London cost of things
 

I am traveling to London on a tight budget and Im trying to get an idea of the cost of things over their like cabs, food and tourisy things

If you're on a tight budget, you shouldn't be asking about cabs. A one-day bus pass is £3, and a 7-day is £11.

Food can be as inexpensive as £2 for a sandwich from Marks & Spencer or Pret a Manger without spending a nuppence.

Most of the museums are free. You could spend weeks in the British, Victoria & Albert, National Maritime, and Imperial War Museums.

How much do cabs generally cost because I know the subway closes early. I plan on some really late nites

<i>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/pco/taxi_fares.shtml</i>

You should also go to the start page of that website to look for answers to other London transport questions you might have.

<i>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/</i>

There are places cheaper than Marks and Spencer and Pret a Manger, try Benji's or Greggs where sandwiches start at &pound;1. They can be even less than that when they start going off at the end of the day and they sell them at 50p.

If you are on a tight budget, all the more reason to avoid late night cabs. They cost even more in the wee small hours than they do during the day. There are night buses that cover most of central London so you can get home after your &quot;really late nites&quot;

Hi

Where are you staying? If at a hostel book at a central one that's walking/stumbling distance from attractions, clubs etc. If you can make sure you have the use of a kitchen so you can prepare your own meals. This will save heaps. This one - http://www.generatorhostels.com/london/doesn't look like it's got a kitchen but includes breakfast and &pound;1 a pint happy hour in their bar from 6pm-9pm every night of the week. Or this one has a kitchen, includes breakfast and is in Hyde Park - http://www.astorhostels.com

Food: This site might help http://www.eatinlondon.com/cgi-bin/W...ts/Eatinlondon. I did a search of meals for &pound;5 and it came up with quite a few.

Work on the 1 pound = 1 dollar rule eg. a $3 drink at home is 3 quid in London.

Do a search of this forum. I recollect a post about free things to do in London in addition to Robespierre's good suggestions. Hyde Park, Kew gardens etc. I don't know how much the London Eye is but I went all the way to the top of Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey) for a small fee. Great view of London and something a little different.

Good luck

Prices in London, contrary to the perpetual whining you can read on this board from people who leave their brains at home, are pretty much what you let them be.

It's true the tube does close a couple of hours after sensible people have gone to bed. But there's a pretty intense network of night buses, which are effectively free if you've bought a multi-day bus pass. Getting them, and waiting for them, is utterly safe. Whatever you do, don't hail a taxi on the street: you can see the legit fares for black cabs on the site Nimrod recommends and on a tight budget you can't afford them: non-black cabs prowling can be risky.

For food prices generally, check www.tesco.com, remembering that no British adult ever wastes money on manufacturers' brands when supermarket own-labels are identical (or, for chilled ready to eat food, better) Don't shop anywhere charging more, or buy brands dearer than Tesco's own. For sit-down places,invest &pound;5.99 in Time Out Cheap Eats

On a budget, the best way to pay for touristy things is not to and I'm not suggesting theft. It's perfectly easy, and utterly rewarding, not to spend a penny on a single &quot;attraction&quot;: the welter of free attractions is so immense even those of us who've lived here for decades haven't exhausted them, and with luck your post will trigger an outpouring of ways to keep your wallet in your pocket (like going to Evensong rather than paying admission to Westminster Abbey) The world will be not one whit the poorer place if you keep all those &quot;My girl friend went to London...&quot; T shirts firmly on the tat-mongers' stalls.

To paraphrase the most repellent person who's ever lived here &quot;Whingers have noticed London's prices: the point is how not to pay them&quot;.

There is a page of everyday items with prices at:
http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefin..._of_living.htm

My sister lives in London and I travel there a few times a year, and I do find it to be quite expensive, even for everyday kinds of things, so I agree that you should try to stay someplace where you can walk to and from late night venues. You have to spend enough when you are there, no need to waste quid on transport. I live in NYC so I am no stranger to pricey, but a lot of the time prices in London even shock me. That being said, just like in NYC, you just have to work a little harder to find good deals. Pret a Manger is a good suggestion for a sandwich on the go (and they are everywhere), and I find that you can get some decent deals on food at neighborhood (not touristy) pubs in more residential parts of the city. One thing that's a great deal (particularly compared to NYC) is the cost of theater if you get same day tickets at their 1/2 price booth in Leicester Square. The last time we were in London we say a great play for about $25 a person. And as a prior poster mentioned, many great museums are free. London is a great place and lots of fun.

I hate to break it to you but a lot of very late nights doesn't exactly go with a small budget either - unless you're a VERY attractive young woman and willing to put up with the issues that can come with having someone else pay for your whole evening. In which case - you might not need to pay for a hotel either.

We were in London 2 weeks ago and found it to be incredibly expensive. Like others said, just double the prices of NYC and there you go.

A beer in a pub is 3-4 pounds - which is $6-$8. A subway ride costs 2 pounds ($4 - costs half that in NYC). We were told that a cab from our hotel to the train station would cost 12 pounds ($24), but we walked it in 20 minutes. (A cab ride for the distance of a 20-min walk would cost less than half that in NYC.)

The free museums were nice, but it was 8 pounds to get into Westminster Abbey - $16 per person.

You can do London cheaply for sure, just like you can do NYC on a tight budget, but eating at Pret for every meal after taking the trouble to cross the pond - well...

A beer in a pub &pound;3 to &pound;4??? I don't know what pubs you go to....I generally am able to hoist a pint so to speak for no more than &pound;2.50 and most of the time a little less....

BTW as of 02 January, the cost of a single tube ride in central London is going up to &pound;3 which is outrageous even by London standards but with various passes it could be much less but they're obviously hoping tourists are too lazy to read up on the various passes available.

People often use &pound;1 = $2 to show how expensive things are.

The &pound; is actually around $1.73 give or take (and was down to about $1.71 a few days ago). So all those &pound;3 = $6 or &pound;8 = $16 are really off by about 13%. This can make a big difference when on a tight budget.

&pound;3 = about $5.19, &pound;8 = about $13

I'm also going to London at the end of the month, and am finding it to be pretty expensive. However, if you want to do some tours for not too expensive, London Walks look really good. They're only about 5 quid (depending on the walk) and for about 2 hours, there are some really amazing tours. We're planning to do a Beatles tour (abbey road, apple studios, etc...) as well as one of their famous Jack the Ripper tours. I think it will be a fun and entertaining way to see the city with the insight of a local. Check their website: www.walks.com

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;
just double the prices of NYC and there you go.
&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

london is expensive...no doubt about that. but this statement and the others in your post are hyperbole.

a good pint in NYC will cost you easily $6 or more with the &quot;required&quot; tip. in the most expensive central london pubs, it is &pound;2.75 - no tipping expected ($4.80).

my last meal in london (last weekend) was &pound;45 for two with a decent full bottle of wine, 2 mains, 2 starters, 1 desert. this included the standard 10% tip and tax. This was in trendy and hardly cheap islington. in NYC, you could not get that meal for less than the equivalent $80, *excluding* state AND city tax (forgive me if i'm wrong on this) and the &quot;required&quot; 17-23% tip that is expected in major US cities. that would make the meal in excess of $90 in NYC.

the theatre in nyc is for the most part reserved for those who have big budgets or those who go out for a special evening. i go to the theatre in london several times a month. i very rarely spend over &pound;20 per ticket. often i go to the national theatre (some of the best theatre in the country) for &pound;10/ticket.

my point isnt to compare every little thing but that the average visitor will not even come close to experiencing double the costs as compared to nyc

How far outside of London are you staying? Cabs late night are pricey but if you are not going far not to worry. Always know that they can spot a tourist (exspecially a drunk one) and will overcharge you. Know your exchange rates. Otherwise late night try to stay in walking distance from your hotel or share a cab with others.

&quot;...unless you're a VERY attractive young woman...&quot;

(Or young man, in many places.)

I agree with the notion that London is as cheap/expensive as you want it to be. I live here and, as Flanner says, the number of things to see and do for free is exhausting that I'll never have a hope of doing them all.

As for eating, the Time Out guide referred to above is a good investment. However, if you are on a really tight budget, I couldn't ever recommend you go to Pret a Manger. While I am not saying the food isn't nice, this is probably the most overpriced sandwich shop I've seen. You can get a meal in other places for what you pay for a sandwich there.

Ummm, I don't know what sandwiches at PAM cost as much as a meal. Here's the tariff:

<b>http://www.pretamanger.com/menu</b>

They average around &pound;2.50, with the &quot;slims&quot; somewhat less and the &quot;specials of the week&quot; a little more.

But the quality is consistently high, and you aren't taking a chance experimenting as you might by stopping in an unknown shop, because PAM's are always delicious.

Benjy's sandwiches are a little cheaper but then again Benjy's resorts to that trick of importing coca cola products from long distances which I have a problem with!

And I have never had a problem with PM as to the freshness of their food something I can't say about Benjy's.

I also get sandwiches from time to time from Tesco shoppes and the prices are about the same as PM.

&quot;Tesco shoppes&quot;, have they gone all quaint or something, with little thatched roofs and Mr Pickwick lookalike shop assistants?
Anyway, I would never look foward to a Benjy's sandwich in the same way I'd look foward to one from Pret, but when I'm trying to save money then needs must.

Benjy's is dreadful. Really really bad. The fillings are non existant and of poor quality. Stick to M&amp;S, the supermnarkets (who have mini versions all over the place) and pret - also the independent places are usually OK.


Beer costs no more than &pound;2.50 a pint (and it's a bigger pint - 20 fl oz)

Sandwiches are the most depressing thing. You're best to find little ethnic places where you can get things such as falafel, and grilled meats for under 5GBP.

Where are you staying in London? With this information it'll be easier to give you some more specific recommendations.

Quite to the contrary, I find sandwiches inspiring, elevating, enriching, stirring. Especially the more exotic collations from the all-British non-ethnic kitchens of Marks &amp; Spencer.

Here, grilled meats and picnic portables include succulent bacon from East Anglia, delectable York ham, and tasty Cornish pasties.

Only an inbred snob would turn up its nose at Pret a Manger's Hoisin Duck Wrap or Christmas Turkey Baguette.

I detest Pret a Manger with a passion. It's pretentious, and on numerous occasions I've had to endure their food (a very quick bite/drink and they were the only place around). It's just bland.

Picnic affairs from Fortnums and suchlike are charming, but sandwiches alone and from chains are dull. Home produced sandwiches can be better, but even then they're bland. Cheese sandwiches are acceptable in as much a good quality cheese, with some fruit on fresh bread is delicious, but you don't get that in any shop really.

I think fish and chips would be preferable to that, although that isn't so cheap. Have one course in a restaurant/caf&eacute; to reduce costs.

But a tight budget for you might be a liberal one for someone else...

The cornish pasty places you find near railway stations are pretty scrummy too.

M Kingdon - you can't inflict kebabs on the Americans - they don't drink much. It's not fair to give a sober person a kebab.

I know a few places at home where I can get reputable kebabs, and I've had good ones in countries other than the UK. However, on my last trip to London, I got mild food poisoning from a kebab. My daughter who had a vegetarian burger was not affected. I felt punished for eating a sweet, little lamb.

So I disagree that properly-done kebabs are only for drunk people, but I'd be very cautious about another London kebab.

I'm not talking about kebabs. I'm talking about quality grilled arabic foods that are homemade. Ali Baba in Ivor Place in Marylebone does excellent fish too.

I wouldn't touch a kebab dear.

Not even after a night on the Newcastle-Brown-and-blackcurrant?

&quot;Prices in London, contrary to the perpetual whining you can read on this board from people who leave their brains at home, are pretty much what you let them be.&quot;

Your idea of a fun vacation is different from mine.

Though I don't mind an occasional meal, I don't want to fly several thousand miles to have every meal be premade sandwiches from a supermarket.

Keith

Keith: &quot;<i>I don't want to fly several thousand miles to have every meal be premade sandwiches from a supermarket.</i>&quot;

One doesn't have to. Sandwiches were recommended because the OP is on a very tight budget.

On my average week-long trip to London I'll have maybe 2 pret sandwiches or a take away - and those are usually more for convenience/speed than to save money. Otherwise I eat in pubs, restaurants, museum cafes, a couple of splurge meals. And my food costs are no more than they would be in San Francisco, Chicago or any big US city.

I've seen a lot of talk about sandwiches in London, as well as the more recent posts about kebabs, but what's the deal with curry? Londoners are famous for loving &quot;takeaway curry&quot;... I'm curious about this phenomenon... Is curry cheap in London? Where are good places to get an inexpensive curry? I'm staying in Bayswater and looking for good and cheap places to eat. It looks like we'll be living off staples from Tesco, PAM and fish and chips during our trip but I would like to know more about the infamous curries.

curry is simply a shorthand term for food from the Indian subcontinent.

When we get an Indian takeaway, it usually comes from a restaurant rather than a dedicated home delivery place, as many Indian restaurants do home delivery.

there are numerous great cheap indian restaurants across London (indeed across the UK). Far too numerous to mention.

You can search this very reliable restaurant review website for curry houses in your area. You'll need to register (free) but then you can search by area, food type, service, atmosphere, price per head and food quality:

www.hardens.com

Rubies (Ruby Murray - Curry) are part of the English way of life.

You go and have one after a few Brittneys (Brittney Spears - beers). There's a whole curry subculture.

I'll explain tomorrow unless any other Brits want to do it.

Mr Kingdom?

Thanks for the slang !

'Brittney' was a new one for me. Quite contemporary too. Any others ?

There's a pub in Soho (The Duke of something or other, anyway it's opposite the NCP car park and film merchandise collectables shop) and that is very very very cheap - only thing is Everything (from the beer to crisps to the coke) is unbranded - but the prices are some of the cheapest you'll find in London and outside of it too. The Pub Grub looked cheap and substantial as well.

I'd keep an eye out for pubs belonging to the JD Weatherspoon change these are often very reasonably priced.

That's because it's a Sam Smiths pub. They're all like that.

Just down from there in Gt Windmill St there's a pub called the Golden Lion which is the cheapest one I know in the west end.

Sam Smiths pubs are cheap for food and beer but not so cheap for a decent wine. Try the Chandos or Lyceum if you are in the West End.
Everything is own brand including their 'cola' (yuck!).

The Sam Smiths Brewery pubs in London do tend to have some of the lowest prices for beer.In addition the pubs themselves tend to be well kept and interesting to visit.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Fleet Street is a good example.
Here is a link to a listing for their London Pubs.
http://tinyurl.com/9sqfv