Free this weekendFri 9 to Sun 11 OctoberUpdated Wed 9 Sep, 21:45
Free events in London this weekend: Fri 9 to Sun 11 October
Free things to do in London this weekend: no admission price, in day order, rebuilt as the weekend moves. Plus which free ones still need a ticket.
7 free things to do in London this weekend, plus 34 free every day of the year.
Everything on this page costs nothing to get into this weekend. It is built from the same checked listings as the weekend edition, filtered to the ones with no admission price, and it rebuilds itself as the weekend moves.
Free in London usually means genuinely free, because the national museums and a good deal of the outdoor programme are free by policy rather than as an offer. The catch, where there is one, is the ticket rather than the money: some of the best of it needs a booked slot that goes weeks ahead.
Free things to do in London this weekend
Fri 9 to Sun 11 OctoberFriday
9 October-
Free
Stargazing in Richmond Park
Until 31 Oct
The darkest sky inside London, far enough from the centre that the Milky Way is occasionally there. The park closes at dusk in winter, so this is a late summer and autumn thing.
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Exhibitions Free
Frieze Sculpture 2026 in Regent’s Park
Until 1 Nov
Eleven international artists across the English Gardens, curated for a fourth year by Fatoş Üstek. Free and outdoors until 1 November, so go on a weekday morning and have it to yourself.
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Exhibitions Free
Gabriel Orozco at White Cube Bermondsey
Until 8 Nov
Coinciding with Frieze London 2026, White Cube Bermondsey presents a major solo exhibition by Gabriel Orozco (b. 1962, Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico). The exhibition juxtaposes over 100 new and existing wo
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Gigs Free
Bar Jams
Until 27 Oct
Live music in the bar at Underbelly Boulevard, on Walker's Court in Soho. It is a run rather than one night, so there is more than one chance at it. Start time is on the venue's page.
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Gigs Free
Bar Sounds
Until 22 Oct
Live music in the bar at Underbelly Boulevard, on Walker's Court in Soho. It is a run rather than one night, so there is more than one chance at it. Start time is on the venue's page.
Sunday
11 October-
Gigs Free
Downstairs at the King’s Head: Crouch End Jazz
A free jazz jam, founded in 1985 and a weekly fixture at the King's Head for more than 40 years.
Free every weekend, not just this one
The full guideThese are free whenever you turn up, so they are not really weekend news. They are here because they are the reliable answer when the things above are booked out or the weather turns.
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Sport Free
Dogs on Hampstead Heath
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Exhibitions Free
Free entry: Westminster Cathedral
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Food and drink Free
Leadenhall Market
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Sport Free
Dogs in Richmond Park
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Sport Free
Dogs in Battersea Park
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Exhibitions Free
Free entry: Southwark Cathedral
Free, but you still need a ticket
Some of the best free things in London are ticketed, and the ticket is the hard part rather than the money. Sky Garden releases slots a few weeks ahead and they go in a morning. Free museum lates and late openings take bookings and fill. Free outdoor screenings and festival stages are usually walk-in until they are at capacity, at which point the gate closes and no ticket helps.
7 of the listings above link straight to the venue's booking page. Where a listing has no link, it is walk-in as far as we could establish. Either way the venue's own page is the one to trust on the day, because free events are the first thing a venue cancels when the weather turns or the funding does.
Our free things to do in London guide covers the permanent ones, and free museums covers what is free to walk into and what still costs money inside.
The rest of the weekend
This weekend has everything, free and paid, in day order. Tonight is the same list cut to this evening, and after dark is what is still running past midnight.
Prices are what the venue published when we checked. Free events are changed and cancelled more often than paid ones, so confirm with the venue before you travel, especially if you are going far for one.