Free Family Days Out in London
A family day in London doesn’t need a ticket budget. Some of the best kid-specific attractions in the city are free, and most lists bury them under paid ones.
Start in Kensington Gardens at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground, a Peter Pan-themed enclosed play space with a giant wooden pirate ship and sensory trails, fully accessible for wheelchairs and prams, and free to enter (adults get in only when accompanying a child). Pair it with the nearby Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, a free accessible paddling and splash feature, for a genuinely low-effort, zero-cost family half-day. Check current hours at royalparks.org.uk before you go.
The Natural History Museum earns its reputation with kids specifically, not just in general: the blue whale skeleton “Hope” hanging in the Hintze Hall, the Dinosaurs gallery, and the outdoor Wildlife Garden are the actual draws worth naming rather than a vague “great museum for kids” line. General admission is free, and walk-up access is generally fine outside the busiest school-holiday days; details at nhm.ac.uk .
Greenwich Park rounds out the free half of this list: a free deer park, playgrounds, and a steep climb up to the Royal Observatory with a panoramic skyline view at the top, no ticket required for the park itself.
Once you’re ready to spend, ZSL London Zoo is the natural next stop, adult tickets from £31.80 online (roughly £35 at the gate with a voluntary donation added), one of the world’s oldest scientific zoos, opened in 1828. Check ZSL London Zoo ticket prices on GetYourGuide before you go, since pricing is tiered by date. The Regent’s Canal Waterbus between Little Venice and Camden Lock is a scenic, low-cost way to arrive, a roughly 45-minute narrowboat ride through the Maida Hill tunnel past Regent’s Park and the zoo grounds itself.
Two attractions worth actively skipping if they still appear on an older list: KidZania London closed for good in January 2024, and The London Bridge Experience closed in autumn 2025, with the site now trading under a different name and concept entirely. Neither is bookable in 2026 no matter what an old blog post says. If your family wants an indoor rainy-day option instead, Viator lists the Madame Tussauds, SEA LIFE and Dungeon combo , still very much open and running.
Verdict: build a free morning around the Diana Memorial Playground or the Natural History Museum, and treat ZSL London Zoo as the one paid ticket worth adding once the free half of the day is done. For the indoor combo-ticket attractions that still work, see the attraction tours guide .