nona1

a day coach tour to stonehenge/bath will cost around £60 ($112) each not including any food/refreshments, so you might want to stay in London if your budget is tight.
The good thing about London is that it is full of free attractions (most museums and galleries are free) and you can enjoy yourself just wandering around.

Margo_Chester

These suggestions are NOT "dining experiences" but they can help keep food costs low: Check out Pizza Express, EAT, JD Wetherspoons (pub chain), Prêt A Manger (sandwiches, baguettes, salads, and soups), and keep in mind that pubs can serve up a reasonable priced burger, Shepard's pie, bangers & mash etc. Paul has wonderful pastries, breads and coffees for breakfast and many of there locations are open late for sandwiches.

www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk
www.pizzaexpress.co.uk
http://www.eat.co.uk/index.html
http://www.pret.com/
http://www.paul.fr/nous_contacter/us_contact-gb.htm

Yorkyman

I would say all of the above are do able if all you want to do is see them take a picture and leave.

Personally I would say drop the

>Take a tour to Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge

to be sure you actually do see all of the other things. Being in a sever rush will only mean you wont have time to really take it all in.

Just my two cents

bilboburgler

Not sure on costs of these but

The new Tate, particularly the top floor for the views
A boat trip down the thames tells you a lot

tulip122098

I thought US$40 per person would get me a nice dinner. I am little suprised. Would that make a different that me and my husband don't drink wine/beer?

I can go more, but i just didn't know.

Thanks for the info.

Ivy

kamahinaohoku

You might like Porters, a nice English restaurant near Covent Garden with rather tasty food. Prices are slightly more than you mentioned, but not remarkedly so.
http://www.porters.uk.com/

Merseyheart

FYI--everything in London, and in Britain in general, is just so expensive! With the high exchange rate, too, you'll find even simple food pretty expensive. I'd pay nine pounds for pasta and a mineral water, and that sounds okay, until you realize it's over 15 dollars. In England, if something is "only" 99p, remember that is nearly two dollars.

nona1

You'll certainly get a reasonable dinner for $40 but it won't lash out for a special once-in-the-holiday special 'nice' dinner, no.

That's more the budget I'd allow for eating dinner in London in an ordinary way. You'll need to allow roughly this for most nights unless you go for a really budget option. Soft drinks often cost almost as much as a glass of house wine/beer, soif you want a main course plus a couple of drinks, you are pretty much up to that budget at most places. I'd say most main courses at London 'everyday' restaurants will cost you around £8-£15, so you might also get a dessert or starter in your budget, depending on the options you pick.

But your budget of $5-$10 for the everyday dinners is certainly very unrealistic. About the cheapest dinners you can get is at a chinese/indian buffet place, which will charge you from around £6 during the week. But then their drinks are often a bit pricey to make up for the cheap food.
With 2 soft drinks I'd estimate (per person and including a 10% tip)
Budget-level dinner = £15
Mid-range but nothing special dinner = £20+
'Nicer' 2 course dinner = £30+
'Nice' 3 course dinner = £60+

noe847

You might want to consider a 'pre-theatre' special dinner. We ate at Portrait, the restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery. Here is what I wrote in my trip report:

<i>Dinner was next door at the Portrait restaurant at the top of the National Portrait Gallery. Luckily our path to the restaurant took us past some great art – we saw some Holbein Tudor-era paintings. We met my husband there for our 5:30 reservations. The restaurant has good views over the rooftops of London, and was very pretty at sunset. We had a nice table by the window. The best views were at the corner tables, but you cannot reserve a specific table. The restaurant was full.

My daughter and I ordered from the pre-theatre menu which had two choices for each course (she got three courses, I got two) and my husband ordered from the regular menu (salad, salmon, chips). The food was excellent: rocket salad with parmesan and balsamic, tagliatelle with peas and broadbeans. White chocolate cheesecake for my daughter’s dessert. http://www.npg.org.uk/live/portrest.asp has menus and prices. With wine and beer, the meal came to &pound;85 (&pound;13.95 for two course pre-theatre, &pound;16.95 for three course). </i>