Things to do for students in London

London is just one big open-air museum, a history lesson in city form. All you need do is glance up from your phone and take a look around. Here are some of our favorite historic London landmarks for students.

• Buckingham Palace. Here’s one you can enjoy for free: join the crowds outside the British monarch’s official residence at 11AM most days to catch the pomp and ceremony of the Changing of the Guard, all tomato-red tunics, stiff formal marching and silly hats. There are also some fine Instagrammable views of the palace to be had from St James’s Park, Green Park and the famous Mall.
• Westminster Abbey. Only one of the city skyline’s most celebrated icons, Westminster Abbey is best enjoyed on a whistle-stop walk around Westminster landmarks that also takes in Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and No.10 Downing Street. Step inside this medieval marvel to ogle its eye-popping stained-glass windows and to pay your respects to British legends like Darwin, Dickens and Newton.

• Tower of London. With more murder, mystery and intrigue than you can shake a jewel-studded sceptre at, this medieval fortress is one a London must-see for students. Discover which of gouty serial monogamist Henry VIII’s wives lost their heads here, unravel the riddle of the Princes in the Tower, run a covetous eye across the Crown Jewels, and say 'hey' (or indeed 'caw') to the resident ravens.
• St Paul’s Cathedral. Sir Christopher’s Wren’s masterpiece is a joy to behold, so here’s the good news: you can feast your eyes on its dreamy, creamy exterior from many, many vantage points across London: the South Bank, Tower Bridge. Heck, you can even see it from Richmond Park, some 10 miles away. But the real magic is inside, where the Whispering Gallery, Crypt and Grand Organ are atmospheric highlights.

• London’s oldest pubs. Students everywhere, rejoice! London pubs can be a great way to expand (as well as befuddle) the mind thanks to their heady combination of history and frothing pints of nut-brown ale. Try Charles Dickens haunt Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, the labyrinthine interiors of which get trickier to negotiate the longer you remain inside. Perch at the tiny bar of The Dove in Hammersmith, right next to William Morris’s old gaff. Or delve into East End pirate history at the 16th-century Prospect of Whitby in Wapping.

Students can explore dozens of London landmarks, including Westminster Abbey, St Pauls and London pub tours for one low price with The London Pass®. Hit the buttons below to find out more and grab your pass.

It doesn’t cost a penny to visit the majority of London’s museums and galleries, meaning treasures including the Rosetta Stone, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and the Apollo 10 command module are accessible to all. Students, fill your boots with these beauties…

• The British Museum. Since opening more than 250 years ago, this mighty repository of art and artifacts has amassed a collection of some eight million pieces, making it the largest collection of its kind on the planet. Step inside to be amazed at the iconic objects you can ogle for free, including Ancient Egyptian mummies, the Rosetta Stone and the controversial Elgin Marbles.
• The Tate Modern. Here’s one for all the art fiends out there. This former power station on the South Bank (and directly across the Thames from St Paul’s Cathedral) is where you can experience the cavernous Turbine Hall’s super-sized installations, plus masterpieces of modern art including Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe diptych, Marcel Duchamp’s iconic ‘Fountain’ (a urinal, basically) and David Hockney’s ‘A Bigger Splash’.

• The Science Museum. One of South Kensington’s ‘big three’ (alongside the V&A and Natural History Museum), this one's a doozy. Marvel at pinnacles of human endeavour and achievement that include everything from steam engines to space modules. Check out a 1950s iron lung, 1813 locomotive Puffing Billy and the actual command module from the Apollo 10 moon mission.
• The National Gallery. This neoclassical beaut dominating the north side of Trafalgar Square holds some of the most important European art spanning the period from the mid 13th Century to the end of the 19th. It’s where you can see instantly recognisable masterpieces like Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus and Constable’s The Hay Wain. Almost unbelievably, you can view all of these and many more masterpieces absolutely gratis.

London students can also seek cultural enrichment beyond the walls of the city’s most famous museums and landmarks, with plenty more (free) eye candy to be found all over town. Here are a few of our favourite places…

• Brick Lane. Describing anywhere as a ‘melting pot’ these days always feels like a bit of a cliché, but Brick Lane’s vibrant cultural hotch-potch – Bangladeshi curry houses, Jewish bagel and falafel joints, and none-more-London flea markets and street art – is just that. Kit yourself out in bargain retro fashions, elevate student meals with exotic herbs and spices, and pick up that student essential – the vintage Bob Marley vinyl LP – in one of the many pre-loved record stores.
• The Magnificent Seven Cemeteries. Get up close to the great, good and indifferent of British popular culture in London’s sprawling Victorian graveyards. Highgate is the most famous (and most visited) thanks to permanent residents that include Karl Marx and George Michael, and its gothic grandeur is certainly not to be missed. But each of the other six has its own charms, perhaps especially Nunhead and Abney Park with their encroaching woodland and abundant wildlife, and the contrastingly manicured Brompton Cemetery, where tombstone tourists can pay their respects to Emmeline Pankhurst and John Snow.

• The South Bank. A stroll along London’s spectacular South Bank costs little and delivers much. Start with a fortifying bacon bap at Borough Market, before continuing west along the Thames, taking in close-ups of the Golden Hinde, Shakespeare’s Globe, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern along the way. Discover more in our pick of London’s best walks.
• Hyde Park. Row a boat across the Serpentine, stop to smell the roses in the aptly named Hyde Park Rose Garden, and come back in December for the mother of all Christmas events: the sensory extravaganza of thrill rides, craft stalls and mulled wine that is Winter Wonderland. Check out our full guide to things to do in Hyde Park here.

Students can access stacks of London attractions for one low price with The London Pass®. Click here to find out how and bag yours!