London 2012 free and without tickets? Sure!

Marathon 

Sun 5 Aug 11am-2pm, women; Sun 12 Aug 11am-1.40pm, men

The grandest of all free-to-air urban sport, track and field without the need for a track or a field, the marathon has a grand tradition of popular inclusivity. For London 2012 pretty much the entire length of the 26-mile course is open to the public, a circular route that will begin and end on The Mall. The traditional grandstand finish in the Olympic Stadium has therefore been abandoned – along with the chance for London's East End to stage a bit of its own Games on its own non-telegenic streets. Instead the marathon will loop as far east as Tower Bridge, taking in the broad, spectator-friendly boulevards of the Embankment and parts of the City. Note to the usual London marathon crowd: don't come expecting Austin Powers, a man in a diving suit or a three-hour procession of wheezing nano-celebrities. It's just the fast ones this time. Don't blink.

Best vantage point The steps of St Paul's. Olympoccupy the City.

Walking

Sat 4 Aug 5pm-6.30pm, men's 20km; Sat 11 Aug 9am-1.20pm, men's 50km; 5pm-6.45pm, women's 20km

Why run when you can walk in the manner of an angry, super-fit, slightly camp person in small satin shorts? The race walk will take place on chunks of the marathon course, with the men doing 20km and 50km, the women restricted to the 20km. With three separate races taking place it is a genuine opportunity to bag some unticketed Olympic gold, albeit at a slightly more leisurely pace and accompanied by a neurotically precise preoccupation with heel-to-ground contact.

Best vantage point Ideally the walk would be going down Oxford Street, providing a rare and startling glimpse of people moving above 1.5mph. Failing that, the Embankment is always a spectacular place for a stroll.

Road cycling

Sat 28 Jul 10am-4.15pm, men's road race Sun 29 Jul 12pm-4.15pm, women's road race Wed 1 Aug 10am-11.30am, women's time trial; 1pm-4.15pm, men's time trial

Four separate events to choose from in what is perhaps the premium unticketed event of London 2012. The men's and women's road races are a cycle courier's nightmare: repeated high-speed laps of London's busiest thoroughfares, albeit with the danger of the veering, smudged white van removed. The time trial features staggered starts, so less of the here-they-come-there-they-go that tends to mar most roadside bike spotting. With Mark Cavendish involved in the road race this is the equivalent of getting a chance to watch Wayne Rooney booting a ball about on your local rec. Get there early.

Best vantage point The wondrously scenic Box Hill; or, failing that as wristbands will be issued to limit numbers, any Richmond pub with an outside table.

Triathlon

Sat 4 Aug 9am-11.40am, women Tue 7 Aug 11.30am-2pm, men

Outstanding value for no money: three disciplines jammed into the mid-sized hectarage of Hyde Park, with competitors constantly engaged in some form of swim-bike-run, the latter two in lap form. Hyde Park on a sunny day is a kind of urban heaven anyway. Chuck in athletes running 10km in swimming trunks and who could ask for more?

Best vantage point The dirt track on the south side for sprint finish possibilities – plus the chance to see Prince Philip riding about in his horse and cart.

Sailing

29 July-11 August

Some Olympic freebie controversy here, with Locog being criticised by locals for turning Nothe Gardens in Weymouth, the perfect spot to witness Olympic boatiness, into a ticketed area. There are ways round it: a vantage point by Newton's Cove; a free site with a giant screen on Weymouth beach; and of course the piracy option. All you need is a speedboat, some derring-do and the open sea. Fence that, Portland council.

Open water swimming

Thu 9 Aug 12pm-3pm, women

Fri 10 Aug 12pm-3pm, men

Another Hyde Park spectacular, with a paid area around the VIP plastic pavilion at the lake's north shore and a large mill-about area on the south bank on which weary Knightsbridge shoppers can take a break and instead enjoy the spectacle of a row of heads bobbing around the lake in slipstream formation and being menaced by geese for 40 minutes before exploding into a last-lap sprint finish.

Best vantage point The bridge over the Serpentine; failing that, and dependent on availability, a £10m penthouse at One Hyde Park.

Live sites

The last resort when all else fails and the prospect of a leaping man in a Team GB jester's hat trampling your picnic hamper seems oddly appealing. Live sites will be city-centre fan zone-type places with big screens, refreshments on sale and assorted people bunking off work to watch the yngling heats. There are 22 of them across the UK from Portsmouth to Edinburgh, ideal for that live BBC "let's see how that sensational bronze medal for Phillips Idowu went down across the country" moment.

Torch relay 

19 May-26 July

The last, last resort for those who want to be warmed, perhaps literally, by the Olympic spirit without having to even watch any sport. For reasons that may perhaps make sense when it happens, the torch is being ferried around every local authority in Britain by "inspirational people".

London 2012 gets Europe's largest free wifi zone

A landmark deal has created Europe's largest free wireless internet zone in central London.

Visitors and residents in Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea will have access to free wifi on their mobile phones, laptops and tablet devices following the agreement between councils and network operator O2.

The deal, set to have the Metro wireless network up and running in time for the London 2012 Olympics this summer, is to run at no extra cost to the councils or taxpayer. The network will initially be rolled out in a limited number of areas, starting in January 2012, then throughout the boroughs in the longer term.

Philippa Roe, of Westminster City Council, said: "Next summer’s Olympic Games mean that London will be putting on the biggest show on earth and as Westminster has a starring role, visitors to London will easily be able to share their pictures and updates of the Olympic events across social networking sites."

Derek McManus, chief operating officer for O2, said: "This ground-breaking deal - the first of its kind in the UK - will see us deliver high quality connectivity across London in time for London 2012. "Our longer-term aim is to expand our footprint of O2 Wifi, which is open to everyone, and also intelligently enhance our services at street level, where people need the network the most."

A Guide to Travelling to the London 2012 Olympics

Try and plan and book your travel as early as possible.

Remember that, on the day of the event you have a ticket for you are able to use the London public transport system for free.

Allow plenty of time to get to both London and to the event you have ticket for.

Don’t forget to plan your return journey just as thoroughly as you plan your trip to London!

If you have a disability, make sure you apply for a Blue Badge; this could allow you to park right at the Olympic venues.

Think twice before driving to the Olympics. Many of the venues will only have parking spaces for drivers with disabilities.

Park-and-ride facilities will be in place to connect motorists with the main Olympics venues, but remember, they will close an hour after an event finishes.

Arriving by Air

It is expected that around 65 per cent of all overseas visitors to the London 2012 Olympics will arrive by air.

The majority of these will arrive into London Heathrow Airport, which is the official ‘host’ airport of the 2012 Games.

Arriving into Heathrow

You have the choice of ways of heading into central London:

Travelling underground on the Piccadilly Line is slower than over ground service by the Heathrow Express

Heathrow Express over ground train service – which connects the airport with Paddington Station which is nice and central, particularly if your hotel is situated in the West End.

By road, hiring a car or you also have the option of taking a taxi – these are by far the most-expensive choices. (An option for all airports)

By Coach, including those operated by National Express, into the city centre.

All options can be arranged when you arrive at Heathrow.

Arriving into London City Airport

London City Airport is the best-located for access to the 2012 Olympics.

It is situated close to the Olympic Park as well to other venues in the east of London, including the ExCel and Greenwich Park, with a newly-completed Docklands Light Railway (DLR) line connecting the terminal building with the rest of the network.

Other airports

Far fewer visitors are expected to travel to the 2012 Games via Stansted, Luton or Gatwick Airports. Nevertheless, extra coach services will be on hand to transport spectators from here to the city centre.

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Travelling to London by train

If you’re a 2012 Games event ticket holder, you are able to take advantage of special deals on rail travel to London from anywhere within the UK.

Most train operators are allowing ticket-holders for sporting events to book tickets for travel in advance of everyone else, with special fares also on offer.

These special rates apply to travel between 18 July 2012 and 14 September 2012, meaning you are able to stretch your trip to the Olympics into a longer city break in London.

For more information on train travel to the Olympics and to book special tickets in advance, go to the official National Rail website.

Olympics train tickets will offer connections to the three nearest stations to the Olympic Park, namely Stratford Regional, Stratford International and West Ham.

Additionally, train travel to other London venues is included in the cost of your event ticket and shuttle buses will be provided to whisk spectators from local stations to the venues themselves.

Eurostar

As an official sponsor of the 2012 Games, Eurostar will carry thousands of athletes, officials and media personnel to London from continental Europe over the course of the Olympics, with many benefitting from free travel.

And, while ordinary spectators won’t be getting free travel like the competitors, Eurostar is offering special rates on trains to London from its principal European hubs of Paris, Brussels and Lille. Such packages include a return journey to and from London as well as one night’s accommodation.

As well as possibly allowing you to save money in comparison to flying into London from mainland Europe, taking the train is also the more environmentally-friendly option.

For the latest news on Eurostar train services for London 2012, check out the official website.

Travelling to London by car

While driving to the 2012 Olympics may be more convenient and even cheaper than using public transport, once you get to London, your car is likely to be of limited use.

Indeed, not only are many of the key roads to the venues set to be closed off to normal traffic, but parking spaces will be severely limited.

Should you still wish to travel to the Olympics by car, then you will be able to make use of special park-and-ride facilities.

These will be provided at convenient locations close to the main venues, including the Olympic Park, ExCel and Eton Dorney. From here you will be able to catch shuttle buses to the venues.

Be aware, however, that parking spaces are limited and need to be booked in advance. Additionally, there will be no overnight parking allowed and the sites will close an hour after the last shuttle bus has arrived from the venue.