julies

The dollar is really low and London is notoriously expensive. Will the savings on air and room be cancelled out by eating, admissions and transportation? We're not dead set on visiting London, and could go elsewhere on vacation, but there are still realatively cheap package deals there this winter. We always eat on the cheap on our trips and are happy with sandwiches or small ethnic restaurants. But my guess is even those are pricey in London. We'd probably be just fine with pubs if that would keep expenses down. We enjoy just walking around and soaking up the ambience ofa place and are not worried about having to do all the must-sees, but would still like to visit some of the typical tourist sights. Then there is transporation within the city. Putting it all together exactly how pricey will London be? We could also do Paris again for about the same price for hotel and air. Is London a budget breaker? Will our daily expenses eat up all of the savings we could realize on hotel and air? I'd appreciate your comments. We'd considered London in the past and decided we could go a lot of other interesting places for less money, but now are wondering about the current pricing situation. thanks.

Seamus

London is in no way a bargain lover's paradise, but you can get by on the (relative) cheap if you follow the standard travel frugalities - things like loading up at the hotel breakfast (if included in your package, otherwise cheaper to eat elsewhere) and buying food at local supermarkets to make your own meals. Do try to squeeze in at least one nice meal out, though. Also, I read that England recently rescinded admission fees for national museums, so there's one great freebie for you.

WillTravel

You can get a travel pass and then local transport will be somewhere around $6 or $8 per day. Admission to numerous museums is free. Other attractions are not that unreasonable. You can buy sandwiches at Marks and Spencers for a few dollars each. Many Indian and Italian and Middle Eastern restaurants are relatively reasonable in price.

The_Pixies

We travelled there on crappy Canadian dollars two years ago and we survived! (we paid $2.30 Cdn for each GBP). If you want to go to London - go for it!

The way you like to dine, there are plenty of ways to eat on the cheap - we did! Belgo Centraal has a great "beat the clock special" - good meals for 5-6 GBP. Wagamama has great noodle dishes for reasonable prices.

Many of the sights are cheap or free too (except the Tower of London - 10 or 11 GBP - but still a MUST SEE).

mclaurie

While I agree there are definitely ways to keep costs down, I wonder why you're considering this trip <i>now</i>-when the dollar/pound exchange is at an all time low-when you've rejected it as <i>too expensive in the past?</i>

I have found in the last 10 years or so, something that usually costs $10 (in NYC) costs 10GBP (&amp; sometimes more) in London. So the difference in cost is the <i>exchange rate</i>!

There are several strings here on cost saving ideas if you decide to go.

Anonymous

The air and hotel costs qare the major costs for a London trp. You can indeed eat economically if you stay away from md- to upper-level restaurants -- watch out for the cost of beverages, take a water bottle with you and fill it each morning. Pre-made packaged sandwiches are very popular and thus fresher and more interesting than the comparable offerings in the US.

You can get a 7-day unlimited-use pass for the buses and for the Tube within Zone 1 for &pound;16, purchase at any Tube station. Most toursit attractions and hotels are in Zone 1. Daily passes cost &pound;5 before 9:30 AM, &pound;4 after.

As has been said above, many museums are free -- British Museum, British Library, National Gallery , National Portrait Gallery, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert, etc. Street markets can also provide economical entertainment if you're careful.

The only &quot;must&quot; attraction that charges admission is the Tower of London, which is well worth it.

There have been a recent thread about 2-for-1 specials at places that charge admission, it would be worthwhile to search that out.

Here's a list of free and low-cost stuff to do in London:

http://www.londonfreelist.com/home.asp

Dave_

How pricey London will be depends on how pricey you want to make it. Trying to keep to a budget doesn't mean you can't enjoy London by any means. It just means you may have to research your options more carefully.

In fact, in this position, you will probably see more to London than a lot of visitors do because you will get advice to see places in very different neighbourhoods of the city, away from the traditional tourist areas which are typically more expensive to eat etc.

I know that's easy to say but there really is so many things to do in London that are free (including lots of the museums if you are interested). I am sure there have been previous threads listing free things in London.

Certainly, you can eat cheaply in London where there's so much choice at all parts of the price range you'll have no problems finding places to eat within your budget. There are many ethnic restaurants that certainly won't break the bank for a nice meal.

A lot of attractions of course aren't free but I posted yesterday a link to a number of attractions that are currently offering 2 for 1 deals. Take a look at the following link:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34467665

I hope this helps. You can e-mail me on [email protected] if you want to ask anything.

isabel

We went on a cheap package last spring and kept other costs reasonable. Most of my suggestions have already been given but I second the idea of getting pre-made sandwiches and salads at Marks and Spencer (they are all over London). They have other goodies too (especially dessert) and we had picnicks in our room many times, or outside if the weather was nice. It really is MUCH better than it sounds.

The museums are free, and most important, the SIGHTS, are free. Do some research (here and in guide books) and plan out several walks. You don't need to pay for tours, you can easily do them yourselves and should find them just as enjoyable as long as you've invested a little time to research what you are seeing. Ben Haines has some great ones if you search on his name.

We got tickets to the theatre for 20 pounds each (2nd row center, My Fair Lady) on line. We also got two for one admissions to the Tower of London and Kew Gardens. I know I've seen these specials mentioned again for this year.

All you need to do to enjoy London very cheap is to do a little homework before you go. Have fun.

bettyk

Also, if you plan to visit the Tower of London plus Hampton Court or Kensington Palace, you can get a &quot;combination&quot; ticket that will save you money over purchasing individual tickets to each place. See http://www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/content.asp?ID=34 for info.

julies

Thanks for the replies. You are all making it sound quite doable. In the past we had rejected London because we could find other interesting and cheaper options. Go-today has an early March (which is when I am free to go) 6 night package including air from Minneapolis and hotel for $1400-1500 for 2 of us. That is why the idea has tempted us. We are interested in museums, but how many museums can one do without getting museum overload? One final question. We'd like to extend our trip by a few days and would probably be interested in an interesting and charming place we could easily reach by public transportation (or a cheap car rental) where we could do some walking and get to see more of rural England or small town England. Have any ideas for inexpensive and interesting places for mid-March, or are we too early to even think about something of that nature? Or would we be better off just staying put? Our concern is that we've visited Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Paris and have found that by ablout day 5 we are ready to move on to something different.

mclaurie

Remember you can do day trips from London that can give you some alternate experience. The weather will be &quot;iffy&quot; for walking in mid-March, but I can recommend the town of Rye as a lovely place to spend a day or two that I believe has train service from London. It's got some great architecture &amp; lots of charm. It's also near the town of Battle where the Battle of Hastings took place.

Another option is Bradford On Avon just outside Bath. Bradford is charming &amp; you could also see Bath.

Finally, if this is at the end of the trip, maybe Windsor would interest you. You'd be near Heathrow for your departing flight.

martytravels

If you like small, quick service ethnic restaurants, have no fear.
I'm a big fan of Middle Eastern food, and there are as many shawarma/falafel places around town as fish-and-chips joints. You can get a great lamb or chicken shawarma in a pita (that will totally fill you up) for 3 gbp at Tazo (on Queensway in the Bayswater neighborhood) and probably at a similar price at similar places.
Also, London is well-stocked with good and relatively inexpensive Indian and Chinese restaurants.

jsmith

Message: &quot;I wonder why you're considering this trip now-when the dollar/pound exchange is at an all time low&quot; quoted from the post by mclaurie at 9:01 today.

The pound was worth $2.40 in 1971. (Source is http://oanda.com/) I believe it was closeer to $5.00 in the late 40s.

Maybe it's a real bargain today and we should go while we can.

&quot; History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember&quot;. W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman.

crepes_a_go_go

&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;follow the standard travel frugalities - things like loading up at the hotel breakfast (if included in your package)&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

In London, I ALWAYS book a hotel that includes a &quot;full English breakfast&quot; as they are very substantial. This is one of the best suggestions for eating cheap. Of course, you are buying a package, which would specify your hotel choices. That is one of the reasons I never buy pkgs. I can always find as good a deal on the airfare and then can choose hotel rooms that are to my liking and specifications. For instance in London, Ebury Street, just two blocks from Victoria Station, is full of B&amp;Bs for about $100 a night for a double with breakfast included. Also, several good sandwich shop chains in the stations. Very reasonable and very tasty.

guarantor

Transportation back and forth from Heathrow to our hotel, was a killer. This goes back 2 years, but it probably hasn't changed.

The return Heathrow Express was 25 pounds each.
Our hotel was the Hilton in Kensington. The Taxi cab was 15 pounds each way. For the 3, we spent 75 pounds on the express and a total of 30 pounds on taxis.

Over a hundred pounds to get back and forth from the airport the airport! Back then the pound was worth 2.50 Cdn. We travel a lot but have never experienced anything close to $250 for getting to a hotel and back to the airport. It put an edge to the entire stay.

Take the tube from the airport, its a lot cheaper and not that much slower. You may also be wise to stay at a hotel close to Victoria Station.

Patrick

I've said it often, guarantor, the Express and then a taxi makes no sense at all for two or more people, but it might be OK for a single traveler. I guarantee you that you can get a car service to meet you at Heathrow and drive you to your door for less than two Express tickets plus a taxi. And the time you &quot;save&quot; taking the express will be eaten back up by transferring to a taxi and waiting for one at Paddington. It just doesn't make sense to me to pay more for the Express and a taxi and take just as long total as taking the car service which is so much more civilized.

guarantor

Patrick, your post really highlights the fact that you have to do extra research before you go to London.

You also have to use some common sense which we didn't do a lot of the time. I'll give you an example. We decided to see the Victoria and Albert Museum and have lunch beforehand, near the museum. Lunch was a disaster... extremely slow service , lousy food, and ridiculously expensive (40 pounds). It was so slow that we went to a nearby Starbucks for coffee...another mistake...5 pounds for a couple of coffees is ridiculous. Anyway, we finally got to the Victoria and Albert Museum and were surprised with the 10 pounds each for admission (is it free now ?).

When you add the transportation cost, the afternoon cost about 75 pounds. For what? A lousy lunch, a cup of coffee and a trip to museum.

But it was our fault, because we didn't use our heads. There are a lot of free museums around town.Although the Victoria and Albert Museum was impressive , I was just as impressed with the British Museum at no admission.
We could have dropped in anywhere for a quick pub lunch and a beer for less than 10 pounds each and didn't. If cost is a factor getting a coffee at a Starbucks in London is stupid.

Had we gone to the British Museum, had a pub lunch an a beer. It would have cost us maybe about a quarter what our excursion to the Victoria and Albert cost. And that is more than reasonable, as a matter of fact it is a bargain compared to anywhere else on earth.

You just have to have a case of the smarts when you do the tourist thing in London. We didn't the first time around, and it left a bad taste in our mouths at the time. But in retrospect it was our fault.

Anonymous

The Victoria and Albert Museum, like many others in London and throughout England has been free since a significant change in tax laws about 2 years ago. The Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Imperial War Museum, both Tates, etc. are also now free.

Patrick

While the Victoria and Albert has free admission, like many museums, special exhibits may have a charge. If you want to see the permanent collections, it's free. Wanting to see some special exhibit? There may be a charge.

allisonm

We were in London two years ago, on a TA package. Our hotel (which included the full English breakfast) was on Oxford St near the Marble Arch, so very close to Hyde Park. We walked almost everywhere and saw many things for free. We went to the British Museum, followed by a pub lunch in the area. (They had a phenomenal dinosaur exhibit at the time.) The we hit Harrods just to say we went there, and since I couldn't leave without buying something, we bought some teaspoons. The day cost barely anything, and we had no regrets. About the only thing I wish we had done while there was to see the Tower of London. We walked miles one day, and ended up there but just didn't have the energy to go inside. We'll do it the next time.
In our week there, we never once went into a Starbucks, although they seemed to be everywhere. My husband was able to get his coffee fix in many little shops for a fraction of the price. We never had a &quot;fine dining&quot; experience, managing to have most meals in pubs or small places with reasonable prices, and I think we came away with a good sampling of English food.