London and rain are old companions — and the city has spent centuries perfecting the art of being brilliant whatever the weather. From world-class museums and atmospheric bookshops to creative workshops and immersive experiences, here is your definitive guide to the best things to do in London on a rainy day — including a tufting workshop at Tufting London, the UK's first professional tufting studio with over 1,400 five-star Google reviews.

London in the Rain: Better Than You Think

There is a particular kind of London day that visitors dread and locals have learned, over time, to quietly appreciate: the grey, damp, relentlessly drizzling day that descends without warning and shows no sign of lifting before evening. The kind of day that sends tourists back to their hotels and Londoners reaching for the knowledge of what to do when the outdoors is simply not an option.

That knowledge, once acquired, is one of the most valuable things a person can have in this city. Because London on a rainy day — for those who know where to go — is not a disappointment. It is an opportunity. An excuse to explore the extraordinary indoor world that sits beneath, behind, and alongside the city's more famous outdoor attractions: the museums, the markets, the bookshops, the galleries, and above all, the creative studios and workshop spaces that have made London the most exciting city in the world for indoor creative experiences. Here is your complete guide to the best things to do in London when it rains.

Make a Handmade Rug at Tufting London

If there is a single rainy day activity in London that perfectly combines creativity, social warmth, complete indoor comfort, and a genuinely extraordinary finished result — it is a tufting workshop at Tufting London.

As the UK's first and original professional tufting studio, with over 1,400
five-star Google reviews, Tufting London has welcomed thousands of makers through its doors on exactly the kind of grey, damp London afternoon that sends most people indoors and wondering what on earth to do with themselves.

The answer, it turns out, is to make something beautiful. You arrive at our studio — a one-minute walk from Nine Elms Station, Northern Line, Zone 1 — step in from the rain, and spend two to three hours in a warm, vibrantly colourful, expertly guided creative session, designing and making your own completely unique handmade rug. You leave with a finished piece you are genuinely proud of, a brilliant story, and the distinct feeling that the rain outside was the best thing that could have happened to your day. Completely beginner-friendly. Available daily. 

The British Museum

On a rainy day, the British Museum is one of the finest places on earth to spend several hours. Housing one of the world's greatest collections of human history and culture — from the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles to Egyptian mummies and the Sutton Hoo helmet — it is a place where every visit yields something new, regardless of how many times you have been before.

The Great Court — Norman Foster's spectacular glass-roofed courtyard at the heart of the museum — is one of the most beautiful indoor public spaces in London, and a destination in its own right on a grey day. Entry to the permanent collection is free, making it one of the most extraordinary value experiences available anywhere in the capital.

The National Gallery

Overlooking Trafalgar Square from its commanding position on the north side of the square, the National Gallery houses one of the greatest collections of Western European painting in the world — and entry is, once again, entirely free.

From Van Eyck's extraordinary Arnolfini Portrait to Velázquez's haunting Rokeby Venus, from Turner's luminous Fighting Temeraire to Van Gogh's dazzling Sunflowers — the National Gallery's permanent collection is a journey through seven centuries of human creativity that never fails to move, surprise, and inspire. A rainy afternoon spent here is not a consolation prize. It is a privilege.

Tate Modern

On the South Bank of the Thames, the vast former Bankside Power Station that houses Tate Modern has become one of London's most beloved cultural destinations — a place where world-class contemporary and modern art is displayed in spaces of extraordinary architectural drama.

The Turbine Hall — the museum's colossal entrance space — is a destination in itself, regularly hosting some of the most ambitious and talked-about art installations in the world. The permanent collection spans the full range of modern art from 1900 to the present day, and entry is free. On a rainy day, the walk along the South Bank to reach Tate Modern is itself one of London's most atmospheric urban experiences.

Daunt Books, Marylebone

Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world — and on a rainy day, it is one of the most perfect places in London to spend an hour or two.

The Edwardian interior, with its long oak galleries, skylights, and the smell of books and good coffee, creates an atmosphere of literary warmth that is almost impossibly inviting when the weather outside is doing its worst.

Daunt organises its travel books by country and its general stock with genuine care and expertise — making it one of the finest independent bookshops in the country, and a place where browsing feels like a genuine pleasure rather than a commercial transaction.

Borough Market

Borough Market, just south of London Bridge, is one of London's oldest and most beloved food markets — and it operates, with magnificent defiance, in all weathers. The covered sections of the market provide genuine shelter, and the experience of browsing artisan food producers, sampling cheese and charcuterie, and picking up provisions from some of the finest independent traders in the country is, if anything, more atmospheric in the rain than in bright sunshine.

After a circuit of the market, the restaurants and wine bars of Borough — particularly those tucked under the railway arches of Southwark — offer some of the finest and most characterful dining in London.

A Creative Workshop at Red Glasses Workshops

For those who want a creative rainy day experience beyond tufting, Red Glasses Workshops — the sister studio to Tufting London, located at Arch 61, New Covent Garden Market — offers up to eighteen different hands-on workshops across the year.

From the UK's first fruit-shaped soap making workshop to silver ring making, candle painting, aromatherapy perfume making, and pottery painting — Red Glasses Workshops is one of the most diverse and most original indoor creative destinations in London. Both studios are located minutes apart in the Nine Elms neighbourhood, making it perfectly possible — and thoroughly recommended
— to visit both in a single creative day.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The V&A; in South Kensington is the world's greatest museum of art, design, and performance — and on a rainy day, its extraordinary range of permanent collections makes it one of the most rewarding places in London to spend several unhurried hours.

From the fashion galleries and jewellery collection to the ceramics rooms, the ironwork court, and the extraordinary Cast Courts — containing full-scale plaster reproductions of some of the greatest sculptures and architectural monuments in European history — the V&A; is a place of perpetual discovery. Entry to the permanent collection is free, and the museum's café, housed in the original Victorian refreshment rooms, is one of the most beautiful places in London to pause over a cup of tea.

The Barbican Centre

The Barbican Centre — the brutalist cultural complex in the City of London — is a rainy day destination of remarkable versatility. Its arts cinema screens an eclectic and consistently excellent programme of independent, international, and classic films. Its concert hall is home to the London

Symphony Orchestra and hosts a year-round programme of classical, contemporary, and
experimental music. The Barbican's covered lakeside concourse — with its restaurants, bars, and bookshop — is one of the most atmospheric urban spaces in London on a grey day: brutalist concrete softened by water, plants, and the particular quiet that descends on the complex when the rain is falling outside.

The Best Rainy Day in London Starts at Tufting London

Of all the extraordinary indoor experiences available in this city on a wet afternoon, a tufting workshop at Tufting London remains our unreserved first recommendation — not because we are partisan, but because no other experience combines creative engagement, social warmth, expert guidance, and a genuinely extraordinary finished result in quite the same way.

The rain will pass. Your handmade rug will not. Come and make something beautiful today.

■ Tufting London — London's Original Tufting Studio
One minute from Nine Elms Station, Northern Line, Zone 1 — Central London
■ tuftinglondon.com
Tufting London — The UK's First Professional Tufting Studio, Founded 2022. Over 1,400 Five-Star Google Reviews.

Beginner-friendly. Central London. Nine Elms Station, Northern Line, Zone 1.