Things to do in London: the best, the free and the unusual

London has more on than anyone can keep up with, which is the actual problem. Not finding something to do, but finding the thing that is on tonight, near enough to get to, and still has tickets. This page is the top of that: the categories people actually ask for, each with a guide behind it, and underneath them the live lists of what is on today and this weekend.

Everything in the lists is checked against the venue’s own page before it goes in. The guides are rewritten rather than refreshed. Where something has changed price, moved or closed, we would rather say so than leave it looking current.

Fun things to do in London

The reliable fun in London is the stuff that gives you something to do with your hands rather than something to look at. Activity bars cover darts, shuffleboard, mini golf and competitive bingo, most of them bookable the same week and most of them cheaper before seven. Escape rooms work for groups of four to six and badly for groups of two. Karaoke in London means private booths rather than a stage, which is the version most people actually want.

For a night that is watched rather than played, comedy clubs are the best value in the city and several run free or pay what you want nights midweek. Silent discos and immersive shows sit in between, and both need booking further ahead than people expect.

Best things to do in London

If you only do a handful of things, do the ones London does better than anywhere else. The national museums, free and open every day, which is a policy rather than an offer and has been for a quarter of a century. The West End, where theatre week and day seats make the good seats reachable. The river, which is the only way to see the city laid out properly, and the boat beats the bus for it.

Then the things that are only on for a few weeks a year and are worth planning around: Open House in September, when buildings that are shut all year let people in for nothing, Frieze week in October, Carnival in August, and the Christmas lights from early November.

Cheap things to do in London

London is expensive and the things that make it worth living in are mostly not. Our free things to do guide is the full version, and free museums covers what is free to walk into and what still costs money once you are inside.

Below free but not by much: the lidos, most of which are a few pounds and several of which are heated; the Bermondsey Beer Mile on a Saturday, which costs whatever you drink and nothing to walk; and pub quizzes, which are usually a pound or two a head and occasionally free. Outdoor cinema is ticketed but cheap by London standards, and student nights are the cheapest way into rooms that are expensive at the weekend.

Cool, unique and unusual things to do in London

The unusual things in London are rarely the ones marketed as unusual. St Dunstan in the East is a bombed church that was left as a garden and is free, open and almost empty on a weekday morning. Crossrail Place Roof Garden is a tropical garden under a wooden roof above a station, also free. Leadenhall Market is a Victorian arcade that empties completely at the weekend.

For the ones that only happen after dark, museum lates open the big collections in the evening with a bar in them, and stargazing and sunset spots are the free half of the same idea. Venues that have closed is the opposite list, and worth reading before you travel for something you last heard about several years ago.

Things to do in London at night

This is what the site is for. Things to do in London at night covers the evening properly: what starts after work, what runs past eleven, and what is still going at three. Tonight is the live version, rebuilt every day, and after dark is everything that crosses midnight.

For a specific kind of evening, cabaret and burlesque, gigs, live jazz and rooftop bars each have a guide, and the Night Tube covers how to get home when you have stayed out longer than planned.

Things to do in London for adults

Most of what gets written as things to do in London is written for a family day out. The adult version is a different list and mostly a later one: after dark is where it starts, cabaret, burlesque and drag are the rooms that put on a show, and comedy clubs are the cheapest reliable night of the lot.

For drinking rather than watching, the best bars are sorted by what you actually want from the evening, rooftop bars covers the view, and late night London lists what is still serving after eleven. Free activities in London for adults are thinner on the ground than the family sort but they exist: the museum lates, the free comedy nights midweek, and the whole of free things to do in London after you have skipped the playgrounds. Nothing here needs a child to justify it.

Things to do in London by who you are with

Couples and date night cover the evening version. Things to do with kids covers the daytime one, including what is free and what works in half term. Dog friendly pubs is the one people ask for and cannot find.

For groups, the activity bars and escape rooms above are the safe answers, and bottomless brunch is the weekend one. For visitors with a day rather than a week, central London keeps it inside a mile of Charing Cross, and once in a lifetime things to do is the list worth planning a trip around.

The big London attractions, and how long each really takes

The paid landmarks are worth doing once and the official pages will not tell you the two things you actually need, which are how long it takes and when it is quiet. The Tower of London needs three hours minimum and the Crown Jewels queue is worst at midday. London Zoo is half a day and is in Regent’s Park, not out of town. The London Transport Museum is two hours and its ticket is normally valid for a year rather than a day.

The London Aquarium and the London Dungeon are both in County Hall on the South Bank alongside the London Eye, run by the same operator, which is why buying them separately is the expensive way round. The Dungeon is a timed actor-led show rather than a walk-round attraction, which is the thing most people wish they had known.

When you have already done the obvious ones

Day trips from London and weekend trips get you out on a train in under an hour. London walks is the free version of the same instinct, and beaches near London is real, if you are prepared for the North Sea.

If you would rather be told what is on than choose, this weekend and this week are written for exactly that, and every listing is browsable by area, venue and type.