Here's Everything To Do If You've Got A Weekend In London

Start your day with a coffee and breakfast at this cute little café in Covent Garden. Their menu is very vegetarian-friendly, with heaps of options for every diet and taste. Your wallet will be pretty thrilled too, with breakfast bowls starting at £3. Definitely get a slice of their legendary banana bread with hazelnut butter to share.

Cost: Breakfast from £3, coffee from £1

A couple blocks from the café, you'll find the House of MinaLima — an exhibit of work by the graphic designers who worked on the Harry Potter films. It's an absolutely amazing place, whether you're a fan of the series or not. Get up close to iconic works like the Daily Prophet front page, the Black family tree, and the packaging for Fred and George's joke shop products. Most of the prints on the wall are for sale, so you might have to restrain yourself from buying the whole gallery.

Cost: Free to enter

London has no shortage of free museums and galleries, but the most spectacular might be the Tate Modern. Housed in a giant building on the Thames, this extensive collection of modern art has some seriously cool works — even if you're not super into art you'll have a good time. You do have to pay to enter some exhibitions, but there's a great selection of free displays too, so you can easily spend a couple hours wandering around without spending a cent.

Cost: Free to enter

From the Tate Modern, stroll along the waterfront toward London Bridge to get great views down the Thames and of the London skyline. Soon you'll come to Borough Market, a small but busy area filled with food stalls. It's pretty touristy but worth exploring, and you can help yourself to all the free samples. There are some good budget-friendly spots here for lunch, like La Tua Pasta with £4 bowls of freshly made pasta. Keep an eye out for the Globe Tavern, which you might recognize as the building where Bridget lived in Bridget Jones's Diary.

Cost: Free to enter, pasta from £3.90

It's not a holiday unless you end up doing 20,000 steps by the end of the day, right? Taking a walking tour is one of the best ways to get the vibe of a city, and luckily there are plenty to choose from in London. If you're interested in London's dark history, a Jack the Ripper tour could be right up your alley. The tours are held every day for £10, or you can do a shorter, free version on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Not keen on Jack? There are nighttime ghost tours as well as standard, non-scary walking tours during the day.

Cost: Free (with a tip) to up to £20

Pizza Union is a haven for hungry people on a budget. There are a couple of locations around London, all serving up delicious wood-fired pizza starting from £4. Unless you're starving, you can definitely share one between two and use that leftover money on their frozen margaritas.

Cost: Pizza from £3.95, frozen margaritas for £3.50

There are plenty of good happy hours around London, but some locals will argue that nothing can beat Simmons. Their specials last from 4–9 p.m., with bargains like £3 wine and two cocktails for £10. It might not be the classiest place in town, but it's always a fun time.

Cost: Drinks start at £2.50 during happy hour

This is one of the most iconic London foods you can get. Head over to Shoreditch, where you'll find the historic Beigel Bake and Beigel Shop on the same block. Some Londoners have a favorite, but both serve up delicious (and huge) salt beef bagels for around £4. Head into whichever one has the shortest line, then pick up a coffee from Crosstown, the donut shop café in between.

Cost: Bagel for approx. £4, coffee from £2

London has so many different markets every single weekend. Brick Lane Market, busiest on Sundays, is one of the best because it has everything in one. There are plenty of food stalls with endless vegan options. There's an outdoor secondhand clothing and furniture market you can comb through to look for treasures. There are always street performers, not to mention plenty of great people-watching to be done. If you want more, head to the Brick Lane Vintage Market, a huge underground collection of stalls with some amazing fashion.

Cost: Free to browse

The observatory in Greenwich is a pretty cool place. You can stand on the meridian line, the "vertical equator" where east meets west. The planetarium has incredible exhibitions and space exploration shows as well as occasional movie screenings. If you're super interested, check out the timetable of talks and lectures in case any coincide with your time in London.

Cost: £14.40 for one adult ticket if you book online

You can't come to England and not have a roast down at the pub on a Sunday. There are plenty of options all over the city that serve up top-notch roasts with all the trimmings. Bull & Gate serves a proper British meal, with sides like a Scotch egg, Yorkshire pudding, and goose fat potatoes. And be prepared: It's HUGE. They've got good vegan options too, so come here to enjoy a roast and an afternoon pint.

Cost: From £16

If you want a night of entertainment in London, your options are endless. There are always plenty of shows and performances on, but they're not always super budget-friendly. But each night at Camden Head pub, you'll find a free comedy show by Angel Comedy Club. It's an open mic night and is often used by comedians to test out their sets. Tickets are first come, first served, so try to be there before 7:30 p.m. to get in.

Cost: Free to enter