Seasonal
The 6 Best Things to Do in London in October
October is when London stops pretending it's still summer and gets on with being itself. The light goes low and golden, the parks turn copper, and the cultural calendar fills up properly. Here is what is genuinely worth your time, from the festivals that come round every year to the cosy pleasures that suit the season.
In short: our top picks are BFI London Film Festival, Frieze London and Frieze Sculpture and Diwali on the Square. 6 places in total, chosen on merit, with the full reasoning below.
There is a particular afternoon in October, usually the second week, when the city tips over into autumn proper. The plane trees along the Embankment start dropping leaves, the light at four o’clock turns the Portland stone the colour of weak tea, and you feel that small lift that Londoners only admit to in the cooler months: the relief of putting a coat back on. It is, quietly, the best time of year to be here. The summer tourists have largely gone home, the Christmas machinery hasn’t cranked up yet, and the cultural calendar is at full tilt. Frieze brings the art world to Regent’s Park, the film festival takes over the West End, Trafalgar Square lights up for Diwali, and the kitchens swing back to game and root vegetables and things braised slowly. Expect grey days and proper rain, yes, but also crisp blue ones that are made for a long walk and an early pint by a fire. What follows leans on the things that recur, the festivals and seasonal pleasures you can count on year after year, rather than one-off dates that age badly. Check official sites for exact dates each year, but the rhythm holds.
| Place | Area | Price |
|---|---|---|
| BFI London Film Festival | Southbank and West End | |
| Frieze London and Frieze Sculpture | Regent's Park, Marylebone | £££ |
| Diwali on the Square | Trafalgar Square, Westminster | |
| The deer rut, Richmond Park | Richmond | |
| St. John | Smithfield | £££ |
| The Holly Bush | Hampstead | ££ |
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Editor’s choice
BFI London Film Festival
Why we pick itFor roughly a fortnight every October the BFI takes over Southbank and a clutch of West End cinemas for the UK's biggest film event: premieres, restorations, talks and a programme that ranges from awards-season heavyweights to the small foreign film nobody has heard of yet. Tickets start around a tenner, the queues are good-natured, and there is real pleasure in walking out into a cold Leicester Square having just seen something months before everyone else.
International film festival
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Frieze London and Frieze Sculpture
Why we pick itMid-October is when the art world descends on a tented Regent's Park for Frieze, the contemporary fair, and its older, calmer sibling Frieze Masters nearby. The fair tickets are not cheap and the people-watching is half the point. The proper insider move is Frieze Sculpture, the free outdoor trail of large works scattered across the English Gardens, which you can wander at leisure with a coffee, no ticket required, while the leaves come down around you.
Contemporary art fair
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Diwali on the Square
Why we pick itThe Mayor's free Diwali celebration fills Trafalgar Square for an afternoon each October, with a main stage of music and dance from London's Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities, food stalls, and the gentle chaos of tens of thousands of people enjoying themselves. It is one of the warmest things the city does at this time of year, in every sense. Go hungry, stay for the lights coming on as the early dark sets in.
Festival of Lights celebration
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The deer rut, Richmond Park
Why we pick itEvery autumn the red stags and fallow bucks in Richmond Park bellow, posture and clash antlers in the rut, and seeing it framed by turning bracken and low morning mist is one of London's great free wildlife moments. Keep a proper distance, fifty metres at least, and go early when the light is best and the crowds thin. Pair it with a long loop of the park and you have the perfect crisp October morning.
Seasonal wildlife spectacle and autumn walk
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St. John
Why we pick itOctober is game season, and nowhere does it with more conviction than Fergus Henderson's whitewashed dining room near Smithfield. The menu changes daily and leans hard into the season: grouse, partridge, venison, the offal that made the place famous, and a Welsh rarebit that has converted plenty of sceptics. Order the madeleines at the end, finish the wine, and walk it off through Clerkenwell. This is autumn eating done properly.
Nose-to-tail British restaurant, in its element during game season
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The Holly Bush
Why we pick itTucked up a winding lane above Hampstead village, this Grade II listed pub is a maze of wood-panelled rooms, low ceilings and open fires that does its best work the moment the weather turns. Come down off the Heath with cold hands, claim a corner near the flames, and settle in with a pint of real ale and one of London's better Sunday roasts. It feels almost untouched by the last century, which in October is exactly the point.
Eighteenth-century Fuller's pub with open fires
Before you book
Most of the big October festivals release dates and tickets in late summer, so if Frieze or the film festival matters to you, set a reminder for August and book early. Diwali on the Square and the Richmond deer rut cost nothing. Layers are the whole game in October: bright mornings turn to cold, damp evenings fast, and the good pubs fill up the moment the temperature drops, so book a table if you want one by the fire. Always confirm exact dates on the official sites before you set out, as they shift by a week or two each year.
Common questions
What are the top picks in this guide?
BFI London Film Festival is our editor's choice: For roughly a fortnight every October the BFI takes over Southbank and a clutch of West End cinemas for the UK's biggest film event: premieres, restorations, talks and a programme that ranges from awards-season heavyweights to the small foreign film nobody has heard of yet. Tickets start around a tenner, the queues are good-natured, and there is real pleasure in walking out into a cold Leicester Square having just seen something months before everyone else. BFI London Film Festival, Frieze London and Frieze Sculpture and Diwali on the Square lead the guide, with 6 places in total, all chosen on merit.
How does Lamplit London choose its recommendations?
Every place is chosen on merit, after first-hand visits where possible, with no pay-for-placement. Read our full method at https://www.lamplitlondon.com/how-we-choose/.
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