Houses of Parliament public galleries

The lowdown

Most people walk past the Palace of Westminster assuming it is off limits, but anyone can go inside and watch Parliament at work from the public galleries, and it costs nothing. From the seats above the chambers you look down on the green benches of the Commons or the red of the Lords as members debate the actual business of the country.

It is far more lively and theatrical than the television lets on, with heckling, points of order and the strange old rituals of the House playing out below you. UK residents can ask their MP to book tickets for the famously raucous Prime Minister's Questions, and at other times you can usually just queue up on the day.

Going through security and into one of the most famous buildings in the world to sit in on a real debate is a genuinely free and surprisingly easy thing to do. It is democracy as live theatre, and the ticket price is zero.