Top 10 FREE London attractions and experiences

The quintessential London experience that’s absolutely free! Yes, you heard it right! 

London can be an expensive city. The cost of transport isn't cheap either. Entrance to some of the popular attractions range from £20 per adult. However, thankfully, London has many world class attractions that are absolutely free to visit and experience. It could take anywhere from 3 to 5 days just to visit the free attractions that London has to offer. If you are on a tight budget this is the way to go!

If you have some must see sights that need an entrance ticket, you do not have to forgo them. Every sight is worth it's spend. Being one of the oldest cities in the world, many buildings need regular up keeping and maintenance. You are only paying a small contribution towards that!

Here are the Top 10 Free Attractions in London!

Tower Bridge

The Tower Bridge

Built for about 8 years, Tower Bridge across the Thames was opened in 1894 and since then has been perhaps the most important icon of London. Towering 65 meters above the muddy brown waters of the Thames, this is one of the most photographed bridges in the world. Views of the bridge from the Tower pier and the north bank is as impressive as from the south bank. You can also time your visit to see the bridge lift to allow certain ships to pass. Check http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/lift-times/ for the bridge lift times. From the Tower Pier, walk along the cobbled foot path on the north bank along the Tower of London for enchanting views of the bridge and the South bank, where you can see the London city hall, the Shard and HMS Belfast.. Climb the stairs up to access the Tower Bridge and walk across to the south bank for views of the north bank - the glittering new commercial buildings alongside the century old Tower of London.

Allow: 30 - 60 minutes (if you are not taking the paid tour to top of the Tower Bridge)

Tower Hill

Fenchurch Street

Tower Gateway

St. Paul’s Cathedral & the Millennium Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral from the Millennium Bridge at sunset

To visit the St. Paul’s Cathedral on a Sunday is absolutely free. No pictures are allowed inside the cathedral so unless you are very interested in exploring every part of the interior or interested in taking a guided tour, you might as well visit on a Sunday. Sometimes there is a service going on or even a choir. The interiors are brilliant and it takes only a few minutes to experience the atmosphere. Built in the late 17th century by Sir Christopher Wren, the St. Paul’s Cathedral sits on Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the city of London. This also happened to be the tallest building in London until 1967. Reminiscent of the Capitol building in Washington DC, St. Paul’s dome is a prominent icon in the skyline of London. The views of the dome are impressive from the Millennium Bridge. The pedestrian only bridge also offers views of other bridges and iconic buildings along the river Thames. There's also the One New Change mall right behind St. Paul's if you want to do some shopping.

Allow: 30 minutes

St. Paul’s

Trafalgar Square & National Gallery

Trafalgar Square and National Gallery with the Norwegian Christmas Tree

Trafalgar Square is a large square in the city of Westminster with the National gallery at one end. This also happens to be the junction from which several roads lead to other important areas of London. To the right of National Gallery is the mall which heads to Buckingham Palace. To the left is the Strand which heads off to St. Paul’s and east London. Just ahead the road to Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament. Behind the National Gallery is the National Portrait Gallery and Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. There are two large fountains in the square. The Nelson Column at one end of the square has statues of 4 large lions. Trafalgar Square is the beneficiary of a large christmas tree from Norway every year during the holiday season. A place that was infested with pigeons until the last millennia was eventually recovered at the beginning of the 21st century.

The National Gallery is home to some of the top masterpieces of art in the world and unlike the top art galleries of mainland Europe, it’s absolutely free to visit. Artists whose works have found their home in the National Gallery include Leornado da Vinci, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Michelangelo, Van Gogh and Rembrandt. A map can be picked up for a small donation at the entrance.

Allow: 2-3 hours (or more if you can stare at art all day long!)

Charing Cross, Embankment

Charing Cross

Southbank, Big Ben and Westminster

The landmarks of London and South bank from the Golden Jubilee bridge

Nowhere is more happening than London's South Bank and the Queen’s walk. Stretching north and then east from the Westminster bridge, the south bank boasts of street performers, a carousel, restaurants, the London Eye, Shrek, Sealife aquarium among other things along with some of the best views of London. Start at the Golden Jubilee bridge (along the railway lines to Charing Cross station) which offers views of the Thames with two of the famous icons of London - the London Eye and the Big Ben - on either side of the river. Climb down the steps and turn left towards the Royal Festival Hall for restaurants or turn right for some of the top paid attractions in London. Continue along the Queen’s Walk and just south of the Westminster Bridge is an unhindered view of the Big Ben and the British houses of Parliament. The clock on Big Ben chimes every 15 minutes but you would want to catch it on the hour where the chimes representing the hour are preceded by the famous Big Ben musical chime. An active and happening area, one can spend hours people watching or ferry watching. 

Allow: 1-2 hours

Westminster, Embankment, Waterloo

Charing Cross, Waterloo

British Museum

The Great Court of the British museum

One of the largest museums in the world with about 8 million works, the British Museum has collections from all the continents. From real mummies from 3400 BC to a colossal bust of Rameses II from 1250 BC, from the Rosetta Stone to an Easter Island statue, vases from the Ming Dynasty to stone structures from India, it would take more than a day to finish viewing every item on display here. Visit http://britishmuseum.org/visiting/planning_your_visit.aspx to get an idea and plan your visit before you do so. Unlike many of it’s counterparts across the world, the British Museum does not cost a penny to visit.

Allow: Half a day for a whistle stop tour of the top displays, 1 day for covering a reasonable part of the museum and 2 days to see every exhibit

Tottenham Court Road, Holborn or Russell Square

Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert museum

The central hall of the Natural History Museum

Located in the museum corner of London, i.e., South Kensington, the three museums are located adjacent to each other and can be entered absolutely free, This often means long queues to enter and huge crowds especially in the Natural History museum. 

The Natural History Museum is housed in an impressive building which in itself is a great photo-op. The dinosaur collection is the most popular exhibit in this museum. Some of the specimens collected by Charles Darwin are also present here. 

The Science museum is located right next to the Natural History Museum and has an impressive collection of objects on display including R L Stevenson’s Rocket - one of the earliest steam engines, a working copy of Charles Babbage’s Difference engine and documentation of the world’s first typewriter. 

The Victoria and Albert museum houses a collection of decorative arts and design. It has designs and works of arts from all over the world with separate galleries based on the nature of the materials used in addition to galleries representing the different cultures of the world.  

All the museums have hands-on exhibits to sustain interests of children.

Allow: 1/2 a day each or 3 in a day depending on how much interests you 

South Kensington

Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Covent Garden

Covent Garden decked up for Christmas

All time happening and crowded places in London, these three are located quite close to each other and also to Trafalgar Square.

Piccadilly Circus can be compared to NYC's Times Square. Colourful LED panels surrounded by Victorian buildings it is a major traffic junction from the 1800s. The Shaftesbury memorial fountain was added in the late 1800s. The area is shopping, restaurants and theatre galore. 

A little walk away is Leicester Square, a large open green space surrounded by more shops, restaurants and theatres. M&M's World, Lego Store and Nickelodeon are some of the stores that draw children (and some adults) like a magnet. The Lego Store has a few London-inspired models like the Big Ben and the Underground train. The Lego Store is home to the Mosaic maker where you can have a Lego blocks kit to match your portrait. Do bear in mind that it doesn't come cheap! During school and other holidays there's often a large queue to enter the Lego store.

Covent Garden is a covered former fruit and vegetable market but a happening restaurant, shops and touristy market now. The site dates from 7th century while the building was built in 1830 to organise the market better. Flanked by the Royal Opera House, the Drury Lane theatre and also the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden has street side performers and also a huge tree during the holiday season.

Allow: 2-3 hours

Piccadilly, Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Embankment

Charing Cross

Oxford Circus and Regent Street

Shop, shop, shop; Shop till you drop! The most popular area in London for Shopping. Every store has its presence here including the Mecca of toys called Hamley's. There's also the Disney store decorated with props representing their latest release and UK Disney souvenirs. There's John Lewis, there's Debenhams, there's Selfridges, H&M.. well, even a Primark! There are ton of souvenir shops too with some of them have reasonably priced  merchandise.

Allow: 1-2 hours for a walk through, 3-4 hours for visiting a few of the stores and a couple of days for a serious shopper!

Oxford Circus, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Marble Arch

The Sky Garden

Views over London from The Sky Garden

20 Fenchurch Street, or the more adorable name for it locally, the walkie-talkie tower, rises unassumingly among a group of short storied buildings. A well-known landmark in the new and changing skyline of central London, it opened it's top floor, called The Sky Garden, to the public just over a year ago. The gallery and terrace offers views from Canary Wharf to the Wembley Stadium and everything in between. 

Click here for information on visiting this free but enthralling attraction.

Allow: 1-2 hours

Monument, Bank, Tower Hill

 Fenchurch Street

 Tower Gateway

The Royal Parks of London

Winter Wonder at Hyde Park

It rarely snows in London and hence the grass is always green in London. St. James Park, Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Kensington Gardens - take your pick! All the parks are very well maintained and offer beautiful landscaping, water bodies and fountains. There's also the Winter Wonderland happening in Hyde Park in winter.

Allow: A short break for a picnic if the weather is good and/or you want to rest your feet and 2-3 hours if you're interested in the Winter Wonderland

Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner for Hyde Park; St. James' park for St. James Park; Regent's Park, Great Portland Street and Baker Street for Regent's Park; Lancaster Gate, Queensway and South Kensington for Kensington Gardens

(Bonus)  Greenwich Royal Observatory Park

Views from the Royal Observatory

Though technically not in London, Greenwich's Observatory is just a few stops away on the underground/DLR or the ThamesLink. The sprawling park and the hill on which the Royal Observatory is located offers lovely views across the Thames to Canary Wharf, Millennium Dome and the Emirates Air Line. Though it costs to enter the Observatory for a glimpse of the Prime Meridian, ( it is available at a lot of other points across the world for free), Greenwich is home to the Greenwich Mean Time or GMT.

Greenwich

 Greenwich

Greenwich Pier

These attractions could keep you busy, perhaps, even during your entire stay in the city. London is the only city in the world that offers these many world standard attractions for free!

The London Eye

A prominent landmark in South bank, just across from the Big Ben on the other side of the Westminster Bridge is the Coca Cola London Eye. An icon of London along the Thames for nearly 2 decades.

Costing a whopping £24.95/adult and £19.95/child (March 2017 prices), it doesn't come cheap! However it has become such an icon that there are many replicas of the "eye" on river banks across the world.

According to an Internet trivia, the London Eye receives more visitors per year than the Taj Mahal or the pyramids of Giza. It is not considered a Ferris (or Giant) wheel but the world's tallest observation wheel with 32 capsules representing the 32 boroughs of London. 

 

Ferries whizz past the London Eye on the Thames, ferrying people from across the banks of one of the most important rivers in history - the Thames.

People on the Queen's walk look up and gape at the capsules and the views it must be offering people that were lucky enough to get onto it.

All this while the Eye rotates at a snail's pace of 26 cm/sec, offering a flight across London in as little as 30 minutes.

The queues start early at the ticket offices located in the County Hall just across from the entrance to the eye. Tourists line up eagerly to cough up the sky high (pun intended) asking price just to have "been there and done that"! The tickets go so fast that within an hour of opening the morning tickets are sold out. Most of the times visitors are encouraged to purchase tickets at their website (https://www.londoneye.com). 

A short 4D movie takes the visitors on a virtual ride before queuing up for roughly 20 minutes to board the capsule. A quick security check and then we line up to enter the large glass capsule.

Cameras at the ready, your 30 minutes flight begins now! Views all around are plenty. On a clear day you can see up to 40 kms in every direction, they claim! Sadly, the number of clear days on London's weather calendar aren't many.

You can see the Thames curving to the east...

Follow the river and then you see some iconic buildings and landmarks (St. Pauls Cathedral, The walkie-talkie and The Shard) to the east...

Then follow the Thames to the south, catching sight of the Westminster Bridge, the houses of Parliament, the Westminster Abbey and further...

Do not forget to the smile at the camera just as you near the bottom of the wheel. After a quick glance at the 360º views, you disembark from the capsule and visit the shop to see your photos and perhaps, for buying a couple of souvenirs.

Tips

1. Westminster. 
Use the exit to Westminster Pier for quick access to the Westminster Bridge.

2. South bank and the area near the London Eye is always crowded; keep an eye on your belongings though there have been rare cases of theft.

3. Tickets are very expensive. However there are some offers always around. There's the Kellogg's grown-ups-go-free offer, where you only pay for a child ticket - a cut-off coupon found on certain Kellogg's cereal boxes at certain times of the year in the UK. There is a 2For1 offered by National Rail. Visit https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/london-eye for more details. Tesco's club card vouchers also entitle you to get the tickets at certain times. If all fails, you can always save more by purchasing combined tickets for more than one attraction that you're intending to visit in the UK (https://www.londoneye.com/days-out-in-london/)

4. Time your visit to coincide with sunset. If that is not an option ensure that the sun isn't directly behind or above the Houses of Parliament. Use https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/london to determine the position and angle of the sun. The Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are on the west and are the most photographed attraction from the London Eye and the sun shining directly into the camera isn't a favourable scenario.

5. It is always a good idea to purchase tickets on the day of the ride as the weather is quite unpredictable in London and a £25 wash-out isn't on top of everyone's list. If purchasing tickets for the day it is always a good idea to purchase the tickets in the morning and return in the evening to board. There's so much to do in the area in the meantime.

6. If you do not feel like spending the £25 for the 30 minute flight, you can get similar views for free from The Sky Garden at Fenchurch Street. Read more here - The Sky Garden.

Harry Potter Studio Tour

 

The Hogwarts castle

The world of Harry Potter!

No other character has gripped book lovers as much as the Harry Potter series in recent times. Many believe it is true.. many wish it were true! For further joy there’s the movies that were released based on the book. Daniel Radcliffe remains “The boy who lived” though he has moved on to portray other roles. No one could portray Hermione better than Emma Watson. The actors, the sets, the props are so real.. they bring to life the words of JK Rowling. 

The Great Hall

The teachers in the Great Hall

It’s the dream of any HP fan to be able to feel what it’s like to be in the world of magic.. in the world of Harry Potter. Universal Studios has come up with a themed attraction in many of their parks.. but wait, there’s something more real in London.

The Warner Bros studio tour of The making of Harry Potter! The original sets, the original props, the original costumes and even some of the CG that was used in the movie are brought to life in the exclusive tour. These sets were retained from HP1 as the decision to make subsequent parts was decided long ago. Unlike a lot of other movies where they pull down the sets to make way for another set in the studio, the sets of the HP series were retained until Deathly Hallows part 2 was made. After which they decided to let the fans revel in the “magical” atmosphere! The entire studio and back lot of Warner Brothers at Watford, just a few minutes out of London, has been left as it were after the last shot of Deathly Hallows Part 2 was filmed. 

Here are some favourite spots inside the studio tour. 

The Gryffindor Common Room

The Hogwarts Express

The Burrow

The Potions classroom in the dungeons with Prof Snape

No. 4 Privet Drive Little Whinging Surrey

“Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney… letters came pelting out of the fireplace…”

Diagon Alley

The wooden bridge in Hogwarts Castle

Dumbledore’s office

The Knight Bus

The place was filled with sets, props and memorabilia from the series that it is not possible to absorb everything in one visit. 

Ollivanders? Fake wand boxes with the name of every member of the crew of Harry Potter!

The visit doesn’t come cheap and it’s not a personal tour either. There are hoardes of visitors anytime of the day and it is very difficult to get that exclusive shot except for the sets that have been cordoned off. The best kept secret is to book yourself the first slot of the day. Even then it can get very crowded. The morning tickets sell out months in advance. The tickets during special events like Hogwarts in Snow or Christmas decorations in the great hall sell out much before. Unless you really want to see them it’s best to avoid visiting during the holidays as it can be very very crowded.

Other options include booking from Golden tours. But these tickets come at a premium and I absolutely wouldn’t recommend it unless you have no other options.

Tickets -

Visit the official website to book the tickets for the tours. If you can't find slots you'd really like, you can check back many times to see some new slots popping open. From my experience this works best around 9-10 am UK time. 

Time required -

Allot, at the very least, half a day. The first half of the tour takes more time than the back lot and beyond. Add more time if you'd be standing in line for the CG experiences. And then some more if you intend to have a meal. There's so much to look and photograph and considering that it'll be very crowded it might take more time to photograph the set like you want to.

Food and drink options - 

Of course, do not miss the butter beer sold in the Backlot Cafe.  It tastes a bit like butterscotch. There are at least a couple cafes but The backlot cafe is when most would be hungry. The menu was satisfactory and the service quick. There were vegetarian options too. The price seemed reasonable compared to the rest of the souvenirs and shops in the studio!

Photography - 

Most of the sets have purple, blue, red or pink lights on them that pictures will definitely not turn out like what you've seen in the movies. Except for the back lot which has the Knight bus, Privet Drive, the bridge and a few other props, everything else is indoors. It's good to bring a camera which allows you to choose higher ISOs or has a lower f-stop to get some good quality pictures.

Shopping -

The souvenirs are pretty expensive. It'd help to order commonly available HP themed stuff off eBay before you visit. Saves a lot of $$ and ££ unless you're very particular about quality or buying a very memorable memento. There are some items that are available exclusively in the souvenir shop here. My children got a pygmy puff and some sweets labeled Honeydukes.