London is expensive if you do it wrong and shockingly generous if you do it right — half the best things are free, and the talking is world-class. Pubs were invented for conversation practice.
- Eat your way through Borough Market — London's oldest food market. Go hungry, graze the samples, and order the cheese toastie everyone queues for.
- Walk the South Bank at dusk — Westminster to Tower Bridge along the Thames: skateboarders, book stalls, street musicians and the whole skyline for free.
- Do a proper pub session — order at the bar, learn "whose round is it?", and stay for the quiz night if there is one. Best English lesson money can buy (about £6).
- Get lost in the British Museum — free entry, the Rosetta Stone included, which is fitting for a language-learning trip.
- Climb Primrose Hill on a clear day — locals, dogs, picnics and the city laid out below. Better than any paid viewpoint.
English practice hides in every queue and every pub in this city. Get your small talk ready with an English speaker below — starting with the weather, obviously.
