any opinions on the London card + travel card ? the good, bad and ugly ? I have done my sums on what I want to see for the 4 days whilst in London and at this stage it seems the card will be of benefit to me and I can save some money. Im just wondering if anyone has used them whilst in London and if there is anything I shold be aware of?

Very expensive needless expense. You can get 2 for 1 entry wih a paper travelcard purchased at a railway station. Most of the major museums are free anyway, the V&A, National Gallery, National Portrait gallery, the Tate, Imperial War museum to name a few. For 4 days I buy a 7 day Oyster for zones 1 and 2. It costs about the same as 4 paper cards and a Whole lot less than the London Pass. Oyster also sometimes offers 2 for1 entry. Check the TFL website.

"You can get 2 for 1 entry wih a paper travelcard purchased at a railway station"


OP might be travelling alone as she says I not we, and 2for1 deals only work if there are two people travelling.

That's true but the London Pass is still a bad deal

How many in your group, what are you intending to see, do you know about the FREE major museums and galleries that London has?

I could easily do a 4 day trip in London where the only things I will have paid for are transport, food & accommodation - and I will have seen virtually everything a tourist would want to see.

I've done a 3 week trip to London and only paid what Alan listed.

If you are traveling w/ someone -- the 2for1's are a much better deal

But even if you are traveling alone -- The London Pass (which is what we assume you mean by the London 'card') is usually a rip off. Sure it covers a TON of sites -- nearly half of which are not worth visiting. But it sort of dazzles w/ quantity -- >><i>Wow - look at all the places I can go!</i><< But in order to get to enough of the biggies to make it pay, you'd have to go at a dead run.

And even IF you decide to get a London Pass -- DO NOT get the optional transport option. The London Pass is a bit of a rip off -- the transport option is a <u>total</u> ripoff.

Per the London Pass website: a 3 day pass+travel card is £94.00 and "potential savings (are) based on one adult visiting three top London Pass attractions per day."
Would you be able to utilize the card to its "potential?"

I see that the Tate Britain, Tate Modern,the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Gallery are included on the London Pass attractions list. That's deceptive advertizing because none of those places charge an admission fee to begin with.

Do you also plan to visit any other top London sites that have no admission charge such as the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, etc? Will you want to see London attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and Parliament, which are "walk-bys" and require no admission charge?

Do you plan to ride the London Eye? Its admission charge is not included on the London Pass.

"<i>"potential savings (are) based on one adult visiting three top London Pass attractions per day." </i>" . . is the big selling point -- Get's them every time

But it isn't really possible to visit 3 top attractions every day for three days -- and even IF one did, half of the top attractions are free. A good rule of thumb is two biggies a day max w/ <i>maybe</i> one or two smaller things. Figure any major site will eat up 4 full hours. That is when you factor in travel to/from, touring the site, a snack or sit down meal, visiting the gift shop.

Now, you can save time seeing two biggies like the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery which are right next door to each other so cutting the travel time -- but since both have free admission, doesn't help maximizing the LP . .

I definitely agree that most of the places worth seeing in London actually have free admission. When I went to London, I did not get the London card for that very reason. As Green said, there's deceptive advertising on the list of attractions.

So glad I came across this post. Planning a trip this year with my mum. I've been before and this will be her first time so I wanted to her to see as much of London in as little time as possible, but not incurring unnecessary expense.

Thanks everyone for your posts. I thought as much. Tell me with the 2 for 1 deal (I am travelling with hubby), I thought you have to arrive into London by train? we are arriving by train but from Paris on the Eurostar.
So is it as easy as going to any station and purchasing a paper travelcard?

>>So is it as easy as going to any station and purchasing a paper travelcard?<<

Any National Rail station. And you arrive at one (St Pancras). Just find the ticket window for National Rail services, rather than the Underground (it's in the opposite direction to the Underground that everyone else will be making for).

You might need to check out first whether there are 2for1s on offer that are of interest to you, and make sure you print out the vouchers beforehand.

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/statio.../STP/plan.html

"I thought you have to arrive into London by train?"

What you need is something issued by a National Rail office that allows travel to or in London.

The offers are intended to be for train travel but a Travelcard also allows train travel so it's a loophole. It has to be bought at a National Rail office as the "train ticket" has to be bought from a National Rail company

bdshotsauce - check out this website for some ideas about free things to do in London

http://www.londontown.com/London/London-for-Free

get the public transport ticket with underground and bus daily. all on/off and when you have had enough of the sites and after a few good pints. Mind the GAP. Have a great trip