What to do in London this weekend, 3–5 October: free Japan Matsuri on Trafalgar Square, heritage buses and harvest festivals

The weekend of 3–5 October has fallen well for London: after a stormy midweek, high pressure moves in, Saturday and Sunday are dry and settled, the wind drops and temperatures return to the early-October average. The Met Office has no warnings in force for those days. Here is what to catch — free events first, ticketed ones after.

What is free in London on 3–5 October?

Japan Matsuri, Trafalgar Square, Sunday 10am to 8pm. The biggest free event of the weekend and reason enough to stay in town. Traditional music and dance on stage, martial arts demonstrations, and food stalls around the square. Free and unticketed. Nearest stations: Charing Cross, Embankment, Leicester Square.

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Heritage buses on route 106, Saturday 10am to 5pm, free. Buses from the 1930s to the 1970s run the ordinary 106 route, Finsbury Park to Ash Grove via Stoke Newington, Clapton and Hackney Central. Hop on at any stop, no fare. Children tend to like it rather more than a transport museum.

Croydon Harvest, central Croydon, Saturday and Sunday, free. A town harvest festival: circus acts, carving workshops, folk performances and tours of the old pubs.

Harvest Festival at Morden Hall Park, Saturday 11am to 3.30pm, free. Apple pressing on site, folk music and Morris dancing — not something you often see inside the city.

Apple Day at Fulham Palace, Sunday 10am to 4pm. Market stalls, a tombola, a baking contest, garden games, storytelling and children's crafts in the palace grounds by the river.

The Sewing Machine Museum in Balham, Saturday 2pm to 5pm, free (donations welcome). A private collection open one day a month; the exhibits include a machine presented to Queen Victoria's daughter.

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Little Holland House, Carshalton, Sunday 10.30am to 4.30pm, free. An Arts and Crafts house built and decorated by one man, Frank Dickinson. Also open monthly.

The Giant London Flea, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Sunday 10am to 5pm. A large flea market: vintage, pre-loved and independent stalls.

What is on with a ticket this weekend?

NFL at Tottenham, Sunday 2.30pm. Indianapolis Colts against Washington Commanders, the first of three London games this month. Tickets are sold out; sports bars across town are showing it, which is considerably cheaper.

New exhibitions opening on 3 October. Renoir and Love at the National Gallery, Painting the French Riviera at the Royal Academy, and Someone Like You at the Courtauld. If you were planning one big show this autumn, these are the dates before the queues build.

Last chance: From Japan with Love, the NIGO collection at the Design Museum, closes on 4 October — more than 700 objects from his personal collection, including a recreated bedroom.

Korea at the British Museum — ceramics, Buddhist sculpture, painting and objects from the royal courts, open from 1 October until the end of January, so there is no rush.

Symphonic Soul at the Royal Albert Hall, Sunday at 3pm and 7.30pm. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays Motown and classic soul.

Festivals running all weekend: the Chelsea History Festival (1–4 October, National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Chelsea, Chelsea Physic Garden), the Bloomsbury Festival (all month), the London Latino Film Festival (2–6 October, around 60 films), Ceramics in the City at the Museum of the Home in Hoxton and the Festival of the Girl in Islington, both Saturday and Sunday.

Black History Month. October is Black History Month in Britain. On Sunday the Barbican hosts the Black British Book Festival, and Hackney Bridge the Black Eats food festival.

Also on: ice hockey at Alexandra Palace on Saturday (Haringey Huskies v Basingstoke Bison, doors 5pm, ice disco afterwards), Ministry of Sound's 35th birthday from 2 to 4 October (tickets from £17), and Oktoberfest menus across the city.

Beyond London

The Conservative Party conference opens in Birmingham on Sunday 4 October and runs to 7 October. It is the main political event of the week: conferences are where new measures on migration, tax and local charges are announced, so much of the coming week's news will come out of it.

Weather across the country is steady: high pressure, dry almost everywhere, with rain possible only in the far north-west. Eastern England stays dry. For a trip out of town or a walk in the parks, it is the best weekend in several.

Check before you travel

Two awkward Tube closures land on the weekend: the Victoria line does not run between Victoria and Brixton from Saturday evening until Sunday morning, and the Jubilee is shut between Green Park and Canary Wharf on both days. If your route crosses either, see our breakdown of this weekend's closures — line by line, with times and alternatives.