How to Celebrate in London Without an Olympic Ticket

Visitors to London (and locals) who don't have tickets to the upcoming Olympic Games can still get into the swing of things from the sidelines: VisitLondon has a list of events that will take place on the streets and in the surrounding areas that the public can watch without tickets.

Road Events
Olympic events like the road cycling races on July 28 and 29 take place on public roads and are free to watch along most of the route (just get there early to nab a good spot). The race travels through six London boroughs and starts at The Mall. The Triathlon takes place in Hyde Park on August 4 and 7 and the Marathon pass through the city’ streets on August 5 and 12. Find out about more free Olympic events here.

BT London Live
Hyde Park and Victoria Park will be the London Live sites during the Olympics. Huge screens will show all the sporting action and there will be sports to try out and free gigs from the likes of Tom Jones, Alexandra Burke, The Feeling and Amy Macdonald. Cadbury House will see huge inflatable purple domes (filled with chocolate, we hope). For the Paralympic Games, London Live will shift to Trafalgar Square.

Olympic Torch Relay
The Olympic torch will be making its way around London for a week from July 21. Here is VisitLondon's guide on where to see the torch in London to make your plans.

London 2012 Festival
The festival is a 12-week extravaganza marking the climax of the Cultural Olympiad (a sort of arty version of the Olympics) and is on through September 9. Visitors can see portraits of athletes and Stratford residents at the BT Road to 2012 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, an Indian take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Noel Coward Theatre and a screening of the classic sporting movie Chariots of Fire at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Square.