From the restored Crystal Palace dinosaurs to Darwin's Down House and Chislehurst Caves: 14 days out, every venue checked this month, with prices.

Bromley is London’s biggest borough by area, and its days out run from a world-first collection of Victorian dinosaurs to Charles Darwin’s study, a Blitz shelter deep under Chislehurst and three hundred acres of Tudor parkland. This is our working list of the borough’s best things to do, and one thing makes it different from the usual roundups: every venue below was checked against its own website this month, with current opening patterns and prices, so nothing here is trading on a defunct operator or a pre-pandemic timetable.

Decision helper matrix for days out in the borough of Bromley, arranged by indoors or outdoors and free or paid: free outdoors includes Crystal Palace Park, High Elms, Scadbury Park and Kelsey Park; free indoors includes Bethlem Museum of the Mind and The Glades; paid options include Down House, Chislehurst Caves, the Churchill Theatre, Biggin Hill Memorial Museum and The Pavilion
Chart by Bromley Online. Entry prices checked against each venue, August 2026.

The big three

Crystal Palace Park and the dinosaurs (Penge)

The borough’s headline attraction just had its best year since 1936. The park’s multi-million-pound regeneration completed in July 2026: the thirty Grade I-listed Crystal Palace dinosaurs, the world’s first attempt at full-size dinosaur sculptures, have been restored and removed from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, the Italian Terraces are rebuilt, and a new visitor centre opened on 18 July. The dinosaurs stand on islands in the lower lake at the Penge side of the park, are free to visit, and are best reached from Penge Gate (Crystal Palace Park Trust). Children get a dinosaur-themed playground, a maze and a skatepark; the small park farm, run by Capel Manor College, is free and open daily except Wednesdays from 12.00pm to 3.30pm (the Trust).

Down House, Darwin’s home (Downe)

The house where Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species sits in a village lane south of Orpington, run by English Heritage. You can stand in the study where the book was written, then walk the Sandwalk “thinking path” through the gardens. Open daily, 10am to 5pm (last entry 4pm); advance tickets are about £17 for adults, £8.50 for children, more on the gate, and prices vary by season (English Heritage).

Chislehurst Caves

Twenty-two miles of hand-dug chalk tunnels that served as a mushroom farm, a wartime shelter for thousands, and a 1960s music venue. Entry is by hourly guided lamplit tour, first at 10am and last at 4pm, open Wednesday to Sunday plus every day in local school holidays; tours take about 45 minutes and cost £10 for adults, £8 for children and seniors (Chislehurst Caves). The floors are uneven, so it is not one for pushchairs or wheelchairs.

Free museums and culture

  • Bethlem Museum of the Mind (Beckenham): the museum of the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital, on the Bethlem Royal Hospital site at Monks Orchard Road. Serious, moving and genuinely free, open Wednesday to Saturday, 9.30am to 5pm (Museum of the Mind).
  • Biggin Hill Memorial Museum: tells the story of the RAF’s most famous fighter station through personal objects, alongside St George’s Chapel of Remembrance, built in 1951. Summer opening is Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm; adults £8.50, children £4.50, no booking needed (Biggin Hill Memorial Museum).
  • The Churchill Theatre (Bromley town centre): the borough’s main receiving house, run by Trafalgar Entertainment, with touring drama, musicals and comedy year-round; late summer 2026 brings English Youth Ballet’s Giselle and the farce Stepping Out (Churchill Theatre).
  • Bromley Little Theatre: a proper local secret opposite Bromley North station, staging a full season of plays, from Coward’s The Vortex to Blackadder this autumn (Bromley Little Theatre).

Parks and green space

  • High Elms Country Park (near Orpington): open woodland and meadow with a café, exhibition centre and car park off Shire Lane (Bromley Council). Free, gates open from 7.30am weekdays and 9am weekends.
  • Scadbury Park (Chislehurst): more than 300 acres of meadow and woodland around the moated site of a Tudor manor, home of the Walsingham family from 1424 to 1655 and now a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Free, with a car park off Old Perry Street (Bromley Council).
  • Kelsey Park (Beckenham): ornamental Victorian park around two lakes, with a popular playground, café and mini-golf. Note that footbridge replacement and lake desilting works are running at the moment, so parts may be fenced off (Bromley Council).
  • Church House Gardens and Queen’s Gardens (Bromley town): the town centre’s own green escape, ornamental gardens dropping steeply from the Churchill Theatre to a lake, with Queen’s Gardens beside The Glades (Bromley Council).

Rainy-day standbys

  • The Pavilion (Bromley town centre): the flagship of Mytime Active, the borough’s leisure operator, with a leisure pool with wave sessions, gym, ten-pin bowling and soft play, pool open daily from 6.30am (Mytime Active).
  • Vue Bromley (St Mark’s Square): nine screens with laser projection and recliner-style seating, in the leisure complex by Bromley South station (Vue).
  • The Glades: the borough’s big covered shopping centre, open seven days (The Glades).

Closed or changing: worth knowing before you set out

Three venues that still appear in older listings are not currently open, and it is worth saving the wasted trip:

  • Crofton Roman Villa (Orpington) is closed for a £250,000 refurbishment, with public visits expected to resume from September 2026 (Bromley Council).
  • Bromley Picturehouse has closed permanently; Bromley no longer appears on Picturehouse’s own cinema list. Vue Bromley is the town’s cinema.
  • West Wickham Leisure Centre’s pool is closed for rebuilding and is not due to reopen until 2028 (Mytime Active).

Practical bits

Most town-centre venues are a short walk from Bromley South or Bromley North; our trains guide covers both stations, and the parking guide has the car parks and tariffs for anyone driving in. Down House, the caves, High Elms and Biggin Hill all have their own parking. If you are planning around the school holidays, check each venue’s own site on the day; holiday opening patterns (the caves especially) differ from term time.

Frequently asked questions

What is there to do in Bromley for free?

Plenty. The restored Crystal Palace dinosaurs, the park farm, Bethlem Museum of the Mind, and the borough’s big green spaces: High Elms, Scadbury Park, Kelsey Park and Church House Gardens all cost nothing to visit.

What can you do in Bromley with kids?

Crystal Palace Park is the banker: dinosaurs, a dinosaur-themed playground, a maze and a free farm (closed Wednesdays). Add the Chislehurst Caves tour for slightly older children (£8 a child), swimming and soft play at The Pavilion, and Down House’s gardens and family tickets (£42.50 in advance).

What is there to do in Bromley when it rains?

The caves stay a constant cool temperature whatever the weather, and the town centre has The Pavilion (pool, bowling, soft play), Vue Bromley, The Glades and the Churchill Theatre within a few minutes’ walk of each other.

Is Chislehurst Caves open?

Yes: Wednesday to Sunday, plus every day in local school holidays, with hourly guided tours from 10am to 4pm, £10 for adults (Chislehurst Caves). Entry is by tour only.

Is Crofton Roman Villa open?

Not at the moment. It is closed for refurbishment, with public visits expected from September 2026 according to the council. Check the council’s page before planning a visit.

Sources

Every venue above links to the page we checked in August 2026: Crystal Palace Park Trust, English Heritage, Chislehurst Caves, Bethlem Museum of the Mind, Biggin Hill Memorial Museum, Churchill Theatre, Bromley Little Theatre, Mytime Active, Vue, The Glades and the Bromley Council parks pages linked above.

Opening times and prices change, especially around school holidays. Check the venue’s own site on the day. Our other local pages cover parking in Bromley, trains to London and Bromley bin collection days.