London in 5 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Five days adds the West End and a choice between St Paul’s Cathedral and the free Sky Garden to the same Westminster, Tower, South Kensington and Greenwich core as our 4-day budget itinerary. Total spend across five days lands around GBP 165-235 depending on that choice. Extend it with our 6-day version if Camden and Regent’s Park fit your schedule.
Book these before you go
- British Museum: free entry, but book a timed slot online, 2+ weeks ahead for summer and weekends (britishmuseum.org )
- Tower of London: GBP 37, book online for a discount over the gate price (hrp.org.uk or GetYourGuide skip-the-line tickets )
- Big Ben tower tour: GBP 55, released 10:00 the second Wednesday of each month, gone within minutes (parliament.uk )
- Budget stay: compare Zone 1-2 rates on Booking.com before you land
| Day | Focus | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Westminster, Buckingham Palace’s free Changing of the Guard, the South Bank | GBP 35-45 |
| Day 2 | The free British Museum, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge | GBP 50-60 |
| Day 3 | Free South Kensington museums, Hyde Park, Notting Hill | GBP 30-40 |
| Day 4 | Greenwich, mostly free, optional paid Royal Observatory | GBP 25-60 |
| Day 5 | The West End, free Sky Garden or paid St Paul’s | GBP 20-55 |
Day 1: Westminster, Buckingham Palace and the South Bank, free
Land, get to the hotel, and spend day one on foot without booking a single ticket. Walk Westminster while the queues haven’t formed yet: Big Ben’s exterior and the Houses of Parliament, then Westminster Abbey’s west front (it’s closed to tourists on Sundays, worship only, so check the day of the week if you want to go inside later in the trip). Cut through St James’s Park toward Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard, free to watch, provisionally Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 11:00 (the schedule is weather-cancellable, so check the week you’re there).
Is the Changing of the Guard actually worth getting up early for?
Yes, and it costs nothing. Arrive by 10:30 to get a sightline along the railings; the ceremony itself runs 30-45 minutes and needs no ticket, no booking and no queue beyond finding a spot to stand. It’s the single best free spectacle on this list, and skipping it to save time is the one mistake budget itineraries make.
Cross Westminster Bridge (ignore anyone running the three-cup game near the London Eye, it’s a rigged street hustle, keep walking) and pick up the South Bank walk toward Tate Modern and Borough Market, roughly Monday-Friday 10:00-17:00 and Saturday 9:00-17:00. Grab a Boots or Pret meal deal for lunch, GBP 3.60-7, and if the budget stretches to an evening splurge, check Thames river cruise prices on Viator rather than paying for the London Eye. Tap in with contactless or Oyster all day; the Zone 1-2 cap is GBP 8.90, and today should run roughly GBP 35-45 all in, food and transit, zero paid sights.
Day 2: The free British Museum and the one paid splurge
Book a free timed slot at the British Museum before you leave home if it’s a weekend, a school holiday, or anytime through summer, since the Bayeux Tapestry’s first loan outside France opens there in autumn 2026 and will only tighten availability further. The Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures alone can fill a morning, and it costs nothing.
Is the Tower of London worth GBP 37 on a tight budget?
Yes, once. It’s the one paid sight in this itinerary worth the money: the Crown Jewels and the White Tower cover nearly a thousand years of continuous royal history that no free museum duplicates. Book online through hrp.org.uk or check skip-the-line Tower of London tickets on GetYourGuide rather than queuing at the gate.
Walk across Tower Bridge afterward, free, and finish with dinner grazing through Borough Market rather than trekking back to the West End. Today runs roughly GBP 50-60 with the Tower ticket included, the most expensive day on this itinerary and the only one that needs to be.
Day 3: South Kensington’s free museums and free wandering
South Kensington’s museum cluster packs the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum within a short walk of each other, all with free permanent general admission. Pick two rather than rushing all three; the Natural History Museum’s dinosaur hall and blue whale skeleton are the strongest single pick if you only manage one.
Do you need to pay for anything in South Kensington?
No, not for the museums themselves. Only their special or touring exhibitions charge, typically GBP 12-25, and none are required to see the permanent collections that make these museums worth the detour in the first place. Donation boxes are genuinely optional.
Walk Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in the afternoon (Kensington Palace’s exterior and gardens are free; the State Apartments charge separately), then finish in Notting Hill for free wandering, saving Portobello Road Market itself for a Saturday if your schedule allows. Budget roughly GBP 30-40 today, food and transit only.
Day 4: Greenwich, mostly free
Take the DLR to Greenwich, about 20-25 minutes from central London and still covered by the same Zone 1-2 daily cap. The Cutty Sark’s exterior, Greenwich Park, and the Prime Meridian line’s outdoor marker are all free; the National Maritime Museum inside the park is also free, permanent general admission.
Is the Royal Observatory worth GBP 24 on a budget day?
Only if astronomy or the meridian line itself is the whole reason you came. The observatory’s paid galleries add a real GBP 24 to a day that’s otherwise free, and the outdoor Prime Meridian marker, the actual photo everyone wants, costs nothing to stand on. Skip it and you still get the full Greenwich experience.
Budget roughly GBP 25-35 today without the Observatory, GBP 50-60 with it, and consider the DLR ride itself part of the sightseeing, it runs elevated and driverless past Canary Wharf.
Day 5: The West End, St Paul’s, and a free skyline view
Wander Covent Garden and the West End in the morning, free beyond whatever you buy, then decide on St Paul’s Cathedral : GBP 27 covers the Cathedral floor, crypt and Dome galleries, dropping to roughly GBP 24 during the 25 June-1 September 2026 summer-savings window. If the dome doesn’t fit today’s budget, the City of London’s Sky Garden offers a genuinely free viewing floor with advance online booking, a real substitute for a paid observation deck.
Is St Paul’s Dome worth paying for when Sky Garden is free?
It depends what you want. St Paul’s Dome puts you inside a working 1710 cathedral with the Whispering Gallery on the way up; Sky Garden gets a comparable skyline for free but skips the history. Budget days should default to Sky Garden and treat St Paul’s as an optional splurge, not the other way round.
Budget roughly GBP 20-30 today if you skip St Paul’s, GBP 45-55 if you don’t.
Before you go
A contactless bank card or phone charges the same fare as an Oyster card and shares the same daily cap, GBP 8.90 for Zone 1-2, so most visitors don’t need a physical Oyster at all. Restaurant service charges of 12.5% are often added automatically; if it’s already on the bill, no further tip is expected. Five days still leaves Camden and Regent’s Park untouched, add our 6-day budget itinerary if it fits your schedule.