1. Visit the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain. Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens (Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney) are open daily throughout the year and admission is free of charge. The site’s feature gardens include a herb garden, a begonia garden and an Australian native rockery, and you can also explore its Rainforest Walk and Mrs Macquaries Bushland Walk. The Domain is an area of parkland which surrounds the botanic gardens.

2. Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge. Although there is a charge to climb Sydney Harbour Bridge, you can walk across it for free. Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of the city’s most famous landmarks and it was officially opened in 1932. It will take you about 20 minutes to walk across the bridge, which is nicknamed “the Coathanger”, and you’ll get fantastic views of the harbour.

3. Visit a Museum or Gallery. There are a number of museums and galleries that you can visit free of charge in Sydney. You can visit the Australian National Maritime Museum (2 Murray Street, Darling Harbour, Sydney), which houses more than 40,000 exhibits, including a number of historic vessels. Other free museums and galleries in Sydney include the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney), the Museum of Contemporary Art (140 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney) and the Nicholson Museum (University of Sydney, Sydney).

4. Take a Tour of Government House. Sydney’s Government House (Macquarie Street, Sydney) was home to 27 Governors of New South Wales between the years 1846 and 1996. It was constructed on the site of the first Governor’s Residence, and features Gothic Revival style architecture. Guided tours of the house are available between 10.30am and 3pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The grounds and gardens are open daily between 10am and 4pm.

5. Relax in Bicentennial Park. Opened during the 1980s, Bicentennial Park is part of the larger Sydney Olympic Park, and it’s the perfect place to go for a relaxing and free day out. There are more than 8km of cycleways and pathways in the park, so you can take a stroll or hire a bike. You can also go birdwatching, enjoy a picnic or even have a barbecue. The park’s attractions include Lake Belvedere, the Silent Hearts Memorial Garden and the Peace Monument. There are also two playgrounds for younger children to enjoy.

Sydney is one of Australia’s most popular tourist destinations. Many different airlines operate flights to Sydney from London and other major international airports, and you’ll find a wide range of hotels and attractions within the city.

Image: Karen

1. Visit a Museum. London is known for its world-class museums and many of them are free to visit. Museums that you can visit for free include: the Science Museum (Exhibition Road, South Kensington, SW7 2DD); the British Museum (Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG); the Natural History Museum (Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD); the Victoria and Albert Museum (Cromwell Road, London, SW& 2RL); and the National Maritime Museum (Romney Road, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NF).

2. Watch the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The Changing of the Guard ceremony, in which one set of the Queen’s guards hands over to another set, takes place every day from May to July and on alternate days during the rest of the year. The 45 minute ceremony takes place at 11.30 a.m., but it’s best to get there early to ensure that you get a good view.

3. Visit an Art Gallery. You can see world-famous works of art for free in many of London’s  galleries. Galleries that you can visit free of charge include: the Tate Britain (Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG); the Tate Modern (Bankside, London, SE1 9TG); the National Gallery (Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN); the Saatchi Gallery (Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London, SW3 4SQ); and the National Portrait Gallery (St. Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE).

4. Relax in London’s Royal Parks. London has eight Royal Parks, all of which are free to visit. Each of the parks has its own charm and attractions, and they are perfect places in which to take a relaxing stroll or enjoy a picnic. The Royal Parks are: Bushy Park; the Green Park; Greenwich Park; Hyde Park; Kensington Gardens; The Regent’s Park; Richmond Park; and St. James’s Park.

5. Visit the Houses of Parliament. If you’re a resident of the U.K., you can take a free tour of the Houses of Parliament, but you will need to book your place by contacting your M.P. at least 6 months prior to your visit. Both U.K. and overseas residents can take tours of the building during the summer recess, but you will need to queue up on the day and pay to do so.

However, both U.K. residents and visitors from overseas can watch debates taking place in the Houses of Parliament free of charge when Parliament is in session. Simply join the queue for tickets at the Cromwell Green visitor entrance. It’s best to avoid trying to watch Prime Minister’s Question Time, as tickets are limited and queues can be long.

Image: Adrian Pingstone

• Five Free Things to Do in Blackpool

• Five Free Things to Do in Edinburgh

• Five Free Things to Do in Paris

• Five Free Things to Do in Chester

• Five Free Things to Do in Bristol

• Five Free Things to Do in Newcastle and Gateshead

• Five Free Things to Do in Cheltenham

• Five Free Things to Do in York

• Five Free Things to Do in Bath

The list includes a wide range of differen types of campsite, including family-friendly campsites, kid-free campsites, traditional campsites with pitches for tents, campsites featuring yurts and teepees, seaside campsites, more isolated places where you can camp, campsites which will appeal to food-lovers, and sites where the accommodation is a little more luxurious (such as La Rosa in North Yorkshire, where you can stay in a gyspy caravan).

With prices starting from as low as £4 per person per night, a camping holiday can be an extremely cheap holiday option, particularly as you can find some great deals on camping equipment if you shop around.

Do you agree with the Time Online’s choices? Are there any campsites that you would recommend?

Here are five free things that you can do during your stay in Edinburgh:

1. Visit the National Galleries of Scotland. The National Galleries of Scotland consist of five galleries on three different sites in Edinburgh,  so the city is a paradise for art lovers.

The National Gallery Complex (The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL) consists of two galleries, The National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy Building. The National Gallery of Scotland houses works of fine art dating from the Renaissance to the 19th century, and includes works by artists such as Titian, Monet, Rembrandt and Van Gogh, as well as paintings by prominent Scottish artists, and admission is free of charge.  The Royal Scottish Academy Building is used as a venue for regular art exhibitions, and there may be a charge to see these.

The Modern Art Galleries (75 Bedford Road, Edinburgh) are comprised of The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, where you can see works by artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, and The Dean Gallery, which houses works of art from the schools of Dada and Surrealism. Admission to both of these galleries is free of charge and you can also see sculptures in the parkland surrounding them.

The final gallery to make up the National Galleries of Scotland is The National Portrait Gallery of Scotland. Unfortunately, this gallery is currently closed whilst it undergoes major refurbishment, but is due to reopen in 2011.

2. Explore the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR). The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s origins date back to 1670, when two doctors, Robert Sibbald and Andrew Balfour, set up a physic garden on a small plot in the city’s Holyrood Park. It moved to a new site on the high road to Leith in 1763, before moving to its current site in Inverleith Row in 1820.

The gardens are spread over more than 70 acres and feature thousands of plants. Highlights include the Queen Mother’s Memorial Garden, which features a labyrinth planted with bog myrtle, together with plants from Asia, North America, Europe and the Southern Hemisphere. Entrance to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is free of charge, although you will need to pay in order to get into the glasshouses.

3. Visit the Writers Museum (Lady Stair’s Close, Edinburgh, EH1 2PA). This museum, which is housed in the 17th century Lady Stair’s House, features exhibits relating to some of Scotland’s most famous literary figures. You can see documents, portraits and first editions, together with objects such as Sir Walter Scott’s chess board and the writing desk where Robert Burns penned some of his famous works.

4. Relax in Princes Street Gardens. Princes Street Gardens are situated in the centre of Edinburgh and are divided into two sections by a street known as The Mound.

In East Princes Street Gardens, you’ll find the National Gallery Complex and the neo-Gothic style Scott Monument, which honours Sir Walter Scott. In West Princes Street Gardens, you’ll find the Ross Fountain and Edinburgh’s Floral Clock.

Princes Street Gardens are the perfect place to go for a picnic, a stroll or simply to relax, and are popular with locals and tourists alike.

5. Explore Holyrood Park. Holyrood Park was originally a royal hunting estate and is most famous as being the home of the natural rock formation known as Arthur’s Seat, which is shaped like a crouching lion. The park is also home to the Salisbury Crags ( a series of cliffs) and three lochs. It’s the perfect place to go for a walk if you want to escape the city and you can download a leaflet featuring a number of walking routes from the Historic Scotland website.

The survey, which was conducted by budget hotel chain Travelodge, revealed that the ten most popular holiday destinations for Brits holidaying at home this year are as follows: Cornwall; The Lake District; the Yorkshire Dales; the Scottish Highlands and Islands; Edinburgh; London; the Isle of Wight; Devon; the Norfolk Broads; and South Wales.

Many of these people are likely to be staying in the UK in order to reduce costs, due to the recession. However, although this isn’t good news for airlines, fewer people flying is good news for environmental campaigners, as carbon emissions from aircraft are believed to contribute to global warming, an effect of which is climate change.

It’s also good news for British holiday operators, such as Velodays Cycling Holidays, which is based in Aberdeen. Velodays offers a wide range of cycling holidays, so a Velodays holiday is a great option for anyone concerned about climate change.

The Velodays Loch Ness and Strathnairn short break, for example, takes you through some of Scotland’s most beautiful countryside, covering 77 miles in three cycling days.

The price of the holiday includes 4 nights’ hotel accommodation, full breakfast each day, bike hire (if needed), cycle computer route navigation and luggage transfer, and at only £274 – £387 per person (based on two people sharing a room), works out as a great low-cost holiday option.

Your first night will be spent in the Trafford Bank Guest House in Inverness, and your bike and equipment will be delivered to the hotel. The following day, you leave Inverness on your first day of cycling and travel to Loch Ness and then on to Strathnairn. You’ll be cycling for 29 miles on your first day, with 10 miles of this route running alongside the banks of Loch Ness. In the evening, you can relax in The Steadings Hotel in Strathnairn.

On your second day, you’ll cycle east for 26 miles, via Cawdor Castle, before arriving in the town of Nairn, where you’ll spend the night in The Newton Hotel. On your final day, you’ll be cycling for twenty miles, passing Fort George and Culloden before arriving back in Inverness, where you’ll spend the final night of your holiday in the Trafford Bank Guest House.

Velodays also offers longer cycling holidays and a number of cycling holidays in other regions of Scotland.

In the next in our series about free attractions, we move away from the UK and look at some of the free attractions that Paris has to offer. The French capital city has a reputation for being fairly expensive, but there are plenty of free attractions that you can visit in order to reduce the overall cost of your trip.

If you are lucky enough to be visiting Paris on the first Sunday of the month, you can visit many of the city’s museums free of charge. Participating museums include The Louvre, The Picasso Museum (Musée National Picasso), the Musée D’Orsay, the Musée Rodin and the Pompidou Centre.

However, there are also many other attractions in Paris that are free at all times. Here are five things that you can do for free during your stay in the city:

1. Take a free guided tour of the Fragonard Perfume Museum (9 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris). The Parfumerie Fragonard’s perfume factories are in Grasse, in the South of France, but it has several stores in Paris as well as the museum.

2. Take a walk in the Jardin des Tuileries. The Jardin des Tuileries stretches from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde, and is the perfect place to take a stroll. The gardens were begun by Catherine de Medici and were redesigned by Andre le Nôtre between 1665 and 1672. The gardens contain some wonderful sculptures, and there are cafes and a small lake.

3. Visit Maison de Victor Hugo (6 Place des Vosges, 75004 Paris). It’s free to visit this museum which is located in the apartment in the Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée in which Victor Hugo, the poet, playwright and novelist who wrote Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), lived between 1832 and 1848. Exhibits include manuscripts and other items relating to Hugo’s life.

4. Explore Pére-Lachaise Cemetery. Visiting a cemetery might not be the first thing that comes to mind when planning things to do on a holiday, but Pére-Lachaise Cemetery is a popular place, mainly because it was the final resting place of Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors. Other famous people buried in Pére-Lachaise Cemetery include the novelist Honoré de Balzac, the actress Sarah Bernhardt, the composer Georges Bizet, the dancer Isadora Duncan, the playwright Moliere, the singer Édith Piaf and the novelist, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde.

5. Visit Notre Dame Cathedral. Notre Dame is one of the best-known landmarks and most popular tourist attractions in Paris and although you’ll need to pay for access to the Cathedral Towers and the Crypt, admission to the main part of the building is free of charge. You will be able to admire the Great Organ, the Choir Organ, the South Rose Window and the sculpture of Notre Dame de Paris. The exterior of the building is also stunning, with its imposing West Facade, which features sculptures and friezes, and you can also see the cathedral’s famous gargoyles.

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