Our tips to help you plan ahead and get the best out of your weekend in the city: Friday 17 - Sunday 19 July.
Outdoor theatre
After a funding crisis last year that left its future in doubt, London Bubble has risen, phoenix-like, to bring its acclaimed summer promenade theatre performances back to the city's parks and woodlands.
Speak no evil? London Bubble's Becky Barry (left) and Eva Alexander
Building on previous shows such as the Arabian Nights and Alice in Wonderland, the company invited suggestions for this year from its stakeholders and came up with a re-telling of Homer's The Odyssey, an inspired choice given London Bubble's family-friendly provenance.
The show travels to Oxleas Woods in south London from this weekend, with a cast including CBeebies presenter Eva Alexander, Gwilym Lloyd, Becky Barry and puppeteer Grethe Jensen, and continues on to Southwark Park at the end of July.
London Bubble's The Odyssey is at Oxleas Woods, Shooters Hill SE9 from Saturday 18 - Tuesday 21 July, evenings at 7.30pm. Tickets: £15, £8 concs, discounts available for large groups.
An all-female sport played with two teams of four skating around an elliptical track, and one point-scorer per team - the "jammer" - trying to lap opponents as many times as she can. You can't trip, grab or punch, but anything else is fair game to shove rival players off the track... any ideas?
Crunch! Opposing players can be shoved off the track in roller derby
It's roller derby, using old-fashioned roller skates and it's poised, if some excitable sections of the media can be believed, to become the next big thing. See for yourself at Roll Britannia at Earl's Court this weekend as 12 teams from England, Scotland and Germany battle to be crowned champions of Europe.
In between the bouts - usually in pairs, each lasting 20 minutes - there will be games and prizes, DJs playing music, stalls selling skate gear, clothing and accessories, and a licensed bar.
Our picture above shows rollergirl Fox, in red, being hit from behind in a league match against rivals the Ultraviolent Femmes. "That one left a bruise!", she ruefully told the BBC London website.
Roll Britannia, Brompton Hall, Earl's Court, Warwick Road SW5. Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 July, 10am - 8pm. Day tickets £16, 12 yrs and under £8. Weekend passes also available.
Put your Wii Music and Guitar Hero games to one side and head down to the South Bank from Friday for the launch of a new, free interactive music experience.
Youth Music Box is a walk-in structure boasting a mix of real instruments and software that will give anyone of any age the chance to create a music track and video in under 10 minutes.
How to record a song in six minutes
Up to four players can use the Box and choose between six musical styles: reggae, drum and bass, urban, afro beat, classical and disco/electro. Video mixing facilities are provided behind the scenes, as is the live mix for players to lay down a final track.
It's open to accomplished musicians or complete beginners; videos can be uploaded to charity Youth Music's website for others to view and share.
Youth Music Box, adjacent to the Clore Ballroom, Level 1, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre SE1. Friday 17 July - Monday 31 August, daily 11am - 7pm. Free admission.
An open day in a cemetery may not be an obvious draw, even if it's the resting place of actress Dame Anna Neagle and football legend Bobby Moore.
But the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium is a 200-acre site filled with landscaped areas that include shrubberies and avenues of chestnuts, limes, copper beeches and cedars, which provide a natural habitat for several species of insects and birds.
Guided tours and nature walks are available this Sunday in a free-of-charge event alongside demonstrations of stonemasonry and live music from the East London Brass Band and harpist Sheila Watts.
City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, Aldersbrook Road E12. Sunday 19 July, 10am - 4pm. Info: 020 8530 2151
Kids, families and communities
You may have seen the ads on TV of a street full of people, smiling, eating and laughing beneath swathes of bunting, and not been quite sure what it was all about.
“People are not as neighbourly now”
It's a new initiative run by the Eden Project called The Big Lunch, encouraging families and neighbours to come together through growing food and flowers, creating street music, art and theatre, dressing the street outside your front door, and indulging in a shared meal or the simple act of breaking bread.
Organisers are hoping Londoners will stop what they're doing this Sunday and join millions across the UK in making this an annual event, to "put a smile on Britain's face" and forge a stronger sense of community involvement.
Ideas and information packs are available, as are customisable posters; the website also has details of a big lunch event on your doorstep.
The Big Lunch, various venues throughout London, Sunday 19 July. Times may vary.
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