All the things we didn’t do in London…and those we did.
You can’t always see everything when you go somewhere. And even when you can, should you? Some travellers justify paying for all the big-name highlights because “we paid all this money to get here, we may as well splurge a little more to see the attractions this city is famous for”. I get the rationale for that…but at the same time I won’t force myself to pay big bucks for something that, if I’m being totally honest, doesn’t interest me that much.
I believe that visiting a city is about the attractions, but it’s also about impressions and experiences. Seeing attractions doesn’t always mean getting to know a city (if it comes down to it, you’ll probably learn more taking a 3 hour walk through a neighbourhood than you would visiting a royal palace where the king or queen lives). And about those attractions: paid attractions aren’t necessarily better or more interesting than free attractions.
London is the perfect example of that. There are a lot of big-name highlights that you’ll pay an arm and a leg to visit. There are also a lot of free sites (mostly museums) that are exceptional as well as free experiences (such as city walks and neighbourhoods to explore) that will let you experience London beyond the big-name, tourist-packed highlights.
We were in London for a month. In this post I cover all the things we didn’t do in London…and tell you about those we did do.
Contents covered:
- London’s “Big-name” Paying Attractions
- FREE and FANTASTIC Attractions in London
- FREE and FANTASTIC Walks in London
- London Neighbourhoods to Visit
1.London’s “Big-name” Paying attractions
London’s Famous Attractions Cost per Person (Nov 2026)
Big Ben (rating on Trip advisor: 4.3) 55 £
Palace of Westminster (rating on Trip advisor: 4.7) 40 £
Tower Bridge* (rating on Trip advisor: 4.6) 18 £
London Eye* (rating on Trip advisor: 4.3) 29 £ online, 39 £ on the day
Buckingham Palace (rating on Trip advisor: 4.3) 33 £ online, 37 £ on the day
Tower of London* (rating on Trip advisor: 4.6) 37 £
Westminster Abbey* (rating on Trip advisor: 4.6) 31 £
St Paul’s Cathedral* (rating on Trip advisor: 4.5) 27 £
Windsor Castle* (rating on Trip advisor: 4.6) 32 £ online, 36 £ on the day
Attractions marked with an Asterix (*): You can save using the London Pass, best for those who want to see as many of the paid attractions in London over 1 to 10 consecutive days. Cost of a 1-day Pass: 105 £, 2-day Pass 155 £, 3-day Pass 199 £….
My honest opinion on the London Pass? It’s not worth it. You’d have to see 3 of those paid attractions a day just to break even. I also don’t believe in running around like a chicken with its head cut off to visit a whole bunch of these sites.
As you can see in my grid above, many of these sites are incredibly expensive. Shockingly so; in our case we came from France where we had spent a month in Paris visiting attractions like Notre-Dame Cathedral and Sacré-Cœur Basilica for FREE. Suddenly we’re in London and have to pay around 30 £ per person to enter St Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey?
Honestly, after looking at the reviews of all the above sites and weighing that against the prices, we decided that we would only choose attractions from the above that really interested us. The rest we would skip.
That’s how I ended up going to the Tower of London. I like medieval history and I wanted to know more, so I was willing to splurge. But I’ll be honest: while the history of the Tower is interesting, the experience was disappointing. I wished I had saved that 37 £.
So my thoughts on these paying attractions: If you have a specific attraction that really interests you in the list above, then go ahead and pay to see it. But don’t pay for attractions just because “I’m in London and I have to see it”. As you’ll see below, there are some great attractions in London that you can see for FREE and that might surpass the experience of visiting the paid attractions above.
2. FREE and FANTASTIC Attractions in London
Most of the below are museums. Credit to London: their museums are fantastic. You could spend every day visiting a museum for free. I can’t think of any city that has better FREE museums.
But I’ll start off with an attraction that’s not a museum. It’s the only one you really have to book ahead of time even if it’s free.
Sky Garden
Book ahead (just click on the link), try to book at least 10 days to 2 weeks in advance as the Sky Garden is very popular. What is the Sky Garden? It is an atrium with 360 views over the city. Within the atrium are gardens as well as a bar and café. The views are fantastic and it’s quite amazing that this experience is free.
The rest of the list consist of Museums and I list them in our preferred order. If you have kids or specific interests, then you might want to prioritize them differently. But they are all fantastic in their specific fields of interest.
The British Museum
The British Museum covers human culture from the beginning of time and has large sections on Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, Africa, Latin America and more. It holds the largest collection of artefacts in the world and is the 2nd most visited tourist site in the UK (the 1st is the Natural History Museum).
We went twice to the British Museum and even so feel that we only scratched the surface of what they have. If you are interested in human civilization and culture you’ll be blown away by this museum.
Note: I read somewhere that we should book our time slot at the museum. I did, but nobody even looked at it when we showed up. Really, you don’t have to bother with booking a reservation.
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum is an incredible museum dedicated to art and design. It’s not what I consider an “art museum” (see the National Gallery for that), it is more than just paintings. When you enter, you’ll see a huge blown glass chandelier by Chihuly hanging over the lobby. You’ll see large Italian sculptures, Roman columns, Chinese porcelain, Victorian fashion etc. The museum houses over 2.3 million objects that span 5,000 years of human creativity. It is incredible.
National Gallery
The National Gallery is one of the world’s great collections of fine art including works by the masters such as Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Titian, Rembrandt, Monet, Gauguin…The National Galley covers the period from the mid-13th century to 1900. An incredible collection of art and you can easily spend half a day admiring it all.
The Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is art museum located within a mansion. While technically an “art museum”, what we loved here was walking around this large mansion admiring the furniture, tapestries, rich wallpaper, incredible crystal chandeliers, porcelain decorations. Just gorgeous.
Science Museum
Geeks will love the Science Museum. You’ll see planes, helicopters, spacecraft, locomotives, old computers and recording devices (haven’t seen a VHS tape in years)…so much stuff. It’s incredible. This is a HUGE museum. Many interactive displays, even an IMAX theatre. I didn’t think I’d love this museum as much as I did but spent a few hours and even at that I probably saw less than 20% of everything.
Natural History Museum
We had seen 3 museums that day and didn’t give the Natural History Museum the time it needed. And we got confused by the layout and overwhelmed by the people (including a lot of kids).
But the Natural History Museum is the most visited tourist site in the UK and gets great reviews. A place to come if you want to know more about the creation of the earth and its fauna and flora. Kids love it, there are lots of interactive exhibits.
Tate Modern Museum
There’s a couple of reasons to come to the Tate Modern. The first is the art: if you like contemporary art them this is the place. It picks up where the National Gallery ends, with art from the 1900 onwards. Artists featured include Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, David Hockney and Henri Matisse.
The 2nd reason to come here is the location: the Tate Modern is on the South Bank of the Thames and has great views of the river and financial center from its 10th floor café. Again, free.
We visited a few more of London’s free museums: the National Portrait Gallery (mostly photographs and paintings of well-known British personalities), the Guildhall Art Gallery and Roman Amphitheatre (this area was the center of Roman London and an interesting highlight was the Roman amphitheatre…of which you can see remnants today), and the Tate Britain (which focuses on British Art from the 1500’s to the present).
Really, all these museums were fantastic and there’s something for all tastes. This article by Visit London gives you even more free museum options.
3. FREE and FANTASTIC Walks in London.
I’m of the opinion that the best way to get to know a city is by walking it. We did a LOT of walking during our month in London and I’ll give you some walking ideas below.
Note: If you are mobility impaired, then I recommend a Hop On, Hop Off tour with Big Bus (I usually recommend City Sightseeing, but in the case of London I recommend Big Bus).
A. The South Bank from Westminster Palace to the Tower of London
I’ll call this “The South Bank Walk”. This walk is about 2.5 miles (or 4 kilometers) and could in theory be done straight line and in at a rapid pace in just over an hour. But you’ll see many of London’s main highlights on this walk and will likely stop to take photos and admire the scenery. I’d plan for at least half a day to appreciate this walk.
Start at Westminster Palace, walk around Parliament Square Garden seeing Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Cross Westminster Bridge to the South Bank, stop at the National Covid Memorial Wall (a good place to take photos across the river of Westminster Palace and Big Ben) then continue towards the London Eye. This area is very touristy and you’ll see lots of tacky attractions. Continue past the London Eye. You’ll see the book stalls under Waterloo Bridge, pass the National Theatre and Oxo Tower. Going past the Blackfriars Bridge, you’ll come across the Tate Modern Museum. You might want to pop up to the 10th floor for the views of the city. Just a bit past the Tate Modern is the Millenium Bridge, a cool pedestrian bridge. You might want to go in the middle of the bridge for some photos. The path along the river isn’t always continuous and you’ll at times have to follow a path a block up from the bank. Just follow the crowds. You’ll come across Southwark Cathedral (impressive and FREE). Continuing on, have a quick look inside Hay’s Galleria – a beautiful shopping center on the river with great views across at the Square Mile (the cluster of high rise buildings on the North Bank). You’ll see the HMS Belfast (a World War II warship that’s now a museum). By now you’ll have great views of Tower Bridge and the Tower of London across the river. Lots of tourists taking photos as you approach the bridge. Once at the bridge, go up the stairs, cross Tower Bridge, and make your way to the Tower of London.
A few photos from this walk:
B. Central London walk from Tower of London to Covent Garden
I’ll call this “Central London Walk”. It covers many of London’s oldest history sites and attractions along the North Bank attractions as well as a bit inland Prepare to meander a bit but you’ll see a lot. Just like “The South Bank Walk”, give yourself at least half a day.
Start at the Tower of London. Take a little walk up to Tower Hill where you’ll see one of the most impressive sections of London’s Roman City wall (you’ll see various Roman ruins on this walk). From there, make your way to the Monument to the Great Fire of London (a very Roman-looking column erected in the 1600’s). From here head to the financial center, go up to the Sky Garden if you can (I mentioned up top that you should pre-book. But they do accept last minute visitors though you might have to wait a while). Even if you can’t go up, the high rises here are impressive. Among the buildings is the old Leadenhall Market. A few steps away, is one of Central London’s most impressive high rises (Google “30 St Mary Axe”. The building is known as “The Gherkin”). From here, head towards the Bank of England building. It is surrounded by impressive buildings such as the Royal Exchange (a Roman style building, now a shopping center) and Mansion House (the official residence and office of the mayor of London). From here, head to the Guildhall. There’s an impressive square here that use to hold London’s Roman amphitheatre (you’ll see a placard and indications in the cement showing you where it stood). On the square is the Guildhall Art Gallery which I covered up top – nice art here and remnants and history of the amphitheatre in the basement. If you’re interested in more Roman history, head to St Alphage Gardens where you’ll see other impressive remnants of the Roman Wall that circled Londinium (as the Romans called their city). From there, walk about 2 minutes along Roman Wall Road to “Roman Fort Gate” (as it shows up in Google Maps). Here and across the street, you’ll see more remnants of Roman gates and walls. Leaving Roman ruins behind, you then head towards St. Paul’s Cathedral. Built in the late 1600’s, it serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of England. It’s one of London’s paying attractions that I mentioned up top (27 £ per person to enter). Included in that is the tower which has one of the best views in London. But if you want more views and not pay, go one block over to New Change plaza and take the elevator to the top floor rooftop. Very nice views here. Continue your walk west, heading to Fleet St. and go through the tunnel at Prince Henry’s Room to get to Temple Church. It dates all the way back to 1185 AD. Go back to Fleet St – there are some picturesque buildings here including the Impressive Royal Courts of Justice. Continue from here to Somerset House (a riverside Palace featuring various venues) and go on to Covent Garden, a popular market. This spot marks the end of this walk.
Note: The British Museum (which I covered up above) is just a bit north of Covent Garden. I haven’t covered it in this walk because I’m assuming you’d go there separately. The British Museum is a must and you should dedicate at least 3 hours there alone.
A few photos from this walk:
C. The Westminster Walk
This circular walk covers the highlights of the Westminster area, most of those highlights having to do with Royalty and Politics. Give yourself about 3 hours if doing this walk casually with stops in between.
Start at Trafalgar Square. It’s one of the most vibrant squares in London and has a monument commemorating the 1805 British naval victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. On the square is the National Gallery which I’ve covered up top. Walk down Whitehall, the main thoroughfare and administrative center of the British government. You’ll soon get to the Household Cavalry Museum where you’ll see guards in ceremonial dress on horses. Continuing down the street you’ll get to 10 Downing Street, the official headquarters and residence of the Prime Minister. Just a block down, you’ll suddenly see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament right in front of you. Continue just a bit to College Garden and to the Victoria Tower Gardens…you’ll somehow be leaving all the tourists behind and will have different (and impressive) views one the Houses of Parliament. If you have time for a very good (and free) museum, continue down the river bank to the Tate Britain museum. Otherwise head back to Parliament Square and have a look at Westminster Abbey before heading for a walk through St. James Park. It’ll take you to Buckingham Palace (granted, you’re in London and have to see it with your own eyes. But it’s honestly a bit boring). Head back along The Mall, the route where Royal Processions take place. Head to the Duke of York Column, dedicated to Prince Frederick, The Duke of York (1763-1827) and the commander-in-chief of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Just a bit further, among some impressive buildings, is the Statue of King Edward VII who ruled the UK and India in the early 20th century and, Just a few steps away is another monument, the Guards Crimean War Memorial. You can head back to Trafalgar Square from here, maybe have a look at either the National Gallery and/or the National Portrait Gallery if you haven’t had a chance.
Note: London’s China Town is just a block up and is worth seeing if you have a bit more time.
Some photos from this walk:
There are many other walks in London but the above is a good start and covers the city’s main attractions.
4. London Neighbourhoods to Visit
London has quite a few neighbourhoods that visitors like to visit. Some we liked, others we liked less. My honest thoughts below.
Camden Town
Highlights include Camden market, Regents Canal, and quirky Camden High street. Camden Town is a favorite of tourists, Instagrammers and alternative types. We went on a Saturday and it was so incredibly crowded and dirty and grungy. But Camden Town seems intent on selling that façade…being dirty and grungy are in fashion in Camden. It all felt contrived to us.
Notting Hill
Portobello Road, colourful side streets, exclusive stores. Whereas Camden sells grunge, Notting Hill attracts those with money or the posers who want to appear to have money. Add to the mix tourists and Instagrammers. Just too popular for its own good.
Hampstead
Hampstead is really pretty and is genuine, not a magnet for visitors. See the Hill Garden and Pergola, wander Hamsptead High Street, then go down Holly Walk, see the church and the cemetery. Explore alleys and streets such as Flask Walk, Back Lane and Heath Street. Lots of authentic pubs and nice restaurants. Go into Hamsptead Heath and see the views of London’s skyline from Parliament Hill.
Highgate
The smaller neighbour of Hamstead, not as much to see but again really pretty and authentic. Highgate High Street is charming, Waterlow Park is pretty…but Highgate is most known for Highgate Cemetery which has famous personalities such as Karl Marx (note: they charge 10 £ per person to access the cemetery. We’ve never seen a cemetery that charges money before).
Islington (ie Upper Street)
Islington is a rather large neighbourhood but I’m focusing on what might be my favorite street in London: Upper Street. A beautiful street with trendy (but not too trendy!) shops and restaurants, parks, churches and markets. Make sure to see Camden Passage where you have quaint markets and cafes. If there’s a street I could live in London it would be Upper Street.
South Kensington
South Kensington is quite posh and you’ll see lots of white mansions. But it’s also the home of 3 of the fantastic museums I’ve listed up top: the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. All are within a block of each other. When done there, walk up to the impressive Royal Albert Hall, then across into Hyde Park to Kensington Palace.
I’ll be writing in depth about these neighbourhoods at some point.
There, I’ve given you lots to see and do in London whether you’re there 3 or 4 days or up to a month as we were. As you see, you don’t have to spend a ton of money on expensive sites to enjoy London, there are many attractions as well as experiences that will allow you to enjoy the city.
Related: 30 Things to Do in Edinburgh
Related: September 2026: A Month in London
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