The 6 best free things to do in London this weekend [June 5-7 2026]

After confusingly tropical temperatures last month, London is firmly back to the status quo. Damp, rainy, and just warm enough to make the tube nice and sweaty – without the properly hot weather we’d need to justify summery fripperies like jorts, barbecues, and lunch break ice lollies. But if your face is starting to look like a wet weekend at the prospect of two underwhelming days off, then here are some suggestions that’ll dispel the gloom.

London is getting ready to shower us all with fun things to do this weekend, as well as literal rain. There’s a brand new museum, a farm-based frolic, a gallery jaunt and an outdoor sketching workshop for you to enjoy. And best of all, you don't have to pay for any of them. So you can save that cash for that Rains waterproof you've been coveting. Or for booking a summer holiday somewhere reliably dry. Whatever floats your boat.

The best free things on in London this weekend, June 5-7 2026 

1. Try out robot football at the Great Exhibition Road Festival

South Kensington's museum-filled thoroughfare Exhibition Road is always a pretty exciting place to be, especially if you're a fan of dinosaurs, rocks, costumes or any of the other fascinating bits and bobs in its teeming storehouses. But for one weekend in June, it gets a whole lot better. This Saturday and Sunday, it'll be closed to traffic to make way for fun interactive experiments, mind-bending technology, music, dance, art, live science shows and parades. This year is the 175th anniversary of the legendary Great Exhibition itself, a Victorian event that brought together the world's greatest technological and artistic achievements under one roof (the now-lost Crystal Palace). So that means there’ll be recreations of the Crystal Palace in sand and gingerbread to admire. Plus, there’ll be a whole host of eccentric, family-friendly activities, including robot football, origami spacecraft, giant roaming Indian puppets and a session baking a brownie that mirrors the surface of Mars. Mmmm, educational and delicious.

Great Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD. Sat Jun 6-Sun Jun 7. Free.

2. Go on a stylish jaunt through London Gallery Weekend

This city-wide explosion of contemporary art is a chance to encounter galleries and artists you've never seen before, in every corner of London. For the first weekend in June, more than 120 of the capital’s leading contemporary galleries are throwing special events and exhibitions that’ll lure in hordes of curious visitors. Of course, there are shows from big names, like Yinka Ilori’s exhibition at Cristea Roberts Gallery, or Anne Imhof’s monumental Wave paintings at Sprüth Magers. But the best way to spend the weekend is in an enjoyable odyssey of discovery. Follow routes curated by fashion designers Giles Deacon or Erdem Moralioglu, vocalist Kelly Lee Owens, or top curator Sally Tallant for a highly personal intro to new streets and sights. 

Various locations. Sat Jun 6-Sun Jun 7. Free.

3. Join a collage workshop at Mount Street Neighbourhood Summer Festival

From cold water swimming to line dancing, new activities are generally less embarrassing if you've got good company. And exploring your long-neglected creative side is no exception. So even if you haven’t wielded a Pritt stick since school, consider dropping in to artist Kathryn Maple's collage workshops, inspired by Mount Street Gardens. She’ll be creating a gradually evolving artwork at 62 South Audley Street, in a festival hub that'll also include a pop-up shop by booksellers Thames and Hudson, complete with the opportunity to hand-foil your very own bookmark. Or leave the crafting to the professionals and check out an exhibition on the craftsmanship of luxury shoes by local brand Le Monde Béryl, while growing increasingly ashamed of your scuffed Adidas.

62 South Audley Street. Thur Jun 4-Jun 20. Free.

4. Explore the grounds of London’s newest gallery

It’s not often that London gets a genuinely new, permanent gallery. And it’s even rarer to have one of the UK’s best loved cultural icons in the driving seat. Ninety-three-year-old illustrator Quentin Blake has been dreaming up plans for a new Museum of Illustration in London for decades, and now it’s finally here – taking over a formerly derelict 18th century waterworks in Clerkenwell. You’ll need to buy a ticket to see the three exhibitions opening the site, but there’s plenty to do without opening your wallet. For a start, the site itself is pretty interesting, with landscaped gardens containing London’s oldest windmill. Plus, there are free displays, a shop, a café, and a free-to-access illustration library with scores of fascinating images to access. So make like Matilda and get your nose in a book.

Quentin Blake Centre For Illustration. Open from Fri Jun 5. Free.

5. Pore over old globes at London Map Fair

Collecting maps might seem like a hobby suitable only for armchair super-villains, planning world domination from within a wood-panelled study. But there's something undeniably fascinating about surveying the attempts of long-dead explorers, cartographers and mathematicians to make sense of a vast and baffling world. At this long-running carnival of cartography at the Royal Geographical Society, dealers from around the world come together to show off their rare collections alongside a programme of fascinating talks and lectures. Beautiful maps of sixteenth-century London, vintage London Transport charts and intricate celestial globes will be a treat for the eyes. Some of these prize specimens are worth nearly fifty grand, but fear not, this event is welcoming to map fans of every kind, with talks about map collecting for beginners giving you an intro to this niche-but-fascinating hobby. Just don't spill your drink on anything, or this will rapidly turn from a 'free thing to do' into a 'very, very expensive thing to do indeed'.

Royal Geographical Society, SW7 2AR. Sat Jun 6-Sun Jun 7. Free.

6. See some next-level sheep at Mudchute Agricultural Show

Are you tired of boring, ordinary white fluffy sheep? Do they send you to sleep? Find lambs worth keeping both eyes open for at Mudchute Farm’s annual agricultural show. Come along and you’ll be greeted by the wonderfully surreal sight of rare breed sheep from all over England being judged in a field that’s got a shiny backdrop of Canary Wharf towers, presumably full of very confused bankers trying to work out what’s going on as they chomp their way through their artisanal slop bowl. Meanwhile, you'll be seeking refreshment at a Pimm’s stall that opens at the impressively early hour of 11am, checking out the cake and produce competitions, browsing the craft stalls and if you’re really lucky (or unlucky, depending on your attitude to brandished hankies) then you’ll even catch some morris dancers cavorting through the mud. 

Mudchute Park and Farm, E14 3HP. Sat Jun 6-Sun Jun 7. Free.

Fill up your diary for June with our guide to the best things to do in London this month.

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