10 Things to do in London in October 2026

Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art at V&A South Kensington explores Elsa Schiaparelli’s approach to fashion as an art form. The first UK exhibition devoted to Schiaparelli traces the house from the 1920s to contemporary couture by its current creative director, Daniel Roseberry.

Schiaparelli’s collaborations with Salvador Dalí sit alongside work by Jean Cocteau, Picasso and Man Ray, revealing the connections between fashion and surrealism. Research into the house’s London branch and its clients adds a local dimension to the exhibition.

The exhibition runs in The Sainsbury Gallery from 28 March to 15 November 2026. Tickets cost £28 on weekdays and £30 at weekends, with concessions available and free admission for V&A members. Advance booking is recommended.

Renée Levi: September brings a colourful, two-panel painting to the exterior of the Hayward Gallery. This is Levi's first large-scale public installation in the UK, on display from 23 September to 15 November 2026.

The outdoor setting makes it a straightforward art stop on a South Bank walk, without planning a visit inside the gallery. The work was co-commissioned by the Hayward Gallery and Audemars Piguet Contemporary.

Pokémon meets space science at the Science Museum from 2 October 2026 to 3 January 2027. The Pokémon Space Trail links Pokémon with real European Space Agency (ESA) technology and missions across nine galleries. Pick up a free trail sheet in Energy Hall to begin exploring.

The trail is free with a pre-booked free museum admission ticket. If you also want to visit the mezzanine Pokémon x ESA Shop, you will need an additional free timed ticket booked through the museum’s official shop page.

Even without the Pokémon trail, the museum’s free Space gallery is worth a visit for its Apollo 10 and Soyuz spacecraft, Helen Sharman’s spacesuit and a Moon-rock sample.

Renoir and Love explores love, friendship and family relationships in Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s paintings. On view in the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing from 3 October 2026 to 31 January 2027, it is the gallery’s first exhibition devoted to Renoir since 2007.

A highlight is Dance at the Moulin de la Galette (1876), on loan from the Musée d’Orsay. This is the painting’s first display in the UK, offering a chance to see the celebrated Parisian dance scene in London.

Tickets cost £20 off-peak, Sunday–Thursday, or £25 on Fridays, Saturdays and every day during the first two weeks. Under-18s and members enter free.

LFF for Free offers a free way into the 70th BFI London Film Festival, with short films, filmmaker conversations, family activities and DJ nights at BFI Southbank on selected dates from 7 to 18 October 2026. Choose an individual event to fit into a South Bank visit; the free programme does not extend to all festival screenings or Screen Talks.

Highlights include a Displacement Film Fund short-film collection introduced in person by Cate Blanchett and participating filmmakers. There are also talks featuring Mark Cousins, Adam Pearson and Andrew Davies, plus a Girls on Film live podcast with Carol Morley among its guests.

Admission to LFF for Free events is free, and booking opens on Thursday 1 October 2026 at 10am London time, with a maximum of two tickets per person. Free tickets do not guarantee entry: places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early. Use the festival’s official Events hub to check each activity’s date, time, age restrictions and booking details.

BFI Southbank is worth visiting beyond the festival for its Mediatheque, where you can explore material from the BFI National Archive free of charge.

Curated by Edward Enninful, The 90s: Art and Fashion brings together photography, fashion and art to explore British creativity in the 1990s. The exhibition runs at Tate Britain from 8 October 2026 to 14 February 2027.

The announced selection includes work by photographers Corinne Day and Juergen Teller, artists Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas, and designers Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. Bringing these disciplines together offers a way to explore the decade beyond fashion alone, through the connections between image-making, clothing and art.

Tickets are listed at £22. Entry is free for Tate Members, while registered Tate Collective members aged 16–25 can book £5 tickets. Concessions are available; check current prices and eligibility when booking.

Decorex brings furniture, lighting, textiles and interior materials to Olympia London’s Grand Hall from 11 to 14 October 2026. Alongside the exhibition stands, design talks and live craftsmanship demonstrations offer ways to explore both finished pieces and how they are made.

The returning Making Spaces programme puts artisans at the centre of the visit. Confirmed participants include paper artist Catherine Hammerton, mosaic artist Gary Drostle, handweaver Nowshin Prenon and stone carver Zoë Wilson: a useful focus for visitors interested in materials and making processes as well as interiors.

The fair is open Sunday–Tuesday, 10:00–18:00, and Wednesday, 10:00–17:00. It welcomes consumer visitors as well as the trade. Tickets cost £43 + VAT for consumers, £28 + VAT for trade visitors, £15 + VAT for students, £60 + VAT for manufacturers and £75 + VAT for VIP admission. Every ticket category includes access across all four days; check the official ticket page for category details before booking.

PAD London brings historical and contemporary design together in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, from 13 to 18 October 2026. Public days run from 15 to 18 October, following the Collectors Preview on 13 October and VIP Opening on 14 October. The mix of periods makes it a useful stop for visitors interested in design and interiors, not just collectors.

Frieze London and Frieze Masters bring two different perspectives on art to The Regent’s Park. Frieze London focuses on contemporary work, with curated sections highlighting younger galleries and experimental voices; Frieze Masters ranges from ancient objects and Old Masters to late-20th-century art. A combined ticket lets you explore both.

Additionally, Frieze Sculpture is a free outdoor exhibition showcasing works from 11 international artists in Regent's Park until 1st of November.

Halloween at Kew returns from 16 October to 1 November 2026 with an illuminated outdoor trail through the gardens. New scenes include Dracula’s Lair, the Cursed Tomb, Medieval Dungeon, Forest Ritual and Monster Disco, with live actors, fire performers and the returning Headless Horseman adding theatrical encounters along the way.

Allow around 1–1.5 hours for the approximately 1.5km route. Daylight, Twilight and Moonlight sessions offer increasing scare levels, so choose a slot to suit your group. Opening hours are 6–10pm on 16–24 October and 4–10pm on 25 October–1 November, with last entry at 8.30pm. Select your entrance when booking; Brentford Gate requires a parking booking.

Non-member adult tickets cost £19.50 off-peak or £24 peak; tickets for children aged 4–15 are £14 or £18. A family ticket for two adults and two children costs £64 or £80. Under-fours and essential companions enter free, and booking fees are included. Halloween tickets do not include a daytime garden visit, though a combined ticket is available.

For a separate daytime visit, Kew’s Grade I-listed Temperate House is worth seeking out as the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse, housing approximately 1,200 plant species, including rare and threatened plants.