Free Stuff to Do in London?

SharkyGeorge

Anyone have any suggestions for free stuff to do in central London? (Anything indoors would be a plus!)

Museums seem to be super expensive

chuckley

tate modern?

Tre-beam

The Museum of childhood in Bethnal Green is free (if you want to travel that far from the centre). Picnic in Hyde Park if the weather is nice? General sight seeing such as Big Ben etc?

HTH

vikingaero

SharkyGeorge wrote: »

Museums seem to be super expensive

The Natural History, Science, V&A & British Museum are free.

Just take a rucksack to hold your jacket so you don't have to pay for the cloakrooms and a picnic lunch. Plenty of seats everywhere.

Tre-beam

Have a look at this thread for museums. The one or two that I have clicked on say that they are free.

http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/culture/major-museums

MidlandsMum

I was under the impression that all of the major museums in london have free entry.

I recently took my two kids for the day and we managed the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Science museum and all we spent on the day was £25 for a family of 4 to eat at Wagamama with a BOGOF voucher.

Where did you get the idea the museums had paid entry?

sharkabouttown

TimeOut has some excellent listings of what's going on in London. Free events are clearly highlighted: http://www.timeout.com/london/aroundtown/

If you're here for a couple of days, it's probably worth buying a copy of the week's magazine. It's published on a Wednesday and the listings run from Thursday-Wednesday.

belfastgirl23

V&A has a lovely courtyard garden you can eat in

BillTrac

Generally the major museums are free, exhibitions within the museums may cost though.

We go quite regularly to London, and happily browse the museums.

Used to be when you had to pay, then you really had to spend the whole day there to get your moneys worth

Bill

ali1972

As above, there are lots of free museums and the South Kensington based ones are always a winner with kids. V and A has a lunch room if you need somewhere to have your picnic if it's raining. I'm sure other museums do too.

Also, of the other london attractions that you do have to pay for, some of them are not too pricey and qualify for 2 for 1 deals. I recall the Tower Bridge exhibits (as opposed to the rather more expensive Tower of London) is pretty cheap and qualifies for the Southeastern trains 2 for 1 deal. You could just buy a couple of Waterloo East to London Bridge paper train tickets to get 4 tickets for 2. The Tower Bridge website lists times when they open the bridge to let river traffic through. Also you can get right up on the walkways. The Golden Hinde is about a similar price and a real winner for pirate obsessed kids. They also have a useful website. Check out the Southeastern website for further details and other offers.

Also there are loads of free things to do in Greenwich. The observatory is largely free, the Maritime Museum is free... There is a handy little train to take you from the Maritime Museum to the Observatory at the top of the park which is handy for tired feet, bad weather etc... There is a deer enclosure in the park... a good playground... Lots of cafes and eateries in Greenwich (including the main chains like Pizza Express if you can get a 2 for 1 voucher). Greenwich is easily reached from Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge on overground services and by DLR (docklands light railway) alighting at "Cutty Sark" stop. Don't look for the Cutty Sark though - there's not much left...

alanrowell

ali1972 wrote: »

You could just buy a couple of Waterloo East to London Bridge paper train tickets to get 4 tickets for 2.

Why should you - paper London Travelcards qualify you for the offers and the 1 & 3 day paper travelcards are obtainable from all Tube stations - but the 7 day paper Travelcards have to be bought at a train station in order to qualify