May 2025: London’s always-busy social calendar starts to fill up come May, with some key sporting fixtures and the opening of the city’s outdoor cinemas and rooftop bars as the weather heats up. A whole bunch of music festivals taking place across the month, including Wide Awake, Field Day, GALA and Mighty Hoopla.
The month is book-ended by the opening of two major new culture venues, Soho Theatre Walthamstow and the V&A East Storehouse, while Tate Modern will be hosting a weekend-long party in celebration of its 25th birthday.
It’s a lot to pack in, but with not one but two bank holidays coming up, there’s plenty of free time to fill up with fun!
No matter what your vibe, tastes or interests, there is always something to do in London. Whether you want to see cutting-edge art exhibitions, iconic attractions, secret spots, world-beating theatre, stunning green spaces, it’s all here and you can probably fit all this in and more still barely feel like you’ve scratched the surface of the city. And that’s before you factor in all those historic London pubs, the latest must-visit restaurants and vibrant LGBTQ+ venues. And if you need somewhere to stay? Check out London’s best hotels or Airbnbs.
This London bucket list (curated by our editors and always hotly debated in the Time Out office) is a good place to start because exploring this city can be a little daunting. There truly is something for everyone here.
And if you want to know what’s happening in London, like, right now, check out things to do in London this week and things to do in London this weekend. After a few days pottering about in the capital, you’ll be more than ready to reel off Dr Samuel Johnson’s famous quote: ‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.’
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Start planning a great spring with our roundups of the best things to do in April and May
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