Enjoy affordable summer fun and festivals across Greenwich

Museums & Galleries | Free Festivals | Music | Family Fun | Food & Drink | Shopping

Cut-price culture across Royal Greenwich

It really is easy to spend days enjoying the Royal Borough’s many world-class historic and cultural diversions without repeatedly putting your hand in your pocket. Whether it’s some of the largest and most fascinating museums London has to offer, rolling parklands that once formed royal hunting grounds, markets bursting with antiques, handicrafts and fabulous food, or historic buildings open for exploration, all the ingredients here for a thrilling low-cost break.

The National Maritime Museum, home to the jacket in which Admiral Nelson died (amongst its nearly 2.5 million artefacts) heads the list of free attractions. Just next door are jewels such as The Queen’s House — England’s first classical villa, stuffed with artistic masterpieces — and the baroque Chapel of St Peter and St Paul at the Old Royal Naval College.

Attractions so cheap they’re practically free include the London Cable Car over the Thames (£5/2.50 each way for adults or children), the niche exhibits of the quirky Fan Museum (£4/3) and Severndroog Castle on Shooter’s Hill (£4/3). Severndroog, surrounded by free parkland to play in, hosts a Producers’ Market on the first Sunday of every month.

Greenwich’s summer of free festivals

The Royal Borough has gone out of its way to cook up a calendar of free events for the summer holidays.

The Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, a rich programme of outdoor events running from 26 August to 11 September, is the summer’s showpiece. Families should mark their diaries for: the circus arts of companies Barrière and Sisyphus; the urban acrobatics of ‘Follow Me’; the joyful participatory performance, ‘There Should be Unicorns’; and ‘Out of the Deep Blue’, an interactive adventure with Eko, a13ft sea-giant puppet. Another giant puppet, the ‘Storyteller,’ features in the non-GDIF event ‘A Tale to be Told’, by Emergency Exit Arts on 14 and 29 August.

Woolwich’s General Gordon Square is the place to bring the kids for Holiday Fun Fridays, with free interactive performances organised by professional dance companies. Also in Woolwich, free open-air cinema evenings will be held at St George’s Garrison Church on 13 August and 10 September.

August Wednesdays (except the 31^st) see free Lawn Games on the Old Royal Naval College Lawn. Tuesdays bring more delight for kids in ‘Charlton House Explorers’ in which the grand Jacobean house hosts participatory events such as ‘Back to the Secret Garden’, ‘More Toys of the Past’ and ‘Out to the Country’. 

Art lovers can explore the bizarre origami-like formations of ‘Maiden Voyage’, an installation by Korean artist Jee Young Lee commissioned by NOW Gallery until 25 September.

Greenwich finds full song this summer

The Royal Borough has made the most of the long, warm days of late August and early September to curate a programme of free musical performances to appeal to every taste. Free music in one of London’s most charming and historic boroughs? What’s not to love?

Greenwich Park’s handsome, hexagonal bandstand is the venue for free concerts, every Sunday from 3-5pm until 29 August. Expect swing, jazz, blues and soul from the likes of the Greenwich Concert Band and Graham Pike Big Band. If brass is more your buzz, don’t miss Brass on the Patio on the steps of Charlton House. Held each Friday from 12 August to 2 September from 1-2pm, it showcases honking harmonies from the Regent Hall Band of the Salvation Army, Guards Brass and other outfits. Selected Thursdays and Saturdays see historic St Alfege Church vibrate to heavenly lunchtime choir and piano recitals.

Family fun for free

If you're in charge of keeping the children busy, with the long, hot weeks of school holidays stretching out ahead of you, you'll be glad of Greenwich’s exciting programme of free, family-friendly events. From Greenwich Peninsula to the UNESCO-listed maritime heartland of the borough and beyond, we’ve cooked up an eclectic menu of no-cost distractions and diversions.

Greenwich Peninsula is the venue for ping-pong on the vibrant, Memphis-themed outdoor tables designed by the exuberant American artist Camille Walala. Take a refresher course or organise your own competition on the eye-catching tables. More technicolour fun can be found on the six-hole minigolf course installed by artist Yinka Ilori in the Peninsula’s The Tide riverside linear park. Both are open daily from noon to 6pm until 18 September. More free, kid-friendly fun is to be found at the National Maritime Museum and The Queen’s House, historic venues that have organised interactive ‘Family Trails’ of discovery and delight.

Eat like a prince for less

Visitors here to sample the Royal Borough’s attractions on a tight budget will find something in every corner. You won’t lighten your wallet too much, but you may end up loosening your waistband!

Greenwich Market is ground zero for delectable, affordable street food. On weekends the rotating cast of stalls expands, spilling out onto Durnford Street and offering African, Asian, Caribbean, European, American and the best of many other world cuisines.

If you’re hankering for something more ‘traditional’ it doesn’t get more English than a plate of pie, mash and parsley liquor from Goddards at Greenwich, a family-run pie shop warming local bellies since 1890. And if you’re still in the area come cocktail hour, don’t miss pop-up ‘beach bar’ Rumpypumpy, slinging mixes on the sand at Woolwich Works from noon to 9.30pm, from Wednesday to Sunday throughout August. Enjoy half price cocktails during Happy Hour from 4-6.30pm from Wednesday to Friday and catch free live music on certain evenings!

Shop local for brand names and bargains

Everybody adores a bargain, and Greenwich offers affordable retail therapy for those who just love to shop. Seek out discounts at the many delightful boutiques that dot the high streets of Greenwich, Charlton, Eltham and Woolwich or strike brand-name bonanza in the one giant outlet on Greenwich Peninsula. Whatever you’re looking for, the Royal Borough won’t bruise your budget.

Big on brand names? So is ICON Outlet at The O2, where you can find discounts of up to 70% on Adidas, Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Nike, Ted Baker and plenty of other high-profile brands. More of a market lover? Greenwich Market, trading since 1737, offers a cornucopia of arts and handicrafts, many locally made. And the Greenwich Vintage Market is a rich trove of ephemera and collectables, its 40 canopied stalls open from 8am to 6pm every day except Monday and Wednesday.