Sat 29 – Mon 31 August
Things to do in London: August bank holiday 2026
The long weekend is Saturday 29 to Monday 31 August 2026, and Notting Hill Carnival takes the Sunday and Monday. Here's what else is on — festivals in the parks, markets, classes you can still book, beaches a train ride away, and the pick-your-own farms while the fruit lasts.
One thing worth knowing before you plan the Monday: a lot of London shuts on it. Most of the big markets are weekend-only, and several festivals stop on the Sunday night. Where a listing is Saturday or Sunday only, the quest page says so.
Some links are affiliate links — we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Join a picnic where everyone came aloneA free afternoon picnic in Regent's Park for the London Connector community — turn up alone, sit down with strangers.Regent's Park NW1Drink on a floor of a Peckham car parkFood and drink floors in a converted multi-storey car park above Peckham's Rye Lane.Peckham SE15 4ST
Cruise the Thames on a two-deck party boat, then carry on ashoreA four-hour boat party with two themed decks of DJs, leaving Temple Pier at 7pm, with free entry to an after-party club afterwards.Embankment WC2R 2PNMove between hot and cold pools by candlelight under the StrandA Georgian townhouse basement turned into candlelit thermal baths — a circuit of pools at different temperatures, with optional massages.Covent Garden / Embankment WC2N
Cut your own sunflower bouquetCut-your-own sunflower field plus PYO sweetcorn, courgettes and beans on a Kent farm just outside the M25.Wilmington, Dartford, Kent DA2 7HD
Pull your first screen print on a SundayA full-day beginners' screen printing workshop where you expose a screen from your own artwork and print it.Dalston E8Get a £15-ish flat iron steak and a free soft-serveA single-cut steak restaurant where the steak is a flat set price and sides are extra.Covent Garden WC2E 8QH
See Tyler, The Creator headline a Hackney parkMain-stage day at the Victoria Park festival, Tyler, The Creator headlining a full bill across multiple stages.Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets E3
Ride a cliff railway above a fishing beachShingle beach with the Stade fishing beach, net huts and the East Hill cliff railway up to the country park.Hastings, East Sussex TN34
Breathe underwater for the first timeA PADI Discover Scuba session — briefing plus about an hour on a tank in a training pool.Tolworth, Surrey KT6
Meet other creatives over a bank holiday afternoonA daytime-into-night networking session in King's Cross for DJs, models, photographers, videographers, actors, dancers and content creators to meet and collaborate.King's Cross N1Hear Kind of Blue played live on the bank holiday MondayA live band performing Miles Davis's Kind of Blue in full, with fresh improvisation rather than note-for-note reproduction.Camden NW1 7PG
Give up the whole bank holiday Monday to a 13-hour filmJacques Rivette's Out 1 — 773 minutes in eight episodes — screened in full from 9am on the bank holiday.Leicester Square WC2H 7BYPick clay pipes and Tudor pottery off the Thames at low tideA two-hour guided walk down onto the exposed river foreshore with an archaeologist, finding and identifying what the tide brings up.Bankside and Wapping EC4V
Eat along a Hackney street marketA street market along Broadway Market in Hackney, food stalls plus produce and traders.Hackney E8 4QJ
Watch steel orchestras battle for the Panorama crownThe UK National Panorama steelband competition, junior and adult bands playing for the title in a park off Ladbroke Grove.Kensal Town / Ladbroke Grove W10 3DH
Carve and hand-print your own linocutA drop-in printmaking session in a Westminster public library where you design and hand-print your own lino prints.Victoria SW1W
Learn to skate a concrete bowl under the WestwayA covered skatepark under the flyover with a beginners-only session before the park opens properly.Ladbroke Grove W10
Run your first 5K with a women-only packA beginner-friendly women's run club meeting outside Britannia Leisure Centre in Shoreditch Park.Hoxton / De Beauvoir N1
Learn to beatmatch on real decksA two-hour introduction to DJing covering song selection, beatmatching and EQ, no experience needed.De Beauvoir Town N1Drink Georgian and Ukrainian wine to a vinyl-only soundtrackA 40-cover wine and vinyl listening bar that opened in April 2026 in the old ZIMA site, pouring Central and Eastern European low-intervention wine with Slavic sharing plates.Notting Hill W11
Spend a bank holiday watching shorts by film-makers nobody knows yetA four-day short film festival of narrative and documentary work by emerging directors, programmed in themed blocks across the weekend.Covent Garden WC2B 5PQ
Get lost in 6,000 acres of ancient forestStarting point for walks in the 6,000-acre ancient forest on London's north-east edge, run by the Epping Forest Heritage Trust.High Beach, Loughton, Essex IG10 4AF
Throw your first pot on a wheel by the riverA one-off three-hour wheel-throwing taster for complete beginners in the old County Hall building.Waterloo SE1
Watch free jazz on the quayside by Tower BridgeThree days of free live jazz on the quayside at St Katharine Docks, by Tower Bridge.St Katharine Docks, Wapping E1W
Watch Amyl and the Sniffers go country on the big screenA concert film in which the Australian punk band play country-leaning versions of their own songs, unreleased tracks and a Slim Dusty cover in a small LA venue.Covent Garden WC2B 5PQEat canal-side at Camden LockThe sprawling canal-side market at Camden Lock, with a large food hall at Hawley Wharf.Camden NW1 8AF
Try belly dance with breathwork and meditationA two-hour workshop combining meditation, breathwork and belly dance.White City W12Ride the banking of an Olympic velodromeA coached hour on a fixed-wheel track bike on the 2012 Olympic boards, bike and helmet included.Stratford E20
Start Carnival at dawn covered in paintThe dawn opening of Carnival — paint, oil and powder, steel bands, moving off from the canal end of Ladbroke Grove before sunrise crowds arrive.Ladbroke Grove W10
Graze Borough Market on a Monday it's openLondon's big covered produce and street-food market under the railway at London Bridge.Southwark SE1 1TLCarve a spatula with an axe in a Victorian cemeteryA three-hour outdoor green-woodworking session shaping fresh wood with an axe and a carving knife.Stoke Newington unknown
Pick raspberries and sweetcorn on a Surrey farm80-acre Surrey farm where you pick raspberries, sweetcorn, beetroot, carrots and sunflowers yourself.Addlestone, near Weybridge, Surrey KT15 2BU
Sit a few feet from a trumpet-and-piano quartet in a Dalston jazz roomTrumpeter Alexandra Ridout and French pianist Fabrice Tarel play two sets with bass and drums in an upstairs room above a square.Dalston N16 8AZ
Picnic with Korean and Japanese culture fansAn open picnic for anyone interested in Korean or Japanese culture, meeting at the Shakespeare Oak on Primrose Hill.Primrose Hill NW1
Let go of the bar and get caught mid-airA two-hour outdoor flying trapeze class where you learn one trick and get caught by an instructor.Regent's Park unknownDrink bottomless bellinis on a Monday morningA 90-minute bottomless drinks package that runs seven days a week, so it survives the bank holiday when most weekend-only offers don't.Covent Garden (also Sloane Square, South Bank) WC2B
Watch masked Afro dance-theatre in a market squareFree outdoor hip hop and Afro dance-theatre in Woolwich market square, celebrating West African aunties.Woolwich SE18 6AR
Sauna on the pebbles between two piersPebble city beach with two piers, seafront bars, a sauna and watersports hire, under an hour from London.Brighton, East Sussex BN1
Pinch and coil a pot with no wheel involvedA hand-building (no wheel) pottery workshop run by Art Play in a Chelsea studio.Chelsea SW3Eat nose-to-tail in a former smokehouseThe original nose-to-tail British restaurant in a former smokehouse by Smithfield Market.Clerkenwell EC1M 4AY
See Maribou State close a park festivalOne-day electronic and soul festival on the Lido Field in Victoria Park, headlined by Maribou State.Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets E9
Play beach volleyball in a brewery yardBeach-club takeover of a Walthamstow brewery yard — sand, beach volleyball, cabanas and DJ sets from a lifeguard-hut stage.Walthamstow E17 6AL
Catch Tracey Emin's retrospective on its last dayA 40-year retrospective of Tracey Emin's work which closes on the bank holiday Monday, with late opening on its last night.Bankside SE1
Swap problems with other founders round one tableA small roundtable meet-up for founders and creative professionals doing peer masterminding rather than pitching.Clerkenwell EC1MTake the controls of a glider over the ChilternsA trial lesson in a two-seat glider with an instructor, launched off the Dunstable Downs ridge.Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU6
Ask a real astronomer what you're actually looking atA new interactive space gallery with working astronomers on the floor, plus a live planetarium show relocated from the Royal Observatory.Greenwich SE10
Zip-wire over north London with the skyline behind youHigh ropes courses and zip lines strung through the trees in Alexandra Palace park, with views back over London.Alexandra Palace, North London N22
Dine in a crumbling Georgian courthouseA restaurant in the crumbling top floor of a former Clerkenwell courthouse.Clerkenwell EC1R 0NACatch a West London punk-hip-hop crew play their farewell tourRotten Hill Gang — hip-hop, punk, dub and music hall led by an ex-Big Audio Dynamite II bassist — on their final tour, in the basement where the Sex Pistols played.Oxford Street W1D 1LL
Cast a fly line on a Surrey Hills trout lakeA coached fly fishing session on still water aimed at getting a complete beginner casting and hooking a trout.Surrey Hills unknown
Follow a steel band through west London on Adults DayEurope's biggest street carnival — sound systems, mas bands and a parade across Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove, free to walk into.Notting Hill / Ladbroke Grove W11
Find a chalk-stack beach at the quiet end of KentSandy Blue Flag bay backed by white chalk stacks, at the quiet end of the Broadstairs coast.Broadstairs, Kent CT10Eat by candlelight in a 1730s Soho townhouseA candlelit 18th-century townhouse in Soho doing short-menu British and European cooking.Soho W1F 0LP
Pitch your startup and get free accounting adviceAn evening networking event for fintech, SaaS and e-commerce founders in the City, with structured introductions and optional 15–20 minute one-to-one accounting clinics.Moorgate / Bank EC2R
Skate a riverside roller rink at a free funfairFree-entry riverside funfair and roller rink — giant wheel, dodgems, wave swinger, boardwalk games and pétanque.Nine Elms / Battersea SW8 5BN
Learn a Bollywood routine in 90 minutesA 90-minute Bollywood choreography workshop in a Mayfair dance studio.Mayfair W1KWatch the sun go down from the top deck of a Peckham car parkA not-for-profit arts organisation that takes over the top floors of a disused car park each summer with commissioned art, music and the best skyline view in south London.Peckham SE15
Walk into a live film set in the streetA free outdoor show that turns a Greenwich Peninsula street into a live film set — dancers, snow, wind and smoke machines, shot in real time in front of you.Greenwich Peninsula SE10 0XX
Eat sourdough pizza for the price of a sandwichSourdough Neapolitan pizzerias, cheap, with branches across most London neighbourhoods.citywide various
Talk to strangers in four languages for a quidA £1 weekly language exchange in a Clapham pub where you rotate between language tables.Clapham SW4
Stitch Palestinian tatreez onto a notebookA three-hour Palestinian tatreez embroidery session working on paper notebook covers rather than fabric.Bayswater W2Ride out across Richmond ParkInstructor-led group hack out into Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common from a yard at Robin Hood Gate.Robin Hood Gate, Richmond Park SW15 3RS
Eat free barbecue at an eight-band punk all-dayerThe South London Punk Collective's annual bank holiday Sunday BBQ — eight bands from mid-afternoon, free food, a raffle.Brixton SW2 5BZ
Talk money and relationships with strangersA small facilitated discussion group in a Fitzrovia coffee shop where strangers talk through money and relationships.Fitzrovia W1W
Eat oysters on the beach they came fromShingle beach and working oyster town on the north Kent coast, with beach huts and seafood shacks along the front.Whitstable, Kent CT5Shop a farmers' market in a school playgroundA small Saturday farmers' market in a primary school playground just off Kensington Church Street.Notting Hill W8 7PP
Forage your lunch then fold it into dumplingsA four-hour foraging walk on Hackney Marshes followed by cooking Chinese-style dumplings from what you gather.Hackney E5
Meet people new to London on the South BankA large, casual international mixer on the South Bank aimed at newcomers to London and anyone wanting to make friends.South Bank / Waterloo SE1Watch 2001 projected from an unrestored 70mm printKubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey shown on a genuine 70mm print with overture, intermission and entr'acte music.Leicester Square WC2H 7BY
Learn a rueda wheel on the terrace at Somerset HouseA free all-day outdoor salsa and bachata party on the river terrace, with impromptu group dances and beginner styling classes.Strand / Covent Garden WC2R
Walk a chalk ridge to a 24-mile viewA four-mile circular hike over Box Hill and Happy Valley that tops out at the Salomons memorial viewpoint.Box Hill, Dorking unknownWatch a free-jazz quartet build across three consecutive nightsHamid Drake, William Parker, Nicole Mitchell and Pat Thomas play a newly formed quartet for three nights running in a 100-odd capacity room.Dalston E8 3DL
Get into a free rooftop disco on the sixth floor of a Peckham car parkA weekly Saturday session of disco, house and groove on the top level of a converted multi-storey car park, run more like a front room than a club.Peckham SE15 4ST
Eat unlimited food as well as drink unlimited wineOne of the very few London bottomless offers where the FOOD is unlimited too, not just the drinks.Paddington W2
Eat cockles on the sand at Old LeighSmall sandy beach beside the cockle sheds and cobbled high street of Old Leigh, on the Thames estuary.Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9
Find a rooftop beach on top of a car parkA free rooftop beach on the third floor of a Croydon shopping centre car park — sand, splash zones, games and DJs.Croydon CR0Watch Carnival from the judges' grandstandTicketed seating in the judging zone, where the mas bands perform to the judges rather than just passing by.Notting Hill W11
Draw to Michael Jackson with a drink in handA three-hour guided drawing and painting session set to Michael Jackson music, bring your own drinks.Poplar E14
Play chess until 10pm under a canal bridgeA casual in-person chess meetup in Park Royal open to beginners and experienced players alike.Park Royal NW10
Queue for fresh pasta under a tennerA tiny counter doing short menus of fresh pasta, most plates under a tenner.Borough SE1 1TQSee Afrobeat gig-theatre outdoors for freeFree outdoor Afrobeat gig-theatre in Woolwich by Kobby Taylor, grandson of Ebo Taylor — live band, rap and DJ-led storytelling.Woolwich SE18 6AB
Paddle from Battersea to Greenwich as the light goesA guided three-hour double-kayak trip down the Thames past Parliament, St Paul's and Tower Bridge, finishing at Greenwich.Battersea to Greenwich SW11
Turn up alone to a park full of board gamesAn afternoon in Regent's Park built for people arriving alone: board games, volleyball, team games and structured mingling.Regent's Park / Marylebone NW1
Cross the stepping stones and climb Box HillNational Trust chalk down above the Mole valley, with the Stepping Stones path and walks from two to eight miles.Tadworth, Surrey KT20 7LB
Draw a live model in a pub back roomA tutored life drawing session in a New Cross pub back room, with a break partway and time to look at everyone's work afterwards.New Cross SE14
Learn traditional Igbo danceA two-hour taught masterclass in traditional Igbo dance at a Black dance organisation's New Cross studio.New Cross SE14
Pay six quid to help a band finish their EPA fundraiser gig by the band Soft plus friends in the small, dog-inhabited Brixton back room that broke half of South London's guitar bands.Brixton SW2 5BZWalk among 600 free-roaming deer2,500-acre royal park with 600 free-roaming red and fallow deer, Pen Ponds and long open walks.Richmond, South West London TW10 5HS
Swim a tidal pool then see a TurnerWide sandy town beach directly opposite Margate station, with a tidal pool, arcades and the Turner Contemporary at one end.Margate, Kent CT9Dance to live saxophone over disco until 3am in BrixtonNathan Haines plays live sax and flute over Jaimie Webster Haines's disco, boogie and soul selections in a sprawling Brixton pub.Brixton SW2 1DF
Cook Tajik food taught by a refugee chefA hands-on Tajik cooking lesson at Migrateful's Clerkenwell cookery school, taught by a refugee chef, ending in a sit-down meal.Clerkenwell EC1R
Eat three courses in total darkness and guess what they wereA surprise menu eaten in pitch blackness at a shared table, served by blind and visually impaired guides, with the dishes only revealed at the end.Clerkenwell / Farringdon EC1MMeet llamas with Canary Wharf behind them32-acre city farm on the Isle of Dogs with cows, sheep, llamas and pigs, framed by the Canary Wharf towers.Isle of Dogs, East London E14 3HP
Queue for bacon naan in a Bombay-café railway buildingA large Bombay-cafe-style restaurant in a former transit shed behind King's Cross.King's Cross N1C 4ABWatch a film outdoors in a brutalist courtyardOpen-air film screenings in the Barbican's Sculpture Court: Desperately Seeking Susan on the Saturday, American Utopia on the Sunday.City of London EC2Y
Ride a free funfair at Southwark's oldest carnivalSouthwark's oldest community event — two stages, free funfair, stalls and sports in Southwark Park, headlined by Artful Dodger.Southwark Park, Rotherhithe SE16 2UA
Pick the last strawberries of the seasonEssex/Herts border fruit farm with pick-your-own strawberries, sweetcorn, onions and sunflowers, plus a maize maze.Hatfield Broad Oak, near Bishop's Stortford CM22 7JT
Pour and scent a candle you get to take homeA guided workshop pouring and scenting your own candle, all materials provided.Chelsea SW3
End the bank holiday at a carnival after-party that runs to 3amChuckie Online's annual Notting Hill Carnival after-party in the old Camden Palace theatre, Monday night into Tuesday.Camden NW1 7JEWalk miles of sand dunesThe only sand-dune beach in East Sussex — several miles of flat sand backed by dunes.Camber, near Rye, East Sussex TN31
Sail a dinghy across a reservoir with no experienceA two-day RYA Level 1 Start Sailing course on a 700-acre reservoir, with all kit provided.Ashford, Middlesex TW15
Draw a life model over a pintA two-hour pub life drawing session with a live model, all levels welcome.Bethnal Green E2Carry home an armful of flowersA Sunday-only flower and plant street market with cafes and small shops down its length.Bethnal Green E2 7RG
Hear pop played by a full orchestra under the treesOpen-air orchestral concert in Battersea Park, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra playing pop and party classics.Battersea Park SW11Walk a Chiltern hilltop with a Gruffalo in itForestry England woodland in the Chilterns with waymarked walking trails, a Gruffalo sculpture trail, a cycle trail and a Go Ape.Aston Clinton, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP22 5NQ
March in the parade instead of watching itJoin the Love Music Hate Racism float in the carnival parade rather than watching from the pavement.Ladbroke Grove W10
Learn to dance Sevillanas from scratchAn hour and a half learning the Andalusian partnered folk dance from scratch, followed by social dancing in a Spanish restaurant.Soho WC2HSpend a day at a festival curated by Blood OrangeTen-thousand-capacity day festival in Southwark Park, this year's programme curated by Blood Orange's Dev Hynes.Southwark Park, Rotherhithe SE16
Buy brisket by the gram until it runs outThe cult east London barbecue pop-up in its first permanent room — Texan smoking with an Asian bent, sold by weight until the day's meat is gone.Hackney Wick E9
Pick your own apples, plums and sunflowers150-acre pick-your-own farm where you walk the rows and cut or pick what is ripe that day.Esher, Surrey KT10 8LS
Shoot a recurve bow at an indoor rangeA 90-minute have-a-go session with tuition, bow hire and enough arrows to actually get good at it.Bermondsey unknown
Find the tropical glasshouse hiding on top of the BarbicanLondon's second-largest conservatory — 1,500 species of plants and fish under glass, built over the theatre's fly tower, free to enter.Barbican / City EC2Y
Arrive alone at a bar built for meeting peopleA structured evening social at a Bishopsgate bar designed for people who turn up on their own to meet others.Bishopsgate EC2NWatch sport with two hours of free-flowing Cobra on the bank holidayIndian barbecue in the City with a bank-holiday-specific sports feast: screens on and two hours of unlimited beer and cocktails alongside the menu.City of London EC4N
Pick plums and apples on the edge of London78-acre PYO farm on the Kent edge of London with plums, apples and summer veg.Orpington, Kent BR6
Learn to shake cocktails behind the barA two-hour bartender-led session shaking and stirring cocktails at a Clapham bar.Clapham SW4Sit through five secret films back-to-back until dawnAn all-night marathon of five films the cinema refuses to name in advance, starting at 11pm and running to breakfast.Leicester Square WC2H 7BY
Browse crafts and street food under one roofA covered market in Greenwich town centre mixing street-food stalls with crafts and antiques.Greenwich SE10 9HZQuestions people ask
- When is the August bank holiday in 2026?
- Monday 31 August 2026, making a long weekend of Saturday 29 to Monday 31 August. It's the last bank holiday before Christmas in England and Wales.
- When is Notting Hill Carnival 2026?
- Sunday 30 and Monday 31 August 2026. Sunday is Family Day, Monday is the main adults' parade, and J'ouvert opens the Sunday at six in the morning. The Panorama steel band final is on the Saturday, at Emslie Horniman's Pleasance. It's free to attend; only the grandstand seats are ticketed.
- What's open in London on the bank holiday Monday?
- Less than you'd expect. Borough Market opens 10am to 5pm, which is unusual — it normally shuts on Mondays. Camden, Greenwich and Mercato Metropolitano run all weekend. But Broadway, Maltby Street, Columbia Road and the farmers' markets are all weekend-only or Sunday-only, and several festivals finish on the Sunday night.
- Can you still go strawberry picking in late August?
- Mostly not — the strawberry season is finishing. Of the farms near London, one has closed strawberry picking outright and another had no strawberry crop at all this year. What is genuinely ready that weekend is apples, plums, blackberries, raspberries, sweetcorn and sunflowers. Check the farm's own crop list before travelling, and note that most pick-your-own farms are shut on Mondays.
- Which beaches can you reach from London for the day?
- Whitstable, Margate and Broadstairs are all direct from St Pancras in about ninety minutes; Brighton is an hour from Victoria; Leigh-on-Sea is under an hour from Fenchurch Street. Camber Sands is the proper dune beach but the longest journey.
- What's free to do over the bank holiday weekend?
- Notting Hill Carnival itself, Bermondsey Carnival, the Greenwich+Docklands festival's outdoor shows in Woolwich on the Monday, Electric Summer at Battersea Power Station and Costa del Croydon all cost nothing. So do the parks, Epping Forest and every beach on this list.
Every Monday
This week's side quests
Five things worth doing in London, in your inbox each Monday morning. No spam, unsubscribe in one click.