Low cost and budget places to visit in London

One of London’s many glorious – and free – green spaces, Hyde Park is a great place to start your adventure. Maybe you’ll hire a boat to explore the Serpentine lake (from £8.60), picnic in the sweet-scented Rose Garden (free), go swimming at the Serpentine Lido (from £4.30), or cycle around the Dell? There are more than 20 low-cost bike-docking stations around Hyde Park.

It’s a 10-minute walk from Hyde Park to South Kensington’s fantastic free museums – including the Science Museum (to discover world-changing innovations), the V&A (for spectacular art and design) and the Natural History Museum (for dinosaurs, dodos and more). From space rockets to Ming Dynasty vases, there’s so much to discover in these free places to visit in London.

While Michelin-starred restaurants can often be very expensive, many of the capital’s top spots offer lunch for a fraction of the price of dinner. At The Ninth in Bloomsbury (which has one Michelin star), a three-course Mediterranean lunch costs under £40. This is real fine dining, with seasonal ingredients and superlative service. One of the most surprising cheap places to visit in London!

High above the city, at the top of the iconic ‘Walkie Talkie’ building, sits a hidden oasis: the Sky Garden. Here among the lush foliage, you can gaze out over London and the River Thames – one of the best free places to visit in London. Complimentary tickets are released every Monday (booking is essential), for the fully-accessible gardens and viewing deck on levels 35–37.

With its playful botanical-inspired decor, savvy staff and comfortable bedrooms, TRIBE Canary Wharf is a stylish home-from-home – as well as one of the best cheap places to stay in London. Doubles cost from around £108 per night, with upgrades to city-view rooms just a snip more: worth it, we say, for glittering vistas of Canary Wharf after dark. This is also a convenient location from which to start tomorrow’s adventures.

This morning, catch the DLR to Maritime Greenwich – a UNESCO World Heritage Site with an extraordinary 600-year history. Take a walk outside the Old Royal Naval College (you might recognise it from The Crown, Napoleon, Pirates of the Caribbean and more), then delve into the free National Maritime Museum. From Shackleton’s watch to Nelson’s Trafalgar coat, which still bears his fatal bullet hole, it’s a treasure trove of seafaring memorabilia. One of the finest free places to visit in London.

From the museum, climb the steps of Greenwich Park to gaze out over the city’s skyscrapers, the O2, the rigging of the Cutty Sark – and much more. Look to your left, and you’ll see the Prime Meridian, which officially separates the east and west hemispheres: it’s actually inside the Royal Observatory (entry from £20), but it’s only a few metres from your free spot!

Follow your nose to the Cutty Sark ship, where there’s often a street food market overlooking the river – or dip into the historic Greenwich Market for lunch. Its stalls serve everything from Ethiopian curries and Indian chai, to fresh oysters, vegan pizza and pulled-pork rolls. Look out for the Greenwich-distilled Marine London gin, too.

When you’re looking for accessible and free places to visit in London, don’t miss London Museum Docklands, whose exhibits, artworks and photographs explore how the city and river are intertwined. From prehistoric tools and Roman jewellery, to Tudor weapons and Victorian fashions – its collection spans every era that has unfolded on the banks of the Thames, a fascinating glimpse into the makings of the capital.

London’s theatre scene is legendary, but you don’t have to splash out on expensive tickets. Shakespeare’s Globe is one of the best cheap places to visit in London, with tickets priced from just £5 – a chance to see the world’s top Shakespeare actors perform in a spectacular Elizabethan-style theatre. To watch a West End hit on a budget, head to the official TKTS booth in Leicester Square (or online), to buy tickets for as little as half the regular price.