National Gallery
Western art from medieval gold to Van Gogh, free on Trafalgar Square. Some of the most famous paintings on earth, no ticket.
The lowdown
The National Gallery stands across the top of Trafalgar Square, and walking in to one of the greatest collections of European painting in the world costs you nothing. It has been free since it opened in 1824, the whole idea being that the pictures belong to everyone.
Inside are paintings you have seen a hundred times without clocking where they actually live. Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Turner's fighting ship, Monet, Constable, a Leonardo or two. You do not need to know the first thing about art to be floored by a room of it.
It sits in the middle of the busiest square in London so there is a steady flow. Come at opening, or on a Friday evening when it stays open late and the crowds melt away, and you can stand in front of a masterpiece on your own.
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