South Bank Riverside

The lowdown

The stretch of the Thames Path along the South Bank, officially the Queen's Walk, is the most alive piece of riverside in London and almost all of it is free. It runs from the London Eye past the Southbank Centre, the National Theatre and the BFI down towards Tate Modern and the Globe, with the whole skyline of Westminster and the City laid out across the water.

It works like a free open-air stage. There are street performers and living statues, a famous graffiti-covered skate spot under the Queen Elizabeth Hall, a secondhand book market under the arches of Waterloo Bridge, and a constant flow of people just out for the walk and the view.

Nearly every cultural giant along it lets you in for nothing, the foyers of the Southbank Centre and National Theatre, the views from Tate Modern, so you can dip in and out of world-class culture and never spend a penny. It is the single best free walk in central London.