Answers16 answered

London answers: the questions people actually ask

Short answers to the London questions worth asking, each one checked and each one carrying the listings it refers to.

Every other page on this site is a list of what is on. These are the questions that come before the list: what time a thing starts, where to stand, whether the tube is running, which museums cost nothing.

Each answer is at the top of its own page in two or three sentences, and the listings we hold on the subject sit underneath it, so the answer and the things it describes come from the same place and cannot drift apart.

Where a date follows the usual annual pattern rather than an announcement, the answer says so.

The questions

4 Sep 2026 Are London's Christmas markets free to get into?
Yes, all of the street markets are free to walk into, including Southbank Centre, Leicester Square and Greenwich. Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park is also free to enter…
4 Sep 2026 Do you need tickets for Open House London?
Most buildings are free and need no ticket at all: you queue on the day and walk in. A minority of the popular ones use advance booking or…
4 Sep 2026 Is the tube running on Christmas Day?
No. There is no Underground, no Overground, no Elizabeth line, no DLR and no National Rail on Christmas Day, and almost no buses. Boxing Day runs a reduced…
4 Sep 2026 What can you do in London with children for free?
The big museums are free and most have a dedicated children’s floor. So are all eight royal parks, the city farms, the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens…
4 Sep 2026 What time does Notting Hill Carnival start?
Both days run from about ten in the morning to seven in the evening, and the sound systems must switch off at seven sharp. The parade proper gets…
4 Sep 2026 When do the Christmas lights go on in London?
Oxford Street switches on first, in the first week of November, with Regent Street and Carnaby within days of it. All of them stay lit until the first…
4 Sep 2026 When is Pride in London and is it free to watch?
Pride in London is on a Saturday in late June or the first days of July, and watching the parade is free from anywhere on the route. You…
4 Sep 2026 When is the London Marathon and where should you watch it?
It is run on a Sunday in late April and it is free to watch anywhere on the twenty six miles. Tower Bridge at mile twelve is the…
4 Sep 2026 Where can you drink late in London?
Most pubs stop serving at eleven. Soho, Dalston and Shoreditch are where the late licences are, running to two or three in the morning and later at the…
4 Sep 2026 Where can you go ice skating in London?
Somerset House, the Natural History Museum, Hampton Court Palace, Canary Wharf and Queens Skate Dine Bowl are the main ones. The outdoor rinks run from about the middle…
4 Sep 2026 Where can you take a dog in London?
Dogs are allowed in all eight royal parks off lead in most areas, on the canal towpaths and on the Heath. They travel free on the tube, bus…
4 Sep 2026 Where can you watch fireworks on Bonfire Night in London?
Most London displays are on the Saturday nearest the fifth, not on the fifth itself, which is the single thing most people get wrong. Alexandra Palace, Battersea Park…
4 Sep 2026 Where can you watch the sunset in London?
Primrose Hill, Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath, Greenwich Park by the observatory and Richmond Park’s King Henry’s Mound are the four protected views, which means nothing can be…
4 Sep 2026 Which London museums are free?
Almost all the big ones. The British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, the V and A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum…
4 Sep 2026 Which London museums are open late?
Most of the big museums run one late opening a month rather than late hours every day. The V and A opens on the last Friday, the Science…
4 Sep 2026 Which London rooftops can you go up for free?
The Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street, Horizon 22 at 22 Bishopsgate and Crossrail Place Roof Garden in Canary Wharf all cost nothing. The first two need a…