London This Week: What's Worth Your Time and Money (1-7 June 2026)

Some weeks London coasts. This is not one of them. This week, 1 to 7 June, the city opens a brand-new gallery, throws two of its biggest free festivals of the year, and welcomes an electronic-music institution to the Royal Albert Hall. We went through the week venue by venue, checked the dates against the organisers themselves, and then did the thing only we can do: priced up what is actually worth booking. Here is where your time, and your money, go furthest.

The five things to build your week around

1. A brand-new London museum opens its doors (Friday, free spaces). The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration opens to the public on Friday 5 June at 1 Myddelton Passage in Clerkenwell, inside a beautifully restored 18th-century waterworks. Three opening exhibitions, a cafe, a shop and gardens, with free entry spaces. New major institutions open in London maybe once a decade. Go in the first week and you can say you were there.

2. Kraftwerk at the Royal Albert Hall (Thursday and Friday, ticketed). The pioneers of electronic music bring their 3D Multimedia Tour to the Hall for two nights only, Thursday 4 and Friday 5 June, from around £99. If you have never seen it, the visuals alone justify the trip.

3. Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait opens at the National Portrait Gallery (Thursday, ticketed). Marking 100 years since her birth, the show gathers portraits by Warhol, Avedon, Beaton and more from Thursday 4 June. Tickets are about £25, but here is the insider line: the gallery runs Pay What You Can entry on Mondays from 10.30 to 14.00. Plan for Monday and a landmark exhibition costs whatever you decide.

4. England v New Zealand at Lord's (Thursday onward, ticketed). Test cricket at the home of cricket, the Rothesay Test running from Thursday 4 June, with single-day tickets including the bargain-prone final day.

5. The Great Exhibition Road Festival (Saturday and Sunday, free). South Kensington's museums throw open their doors for a free weekend marking 175 years since the 1851 Great Exhibition: live experiments, a giant-puppet parade, robot football and a seven-tonne sand recreation of the Crystal Palace. The week's best free family day out, hands down.

Free this week, and genuinely worth it

It is a rare week where the free listings are as strong as the paid ones.

• London Gallery Weekend (Friday to Sunday) turns more than 120 galleries into one free, city-wide art crawl, Central on Friday, South on Saturday, East End on Sunday.
• The new Serpentine Pavilion, "a serpentine" by LANZA atelier, opens free on the Serpentine South lawn in Kensington Gardens from Saturday 6 June, the 25th edition of London's marquee architecture commission.
• Japan House on Kensington High Street opens Kyotographie, its first photography show, free from Wednesday 3 June (booking recommended).
• The World Food Photography Awards show all 203 finalists free at Mall Galleries, Wednesday to Sunday.
• Canary Wharf Summer Screens start Thursday: free outdoor films and live sport every evening.

The best-value culture in London right now: the West End

No headline West End show opens this particular week, so we will not pretend otherwise. But here is the thing most visitors miss: London's long-running musicals are, pound for pound, the best-value world-class culture in the city, if you know the entry prices. We checked them on Wednesday morning.

The best-value seat in the West End right now is Mamma Mia!, from £18.75, less than two cinema tickets for a full West End show. After that, Hamilton, Matilda The Musical and The Book of Mormon all start from £25, while Hamilton, The Lion King and Les Misérables sit at 4.8 out of 5 from thousands of reviews. We have broken the week's theatre down in full in our West End Insider guide. Members save more every time with tickadoo+.

Gigs and one-offs

Beyond Kraftwerk, the week leans indie and intimate. Rilo Kiley play O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on Wednesday for the first time in nearly two decades (sold out, but worth knowing about for resale watchers), and Jenny Hval brings her art-pop to the ICA's in-the-round stage the same night, around £26. The final days of SXSW London run across Shoreditch until Saturday 6 June if you have a pass.

A perfect London Saturday this week

Start free on Exhibition Road at the Great Exhibition Road Festival, wander up to Kensington Gardens for the new Serpentine Pavilion (still free), then cross town for an early-evening West End show, from £18.75. A genuinely brilliant day in London for less than the price of dinner.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free thing to do in London this week?

Three compete: the Great Exhibition Road Festival (Saturday and Sunday, South Kensington), London Gallery Weekend across more than 120 galleries (Friday to Sunday), and the new Serpentine Pavilion in Kensington Gardens (from Saturday). All free.

What is on at the Royal Albert Hall this week?

Kraftwerk's Multimedia Tour, two nights only, Thursday 4 and Friday 5 June, from around £99.

What is the best-value West End show right now?

Mamma Mia!, from £18.75 (verified Wednesday 3 June). Hamilton, Matilda and The Book of Mormon start from £25.

Is the Marilyn Monroe exhibition free?

No, it is about £25, but the National Portrait Gallery runs Pay What You Can entry on Mondays from 10.30 to 14.00.

What new museum is opening in London?

The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in Clerkenwell, opening Friday 5 June with free entry spaces.

Browse everything on in London at tickadoo, or go straight to West End theatre. tickadoo is built by the founders of London Theatre Direct, so live theatre is rather our thing.