ListingsUpdated Sat 5 Sep
Greenwich: what's on and things to do
Greenwich is the one part of London that is genuinely better as a whole day than as an evening, and the only one on this site where we would tell you to arrive in the morning. The market, the park, the observatory, the Cutty Sark and the river are within a fifteen-minute walk of each other, and the view from the top of the hill is the best free thing in south-east London.
Daytime
The covered market runs every day and is at its best midweek when you can move. The Cutty Sark and the Old Royal Naval College sit by the water; the Painted Hall inside the College is extravagant and worth the ticket. The Royal Observatory is at the top of the park, and the walk up is steeper than it looks and worth it for the view back across the river to Canary Wharf.
The National Maritime Museum is free and one of the better museums in London for children. Greenwich Park itself is a deer park, and the flower garden at the south end is quiet even on a bank holiday.
Evening
Greenwich is not a late-night place and does not pretend to be. What it has is river pubs: the Trafalgar Tavern and the Cutty Sark Tavern both sit on the water and both are better in winter than in summer, when the tables outside are three deep. In September the Totally Thames festival brings river events to the Greenwich bank, several of them free and most of them better at dusk.
Getting there and back
The DLR from Bank or Canary Wharf is quickest, the Thames Clipper from the centre is the nicest, and the foot tunnel under the river from Island Gardens is free and slightly unnerving. There is no Night Tube here: the DLR stops around half past midnight and the alternative is a night bus or a long walk to New Cross for the Windrush line.
Saturday
5 September-
Talks From £12
Planetarium show at the Royal Observatory
Until 4 Sep
The only planetarium in London, in a cone of bronze angled at the pole star, with a live astronomer rather than a recording. Shows run through the day and last about half an hour.
-
Markets Free
Greenwich Market
Under a Victorian roof, trading most days, and the best of the London markets for actual presents rather than mulled wine.
Sunday
6 September-
Exhibitions From £18
Royal Observatory Greenwich
The Prime Meridian, the time ball and a planetarium. Ticketed, though the park and the view below it are free.
Saturday
12 September-
Markets Free
Greenwich Market
Under a Victorian roof, trading most days, and the best of the London markets for actual presents rather than mulled wine.
Sunday
13 September-
Seasonal Free
Ganga Aarti on the Thames
A river ceremony of lamps and music brought from the Ganges to the Thames, with food and live performance on the Greenwich bank. Free, no ticket, and better at dusk.
-
Exhibitions From £18
Royal Observatory Greenwich
The Prime Meridian, the time ball and a planetarium. Ticketed, though the park and the view below it are free.
Saturday
19 September-
Markets Free
Greenwich Market
Under a Victorian roof, trading most days, and the best of the London markets for actual presents rather than mulled wine.
Sunday
20 September-
Exhibitions From £18
Royal Observatory Greenwich
The Prime Meridian, the time ball and a planetarium. Ticketed, though the park and the view below it are free.
Tuesday
1 December-
Markets Free
Greenwich Market in December
Until 24 Dec
The covered market runs every day in December, which it does not the rest of the year. Craft stalls rather than tat, and the naval college is two minutes away when you have had enough.
Sunday
25 April-
Seasonal Free
London Marathon
Free to watch anywhere along twenty six miles. Cutty Sark at mile six and Tower Bridge at twelve are the loudest; the Mall is ticketed grandstands and a wall of people.
