Days Out Near Dulwich With Children, Checked October 2026

For a day out near Dulwich with children, most families start with the Horniman Museum and Gardens and Crystal Palace Park, where the Victorian dinosaurs have just been restored. Both are free. Next come the city farms at Surrey Docks and Vauxhall, and IWM London and the National Maritime Museum, both free too. Every entry was checked against the venue’s own website on 28 October 2026.

Where a venue has a café, the Prices change and half-term programmes come and go, so check before you set off.

Close to home: Dulwich, Forest Hill and Crystal Palace

Dulwich Picture Gallery, Dulwich Village

Admission is free for under-18s, the gallery says, and it describes its collection as “one of the finest collections of Old Master paintings in the world”. Adults pay £10 for the collection (£1 for exhibitions, or free for the collection, on Universal Credit or Pension Credit), and exhibition tickets are from £16. The Sculpture Garden is free and open daily from 8am to 5pm. For under-8s, the ArtPlay Pavilion costs £9 a child, with up to two adults free. The gallery also lists free Art Sundays sessions for families. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm; booking is recommended. Level access from College Road. The café appears on the FSA register under a new name, awaiting its first inspection. Gallery Road, SE21 7AD.

Horniman Museum and Gardens, Forest Hill

The museum and gardens are free; the Aquarium, Butterfly House and some events charge, according to the Horniman’s visit page. The museum opens daily from 10am to 5.30pm. The free Animal Walk, at the top of the gardens, opens 12.30pm to 4pm, with alpacas, Valais Blacknose sheep, rabbits and chickens; its path is on an incline. Aquarium tickets are £3.50 a child aged 3 to 16 and £6.50 an adult. The Nature Gallery and Nature Discovery Den are closed until 5 February 2027. On Saturday 31 October the gardens and Animal Walk close all day for the Day of the Dead Family Festival. The museum café is rated 5 for hygiene (FSA, 19 November 2024). 100 London Road, SE23 3PQ.

Crystal Palace Park and the dinosaurs

The park’s regeneration is finished, the National Lottery Heritage Fund said on 16 July 2026. The 30 dinosaur sculptures of 1854, the world’s first life-sized models of extinct animals, have been conserved and repainted in colours close to the originals, and are off the Heritage at Risk Register. The project added a visitor centre with a permanent exhibition on the park’s history, a dinosaur-themed playground and two new accessible routes. Bromley Council also lists the maze, the boating lake and the Italian Terraces. The park is free; the Crystal Palace Park Trust sets the opening hours and runs the car parks. Crystal Palace and Penge West stations.

Crystal Palace Park Farm, Crystal Palace

A small city farm inside the park, run by Capel Manor College, whose animal-care students help look after the animals. The college’s page describes “a wide range of animals” and says children can “meet and greet the animals as well as learn about the running of a working farm”. Entry is free, with donations welcome. Open daily from noon to 3.30pm except Wednesdays, and on bank holidays. There are toilets and handwashing points around the farm. Weekday mornings are kept for school and group visits, which must be booked. It is a short walk from the National Sports Centre and Crystal Palace station. Ledrington Road, SE19 2BS. Call 020 8778 5572.

City farms and a children’s zoo

Surrey Docks Farm, Rotherhithe

A riverside farm on the Thames Path, free and open 10am to 4pm every day, bank holidays included, according to its visit page. The farm asks for donations to help it “stay open and free to the visiting public”. The riverside gardens on the Thames Path open longer, 9am to 5pm, and the farm shop opens 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm. Small-animal sessions with the rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets and chickens are a spring and summer thing: weekends from April to September, £3 a person. Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome. The Barn café, run by Pear Tree Kitchen, opens daily and is rated 4 for hygiene (FSA, 15 November 2025). South Wharf, Rotherhithe Street, SE16 5ET.

Vauxhall City Farm, Vauxhall

An education charity on 1.5 acres “within earshot of Big Ben”, the farm says, with a riding school and a café, The Old Dairy. Entry is free, and the farm asks visitors to donate £4 if they can. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 4pm, last entry 3.45pm; closed on Mondays. Its Halloween Festival runs to 1 November, free with some activities at £3 to £5. Santa’s Grotto follows on weekends from 28 November to 22 December at £9. The Old Dairy is rated 4 for hygiene (FSA, 13 March 2025). 165 Tyers Street, SE11 5HS.

Battersea Park Children’s Zoo, Battersea

A family-run zoo in Battersea Park with more than 100 animals, from monkeys, meerkats and otters to lemurs and farm animals, according to the zoo. It has an adventure playground with a real tractor, fire engine and helicopter, a climbing web and a sensory sandpit. A day ticket is £17.50 for an adult, £13.95 for a child aged 2 to 15, free for under-2s, or £53.95 for a family of four (prices). Booking is not required. Open daily 10am to 4.30pm, last entry 4pm. Its Not So Spooky Halloween runs to 31 October. Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ. Call 020 7924 5826.

Museums and ships by the Thames

IWM London, Lambeth Road

Entry is free and “you don’t need to book”, Imperial War Museums says. The museum covers six floors, from the First World War Galleries, with more than 1,300 objects, to the present day. Until 28 February 2027 it has Childhood in War, a free exhibition on how children have lived through conflict since 1914. IWM says it is designed for families with children aged 8 and over, with younger visitors welcome, and has hands-on activities. Open 10am to 6pm every day except 24 to 26 December. The museum café is rated 5 for hygiene (FSA, 24 April 2026). Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ.

HMS Belfast, London Bridge

IWM’s other London branch is a Second World War cruiser moored by Tower Bridge, with “nine decks of discovery”, the museum says. Adult tickets are from £26.80 and under-5s go free. UK residents on Universal Credit, Pension Credit and some other benefits can book £3 tickets for up to five people in a household, online and in advance. Family activities run every weekend and daily in the school holidays. IWM suggests allowing at least three hours. Visitors climb ladders between decks. Open daily 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm. The ship’s café is rated 5 for hygiene (FSA, 27 April 2026). The Queen’s Walk, SE1 2JH.

The Golden Hinde, Bankside

A full-size reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake’s ship, moored in St Mary Overie Dock. You can explore it yourself without booking, and the crew offer guided tours, the ship’s site says. Admission is £6 for adults and the same for children aged 3 to 16, £20 for a family of four, and free for under-3s, with an audio guide included. The ship warns that “essential restoration work” means it is “not looking our best” and that access to some areas on board is affected. Open daily 10am to 5pm from November to March (6pm from April to October); it sometimes closes for private functions, so it suggests calling 020 7403 0123 first. Cathedral Street, SE1 9DE.

Brunel Museum, Rotherhithe

A small museum in the engine house and the entrance shaft of Marc Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under the Thames. The museum’s visit page says a visit takes about 45 minutes. Under-16s go free; adults pay £10, concessions £7, and residents of SE16 and SE8 £2.50. Open 10.30am to 3.30pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, and every day in half term. A 45-minute guided tour runs at 12.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays, included in the ticket; prebook that slot to be sure of a place. The museum says the site “is not fully accessible yet”. Railway Avenue, SE16 4LF, next to Rotherhithe Overground station.

Greenwich

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Free and open daily, 10am to 5pm (last entry 4.15pm), with booking recommended, Royal Museums Greenwich says. Its newest family gallery, Astronomers Take Over, is an interactive space the museum pitches at “curious minds aged 4 to 104”. The Queen’s House next door is also free. Up the hill, the Royal Observatory charges £24 for an adult and £12 for a child, and opens 10am to 5pm until 2 November. The museum’s Parkside Café is rated 5 for hygiene (FSA, 8 September 2025). Park Row, SE10 9NF.

Cutty Sark, Greenwich

The tea clipper of 1869 stands in a dry dock by Greenwich Pier, run by Royal Museums Greenwich. Tickets are £22 for an adult and £11 for a child, with members free (RMG). Open daily, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4.15pm. Combine it with the free National Maritime Museum, a short walk across the road, for a full day. The café on board, run by Benugo, is rated 5 for hygiene (FSA, 26 September 2024). Cutty Sark Gardens, SE10 9HT.

How we chose

These are the days out families around Dulwich search for most: the free museums and parks on the doorstep, the city farms, and the big family attractions within an hour by train or bus from SE21, SE22, SE24 and SE15. We picked them on what can be checked: each venue’s own published hours, prices and age guidance, FSA hygiene ratings for the café, and public records such as the Heritage Fund’s report on the Crystal Palace dinosaurs. Every price and time comes from the venue’s own site on 28 October 2026. We left out Eltham Palace and Down House for now: English Heritage’s pages did not show us their winter prices and hours. We will add them when we can check them.

Run a place that should be here, or spot something that has changed? Email newsdesk@dulwichtoday.co.uk.

For more locally, see things to do in Dulwich, what’s on in Dulwich this month, October half term in Dulwich, Halloween in Dulwich, our guides to Dulwich playgrounds, soft play, walks near Dulwich and Dulwich cafes, and the Dulwich business directory.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best free days out near Dulwich with children?

Seven of the places in this guide are free for the whole family: the Horniman Museum and Gardens (the Aquarium and Butterfly House charge), Crystal Palace Park and its dinosaurs, Crystal Palace Park Farm, Surrey Docks Farm, Vauxhall City Farm, IWM London and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Brunel Museum are free for children, and adults pay.

Have the Crystal Palace dinosaurs been restored?

Yes. The National Lottery Heritage Fund said on 16 July 2026 that all 30 sculptures had been conserved and repainted in colours close to their original 1854 appearance, and that they had come off Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. The park also has a new visitor centre and a dinosaur-themed playground. The park is free.

Do I need to book?

Mostly not. IWM London says you do not need to book, Battersea Park Children’s Zoo says booking is not required, and the city farms are walk-in. Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Greenwich museums recommend booking, and the Brunel Museum’s Saturday and Sunday 12.30pm tour is best prebooked.