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
Tate Modern
Partly free, partly paidSome of it costs nothing, some of it charges.
Tate Modern is London’s modern and contemporary art museum, housed in the former Bankside Power Station on the South Bank of the Thames. The permanent collection is free, which is the headline most budget travelers care about: a national-level art collection that costs nothing to walk into. Only the temporary blockbuster exhibitions are ticketed, so it is easy to spend a full afternoon here without paying a penny.
The building is half the reason to visit. The power station closed in 1981 and reopened as a gallery in 2000, with the cavernous boiler hall turned into the Turbine Hall. That space now hosts rotating large-scale installations that change regularly, and seeing what is currently filling it is free. In 2016 the museum added the Blavatnik Building extension, which gave it a free public viewing level near the top with a panorama over the Thames, St Paul’s, and the City skyline. It is one of the few free high viewpoints in central London, no ticket and no queue for a lift up The Shard required.
The location stacks the budget itinerary in your favour. The Millennium Bridge footbridge crosses straight to St Paul’s Cathedral on the north bank, and the gallery sits on the South Bank riverside walk, so a free morning at Tate Modern flows naturally into a free riverside stroll past street performers and second-hand bookstalls. Borough Market is a short walk east for a cheap lunch. Art completists can pair it with Tate Britain upriver, where the national collection of British art is also free; the two galleries share the Tate name and the same no-charge entry to the permanent works.
Practical
Before you go
- Address
- Bankside, SE1 9TG London
- Good to know
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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