Greenwich is one of London’s great day-out destinations – with a wealth of museums, markets, sights and one of the finest parks in the city, it’s a place we keep coming back to.
The first time we visited Greenwich was on a school trip: we’d seen the Thames Barrier, tramped underneath the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, visited the Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. It was an introduction to a very different part of London, and the beginning of a lifelong appreciation for this part of town, where a Royal Park that Henry VIII used to hunt in sits just across the river from what was once the controversial Millennium Dome and is now the O2.
To us, it’s this blend of old and new, tradition and a willingness to push the boundaries, that’s what really sets Greenwich apart.
Ready to explore? Let’s go.
PS: Check out our Youtube Video of the Greenwich highlights you shouldn’t miss!
Best things to do in Greenwich
The Royal Observatory & London Planetarium
One of Greenwich’s biggest attractions, visiting the home of Greenwich Mean Time is at the top of most people’s lists when they’re in the area. The Royal Observatory played a central role in the history of astronomy and navigation and is home to a colossal feat of Victorian engineering that is still the UK’s largest refracting telescope.
The experience of standing astride the Prime Meridian Line, with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one in the western, is genuinely as satisfying as it sounds. Together with the Planetarium and a rich summer programme of events for 2026, it makes for a brilliant day out.
Entry to the Royal Observatory: tickets from £18 per adult, book in advance at rmg.co.uk. The London Planetarium is ticketed separately.
Queen’s House
We’ll be honest: Queen’s House is a real favourite in Greenwich and one of the very best free things to do in the area.
The house was built in the 17th century for Queen Anne, James II’s wife, designed by groundbreaking architect Inigo Jones as the first building in England in the Neoclassical style. Unfortunately Anne died before it was completed, and instead Henrietta, Charles I’s wife, was the first queen to inhabit it.
From the outside it’s a simple yet striking piece of architecture, but it’s the inside that we fell in love with. From the heavily Instagrammed Tulip Staircase to the gorgeous tiled floors, it’s a beautiful setting. Queen’s House is currently being used to showcase some of the Royal Museums’ collection of portraits, the second biggest in the UK after the National Portrait Gallery’s, with rooms filled with paintings from floor to ceiling. Pieces on display include Queen Elizabeth I’s Armada Portrait and Gentileschi’s Joseph & Potiphar’s Wife.
Don’t forget to look out of the windows: there are beautiful views to the Royal Naval College at the front and over Greenwich Park and up to the Observatory at the back.
Entry to the Queen’s House is free.
Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park is one of London’s Royal Parks and the oldest of them all, with a history that dates back to Roman times. It was enclosed as a park in 1433, and Henry VIII, who was born at nearby Greenwich Palace (on the riverfront where the Old Royal Naval College now stands), used it as a hunting ground and introduced the famous deer that you can still spot roaming the park today.
History aside, the park is a fabulous setting for a summer picnic and one of the finest green spaces in London. Even if you aren’t visiting the Observatory, you should climb to its entrance for a stunning panorama across the city.
The Cutty Sark
A beauty of a boat and one of Greenwich’s most famous attractions. The Cutty Sark was built in Scotland in 1869 and was the fastest ship of the time, thanks to her modern design. Built as a tea clipper to escort tea from China to Britain as quickly as possible, she’s now the only remaining tea clipper in the world.
A visit is a chance to learn about the ship’s extraordinary history: over the years she’s been used as a wool clipper, spent time in Portugal and served as a training ship in Kent. She’s been docked on the edge of the River Thames in Greenwich since the 1950s and was closed between 2007 and 2012 for a renovation project that saw her permanently lifted three metres out of the water so visitors could see the full hull for the first time.
Entry to the Cutty Sark: £22 per adult, £11 per child. Book in advance at rmg.co.uk.
One thing that doesn’t get mentioned enough: you can climb the rigging of the Cutty Sark! The Cutty Sark Rig Climb runs through June, July and August, strapping you into a harness and sending you up the ratlines, the rope ladders the Victorian sailors used, to the Tops Platform and onto the Lower Topsail Yard.
We’ve done it and can confirm it’s brilliant: slightly terrifying, completely exhilarating, and the views of the Thames from up there are unlike anything you’ll get from the ground. Expert guides keep you safe throughout and tell you what it was actually like to do this in a force eight gale off the Cape of Good Hope. Allow about an hour.
Open to ages 8 and up with no upper age limit. Tickets are £40 on top of ship entry and include full access to the Cutty Sark on the same day. Book in advance as sessions fill up.
Take a flight on the London Cable Car
While it’s not in Greenwich itself, a trip on the London Cable Car (formerly the Emirates Air Line) is a great addition to any Greenwich day out. Over on the Greenwich Peninsula near the O2, it shuttles between North Greenwich and Royal Docks near the Excel Centre, hovering 90 metres above the skyline. It goes without saying that if you’ve got a fear of heights, you might want to give it a miss.
Entry: use your Oyster Card or contactless, it’s part of London’s public transport network.
The Old Royal Naval College
The Old Royal Naval College is pleasure to wander around even if you’re just taking in the grounds, with their symmetrical layout and imposing buildings. That said, make sure you don’t miss the two highlights: the Chapel of St Peter & St Paul, a marvellous example of 18th-century baroque design with an ornate plaster ceiling and altarpiece by Benjamin West, and the Painted Hall, with its enormous ceiling painting by James Thornhill.
The buildings were commissioned by William III’s queen, Mary, as a naval hospital. She engaged Christopher Wren, who designed them specifically to avoid blocking the river views enjoyed by the Queen’s House nearby. The hospital became the Royal Naval College in 1869 and is now partially occupied by the University of Greenwich and Trinity College of Music.
Entry: free.
The National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum is of those surprise hits you don’t think you’ll really enjoy but totally do. The museum charts the history of Britain’s naval heritage through an expertly curated range of exhibitions, from the story of the East India Company to the dark side of the British obsession with tea and its entanglement with the opium trade. There’s also a gallery dedicated to Nelson and his role in shaping British history, with interactive features that kids and adults alike genuinely get absorbed in.
Entry: free. Special exhibitions are charged separately.
One thing that often surprises visitors: the National Maritime Museum hosts the annual ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition, and it’s genuinely one of the most breathtaking exhibitions in London. Over 100 photographs displayed on brilliant lightbox screens, drawn from nearly 4,000 entries from 66 countries, spanning solar eclipses, eagle-shaped aurorae, nebulae framed by Japanese torii gates and supermoons over Paris. We found it a complete eye-opener, the kind of exhibition that makes you stop in your tracks in a way you don’t always expect from a photography show. The 2025 edition runs until 3 August 2026, with the 2026 winners announced 17 September and a new exhibition opening the following day, running through to August 2027. Ticketed separately from museum entry: check rmg.co.uk for current prices.
Greenwich Foot Tunnel
Most tunnels in London are unremarkable affairs. Not so the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, one of the great feats of 19th-century engineering. The tunnel stretches for 370 metres under the Thames, its tile-lined walls creepily echoey if you happen to be in there alone. Opening in 1902, it was designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and used by hundreds of thousands of dockland workers who commuted across to the Isle of Dogs. Still does the job today.
The O2
Timing your visit to coincide with a show at the O2 is a power move. Over the years the biggest names in music have performed here, and it’s home to a whole range of restaurants including Haidilao Hot Pot, which we particularly love for a pre-show meal.
Feeling adventurous? You can climb up the side of the O2 and get panoramic views of the Greenwich Peninsula from the top. Check out the O2’s upcoming events here.
Unusual Things to do in Greenwich
The Line Contemporary Art Walk
A contemporary art walk stretching from Greenwich to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, the first of its kind in London. Several pieces in the Greenwich stretch were created as part of the Millennium Dome project in 2000, including Anthony Gormley’s Quantum Cloud and Richard Wilson’s Slice of Reality. The large-scale works are framed by the living backdrop of the Thames, which adds its own movement to the overall effect.
The Fan Museum
The Fan Museum is the world’s only museum dedicated entirely to fans and the art of fan making, and before you say anything, yes it’s as wonderful as it sounds. The collection spans more than 6,000 fans from the 12th century to the present day, housed in two Grade II listed Georgian townhouses on Croom’s Hill. Some of the fans were decorated by leading artists of their day, and the secret language of fans that flourished in the 19th century is genuinely one of the more entertaining social histories we’ve come across.
The current exhibition, Monarchy: An Exhibition of Royal Fans, runs until 26 September 2026. Fan-making workshops run throughout the year for anyone who wants to leave with something other than a new vocabulary of fan signals.
Note: the Orangery no longer offers afternoon tea to the public.
Open Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm. Entry from £5.
Greenwich Park’s Sunken Bath
Search in Greenwich Park between the Ranger’s Lodge and the Rose Garden and you’ll find a curiosity: a sunken bath with a staircase. The bath is the last remaining vestige of Montague House, once the residence of Princess Caroline of Brunswick, who made a rather unfortunate marriage with her cousin George, Prince of Wales (later George IV).
If you want to put it politely, George was something of an oddball. If you want to be accurate, he was a drunk and a philanderer. They separated and Caroline went to live in Montague House. George didn’t take it well, responding by tearing the house down. One thing the bath does confirm, though: George was clearly telling porkies when he claimed Caroline never bathed.
Where to Eat & Drink in Greenwich
Greenwich Market
There are really two parts to Greenwich Market: the shopping part and the food stall part, and both are worth your time. The market dates from the 18th century and is one of the city’s more attractive ones, with handmade goods, independent traders and a continental food court that should not be missed. Caribbean food lovers should definitely seek out the West Indian stall.
Meantime Brewery
Twenty years ago there were only a handful of adventurous brewers forging the craft beer scene in London, and Meantime Brewery’s founder Alastair Hook was one of them. It might no longer be independent, but their taproom and brewery tours are well worth taking time out for. The taproom, complete with lounging sofas and old-school arcade games, is the perfect place to spend an afternoon working through their collection.
Goddard’s at Greenwich
Goddard’s is a pie, mash and liquor restaurant and the place to try some traditional British grub.
Pie houses grew in popularity in the 1700s and have been warming Londoners’ stomachs ever since with their range of hearty pies. Goddard’s is also the place to try those rare cockney treats – jellied or stewed eels.
The Cutty Sark pub
It’s not a proper Greenwich day out without a proper pint in a pub. There are few pubs better in Greenwich to do this than The Cutty Sark.
The pub’s riverfront building dates back to the Georgian times and the three floors offer pretty views of the Thames and Canary Wharf.
Sit down with a pint of one of the Young’s special brews on tap, relax and congratulate yourself on a day well done.
Design District Canteen
The Design District Canteen is one of the hottest places to find street food in the capital.
With one bar and six vendors at any one time, there’s plenty of food to get stuck into here. Right now the likes of Sugo’s Italian street snacks and spicy Malaysian dishes from Eat Lah are on offer.
Though, we would be doing you a disservice if we didn’t say grab a cheese toastie from Toasted. Be quick – stalls rotate regularly.
Practical Tips for Exploring Greenwich
- Greenwich is split into two main areas divided by the river: Greenwich itself and North Greenwich. Most of the attractions in this guide are in Greenwich rather than North Greenwich, so plan your trip accordingly.
- Greenwich can be reached via Greenwich railway station, Maze Hill railway station, Greenwich DLR and Cutty Sark DLR. North Greenwich is served by North Greenwich tube station on the Jubilee line. The Thames Clipper river bus is also a great option, and you can use your Oyster Card.
Loved reading this as Greenwich is my favourite place. The Painted Hall is closed at present for renovation works but will be worth waiting for. You may wonder how you recognise some of the places but it’s because Greenwich is used frequently for big films.
Thanks Christine – yeah the hall closed just after I wrote the piece. Am really looking forward to seeing it in its restored glory! I’m really glad you like it – Greenwich is also one of my favourite parts of London!
The headline photo (always used) taken from (near) the Observatory seems to position the new world of Canary Wharf right at the heart of Greenwich. In fact, wandering around the market and the University, this world doesn’t exist. Need to use the Goddard Pie & Mash photo as the headline – more representative, me thinks.
Thanks for your comments Alan – I think the headline picture captures the scope and symmetry of the Queen’s House and Royal Navy College and I think these definitely represent the heart of Greenwich. But thank you for the suggestion.