Ten things that make London worth the trip

Most of London's great collections cost nothing to walk into. Add a river you can ride like a bus route, parks big enough to lose the traffic in and weather that seldom stops a day out, and you have a city that rewards wandering. These are the ten things we'd point a friend towards.

Museums, bookshops and a market

The British Museum, the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the National Portrait Gallery don't charge for their permanent collections; you pay only for some of the temporary shows. An hour in the V&A's cast courts on the way to lunch costs nothing, so there's no ticketed day to get your money's worth from. The National Portrait Gallery stays open late on Fridays, which is when it's calmest.

The smaller places are often better. Sir John Soane's Museum on Lincoln's Inn Fields was the architect's own house, and it's still crammed floor to ceiling with antiquities, paintings and casts exactly where he put them. It's free, needs no booking and opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, but it doesn't hold many people at once, so there's often a short queue on the pavement and arriving at opening time is the way round it.

Cecil Court is a short pedestrian lane between Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Lane, lined with antiquarian and second-hand bookshops, print dealers and map sellers. Watkins Books has been at number 21 since 1901. Allow ten minutes on the way to the theatre, or an hour if someone in your party collects first editions.

London eats well at every price, and Borough Market by London Bridge is the quickest way to see why. The full market trades Tuesday to Sunday, from 9am on Saturdays, and shuts on Mondays. Saturday is the crush, whereas a weekday mid-morning is calmer and the traders actually have time to talk.

Parks, the river and the old city

Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens run together from Park Lane to Kensington Palace. Green Park and St James's Park link Piccadilly to Buckingham Palace and Westminster, and further north Regent's Park has the rose gardens in Queen Mary's Gardens plus a boating lake. You can cross a good chunk of the West End on grass, which is more than most capitals can offer.

The Uber Boat by Thames Clippers runs from Westminster and Embankment east to the Tower, Canary Wharf and Greenwich, and you tap on with the same contactless card you use on the Tube. Because it's a commuter service rather than a sightseeing cruise, nobody gives a commentary and you get a window seat with Tower Bridge passing overhead.

History sits in the street, too. Outside Tower Hill station a stretch of the Roman city wall stands in a small garden, free to look at in daylight, with the Tower of London across the road. Much of the City's street plan is medieval, which is why a walk from Tower Hill to St Paul's feels like a maze and always takes longer than the map says.

Shops, weather and getting about

Oxford Street does department stores and flagships. Liberty on Great Marlborough Street is worth a look for the building alone, and Carnaby Street behind it is smaller labels and trainers. The King's Road in Chelsea is for a slower afternoon with lunch in the middle.

London is mild. Winter highs hover in single figures and summer ones sit in the low twenties, and even October, the wettest month, tends to bring drizzle rather than downpours. It rains often but seldom hard, so pack a light waterproof whatever the month and keep one museum up your sleeve for the afternoon the forecast turns.

Central London is also smaller than people expect. Covent Garden to Leicester Square is quicker on foot than by Tube, and Mayfair to Soho is a fifteen-minute stroll. On a first trip, stay central enough to nip back mid-afternoon and head out again for dinner; Kensington, Mayfair and Covent Garden all let you do that.

London weather by month

July is the warmest month, averaging 23°C by day. July has the fewest wet days (9) and October the most rain (80 mm). For sightseeing on foot, June scores best on our combined warmth-and-dryness measure.

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Rain	Wet days	Chance a 7-day stay sees a washout	Record high / low
January	8°C	2°C	74 mm	13	53%	16°C / -12°C
February	8°C	2°C	51 mm	10	43%	18°C / -8°C
March	11°C	4°C	45 mm	9	44%	23°C / -7°C
April	14°C	5°C	54 mm	10	44%	26°C / -3°C
May	17°C	8°C	54 mm	9	39%	30°C / -1°C
June	20°C	11°C	58 mm	9	35%	34°C / 2°C
July	23°C	13°C	52 mm	9	34%	34°C / 4°C
August	22°C	13°C	68 mm	9	37%	37°C / 4°C
September	19°C	11°C	62 mm	9	39%	29°C / 2°C
October	15°C	8°C	80 mm	11	47%	27°C / -2°C
November	11°C	5°C	76 mm	12	52%	18°C / -6°C
December	8°C	2°C	69 mm	12	50%	16°C / -8°C

Calculated NOAA GHCN-Daily observations at the Hampstead weather station, north London (records 1960–2015; averages from about 25 years per month). A wet day has 1 mm of rain or more.