Amy Houghton

London summer has officially kicked into gear. And that means that the Wimbledon Tennis Championships – aka the oldest, and arguably the very best, tennis tournament in the world – is back very, very soon.  This year the tournament is happening from Monday June 29 - Sunday July 12 2026. Thousands will be descending on SW19 to see the matches go down in real life but live screenings will be peppered all over London for thousands more who missed the ticket ballot or can’t be bothered to queue in the hopes of getting in day of.  With a jug of Pimms in one hand and a punnet of strawberries in the other, you’ll hardly know the difference. Even better – most watch parties won’t cost you a single penny. So, pack your picnic blanket, fill your flask and pull up a pew at a summery screening near you. Most haven't been announced for 2026 yet, but check back and more will be added closer to the time. RECOMMENDED: Our full guide to Wimbledon 2026.

London has never exactly been known as a bargain destination. Hotel prices can shoot up fast if you don’t know where to look. But the good news is that The Capital still has plenty of great places to stay without blowing your entire travel budget. For 2026, our top budget stay in London is Mama Shelter in Shoreditch. It’s sociable and packed with personality, with very reasonable prices for one of the city’s coolest neighbourhoods. But it’s far from the only great-value option out there. Every hotel on this list has been picked by Time Out’s editors because it offers something special – whether that’s a brilliant location, standout design, or simply excellent prices. Book one of these and you’ll get the kind of buzz only a great deal can deliver. Then spend the money you’ve saved on the really important things. Like, erm… the pub. What do we mean by ‘budget’? In a city like London, ‘budget’ is always relative. Prices can vary hugely depending on the neighbourhood, time of year and even the day of the week, so finding a good deal is often about knowing where to look and booking smart. For this list, we’ve focused on places where rooms come in under £200 a night, with plenty dipping well below the £100 mark if you book ahead or travel off-peak. You’ll also find a few hostels offering dorm beds for as little as £12 per person, making them some of the cheapest ways to stay in the capital. 🛌 Our guide to the best Airbnbs in London What's the cheapest area to stay in London?  Hon

The Irish really know how to celebrate, so when it comes to St Patrick’s Day in London, the city’s Celtic community has no problem showing us how it’s done. With an estimated 170,000 expats from the Emerald Isle living in the city, and many more Londoners with Irish heritage, the celebration of Ireland’s patron saint is always one big welcoming bash, involving plenty of dancing, hearty traditional dishes, a huge parade and as many pints of Guinness and drams of whiskey as you can handle. The Mayor of London’s annual St Patrick’s Day Festival celebration will take place on Sunday, March 15 – two days before the official holiday – and, as usual, thousands of revellers are expected to watch the parade wend its way from Hyde Park Corner to Trafalgar Square for a giant free party with Irish music, food and performances from 12noon to 6pm. If you don’t fancy braving the crowds of central London for the main event in the capital, there are still plenty of St Patrick’s Day parties and events to check out. We’ll be rounding up the best of them below as they get announced, so you’ve got plenty of time to get planning for a very green week. RECOMMENDED🍻 The best Irish pubs and bars in London☘️ Our ultimate guide to the St Patrick’s Day parade and festival🌱 The best London events in March

Every week, a frankly silly amount of brilliant new restaurants, cafés and street food joints arrive in London. Which makes whittling down a shortlist of the best newbies a serious challenge. But here it is. The 20 very best new restaurants in the capital, ranked in order of greatness and deliciousness. All of them have opened over the past 12 months and been visited by our hungry critics. So go forth and take inspo from this list, which is updated regularly. Check in often to find out what we really rate on the London restaurant scene. And look here for all the info about the best new openings in March 2026. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍛 Central: DakaDaka, Mayfair 🍠 North: Ling Ling’s, Islington 🇹🇭 South: Kruk, Peckham 🍝 East: Tiella, Bethnal Green 🥗 West: Martino’s, Chelsea March 2026: We have a new Number 1! The newly-opened Tiella in Bethnal Green has scooped the top spot thanks to knockout regional Italian dishes from chef Dara Klein. Other fresh additions include the slinky Martino's in Chelsea, Cambodian residency Barang at The Globe in Borough Market, foodie wine bar in a one-time Clerkenwell tattoo parlour Passione Vino, perfect produce at Dockley Road Kitchen in Bermondsey, Korean fusion spot Calong in Stoke Newington, Hunanese heat at Fiery Flavors in Surrey Quays, Ukrainian elegance at Sino in Notting Hill, cool diner energy at Dover Street Counter in Mayfair, Georgian classics at DakaDaka in Mayfair, and veggie-friendly Thai at Kruk in Peck

Twice a year, fashion Christmas comes to London, bringing with it whole closets full of covetable new looks you’ll dream of wearing. London Fashion Week returns next week for another deep-dive into the trends and styles that will be dominating red carpets, shops and streets in autumn and winter 2026 (AW26).  Across five days, the city’s most stylish will be hanging out around the Strand and sitting front row to see fresh looks from the likes of Simone Rocha, Chopova Lowena, Harris Reed, Burberry and Fiorucci. Yes, the majority of shows are invite-only, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be in the know. Here’s all the information you need ahead of London Fashion Week AW26.  When is London Fashion Week 2026?  LFW takes place twice a year: in February and September. The next fashion week will be from Thursday February 19 to Monday February 23.  Where is London Fashion Week held?  London Fashion Week usually takes place at the British Fashion Council’s own show space at 180 The Strand. The closest tubes are Holborn and Temple. Several events will also be held at external locations across the city. How do I get tickets to London Fashion Week 2026?  We hate to be the ones to tell you but unfortunately, most of the LFW shows are invite-only, so you can’t buy tickets.  What designers should I be watching out for?  Although you may not be able to see the shows in real life, you will be able to watch them live on the London Fashion Week website. So, these are all the one’s worth tuning in

Tell someone you’re taking a city break to Belgium and you’re generally met with a painfully unenthusiatic ‘oh, that’s cool’. For one reason or another, that small nation bordered by holiday heavyweights like France and the Netherlands, has long been cursed with a reputation for being the most beige country on the continent. Travellers are slowly starting to see through that myth, though. Increasingly, people are booking trips to the likes of Brussels for its grand political prestige, Antwerp for its fashion crowd or Bruges for its historical cobbled streets. But what if I told you there’s another Belgian city that gives all three of those, as well as Europe’s more famous cities, a run for their money?  Thirty miles east of Bruges, Ghent is a small and endearing city that’s understatedly cool. It’s packed with stunning cycle routes and environmentally and socially conscious communities, littered with fantastic slow fashion stores and a wealth of organic shops. It’s also the veggie capital of Europe – every week its cafes and restaurants focus on serving plant-based fare as part of the ‘Veggie Thursdays’ initiative – and in 2024 it held the title of the European Youth Capital. Oh, and here’s an adorable fun fact: every time a baby is born in one of Ghent’s maternity wards, parents can press a button that causes the city’s streetlamps to flicker in celebration. Does it get more wholesome than that?  ➡️ READ MORE: The best city breaks in Europe for 2026, picked by Time Out edito

With a bounty of great parties happening in the capital this Easter bank holiday, you can dance till you drop. Here’s our round-up of the long weekend’s best parties from Thursday April 2 to Monday April 6 2026, from (hopefully) sun-soaked daytime soirees to late-night ragers at some of the city’s best clubs.  If you’ve got the stamina, you could turn Easter into a proper bender. Just don’t count on a quick resurrection in time for work on Tuesday. RECOMMENDED:The best Easter events and activities in LondonThe 50 best nights out in London

We all know travelling with the kids can be tricky, so finding a hotel that keeps everyone happy is key. From splashable pools to free breakfasts for little ones, London has plenty of spots that make family life on the go a whole lot easier. Here’s our pick of the best family-friendly hotels in the city, where parents can relax and kids can be… well, kids. The hotels we’ve selected all make travelling with kids as smooth possible. We look for places that are close to London’s top attractions, so you can zip from Hamleys to the park, without having to spend your whole day on public transport, as well as having the resources to keep the whole family entertained. How we choose our family-friendly hotels A family-friendly hotel is about thoughtful touches for children. Perhaps, there are extra cots, kid-friendly menus, splashable pools, and little surprises that make young guests feel welcome. These are hotels that go the extra mile, from milk and cookies at bedtime to a designated kids concierge services. We include luxury stays and budget-friendly finds. Finally, we consider atmosphere and accessibility: helpful staff, close to attractions and safe play spaces, and a vibe that makes both little ones and grown-ups feel at home. 📍 Looking for your own space? Check out our guide to the best Airbnbs in London London’s family friendly hotels at a glance 💰 Best for a cheap deal: Good Hotel 🗓️ Best concierge service: The Berkeley 🧠 Most iconic: The Ritz ☕ Best afternoon tea for

It can’t be denied that Saturday is one of the greatest days of the week. For lots of us, the working week is over and it’s the one day that you can have a long lie in and stay up all night knowing that you don’t need to be up bright and early the next morning.  In other words, it’s the best day to make the most out of the huge spectrum of things that London has to offer. Whatever your budget, whatever your interests, whatever the weather, there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of things you could do. Here are some of our favourites things you can get up to in London almost any Saturday of the year (see here for specific stuff going on this weekend).  London’s best Saturday things to do at a glance Best for being outdoors: Hampstead Heath  Best for shopaholics: Selfridges Best for a budget: Natural History Museum Best for group gatherings: Frank’s Cafe  Best for an all-nighter: MOT  RECOMMENDED: The 50 best things to do in London with kids. 

Things are getting more and more expensive here in Europe, and many of our reliably ‘cheap’ cities aren’t so cheap anymore. The hotspots in Greece, Spain, Italy and more that are plagued with overtourism are seeing hiked prices to match, and starting to look startingly similar across the board. But don’t fear: if budgets are tight this year, there’s still plenty of spots that won’t break the bank.  The best part? On the most part, this list of budget-friendly destinations tend to come hand in hand with other wins – we mean less tourists, less crowds, and the flights there are likely to be much cheaper too. Of course, it goes without saying that a ‘cheap city’ is highly subjective, depending on a whole load of factors: which city you’ve travelled in from, what time of year you’re visiting, how bougie your tastes are and all the rest of it. But the spots you’ll find below are lively, culture-packed, and generally incredibly good value for money. Read on for the cheapest (and best) cities to visit in Europe in 2026.  RECOMMENDED:📍 The best city breaks in Europe for 2026🌃 The most underrated travel destinations in Europe Ella Doyle is Time Out’s Europe editor. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines. 

Thank god for Burns Night. As the long, bleak month of January rolls on, this kilt-raising, haggis-scoffing, whisky-fuelled celebration of Scotland’s national poet Rabbie Burns is a chance to banish the winter blues and have a rip-roaring time. The Bard turns 267 this year, but you don’t have to be in the big guy’s motherland to join in the festivities. An estimated 200,000 Scottish expats live in the capital, which technically makes it the third most populous Scottish city, so you can guarantee there’s plenty of feasting, boozing and partying to be done down here too.  When is Burns Night in London? Burns Night always falls on January 25, the day Robert Burns was born in South Ayrshire way back in 1759. This year’s celebration falls on a Sunday.  Whether you want to get sweaty at a ceilidh, pipe in a haggis, or have a classy time at a whisky tasting or indulgent Burns supper, this is how you can enjoy Burns Night 2026 in London.  RECOMMENDED: Here are London's best spots for a delicious Burns Night supper.

There’s a heck of a lot to get excited about in Britain over the next 12 months or so. Between now and 2027 Brits will gobble down platefuls of new restaurants’ grub, slurp tasty bevs in fresh bars, get cultural fixes at museum exhibitions, spectate at globally-renowned sport events and even witness moments of proper historic importance. In 2026 the UK will see the return of the Bayeux Tapestry (not seen on these isles in 900 years) and the completion of the nation-spanning King Charles III Coastal Path. Among the likes of new music festivals and theme parks will be the world’s biggest Irish cultural event, the premiere of one of this century’s most highly anticipated stage musicals and centenery celebrations for a globally-loved children’s character.  And that’s just the stuff that’s planned – who knows what else will define the year? Without further ado, here are the 16 best new things to do in the UK in 2026, chosen by Time Out editors and contributors. RECOMMENDED: 📍 The 14 best places to visit in the UK in 2026.🏛️ The 26 best new things to do in London in 2026.🌍 The best new things to do in the world in 2026.

Gather your brood and join Hackney’s ceilidh band Cut A Shine for its afternoon of family friendly St Patrick’s barn dancing. The bandmembers will teach you and the little’uns all of the crucial ceili moves and ensure that everyone is kept fueled with traditional Irish stew and champ (vegan option available). Things will round off at 3.30pm with a disco where the kids can show off all their newly-learned Celtic choreography. Oh, and there’s a fully stocked bar of Guinness and whiskey for the grown ups. 

Prepare to have your senses thrown into chaos. Anish Kapoor’s first major UK exhibition in the UK took place at the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery in 1998. Nearly 30 years later, the internationally acclaimed sculptor’s work is coming back to the gallery for his largest UK show to date. The exhibition displays recent pieces by Kapoor made with futuristic light-absorbing nanotechnology, as well as works that defined the early part of his career.  There will be huge disorientating mirror sculptures, a colossal PVC installation, a foreboding mass of red and black wax drooping from the ceiling, and a striking collection of carnal paintings made using silicone, resin and pigment.  

Homely isn’t quite the word that comes to mind when you pull back the heavy velvet curtain separating Casa Felicia from the dozy Queen’s Park street outside. Chic, for sure. Elegant, certainly. A parade of two-cover tables are packed close together in the main whitewashed dining room, and over in a far corner, there’s a booth for larger groups which is painted entirely in an intense sultry red. But the deeper into the evening we go, the more we’re taken in by this place’s unexpected down-to-earth charm.   Fettuccine porcini and paccheri with mussels and squid are simple but impeccable Casa Felicia is helmed by chef Francesco Sarvonio, formerly of Manteca and currently of Elephant. The menu switches up daily, but always promises southern Italian ‘soul food’. A pleasing heap of puntarelle salad embellished with pear and hazelnuts, and a faultless seabass crudo speckled with crispy red pepper starts us off. We’re then presented with the most intriguing take on parmigiana I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t come in the traditional form of layered aubergine coins, but as the whole vegetable roasted, skinned and fried in a tempura batter, then cocooned in cheese fondue with a pool of marinara on the side. It’s fantastic – the batter lightly encases the vegetable like a chiffon blanket and the aubergine manages to be both firm and completely melt-in-the-mouth.   Don’t get carried away with the antipasti, as the bowls of pasta (handmade with just semolina and water, no egg) are truly generou

Adoh! (Sri-Lankan for ‘oi!’) is loud.  Sat on Maiden Lane in frenetic, tourist-packed Covent Garden, this Sri Lankan spot from Kolamba duo Eroshan and Aushi Meewella fits right in. While Kolamba and its sister restaurant on Liverpool Street are sleek, sophisticated haunts, this is a maximalist whirlwind. Chopped roti gets more heavenly with each chewy bite Adoh’s goal is to emulate the rapid, chaotic energy of Colombo and its street food culture. The decor is raucous – the tables a striking shade of red and the walls busy with storybook murals depicting hand-painted trucks of South Asia. As for service, it’s full speed ahead. You can very easily be in and out within an hour, and fully satisfied. In the throbbing heart of the theatreland that’s no bad thing.  The menu features a blend of authentic bits (isoo vadai, mutton rolls or roti and curry) and some milder hybrid dishes (fried chicken and curry leaf waffles are best suited to less adventurous members of your party). Shiny squares of prawn toast dolloped with tamarind sauce start us off, swiftly followed by a supple dosa spread with smoky masala, alongside a rather dry coconut roti with eye-wateringly hot lunu miris chilli paste.  The must-order main (which at £17 is the priciest item on the menu) is crab kothu, a late-night classic in Sri Lanka. The bronze mountain of chopped roti, egg and stir fried crab meat (mutton, chicken or jackfruit kothu are available too) isn’t particularly pretty, but drenched in curry sauce (p

One hundred years ago, a strange curtained box appeared on Broadway in New York City. If you went inside and slotted in 25 cents, you’d emerge with eight sepia tinged photos of yourself in a matter of minutes. It was the Photomaton – the world’s first fully automated photobooth. Fast forward to the 21st century and photobooths are in bars, train stations, cinemas, record shops and on streets all over the world. The Photographer’s Gallery is marking a century of the machines with Click!, an archival exhibition exploring their imperfections, their quirks and their most famous fans. Naturally, there’ll be a working photobooth for visitors to take their own snap.

The UK’s first major retrospective of acclaimed Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov is coming to the Photographers’ Gallery. A ‘kind of proto-punk’, Mikhailov has been capturing and commenting on life in Ukraine since the 1960s – from the everyday consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union to the realities of people living on the edges of society – through photography, conceptual work, painting and performance art. Ukrainian Diary brings much of that work together to illustrate the tumultuous social and political changes that have shaken Eastern Europe over the past fifty years.

In 1978, Zofia Rydet decided that was going to photograph the inside of every Polish household. Aged 67, she began knocking on doors and asking occupants if they’d be willing to partake in her project. She continued to knock on doors for the next three decades, collecting everyday stories and creating ‘one of the most important achievements in 20th century Polish photography’. More than 100 of Rydet’s prints will be on display at the Photographers’ Gallery alongside books and personal letters offering extra insight into her sociological mission.

When a place rates itself as assuredly (in huge bold letters, no less) as Good Hotel does, it’s natural to feel a little sus. But it’s true: Good Hotel really does make you feel good. Service is cheery and laid-back without being overly casual, the food leaves nothing to complain about and – maybe it’s the luxurious silence of the area or perhaps the proximity to gently lapping water – I visited in 2024, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better night’s sleep in the city. Aside from all that, guests can walk out of Good Hotel feeling extra gratified by virtue of its ‘do good’ DNA. Why stay at Good Hotel? As you walk along Royal Victoria Docks, this huge black shipping container is impossible to miss. Originally built as a Danish prison, this floating hotel docked in London in 2016 after sailing across from Amsterdam. Its founder, Marten Dresden, had come up with the Good Hotel concept four years prior while travelling in Guatemala. Now, each night you spend there pays for a week of school for a child in South America, with profits also going towards hospitality training for long-term unemployed locals (lots of whom become Good Hotel employees).  The hotel also hosts regular community workshops and events that guests can attend. There are comedy nights, yoga classes, salsa classes, kids art clubs and, if you’re in the mood to be extra good, litter-picking around the local area. What are the rooms like at Good Hotel? Throughout the hotel, the interiors are slick, earthy-toned

One of the more recent additions to Wimbledon Village, Good Fortune Club is bright and buzzy with a sprawling menu of Cantonese dishes, the best known of which is its handmade dim sum. Stop by with a large, hungry posse to pack your table with bamboo steamers and sample har gau (shrimp-filled dumplings,) xiao long bao (pork soup dumplings), cuttlefish cake and more.

Of its four south-west London outposts, DropShot’s Leopold Road location serves up hefty brunches on the daily. The portions here are breathtakingly generous, and the tennis-themed menu goes well beyond the standard eggs benny or avocado on toast; think mozzarella and chilli jam-filled potato pancakes andbig fat slices of French toast laden with monterey jack cheese and fresh pesto, or loaded with tiramisu cream and berries. The coffee is fantastic, too.

Crack Comedy Club brings pre-party laughs to Tunnel 267 – Wimbledon’s only nightclub – every Saturday night from 8pm to 10pm. For standup sets from four or five comics, tickets are £25 for general admission on the door or £21.50 if you book online in advance. You can also buy tickets that include dinner from a local restaurant beforehand, and if you stick around afterwards you’ll get free entry to Tunnel’s clubnight. Three in one. 

There's a real sense of fun to this deliberately rough-around-the-edges course. Party tunes blare from speakers, graffiti jazzes up the walls and it's made from ‘twisted junk, car booty and charity shop shizzle’. Junkyard Golf Club has four courses – Gary, Pablo, Dirk and Bozo – that are all fabulously chaotic and mildly freaky. Depending on which challenge you take on, you’ll be putting past pirate pigs, dishevelled nightclub urinals, terrifying giant clown heads and a UV rave room. There's also a second location in Camden for more of the same.  Prices start at £12 for nine holes at off-peak times (Sunday to Thursday) and go up to £21 for 18 holes on busier days (Fridays and Saturdays). And as any good crazy golf should, Junkyard has a menu of themed cocktails to keep lubed up before, during and after your game. 

Rarely a year goes by without a London gallery putting on some sort of David Hockney exhibition – everybody’s just mad for the guy. And 2026 is no different, with a huge free show of Hockney art opening this week. David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting will be on at the Serpentine this spring and summer, opening this coming Thursday March 12. Here’s why, alongside a Frida Kahlo show at the Tate and a Renoir retrospective at the National Gallery, we reckon it’ll be one of the best exhibitions to see in London this year.  The 88-year-old artist’s A Year in Normandie is a 90-metre long piece that Hockney produced on his iPad during the pandemic. Made up of 220 panels depicting the changing seasons in and around his French garden, it’s inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry – which fittingly will be on display in the UK for the first time in nearly a millennium later this year – and Chinese scrolls. A Year in Normandie will be on display in the garden at Serpentine North and this will be the first time that the work is on show in London.  Image: David Hockney‘A Year in Normandie’ 2020-2021 (detail) Composite iPad painting© David Hockney At the time, Hockney said of his iPad paintings: ‘I began drawing the winter trees on a new iPad. Then this virus started… ‘I went on drawing the winter trees that eventually burst into blossom. Meanwhile the virus is going mad, and many people said my drawings were a great respite from what was going on.’ The exhibit

Finally, London has been blessed with a heavy dose of vitamin D. The sun’s out, the trees are blossoming, payday has given our bank accounts a boost, life is good.  But don’t let London’s first taste of spring sunshine tempt you into splashing all your cash at once. There are still months of sitting in beer gardens, dancing in fields and taking trips to the seaside ahead of us that you’ll want to save your pennies for.   We’re here to make that easy for you. This weekend, the city is brimming with excellent budget-friendly things to do. National Lottery Open Week is offering free entry to a bunch of London landmarks, people of all faiths are invited to join Iftars in some of the city’s most famous venues and there’s a bunch of events happening in honour of International Women’s Day 2026.  Like the sound of those? Read on for the full lowdown on all the best things you can do in London without spending a thing this weekend.  RECOMMENDED: All the best things to do in London this weekend.  The best free things on in London this weekend, March 6-8 2026  1. Get free entry to some of London’s top attractions for National Lottery Open Week Every year, National Lottery Open Week gives  National Lottery-funded venues across a chance to say thank you to participants for their part in raising £32 million each week to support charitable causes. This weekend, simply buying a lottery ticket will get you into loads of top London attractions for free. You can explore the totally gorgeous

Pies are serious business in Britain. From the Melton Mowbray pork pie to the Cornish pasty to the steak and kidney pie – there’s a classic British pie to suit every occasion. So, it only makes sense that once every year, we have a nationwide competition to find the finest pies and piemakers in the land.  The British Pie Awards were held in the UK’s pie capital, Melton Mowbray, today (Friday March 6). More than 1,000 pies entered the competition this year, and there were 26 categories in which they could pick up an award. But only one can be named Supreme Champion. After meticulous judging from a panel of 187 pie aficionados, the grand title for 2026 was awarded to the Chicken Kiev Pie from Baldy’s Pies in Wigan. Photograph: British Pie Awards A judge described the winning specimen as ‘a beautifully crafted pie with a pastry lid topping of panko, parsley with a hint of garlic which makes the pie so interesting to look at’. They added the creation was filled with ‘melt in the mouth tender chicken’ and had a subtle flavour that didn’t ‘overpower the natural flavours of the chicken’. It’s the 25th British Pie Award for the Lancashire pie-makers.  Matthew O’Callaghan, the chairman of the Melton Pork Pie Association and host of the British Pie Awards, said: ‘From time-honoured regional recipes to bold and contemporary flavour combinations, this year’s entries demonstrate just how firmly the pie remains at the heart of British food culture. ‘As this year’s Supreme Champion, Baldy

When people talk about settling down with a family, it’s normally assumed that they’re talking about ditching city life to go and raise kids somewhere greener and quieter. But there is something to be said for bringing children up in a place like London.  For one, they’ll hardly ever be bored. And they’ll be exposed to far more culture than if they were growing up in a tiny town a few hundred miles away. Don’t just take our word for it – according to a new report, London is the second best city in entire the world for raising a family.  The study by Compare the Market AU looked at nine different factors across 50 cities: safety, happiness, things to do with kids, cost of living, parental leave, family benefits spending, green spaces, vaccination rates and education spending. With an overall score of 5.992 out of 10, London won the silver medal, losing out on first place to Brisbane.  The Big Smoke’s high ranking is largely thanks to its huge amount of things to do with kids. The study counted 758 child-friendly activities listed for London on TripAdvisor, which was the most of all the cities besides Rome (which has 771 ways to keep kids entertained). Loads of those things, like the Natural History Museum, the Young V&A, the city farms and the Science Museum, are completely free. It also scored well in the green spaces per capita category, with the sixth highest number out of all the cities assessed.  Photograph: Art Fund / Young V&A   On top of all that, next to all of the

After grinding week in, week out for more than 40 years, retirees deserve to be well looked after. But how well looked after you are depends a lot on where you live. Now, the Times has revealed exactly where in England OAPs are the healthiest and happiest.  The research was compiled for the paper by health tech company Health Connect Global. The company dug into stats across six factors: average life expectancy, GP provision, A&E wait times, the referral period for trauma and orthopaedic services, number of care home beds and where each location ranks in the ONS’s annual happiness index. Once all that data was crunched, the Times revealed that Windsor and Maidenhead is home to England’s best place to grow old right now. The royal borough, just 20 minutes from London, has the second highest average life expectancy (83.2 years) after Wokingham (84 years) and is joint first in England for the proportion of referrals to trauma and orthopaedic services within 18 weeks. It also got high scores when it came to happiness, GP provision, the number of care homes and A&E waiting times. You can read more about why Windsor and Maidenhead is such a great place to retire here.  Second place went to Hartlepool in County Durham, a runner-up that the Times said ‘turns assumptions on their heads’. Although it is known for being one of the most disadvantaged towns in England, Hartlepool ranks as a great place to grow old because it has one of the best performing A&Es in the country.  Photograph

Wales loves a walking trail. In 2012, it became the first country in the world to have a public path around its entire coastline. For more than a decade it remained the only nation in the world with a continuous coastal trek, until England came along and launched the even longer King Charles III England Coast Path.  But now, Wales has its sights set on to becoming one of the first nations in the world to have a national forest trail. It’ll be named the Llwybr Coedwig Cymru Trail.   This week, the Welsh Government launched a the first 80km section of that trail. The newly waymarked path winds from Porthkerry Park in the Vale of Glamorgan (on the south coast) to the Brunel-designed Pont Walby viaduct, which sits just outside of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (formerly the Brecon Beacons). In total, the trail links 12 National Forest sites and 24 woodlands.  If you want to take on the first part of the trail in one go, it would take you just under 24 hours, but there is of course the option to do it in chunks. It’s split into four sections: Pontkerry County Park to Hensol Forest, Hensol Forest to Llantrisant Forest, Llantrisant Forest to Nant y Moel and Nant y Moel to Pont Walby.  Photograph: Shutterstock The National Forest for Wales initiative was launched back in 2020 to connect existing, restored and new sites across the country and promote the importance of woodland habitats. So far, it includes Wentwood Forest in Monmouthshire, Gregynog in Powys and Coed Preseli in Pem

The northern lights have been popping up more frequently than usual in recent years. So, if you’ve had seeing the aurora borealis on your bucket list, there’s no better time to book a trip to do exactly that.  There’s no need to venture to the deepest, darkest corners of Norway or Finland – you can catch an equally spectacular display here in the UK. After the Shetland Islands, which can be especially awkward and expensive to get to, the greatest place to go for the lights – and one of Time Out’s best places to visit in the UK in 2026 – is Caithness, right at the top of mainland Scotland.  Right now, the sun is at the peak of its 11-year cycle and in a state of heightened activity. That means geomagnetic storms, which is what causes the northern lights, are more frequent and more powerful than normal. Charged particles from the sun hit the Earth’s surface and combine with oxygen and nitrogen to create the brilliant greens, purples and blues that we see from down here.  The region is a prime place for the seeing the lights thanks to its high latitude and low light pollution. The solar maximum will hit its peak in April, before activity will start to decrease again. So, next month will be the best time to head up north for the illuminations.  Photograph: Shutterstock Obviously, catching the display is never 100 percent guaranteed, but there plenty of other things that make Caithness worth the journey – mostly exploring its glorious landscapes.  The Flow Country is the larges

The London Underground uses an absolutely humungous amount of electricity. Ferrying Londoners across the city 24/7 almost every day of the year requires roughly 1.6 terawatt hours (TWh) per year – roughly the same amount used to annually power around 592,600 homes. Unsurprisingly, TfL is the single largest electricity consumer in the city.  Right now, the tube relies on fossil fuels to generate all of its power, but that’s set to change. TfL has big ambitions to be 100 percent reliant on renewable energy sources by 2030. And in some very good news for the planet, the tube will soon be partly powered by the sun. The solar installations to power the network will be provided by SSE Energy Solutions. It’ll harvest the energy from newly-installed solar farms and supply it directly to the TfL network, bypassing the National Grid.  Photograph: TfL Once the solar farm is constructed, it’s hoped that the installations will deliver up to 65,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy – around two-thirds of the estimated annual consumption of the Victoria line. Over the next 25 years, TfL says there’s potential to save 27,000 tonnes of carbon. That’s equivalent to  almost 32,900 flights between London and New York City.  As part of its mission to be carbon-free, TfL is also converting lighting within its stations, bus shelters and on trains to LEDs, reducing carbon in major construction projects and working towards a fully zero-emission bus fleet (it already has the largest collectio

Saunas have seriously taken off in recent years. To meet the demands of Britain’s growing sweating obsession, they’ve been popping up on beaches, in woodlands, on city rooftops and, even, on water. The UK’s very first floating sauna opened in Liverpool at the end of 2024 and more appeared in London, Dorset and the Isle of Wight last year. Now, there’s a floating sauna docking in Wales.  Sauna Flô will be the very first floating sauna in Wales. It’ll be moored on Penarth Merina, just four miles from Cardiff city centre.  The Nordic style sauna will be able to fit eight people at a time and has benches that offer views out of a large glass window onto the water. The pontoon will also feature ice baths and a cold shower so that guests can do some contrast therapy, alternating between sweating in up to 40C heat and shivering in freezing water. Switching between the hot and cold temperatures supposedly helps with muscle recovery and blood circulation. There are changing rooms and warm showers for before and after sessions, too.  Photograph: Sauna Flô Once open, Flô will also run guided breathwork, contrast therapy and mindfulness sessions available in either Welsh or English. It plans to collaborate with local groups to arrange wellness events and give back to the community, too.  The brains behind Sauna Flô is MMA athlete and former Team GB skier Rory Heslop. He said: ‘Sauna has been part of my life from a young age, starting from training with Team GB and competing in MMA to b

‘Blood rain’ might sounds like a horrifying apocalyptic event, but don’t worry, it’s nothing of the sort.  A wave of red dust is being blown over from the Sahara to the UK this week. The dust gets its colour from its high levels of iron oxides and when it mixes with the rain that’s forecast over the next two days, it’ll leave a red layer on surfaces like cars or windows, hence the name ‘blood rain’.  The plume is predicted to arrive in the UK today (Thursday March 5) and Friday. Keep an eye on the sky in the mornings and evenings – the dust also means that sunrises and sunsets will look particularly fiery, with deeper shades of gold, amber, and burnt orange than normal.  The Met Office says: ‘This week, Saharan dust is once again being transported northwards across parts of Europe and towards the UK. Current assessments suggest that concentrations will pass close to or just south of the UK, but a brush of dust‑influenced air is likely, particularly affecting southern parts of the country. ‘At this stage, concentrations are expected to remain relatively low, meaning rainfall itself is unlikely to appear noticeably red. Instead, where dust mixes in, the impact is more likely to be seen after showers have passed, with a light film of yellowish or brownish residue on surfaces.’ It adds that the dust isn’t anything to worry about health-wise. At most, the forecaster says, people with respiratory sensitivities may ‘notice a slight increase in airborne particulates before rainfall c

These days, there’s an enormous bank of movies that we can stream from the comfort of our own homes at the touch of a button. But there’s still nothing like sitting back in a soft red chair, grabbing a cardboard tub of warm popcorn and watching a great film in a cinema. So, to celebrate those movie meccas, Time Out’s global film editor Phil de Semlyen, with the help of some of some other kino lovers from from around the world, has put together a list of the greatest cinemas on the planet right now.  Our roundup features a Berlin cinema with its own nuclear bunker, a Canadian theatre with just 12 seats, an open-air screen in Greece and a huge art-deco palace in India. Naturally, there are plenty of London cinemas on the list too. The capital’s top ranked kino was BFI Southbank, which landed in fourth place. Photograph: BFI / Luke Hayes Formerly the National Film Theatre, the cinema nestled beneath Waterloo Bridge became the BFI in 2007 and is a paradise for every serious film lover. It’s four screens are open seven days a week, showing hyped new releases alongside restored classics and slept-on gems from every corner of the globe and every year it hosts a range of niche and blockbuster festivals, from Woman With A Movie Camera and the Short Film Festival to BFI Flare (the largest LGBQ+ film festival in the UK), and of course the biggest of them all, the London Film Festival.  There’s also the library of film publications and the ‘Mediatheque’, a room full of crescent-shaped

Long live the cinema! Even with the infinite number of movies that are at our fingertips on streaming, Brits still love going to the movies. Cinema attendance among Gen Z is, in fact, on the rise and young people are reportedly flocking to their local picturehouses to watch cult classics and rereleases. We want to make sure it stays that way.  Time Out’s global network of experts have collaborated to create a blockbuster list of the 100 greatest cinemas on the planet right now, with advice on how you can support them to ensure they stick around for future generations. The ranking features theatres in Canada, Japan, India and Argentina, as well as 23 cinemas that are here in the UK.  The top ranked British cinema was BFI Southbank in London, followed by Prince Charles Cinema and Picturehouse Central, both also in London. You can read more about all the capital’s kinos in the list here. The highest ranked cinema outside of the capital was Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast, which placed 22nd.  The picturehouse has been around since 1968 and is widely regarded as Northern Ireland’s leading independent cinema.  It can be easy to miss, inconspicuously located inside a Georgian terrace next to Queen’s University, but the inside is expansive. The venue houses two screens (converted from old lecture theatres) with a combined capacity of roughly 300. Like many other cinemas on the list, you can go there to watch new releases alongside old classics and forgotten deep cuts. It also runs se