What most people miss in London, two minutes from where they already are
Nobody needs telling to see Big Ben. The problem is what happens next. Almost everyone photographs the famous thing, turns round and leaves, and the better thing is two minutes away, usually free and always quieter. None of this is secret. It is just the part people walk past because it was not on the list.
- Time
- Two minutes from where you already are
- Cost
- Free, almost all of it
- Best for
- A first visit, a short stay, and anyone working through a checklist
7 min readChecked
The seven
Each one is a place you were going to anyway and what is round the corner from it. Every one is covered in full in a longer guide, linked underneath, with the route, the times and the prices.
Big Ben, then cross the bridge
Westminster SW1 · free · Westminster station, exit 1
Everyone photographs the Elizabeth Tower from Parliament Square, into the sun, with four hundred other people. Walk over Westminster Bridge instead. Five minutes later you are at the London Eye and the start of the South Bank, and from the south end of the bridge you get the same tower lit from the front with a third of the crowd. Leake Street, the legal graffiti tunnel under Waterloo station, is eight minutes further.
The South Bank, stop by stopThe Millennium Bridge, then stay on Bankside
Bankside SE1 · free · Southwark or Blackfriars
People cross the bridge, photograph St Paul's and go straight back. Stay on the south side. Tate Modern's collection is free, and Level 10 of its Blavatnik Building, now a drinks space, looks straight back at the dome for the price of a coffee. Shakespeare's Globe sells standing tickets to real performances for £5 to £10, which is the cheapest world-class thing in London. Borough Market is twelve minutes east.
Bankside and the Globe, in the South Bank guideSt Paul's, then the roof of One New Change
One New Change EC4M 9AF · sixth floor · free, daily 6am to midnight · St Paul's station
Across the road from the cathedral is a shopping centre, and on its roof is a free terrace level with the dome. No ticket, no booking and no minimum spend. Take the lift to the sixth floor and St Paul's fills the frame. It opens at six in the morning, so you can have it to yourself at sunrise, and closes at midnight, so you can have it lit.
Nine free viewpoints, rankedThe Sky Garden queue, then the Garden at 120
120 Fenchurch Street EC3M 5BA · free, no booking · weekdays 10am to 6.30pm October to March, to 9pm April to September, weekends 10am to 5pm · Fenchurch Street
Sky Garden tickets are free, released three weeks ahead and gone within hours. Next door, the Garden at 120 is an open-air roof garden fifteen floors up with a full 360 degree view, and it needs no booking at all unless there are twelve of you. Londoners go to this one. Visitors queue across the road for the other.
Which viewpoints need bookingOxford Street, then Marylebone
Marylebone W1 · free to walk · Bond Street or Baker Street
Oxford Street is a mile and a half of shops you already have at home. Ten minutes north, through the alley at St Christopher's Place, Marylebone High Street is where Londoners with money actually shop: Daunt Books with its oak galleries, Chiltern Street, a farmers' market on Sunday mornings. The Wallace Collection on Manchester Square is free and never crowded.
Where to shop, by what you are buyingSoho and Chinatown, then Seven Dials
Covent Garden WC2 · free · Covent Garden or Leicester Square
People do Chinatown, do Soho, reach the Covent Garden piazza, see street performers and chain shops, and decide that was Covent Garden. The good part is north of it. Seven streets run off the sundial pillar at Seven Dials, lined with independent shops. Neal's Yard is a courtyard of painted buildings that most people walk straight past the entrance to. Seven Dials Market is the covered food hall where you stop and eat.
Covent Garden and Seven Dials, in the shopping guideThe O2, then Greenwich by boat
North Greenwich Pier to Greenwich Pier · Uber Boat, East zone · £7.40 peak with contactless, £6.20 off peak
The O2 and Greenwich are two different places, and the tube map makes them look unrelated. On the river they are one boat apart. North Greenwich Pier sits beside the O2 and the Uber Boat takes you to Greenwich Pier in about ten minutes, for the Cutty Sark, the Old Royal Naval College and a free park with the best view back at London. Boat fares do not count towards your daily tube cap.
Greenwich in a day
Four of them in one day
Four of these sit on one line from west to east. Cross from Big Ben to the South Bank, follow the river to Bankside, cross the Millennium Bridge to the roof of One New Change, then walk fifteen minutes east to the Garden at 120. That is a full day, almost all of it free, and it finishes a few minutes from Bank and Monument stations.
If you have less time than that, the six-hour day on the Jubilee line and one river boat covers Big Ben, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Greenwich and the O2 without the long walks.
What it costs
With your own guide
The best of London in six hours
Little time in London? One fun day, all the best stops, by tube and boat. 6 hours.
- Up to 5 people
- £240
- 6 to 8 people
- £330
Want a tailor-made London trip? Tell us who’s coming and what you’d love to see. Request your personalised quote
What else you will spend
Rough, and on the day, whether you come with us or not.
- Travel
- £8.90 to £10.50
- The seven places
- Nothing
- A Globe standing ticket
- £5 to £10
- Food and coffee
- £3 to £15
One daily cap on the tube, plus £6.20 to £7.40 if you take the boat to Greenwich, which is charged separately
The South Bank, Tate Modern's collection, One New Change, the Garden at 120, Marylebone and Seven Dials are all free
A real performance, in the open air, standing in the yard
Seven Dials Market, Borough Market or Marylebone High Street
Questions people actually ask
Is the One New Change rooftop free?
Yes. The roof terrace on the sixth floor of One New Change is free, needs no ticket or booking and is open daily from 6am to midnight. It looks straight at the dome of St Paul's from across the road.
Do you need to book the Garden at 120?
No, unless you are a group. It is a free open-air roof garden fifteen floors up at 120 Fenchurch Street, next door to the Sky Garden, open on weekdays from 10am to 6.30pm between October and March and to 9pm from April to September, and 10am to 5pm at weekends.
What is near Big Ben that most visitors miss?
The other side of Westminster Bridge. Five minutes across it is the London Eye and the start of the South Bank, the better photograph of the tower is from the south end of the bridge, and the Leake Street graffiti tunnel is eight minutes further.
Can you get from the O2 to Greenwich by boat?
Yes. The Uber Boat runs between North Greenwich Pier, beside the O2, and Greenwich Pier in about ten minutes. It is an East zone fare, £7.40 at peak and £6.20 off peak with contactless, and it does not count towards the daily tube cap.