5 free things to do in magnificent, walkable London
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There’s no getting around it: The basics of life are pricy in London. Hotel rooms, taxis, restaurant meals and subway fares are among the most expensive in the world.
The good news is that Britain’s teeming capital is also a city of cultural riches, historic buildings and gorgeous parks, many of which can be experienced for free. It’s also a magnificent city in which to wander — and really it doesn’t rain as much as people think. A walk through almost any area of central London will uncover eclectic architecture, intriguing monuments and surprising pockets of greenery.
Cemeteries
London’s historic and atmospheric graveyards are tourist attractions in their own right, though the most famous, Highgate Cemetery, is not free. You’ll have to pay a few pounds to wander the wooded paths and visit the graves of Karl Marx, novelist George Eliot, punk impresario Malcolm McLaren and many others.
Instead, visit Abney Park Cemetery in the scruffily fashionable Stoke Newington area. It’s a splendidly spooky, overgrown graveyard full of crumbling monuments and a ruined chapel. William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army, are buried here.
Right in the financial district in the city center is Bunhill Fields, which served as a burial ground for religious dissenters starting in the 17th century. Now it’s a miniature oasis for lunching office workers, and home to the graves of author Daniel Defoe and poet William Blake.
Myriad museums
Many visitors are surprised that admission to London’s major museums and art galleries is free. There is often a charge for special exhibitions, but the permanent collections of Tate Modern, the National Gallery and many other institutions can be visited for nothing.
London has museums for all tastes. No one should miss the 260-year-old British Museum, with its collection covering millennia, from Egyptian mummies to Greek friezes to drawings by Leonardo da Vinci.
Smaller, quirkier attractions include the Hunterian Museum, whose skeletons and specimens trace the history of surgery and anatomical study. At The Bank of England Museum, visitors can handle a gold bar and see as collection of banker-bashing cartoons dating back centuries.
Hampstead Heath
One of the best places to get a sense of the sheer scale of London is Parliament Hill, on north London’s Hampstead Heath.
The summit offers a panoramic view taking in the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, the giant Ferris wheel known as London Eye, the financial district’s skyscrapers and the latest addition, the 72-story glass high-rise known as the Shard.
Wander the Heath, 790 acres of woods, grasslands and ponds that feel very far from the city. Neighborhoods on either side, Hampstead and Highgate, are both affluent, villagey enclaves full of highly desirable old houses and good pubs. For a drink, try Hampstead’s cozy Holly Bush or the 400-year-old Spaniards Inn — once the haunt of highwaymen.
East End
If you want to see why London is known as the home of cutting-edge fashion, head to the city’s trendy East End on a Sunday morning. Start at Columbia Road Flower Market. It’s both a traditional street market, where Cockney vendors sell all sorts of plants and blooms, and a magnet for art students, hipsters and fashionistas.
They turn the narrow street into a trend-spotters’ paradise as they browse in the boutiques selling quirky crafts, clothes and furniture.
A short walk away, the area around Shoreditch High Street and Brick Lane holds more independent clothing stores, cafes and a large Sunday crafts-and-clothes market.
Auction houses
You probably can’t afford to buy an Old Master or modern masterpiece from Christie’s or Sotheby’s, but the auction houses are still a thrifty art-lover’s dream.
Both regularly hold public exhibitions ahead of sales at their central London premises.
The walls of the calm, airy rooms will be packed with art; there might be Rembrandts or Picassos, Francis Bacons or Damien Hirsts, all being given the once-over by prospective purchasers.
Watching the buyers can be fun.
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