booking at all and never close.
The parks, the markets and the walking
The eight royal parks are free and open until dusk. St James’s Park has the best view of Buckingham Palace in the city and it is from a bridge anyone can stand on. The street markets cost nothing to walk: Columbia Road on a Sunday, Broadway Market on a Saturday, Brick Lane at the weekend.
Free with children, which is a different question
Most of what is free is also free for children, and the under elevens travel free too, which is usually the biggest saving of the day.
What to trust
Free changes. A museum introduces a charge for a wing, a rooftop starts asking for a booking, a market moves. Everything we list as free is dated and carries the venue’s own link, and it is on the free list, which is rebuilt as things change. If you are deciding tonight, start at what is on tonight.
By Angela. Updated 1 September 2026.
More on free london
All 6 piecesEverything in London that costs nothing, and the small print on the things that are free but still need a ticket. The largest single thing this paper covers.
- A whole London evening for nothing View, exhibition, walk and a place to sit, without paying for any of it. London is unusually good at this and hides...
- Free, but you still need a ticket: the London catch A dozen of the best free things in London will turn you away at the door without a booking that costs nothing....
- Free London with children, and the bit nobody mentions about fares The museums, the playgrounds and the city farms cost nothing. So does getting there, which is usually the largest number on the...
Where to go next
Everything above is drawn from the listings, which are dated and rebuilt as things change.