Actually I have one that hasn't, RAF museum, Northern line to Collin dale.
I already said we'll probably be going there. 😀
But yeah, it's a good suggestion, definitely right up my alley!
London Transport Museum do tours of some of the closed parts of the underground network I believe.
They also do tours on a vintage Tube train, see if one of those is on. Not many offered these days cos so much of the network has been modernised but there's still a few tracks it can do.
Imperial War Museum. The VC gallery is sadly going to close soon, worth the trip to Lambeth just to see that.
Battersea Power Station is a nice space and you can watch the super rich doing a bit of shopping.
TIL I'm "super rich" 🙂
... although when we visited at Christmas most of the shops were fairly standard shopping centre fare. Nice building, but not somewhere I'd go out of my way to visit again.
Two mega nerdy bridges in Paddington Basin- but limited in 'action times'. Heatherwick's rolling bridge is a little underwhelming, but at the same time a fascinating slightly alien artefact. The Fan bridge is a bit more spectacular, but lacks the magic of Heatherwick's design.
Hire a couple of Santander bikes on a Sunday morning and go for a ride around central London and out to St Pauls and the city then over Tower bridge, you can then head back over the bridge and ride around Whitechapel, Brick lane then head back towards central London, lots to see and its quite quiet on the roads on a Sunday morning
I did it on my own last year and few mates said they want to come next time
more ideas for filling up the days are welcome!
London has a couple of good escape rooms and a bunch of shit ones. Cluequest and Escape Plan come highly recommended. ER-adjacent is Phantom Peak which is supposed to be an amazing experience and a full day of a job.
I haven't been to any of these as a povvy Northerner but "recommend me an escape room in London" in the enthusiasts group is as common as "what tyres" or "what laptop" on here.
Thanks for the suggestion, but escape rooms have never piqued my interest. Maybe one day I'll get dragged along to one and discover that I love them but until and unless that happens I don't think I'll be seeking them out!
The weather forecast for the weekend is looking pretty good so perhaps just being out and about around some of the interesting bits of the city could be something to do.
We did a guided cycling tour which was excellent, and I really enjoyed the National Portrait Gallery which nobody seems to have suggested yet.
I really enjoyed the National Portrait Gallery which nobody seems to have suggested yet.
It is nice and manageable.
I'd also suggest Tate Britain instead of Tate Modern.
And just generally walking round the city, rather than getting on and off the tube all the time.
This year we've got 3 and a bit daytimes to fill, as The Hold Steady have added an extra show to the weekend. The stuff we've pencilled in so far seems to be:
- The RAF Museum. I can probably spend a long time there.
- A trip to St Paul's, the London Mithraeum and the Monument, which all seem to be in the same general area, as do a few other things that might be of interest.
- A trip to the Wembley area, for a particularly nerdy reason, though we'll probably find some other stuff to do while over that way.
The Transport Museum's Hidden London tours, Somerset House and some of the other stuff suggested here have also been added to our notes and might end up being visited instead of or in addition to the above.
Plus we're staying around Camden Town so mooching around the market can always eat up a few hours. 😀
Horizon22 could be interesting but it looks like it books out pretty quickly, so something that might be worth remembering about next year, but not possible this weekend.
What we ended up doing:
- Wandered around Camden Market after getting to London on Thursday. Freddy Mercury artwork seems more popular than he was last year.
- RAF Museum on Friday. I last went in 2018 when about half of the halls were open, so it was nice to see the the history of the RAF, modern RAF and WWI halls, and it's cool to pass through the Sunderland.
- St Paul's Cathedral on Saturday. The plan was also to visit the Mithraeum and the Monument but we ended up spending all our available time at St Paul's. The (free) audio guides are really good. We made it up to the Whispering and Stone Galleries but sort feet and varying levels of vertigo kept us from the Golden Gallery. As I've been watching Lord Hardthrasher's series about the Burma campaign during WWII on YouTube it was nice to see Bill Slim's memorial in the crypt, especially after seeing quite how much of its space seems to be devoted to what could generally be described as "bastards from the East India Company". Edit: Turns out that Wikipedia has a section covering accusations that Bill Slim did some rather unsavoury things when he was Governor General of Australia after the war. Sigh.
- Battersea Park, Battersea Power Station and Chelsea Physic Garden on Sunday. Battersea Park is quite nice to wander around on a nice day, the Power Station is impressive even if it's full of expensive shops and Chelsea Physic Garden is small, but interesting.
- Primrose Hill and Regent's Park as we wandered from Chalk Farm to King's Cross on Monday. More decent green spaces.
In addition we had gigs at The Dome in Tuffnell Park, the Electric Ballroom in Camden (twice) and the 100 Club on Oxford Street, though it was handy that the band's singer explained how significant the 100 Club was, as I'd never heard of it - great gig though!
It's that time of year again, the Weekender 2026 runs from Thursday the 5th of March to Sunday the 8th. Northwind and I will be travelling down on the 5th, back on the 9th, so basically we're looking for ideas of things to do in London during the days of Friday 6th/Saturday 7th/Sunday 8th.
I'll try and collect some thoughts about ideas we've had in the next day or two, but this is an initial kick to bring the thread to life and see what interesting suggestions are out there amongst the STW hivemind.
Initial vague ideas include visiting the Mithraeum and the Monument (things that might have got done last year but St Paul's took up more time than expected) are potentials, as are the various skyscraper gardens/viewing points if we haven't already missed our opportunity to book them.
Garden at 120 is good and free, go early for no queues and no need to book. Not as high as some of the others but still good views
Spitalfields food market is good for lunch in your hand or bench seats.
St Dunstan in the east church worth passing through if near, it's in the Mithraeum vicinity.
If walking off a hangover, Paddington basin to Camden or all the way to KX on the Regents Canal is a nice walk
Thanks! We've more than once ended up walking by the canal from Camden to Regent's Park and on to King's Cross to catch the train on the Monday before heading back up north.
Photographers gallery is usually interesting (and there's not too much on the cards usually).
Coffee shops (Hermanos, Scenery + others) and Smokestak would also be on my recommendations list.
Chewing Gum Art https://londonist.com/london/news/chewing-gum-art-trail-millennium-bridge-ben-wilson
The Ring https://theringbarlondon.co.uk/
Denmark St Flat Iron for steak https://flatironsteak.co.uk/restaurant/tottenham-court-road/
Double post
Photographers gallery is usually interesting (and there's not too much on the cards usually).
Coffee shops (Hermanos, Scenery + others) and Smokestak would also be on my recommendations list.
Did you sit on Lamb and Taverner's bench?
https://www.reddit.com/r/SlowHorses/comments/18xwr9x/lamb_and_taverners_bench/
I'm pretty sure I've walked past that bench a couple of times, but I've not watched Slow Horses so its significance was lost on me.
Tfl hidden London emailed today with a host os spring dates. ,Eg;
Looks like the tour that's on while we'll be in London is Aldwych: the end of the line. We visited the transport museum itself during the Weekender a couple of years ago but the tour might be interesting.
Yes the Aldwych one looks good. It's a pity the Clapham south ones don't match - it might be worth asking if they've more lined up as that is very interesting.
Don't know if it's nerdy, but lunch at Noble Rot on Lamb's Conduit Street, followed by a couple of pints in The Lamb just across the street.
We're going to be in London for a wedding in July and may have a couple of days for sightseeing so this is a welcome return. Might be 2.5 days if the wedding isn't up to Scottish standards.
We're going to be in London for a wedding in July and may have a couple of days for sightseeing so this is a welcome return. Might be 2.5 days if the wedding isn't up to Scottish standards.
Denmark St Flat Iron for steak https://flatironsteak.co.uk/restaurant/tottenham-court-road/
It's London. I would be going out of my way to avoid chain restaurants personally.
Dunno if it's already been done. Covers everywhere though, not just London. And you can add nerdy places to visit too.
Adding to the list of things to do - the guided tours of the Barbican estate are excellent. I've been twice in a year.
If you've any interest in architecture and buildings well worth doing.
The Churchill war rooms are very good (and not recommended yet). As above the National Portrait Gallery is good (and the restaurant at the top but pricy). Then the usual museums like the V&A, National, Nat Hist, British, Science etc…).
Stuff to avoid. The stairs a Goodge St tube staion if pi**ed. I was dizzy after walking down them sober today.
Bleeker burger, wasn't impressed.
Stuff to avoid. The stairs at Goodge St tube staion if pi**ed. I was dizzy after walking down them sober today.
Bleeker burger, wasn't impressed.
Completeley ignoring what the OP would like to do in lieu of what I'd like to spend a day doing - ride round on an urban suitable mtb on a sunny day, find some nice pubs, find some decent street food maybe and spend the day trying to improve my street (and slightly obscure) photography - and also try not to get my bike (and camera) nicked.
Last time I had a few hours to kill in London I did similar sans bike around the Westminster area.
Of course if you are in that Camdeny bit of London, a couple of really nerdy things would be -
Visit the British Library and get a reader card and see their exhibits
Visit the Wellcome Collection and do some science
There's alwo the V&A Storehouse which is sposed to be pretty interesting over by the Olympic Park
Had a brief chat about this last night, I'm going to check to see whether there are Horizon 22 or similar tickets still available. They seem to be reasonably close to the Mithraeum and the Monument (and the Tower of London, which I haven't been to since I was a child) so there's an outline of a plan for one day there. Tate Britain (suggested at some point in the history of this thread) also seems promising, and I'll probably also see whether that VR thing in Wembley has a suitable slot available. The Olympic Park and other green areas in that direction look like they're fairly easily accessible from Camden (the Overground seems to go between them) so perhaps visiting a park and that V&A Storehouse is a good option too.
It's interesting to see how different people approach this in different ways, especially for me seeing how many people approach this by picking out places to eat and drink, which for me is usually something that gets fitted around the other things that I'm doing.
Thanks for your continued suggestions everyone!
Take a walk along Regents canal near the zoo and see if you can spot any of the now numerous aesculapian snakes which now populate the area!
Dunno if it’s been mentioned previously, but the https://courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/ is very well worth having a look around. It’s usually pretty quiet, and there are paintings by very well known artists, without any real barriers, so you can get a very close look at a Van Gogh, see the brush strokes n’all. It’s just a lovely place to wander without fighting through hordes of tourists.
I forgot about the Camden area bit. When there, the Black Heart is a must stop for a beer if you like metal and good craft beer, which I do making it a favourite of mine (round the corner from the Worlds end and, in my opinion, better.
I don't drink so we tend to end up in pubs only if they have decent food offerings (and Northwind requires GF options). I've had the World's End pointed out to me before, but not the Black Heart.
I'm intrigued by the various gallery suggestions, I'll have to go back through the thread and work out what ones have been proposed and where they all are. We did a somewhat rushed trip to the National Gallery a few years ago but I think that's been it for art galleries so far.
Tate Britain currently has easels and paper set up in some of the galleries, the public are encouraged to get drawing, which looked quite fun when we went last week.
I cannot endorse the recommendation for the Clink prison museum unless it's got a LOT better; it was a lame tourist trap last time I went, very little historical value, just some crap wax works and a handful of classic torture instruments (thumbscrews etc).
When are you heading to London? It's Lunar (Chinese) New Year so this weekend there'll be some wonderful celebrations around Chinatown.
And for game-loving nerds, a visit to Draughts Bar in Waterloo is always good - they have a huge library of board games and card games you can borrow to take to your table and play. Definitely recommend booking in advance though, especially at weekends.
What about the Hindu temple in neasden.Seen it from afar but not managed to visit it yet.
When are you heading to London? It's Lunar (Chinese) New Year so this weekend there'll be some wonderful celebrations around Chinatown.
Taking the train down on Thursday the 5th of March and heading home on Monday the 9th. All evenings are accounted for so it's primarily Friday/Saturday/Sunday daytime that needs to be filled.