Borough Market
Borough Market is London's oldest food market, trading since the 13th century beneath the Victorian railway arches by London Bridge in London. Entry is free.
Museum in London
Science Museum
Partly free, partly paidSome of it costs nothing, some of it charges.
The Science Museum in South Kensington is a free museum covering science, technology, medicine, and industry from Puffing Billy, the oldest surviving steam locomotive, to the Apollo 10 command module. Permanent galleries are free to enter. The IMAX cinema and some special exhibitions are paid, so a budget visit means skipping those and spending the time in the free collections, where the Apollo capsule, the early steam engines, the medicine galleries, and the flight gallery all cost nothing.
Budget travelers visit for free and see one of the three great free museums of South Kensington alongside the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. All three sit within a few minutes’ walk of each other on Exhibition Road, so it is possible to stack two or three free museums into a single day in London without paying a single admission fee. That is rare in a city this expensive, which is exactly why South Kensington is the budget sightseeing anchor of the whole capital.
Practical
Before you go
- Address
- Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD London
- Good to know
- Official site
- sciencemuseum.org.uk
Nearby
More in London
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
Brick Lane
Brick Lane is the heart of London's Bangladeshi community, a curry-house spine through Shoreditch and Spitalfields that doubles as the city's loudest open-air street-art gallery. Free to walk, and one of the best-value corners of East London for a budget traveler.
British Museum
The British Museum in Bloomsbury is one of the greatest museums in the world, and entry to the permanent collection is completely free. The Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles, the Egyptian mummies, and the Enlightenment Gallery are all here.
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch and one of the city's signature free sights. Nobody pays to stand at the gates, photograph the famous balcony, or watch the Changing of the Guard, which makes it a reliable anchor for a no-cost day in central London.
Camden Market
Camden Market is a sprawling complex of connected markets, stalls, and food vendors around Camden Lock in Camden Town, north London. Free to enter, and one of the city's most visited attractions. For a budget traveler it is a full afternoon that costs nothing until the moment a street-food box is bought.
Columbia Road Flower Market
Columbia Road Flower Market is a Sunday-only street market in Shoreditch, East London, where vendors pack a narrow Victorian street with flowers, plants, bulbs, and garden supplies. Free to walk and browse, and one of the cheaper ways to spend a Sunday morning in the East End, especially when paired with Brick Lane a short walk south.
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