Keith

My Transport for London Vistor Travelcard came yesterday. Just wanted to pass along what discounts currently come with the card.

20% off at several restaurant chains, including Deep Pan Pizza, Henry's Bar & Cafe, Dino's, Le Piaf, Cafe Lazeez, and The Slug and Lettice.

20% off at 30 attractions including London Zoo, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge Exhibition, London Dungeon, Cabinet War Rooms, London Canal Museum, Jewel Tower, Leed Castle, Vinopilis, and Globe Theatre Tour.

1/3 off scheduled riverboat services.

Keith

sandykins

Thank you very much, Keith, for the information. I had been wondering what exactly the discounts were, but was afraid to post the question, having probably used up my allotment of nit-picky questions on this forum!

I would also check out the website www.londontrainsoffers.co.uk, which offers 2 for 1 deals on attractions, restaurants, and West-End shows (including some that you listed) if you present a voucher that you print out from the website and a Railcard or Travelcard. Depending on the number in your party, the 2 for 1 deal may be better than a 20-percent-off discount.

Also the website www.hrp.org.uk lists the royal palaces (including Kensington Palace, Tower of London, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Palace) for which you can buy combo tickets at a savings off buying tickets to the palaces separately.

I am also told that you can buy Windsor castle tickets at a discount at the same time that you buy the train ticket to Windsor, so, anytine one is at a ticvket booth, one should always ask whether any discounts are available.

It's amazing how much money one can save if one does the research before a trip. But whew!

Patrick

Frankly I couldn't care less about the discounts at any of those restaurants. And every place you mention for the 20% discount on attractions is also listed on the 2 for 1 special (a much better deal) by printing off vouchers at www.londontrainoffers.co.uk

Patrick

By the way, the idea of "how many in your group" doesn't mean much on those two for one londontrain offers. If there are parents and two kids for example, print two vouchers. Each parent takes one kid.

janis

actually none of those restaurant / chains are places I would eat (ever) in London. I have eaten at a couple of Slug and Lettuce's in other towns -- but only when I was in a real hurry or didn't have another option.

The 2 for 1 plan Patrick mentions is indeed a better deal. Or, the best of those tourist attractions are covered by the Great British Heritage Pass which would also get you into MANY other sites.

Most London "regulars" pretty much agree the Visitor TravelCard and the discounts are not very good deals. You won't be wasting a lot of money -- but if you end up eating in those sorts of places simply to get your money's worth out of the pass -- what a shame.

obxgirl

Keith, You're thoughtful for sharing the information about the London Visitor Travelcard.

While it's true that the London regulars here don't think the card is much of a deal, your info might be helpful to those interested in the particular sights you've listed.

Have to admit that the dining options aren't especially enticing but sometimes when we are touring we eat on the run and quality gets sacrificed for convenience.

The other discounts mentioned by Patrick and janis are good ones but are also subject to the same scrutiny regarding how many of the sights you're actually likely to visit. I think the Great British Heritage Pass is not an especially good deal for a London only trip...better for travels outside of London.

You've been doing a lot of research here. Hope it's been helpful and that you have a great trip.

Patrick

And the scrutiny for the londontrainoffers which don't require any purchase at all or any given number of attractions???

obxgirl

I stand corrected Patrick.

sandykins

Patrick, may I just point that, in a two-for-one deal, how many persons are in one's party is indeed relevant to whether the deal would be better than a 20-percent-off discount. For example, a tourist traveling alone would obviously do better to get 20 percent off (unless he or she gets a stranger to enter into a two-for-one deal together, and not everyone is willing to do this).

Patrick

My apologies on that one, I only thought in terms of more than two, not less than two. Good point!

sandykins

S'all right, Patrick. Your posts in this forum are so informative and helpful, who wouldn't forgive you anything?

Another way to get the most out of a two-for-one deal if you are traveling with children: Children's tickets are generally less than adults', so a group of two adults and two children should buy one adult ticket for the two adults, and one children's ticket for the two children. This is cheaper than each adult taking in one child for free.

sandykins

By the way, any tube Travelcard, even the ones you buy in London that are not called "Visitor" Travelcards, entitles the holder to one-third off the fare for the Thames boat cruises run by City Cruises. A pretty good deal.

Patrick

Sandykins, can you tell I neither travel alone, nor with kids?? Good points, I'd never thought of that kids' thing.

Anonymous

Keith, thank for listing those, I'd been curious, too.

Just to further complicate things: Kids under 16 are admitted free to some of the attractions that Keith listed, including Kew and the Cabinet War Rooms, other places offer a family admission rate, and some charge just a token admissions fee in the first place -- the Jewel Tower is £2 for adults and £1 for kids.

Keith

Thank you sandykins. I travel alone and 2 for 1 offers are worthless to me.

With the exception of the Indian restaurants, which I might like to know about, none of the restaurants look interesting to me. But I suspect some of them (lots of pizza places in the mix) might be attractive to people traveling with children.

Keith

GeoffHamer

Any Travelcard gives a one-third discount on nearly all boat services on the Thames in London. If you're doing a long trip like London to Hampton Court, it's worth getting a Travelcard even if you don't plan to use trains or buses that day.
As others have already pointed out, the restaurants that offer a discount are those that are desperate for customers, or which normally overcharge - you'll certainly get better food and better value at other places that don't give a discount.

flanneruk

It's unfair to tar Cafe Lazeez with the same brush as the rest of them.

Admittedly, London has more great Indian restaurants than anywhere else in the world (there are surprisingly few restaurants in Delhi or Bombay for cities of their size). But it also has more than its fair share of mediocre places which leave you feeling you've been fed intravenously on tasteless ghee.

Cafe Lazeez-es offer interesting takes on Indian food, often with "British" ingredients (like salmon). It's almost always light, sensibly spiced, and in a reasonably stylish setting. And inspired by Cyrus Todiwala.

IMHO, one of only two restaurant chains in London (the other being Carluccio's) which offer a reasonable (though not 100%, and in the case of Carluccio's Islington branch, 0%) chance of literate food, competently served.