Greenwich

The river services from central London are the best approach and are a genuine part of the day rather than transport.

Boats run from Westminster, the London Eye, Tower and London Bridge piers down to Greenwich, taking anything from thirty minutes to an hour depending on where you start.

You pass the whole eastern half of London from the water — the Tower, Tower Bridge, the Docklands towers, and the river opening out as you go.

The fare is modest and travelcards give a discount on the commuter services.

The alternative is the DLR to Cutty Sark station, which is quicker and has its own appeal since the trains are driverless and you can sit at the front.

The pattern that works: boat down, DLR back, or the reverse.

Worth stating plainly, because Greenwich is an unusually cheap day out for London.

Free: the National Maritime Museum, the Queen’s House with its Tulip Stairs and art collection, Greenwich Park, the view from the hill, Greenwich Market to walk through, St Alfege Church, and the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College.

Ticketed: the Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory, the Painted Hall at the naval college, and the planetarium shows.

A full and satisfying day here can cost the boat fare and lunch.

Combination tickets covering the Cutty Sark and the Observatory exist and are better value than buying both separately.

The last surviving tea clipper, in dry dock beside the pier, raised on supports so you can walk underneath the hull.

That is the distinctive part — standing beneath a ship’s copper-sheathed bottom, looking up at the lines that made it the fastest of its kind.

On board you walk the decks and the holds, with displays on the tea and wool trades.

It is ticketed, takes about an hour, and is more interesting than a preserved ship sounds.

The café underneath the hull is one of the more unusual places in London to have a coffee.

It is the first thing you reach from both the pier and the DLR station, which makes it a natural start or a natural skip depending on the queue.

The baroque set piece at the centre of Greenwich — Wren’s twin domed buildings facing the river, designed so as not to block the view from the Queen’s House behind.

The grounds are free to walk through and are where most of the postcard photographs are taken.

The Painted Hall inside is ticketed and is the reason to go in: a vast painted ceiling and walls covering every surface, sometimes described as Britain’s Sistine Chapel, restored relatively recently.

The chapel opposite is free.

One warning from visitors: the Painted Hall is hired for private events and closes without much notice. It is worth checking before making a special trip, and the revenue funds the site’s upkeep.

Both free, both substantial, and both routinely skipped by visitors who head straight for the hill.

The National Maritime Museum holds Nelson’s uniform with the bullet hole, polar exploration material, ship models and the royal barge. It is large, well laid out and good with children.

The Queen’s House next door is a Palladian villa by Inigo Jones holding an art collection, with the Tulip Stairs — the first geometric self-supporting staircase in Britain and one of the most photographed spirals in London.

Neither requires a ticket.

Between them they are an easy two hours, and visitors who discover them late in the day consistently wish they had started there.

The Royal Observatory sits at the top of Greenwich Park, and the climb is the thing people underestimate.

It is steep. Reviewers with walking difficulties describe turning back, and it is a genuine effort on a hot day.

At the top: the observatory itself, ticketed, with the Prime Meridian line, the historic clocks and the planetarium — covered in its own guide.

Also at the top, and free: the view. London laid out below with the naval college in the foreground, the Docklands towers across the river and the City beyond. It is one of the best panoramas in London and it costs nothing.

Buses run up the hill for anyone who cannot walk it, and a taxi will take you to the gates.

You can see the view without buying an observatory ticket.

A covered market in the middle of the town, trading most days, with crafts, vintage, art and a substantial street food section.

Opinion divides. Some visitors love it; others describe it as a tourist operation with the same goods as every other London market.

The street food is the strongest part and is good value compared with the restaurants around the town centre.

It is compact — half an hour covers it — and it is under cover, which matters in rain.

The lanes around the market hold independent shops and are worth the extra ten minutes.

Check the trading days, since the mix of stalls varies through the week.

A full day if you are doing the museums, the ship, the hill and the market.

Half a day for a targeted visit — boat down, Cutty Sark, the naval college grounds, up the hill for the view, and back.

Three hours is the minimum that does the place justice.

Add the travel, which is thirty to sixty minutes each way by boat and around twenty by DLR.

The common mistake is treating Greenwich as an afternoon. It is a town rather than an attraction, and the free museums alone will absorb two hours if you let them.

August is the busiest month, with May, June and July close behind — a clear summer pattern, since most of the day is outdoors.

January, February and December are the quietest.

Within the day, arriving in the morning gives you the museums before they fill and the hill before the middle of the day.

The park and the view are best in the late afternoon, with the light behind you on the city.

Most of the attractions close in the late afternoon, so an early start is worth more here than at a central London site.

On a clear winter day the view from the hill is sharper than anything summer offers.

One of the better family days in London and largely free.

What works: the Cutty Sark with the hull overhead, the Maritime Museum’s children’s galleries, the park with its space to run, standing with one foot in each hemisphere on the meridian line, and the boat journey itself.

There is a carousel near the pier.

The hill is the constraint — steep with small legs, though the park at the top rewards it.

The market’s street food handles lunch without a restaurant.

A workable shape: boat down, ship, museum, picnic in the park, hill, DLR back.

Mixed, and the hill is the issue.

The riverside area is largely flat: the Cutty Sark, the naval college, the market and the museums are all level and accessible, with lifts and accessible toilets.

Cutty Sark DLR station is step-free, and the river piers have level boarding with assistance.

The climb to the observatory is steep and there is no step-free walking route of any ease. A bus runs up the hill and a taxi can reach the gates, both of which are the practical answer.

The park paths are paved on the main routes and gravelled elsewhere.

Most of the free attractions are the accessible ones, which makes a good day possible without the climb.

River boat from Westminster, the Eye, Tower or London Bridge piers — the scenic option, thirty to sixty minutes.

DLR to Cutty Sark from Bank or Tower Gateway — around twenty minutes and the quickest.

National rail to Greenwich station from London Bridge — fast and unremarkable.

The Greenwich foot tunnel under the Thames connects to the Isle of Dogs on the north bank and is free, open at all hours and a genuine curiosity — Victorian, tiled, and slightly eerie.

The Elizabeth line does not serve Greenwich directly; the nearest crossing is at Woolwich or Canary Wharf with a connection.

The criticism here is mostly about the market being touristy and the observatory ticket price. The praise is about the whole package.

The thin version: DLR down, look at the ship from the outside, walk through the market, climb the hill, photograph the meridian line, and go back.

The good version: boat down the river in the morning, the free Maritime Museum and Queen’s House first while they are quiet, lunch from the market’s street food, the naval college grounds and the Painted Hall, then the hill in the late afternoon for the view, and the DLR home.

Most of it is free, the boat is a pleasure in itself, and it is the best value day out in London.