London is often considered an expensive city, but in reality it is not. In fact, I can’t think of any other city in the world that offers as many free activities as London. In fact, you could spend an incredible amount of time in London exploring all the things that are free.
For starters, there are the beautiful Royal Parks. These include St. James’s Park, Hyde Park, Regents Park, and more. You’ll find a variety of gardens and landscapes within these parks ranging from formal to natural, as well as swimming bodies of water and playgrounds. Both Hyde and Regents Park are large with a network of paths running through them, making it easy to explore their beauty.
There are two parks in London where you can get to a viewing platform that offers magnificent views of the city. One is Primrose Hill, just north of Regent’s Park, and the other is Parliament Hill, located on Hampstead Heath, a beautiful wilderness area in the northern suburb of Hampstead, which one can easily spend hours exploring.
Then there are all the amazing historical and architectural sites in London. Many of these can be seen simply by walking around, as they are found in several fairly compact neighborhoods. Some examples include Trafalgar Square, Westminster Palace and Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge.
Close to some of the historical sites mentioned above is the Horse Guards Parade, where you can enjoy watching the changing of the guard at 11am.
And, no, we’re not done yet! Most of London’s museums and art galleries are not only some of the best in the world, but also offer free admission. Because these galleries and museums are owned by the people of the UK, admission to their permanent galleries and exhibits has been kept free – what a novel idea! It would be nice if more cities did this. Of course, the good thing about this is that tourists can also take advantage of free admission.
Museums you can visit for free include:
- The British Museum
- the london museum
- The Natural History Museum
- The Science Museum
- The Victoria and Albert Museum
- Art galleries that are free include:
- The National Gallery
- The National Portrait Gallery
- The Wallace Collection
And we’re not done yet! How about some free music? Two famous London churches; St. James’s Piccadilly St. and St. Martin-in-the-Fields offer free lunchtime concert recitals, although a small donation is recommended.
Getting around London to visit all these attractions is easy and quite cheap by tube. You can also enjoy a ride along the River Thames on a London River Bus, where you can see many of London’s iconic sights from a different perspective, all for a very reasonable cost.
Combine all of the above with a great deal on a hotel and researching the least expensive places to eat and you can put together a very cheap London vacation.