British Heritage Pass
 

I did a search and skimmed through several posts without finding answers to my specific questions. The operative word here being <i>skimmed</i>. Please forgive me if I'm asking questions that've been asked and answered ad nauseum.

All we've been able to find is an alphabetical list of the sites that are covered by the pass. Nothing that shows the locations of said sites.

I noticed on one of the threads that Janis mentioned liking to buy the pass before she goes so that she has the accompanying map while she's planning. Is there any way to get that info <i>before</i> you buy?

Since we're hoping to go to London (and see St.Paul's), York and Edinburgh, I'm guessing the Pass would be a worthwhile investment for us. But I sure would like to see a listing of covered sites in each of those locations first.

Thanks!

Hi Caph52,

Just a quick note that I used janisj's advice to buy the pass and have it shipped to home. It really helped in planning and only took a week to arrive in the mail.

I'm going to look and see if I can find anything I used online. I think I remember something. Cheers!

http://www.britishheritagepass.com/I...ries_by_Region

I suppose you have looked at this part of the official site - at least it mentions main things covered in each place - like Edinburgh

I went to York a while back and used the pass at several properties only a few blocks away - almost made the pass payoff that one day - plus some proved to be neat places i would not have paid the 5 pounds or so to get in without the pass.

A great deal - limited somewhat in London but St Paul's, the Globe Theatre Exhibition are covered. The Queen however took some of her royal properties like Windsor Castle and the 50% break at the Tower off of the GBHP scheme.

For sites inside London:
Jewel Tower (English Heritage)
St Paul's Cathedral
Shakespear Globe
Wellington Arch + Apsley House (English Heritage)
Royal Albert Hall (not sure what the pass actually does for you)
Sutton House in Hackney (National Trust)
Fenton House in Hampstead (National Trust)

In Richmond:
Ham House (National Trust)
Marble Hill House (English Heritage)

In Eltham:
Eltham Palace (English Heritage) - which I highly recommend

P.S. You can have a sense of where places are by playing with the interactive online map:
http://www.britishheritagepass.com/Online_Map#

Thank you very much to all three of you! Very useful info. And I feel even more certain that it'd be to our advantage to order one.

There is also an English Heritage Pass you can buy at English Heritage properties i believe

but it is not as comprehensive at the GBHP which i believe covers all English Heritage sites as well - but the two passes are not identical

just noted that yk put English Heritage in her note - i used my GBHP to go to all those London sites.

Well, http://www.britishheritagepass.com/ is sure loading slow for me!

If you go to the pass web site, click on Properties by Region, you first select an area, then a list of the properties in that area will show and you select the property to view.

My connection is too slow for this to really work for me, but I can see an interactive map after selecting a property, too.Hope that helps.

A thought that could help you somewhere along the way ... the pass gathers together properties that have different organizations responsible for them. For example, some are cared for by Historic Scotland. But you do not want to go to the Historic Scotland web site and assume all the properties listed are covered by the Great British Heritage Pass.

Okay, this is probably a stupid question..

On the map, are all of the sites covered by the British Heritage Pass? I'm a little confused by the different symbols. Is it just that some of them represent castles and some represent some other sort of site? Or are some British Heritage sites and some not?

CAPH52: You've pretty much received all the useful advice I might have suggested. One thing though . . . &quot;<i>But you do not want to go to the Historic Scotland web site and assume all the properties listed are covered by the Great British Heritage Pass. </i>&quot;

Actually - <u>every</u> Historic Scotland, English Heritage, National Trust, and National Trust for Scotland property is included in the GBHP. Plus many privately owned places (and a <i>few</i> of the Royal properties are still covered).

So if you are having trouble getting the interactive map to work - you can visit the NT, EH, HS, and NT for Scotland websites to get info about individual properties.

YES, all of them are covered by the pass. I think the icons symbolize: houses, churches, museums etc.

BTW, all the places in London that I listed, EXCEPT St Paul's Cathedral, are covered by the 2-for-1 deal at daysoutguide, so you may want to crunch some numbers and see how many days of the GBHP you want to order.

Thanks again, everyone. I think I've got it now! And we will definitely be buying them. I'm amazed at how much stuff it covers!

Hi Caph52,

If you are viewing the online map at the http://www.britishheritagepass.com/ yes they are all sites included on the pass, in some way.

My connection is so slow you probably already have an answer by the time I post this reply!

Yes, the icons represent the type of place. If you click on the pictures and see what place it is, under the name is the type of site. Click enough and you will have an idea of what's what. Cheers.

<i>Actually - every Historic Scotland, English Heritage, National Trust, and National Trust for Scotland property is included in the GBHP. Plus many privately owned places (and a few of the Royal properties are still covered). </i>

Okay, I cannot bring up the exact organization and building it was, I just remember that going through the book that came with the Great British Heritage Pass and then looking up the places on the web and there was definitely a time that the museum I found on the organization's web site was Not included with the pass.

I am thinking, now, it wasn't Historic Scotland, but it was some organization listed in the GBHP.

I know it happened once to me. Just take this as advice to use the GBHP book/online map as guide to what's covered by the pass and double check to be sure it is on the list. Cheers.

scotlib, I sympathize with you. Between our old computer and our poor internet connection, there are times I want to scream. And times when I do! :D

Thanks for your help!

scotlib: That definitely could have happened - like if there was a special exhibition at some museum. The GBHP doesn't usually cover for any extra admissions like a special events/exhibits.

For instance once I arrived at Walmer Castle on the day of a special flower/gardening show. The GBHP got us into the house like normal, but we had to pay extra to get into the gardens (which are normally covered)

I think for the Royal Albert Hall, the GBHP covers a tour of the interior. I think that should be quite interesting:
http://www.royalalberthall.com/flash...mevisits,tours

I walked past Walmer Castle one day - if i had had a GBHP i would have gone in even - the value of a pass - but did not want to pay the high entry fee to see what many consider a dud. With the pass that is not a factor.

&quot;<i> . . . what many consider a dud.</i>&quot;

And where, pray tell, did you hear such drivel?

It is an absolutely lovely house and has the most beautiful gardens. But then again, you won't have seen it . . . . .

It got me curious, so I had to look up Walmer Castle. Well, another tie to Tudor Dynasty!

<i>Originally built during the reign of Henry VIII as part of a chain of coastal artillery defences against Catholic attack from Europe,Walmer Castle has evolved over time into an elegant residence.</i>
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/s...show/nav.14948

jj - i waz fohling yuh - i did went in and it were luvely - you originally accused me in my &quot;Kent&quot; tome of probably doing a walk bythere since i did not describe and gush over the castle's interior, which was not my purpose - but to talk about the lovely Sandwich - up the Golf Course along the sea walk which went by both Walmer and Deal Castles. Deal Castle ain't much but Walmer is spezial.

I'm pulling this back up because I think I'll go ahead and buy our passes soon. We've booked our plane tickets, hotels, etc. We may as well get those so that we can start planning.

Now I'm wondering whether we should also get London Passes? I know that St. Paul's is covered on both. But we're also hoping to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge Exhibition. There are other things on the London Pass we'd probably try to see if we have time. But we're only going to be there 3 full days plus one evening.

By the time we go to the British Museum, the Tower and Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, do a hop on-hop off tour and a London Walk or two, are we really going to have time to get much use of the London Pass? Or should we buy it for just one day?

And what about the London Pass with travel? It sounds like a good deal. But if it is, why do people opt for an Oyster card instead?

Also, our plane (from Barcelona) lands at Gatwick at 3:55 Friday afternoon. So we obviously wouldn't want to start using the travel portion that late in the day.

As you can see, all of this has me very confused!

CAPH - if there's more than 2 of you, why not do the 2-for-1 deal for the London attractions?

"<i>Now I'm wondering whether we should also get London Passes? </i>''

The London Pass is definitely NOT a bargainl for the vast majority of visitors. Don't consider it unless you work out specifically which properties you'd use it for on which days. They are quite expensive and you'd have to dash from place to place to see enough to make it pencil out.

Whatever you do, <u>don't</u> get the transport option w/ the London Pass. It is not a bargain and you end up paying for zones you won't likely use.

CAPH, when are you going?

thereyet

Thank you, yk and Janis!

yk, I've got to do some serious reading up on the 2-for-1 deals 'cause I'm not really getting it. I'm going to look for the link you've posted elsewhere.

Janis, I read the section on Oyster Cards and Travelcards in the Rick Steves London last night. (Which I bought thanks to a recommendation in a recent trip report here. Say what you will about Rick Steves, his books do seem to be among the best for explaining things like that.) And I think I have a somewhat better grasp of it. If I understand it correctly, it sounds like our best bet will be a three day Travelcard.

Is our hotel in Earl's Court within zones 1 or 2?

Thanks very much for your advice on the London Pass. I strongly suspect we'd be in that group for whom they aren't a bargain. We'll stick with the 7 day GB Heritage Pass. We're actually going to be in the UK for 8 full days plus an evening. So we'll wait until our second full day in London before we start to use it. That shouldn't be a problem with so many other things we want to do.

yk, even if the 2-for-1 deals work out for us, I think we're still better off with the 7 day Heritage Pass because we'll be in Edinburgh and York for a total of 5 days. (We'll be on a bus tour all of one day in Edinburgh so probably won't use it that day. But that should be off-set by using it for St. Paul's in London.) We'll just have to work hard to see enough stuff to get our money's worth! ;)

thereyet, we're going to be in London from the evening of June 12th until the morning of the 16th. Did I see a thread about taking your son to London? When are you going?

CAPH-

1) 2-for-1: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/attrac...or1london.aspx
You don't have to buy a "pass" to use the 2-for-1 deals. All you need is a valid rail ticket (travelcard for London will suffice, as long as it's a paper ticket bought from a rail station in London). Therefore, you can still use these 2-for-1 deals for any attractions NOT covered by the Heritage Pass; or if you don't want to use up a day on the Heritage pass.

2) Oyster vs Travelcard: see this summary:
http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefin...ard_oyster.htm
3-day travelcard is usually not the best deal, because it only comes in PEAK option. Your stay will be over a weekend, where OFF-PEAK fares are valid all day so you will be paying MORE for the 3-day travelcard, than buying an OFF-PEAK DAY travelcard for Sat &amp; Sun

3) Earl's Court station is between zone 1&amp;2; West Kensington and West Brompton stations are both in zone 2. But it doesn't matter because the travelcards you buy will be good for zones 1-2 anyway.

Thanks, yk. Very helpful info as always!

The Rick Steves book said something about saving only a few pennies by buying three one day passes (two of them off-peak) rather than the three day. I guess his point was in terms of the convenience of just buying the three day and being done with it. But what you say makes a lot of sense. I'll definitely be looking at the link you gave me.

Thanks for the zone info on the hotel. I was hoping to only have to buy a zone 1 and 2 travelcard but wasn't sure how far out our hotel is.

And thanks for the 2-for-1 link. Will definitely be checking that out too!

CAPH52-

1) a 3-day travelcard is &pound;18.40. For your stay, you'd need two 1-day off-peak travelcard (sat/Sun) which is &pound;5.60. For the Monday, if you want to travel before 9:30am, your peak travelcard is &pound;7.20. If you travel after 9:30am, you can still buy the offpeak travelcard for &pound;5.60. Therefore, the most you'll pay by buying day travelcard each day for 3 days = &pound;18.40, which is the same cost as the 3-day travelcard. But you can pay as little as &pound;16.80.

These are prices for paper travelcard. If one of you get the Oyster PAYG, the Oyster prices are 50 pence lower per day. However, the 3-day travelcard only comes in paper version and cannot be loaded to the oyster card.

2) http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...d-tube-map.pdf
West Brompton station is also a RAIL station (based on the map above, with the equal sign with a slash across), where you can buy your travelcard with Rail logo to qualify for the 2-for-1 deals.

But you're right, altogether, you'd save no more than a pound or two if you buy separate daily travelcards. So for convenience sake, you can just go to West Brompton RAIL station and buy your 3-day travelcards there, which will feature the RAIL logo on the card to qualify for 2-for-1 deals.

Thanks again, yk! And I am going to thoroughly read the links, I promise! But, as I understand it now, we need the paper travelcard for the 2-for-1 deals, right?

You mentioned the Oyster card being 50 pence lower per day (if we wanted to get one for one of us). But we'd have to pay a 3 pound deposit on the card itself, right? Just doesn't seem like it'd be worth it for a stay as short as ours. Considering that it's been 27 years since my last visit to London, it hardly seems worth hanging on to the card! (Though I certainly hope that my son [and me too, of course!] will get back a little sooner than that!) And I don't really want to have to deal with the 20 minute wait to get the deposit back. Unless you feel there's some real advantage that I'm missing?

CAPH52-

1) Not only you need a paper travelcard for the 2-for-1, strictly speaking, you need one that has the RAIL logo on the travelcard, which you can only buy from a RAIL station, and not a tube station.
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/faq.aspx#1

2) Advantages of Oyster card:
a) If you travel many times per day, the most you'll pay on the Oyster is 50 pence less than the price of the DAY travelcard
b) If you travel only twice or 3 times in a day, you'll only be charged the fares for those trips since they won't exceed the daily cap. ie, if you travel twice on the tube between zone 1&amp;2 at peak hours, you'll be charged &pound;2.20 x 2 = &pound;4.40 only, instead of &pound;7.20 for a peak one-day travelcard.
c) The Oyster card can be used by anyone, so if you don't think you'll return soon, you can certainly give it to someone you know for their trip
d) Having it readily available with money on it, is a godsend when arriving at Heathrow and taking the tube into London. The Heathrow tube station is usually mobbed with tourists and long lines for tickets. With Oyster in hand, I can just walk pass all the crowds and be on my way.

Your hotel isn't really in Earl's Court - that isn't even the closest tube station. As yk says you are in zone 1 or 2 which ever station you use -- but <u>West Brompton</u> is a tube AND train station (Earls Court isn't). So if you do decide you need a paper ticket for the 4for1 offers, you can get it at West Brompton station

Thank you both again!

Actually, yk, we're flying in to Gatwick. Our directions are to take the train to West Brompton. So could we buy the Travelcard at the train station at Gatwick? But would we want to since we probably wouldn't use it much that evening? (And then would need more than three days worth.)

I do like the convenience of the Oyster card. Can they be ordered ahead of time? And can it be used by more than one person at a time (one person going through and then handing it to the other person? I know that works with CTA fare cards in Chicago...)? It is good for the train too, right? If the answers to all of these questions are yes, it may be worth having one to use for that train ride, any other traveling we may do that evening and the ride to Kings Cross the morning we leave. Even if we were to get three day Travelcards for the three full days.

I believe I saw a discussion on another thread that, strictly speaking, you need two Travelcards for the 2-for-one deals and that you, yk, were asked to show two?

<i> Our directions are to take the train to West Brompton. So could we buy the Travelcard at the train station at Gatwick? But would we want to since we probably wouldn't use it much that evening? (And then would need more than three days worth.)</i>

I assume you're taking the Southern trains from Gatwick? Just FYI, you'd need to make a change of trains at Clapham Junction. I don't know if Gatwick station sells Travelcards with the Rail LOGO on it. Also, you'd probably should wait until the day you'll use the travelcard before you buy it.

<i>I do like the convenience of the Oyster card. Can they be ordered ahead of time? And can it be used by more than one person at a time (one person going through and then handing it to the other person? I know that works with CTA fare cards in Chicago...)? It is good for the train too, right? If the answers to all of these questions are yes, it may be worth having one to use for that train ride, any other traveling we may do that evening and the ride to Kings Cross the morning we leave. Even if we were to get three day Travelcards for the three full days.</i>

Right now, Oyster PAYG is not valid on most train rides, but you can use it on all tubes, buses, DLR, and overground network. Each person has to have his/her own Oyster if they want to ride together. Just so you know, if you don't have an Oyster or travelcard, just one single tube ride (eg, on your last day) costs 4 pounds.

<i>I believe I saw a discussion on another thread that, strictly speaking, you need two Travelcards for the 2-for-one deals and that you, yk, were asked to show</i>

Strictly speaking, yes, but as I've said, I never read any report here that people came back and said it was an issue. I was only asked to show two tickets when I was in Bath, not in London.

Oh, about pre-purchasing Oyster, it's not a good idea. The tourist Oyster costs &pound;12 but you only have &pound;10 credit on it. The &pound;2 "fee" is not refundable. If you wait until you arrive in London to buy it, even though it's &pound;3 deposit for the card, it's refundable.

Thanks again, yk. I'm glad I've got another three months to figure this all out! ;)

I just ordered our passes. They're running a sale that ends tomorrow. So, on the two passes, I saved a couple pounds less than the cost of shipping them!

Oops, since we were talking about London Passes, I probably should have clarified. I ordered our GBHPasses.

Wow! I used the cheapest shipping choice and they arrived already today!