Bartosz_Ryt

Well, I'm going to London next month with my three friends. This is our first visit in London so we want to see many things. We are staying from 20th July to 28th July - that makes seven days.

I've just finished planning every day of my trip and it looks like this:

Day 1
Tower of London
City Cruise
Westminster Abbey
House of Parliment, Big Ben

Day 2
Tate Britan
Museum of London
Kew Gardens

Day 3
Trafalgar Square
St. Paul's Cathedral
Jubilee Promenade
Tate Modern

Day 4
Buckingham Palace
St. James's Park
Churchill Museum

Day 5
British Museum
Covent Garden
Soho
Madame Tussauds

Day 6
Victoria and Albert Museum
Natural History Museum
Hyde Park

Day 7
Sealife
London Film Museum

It makes over 150Ł per person for the tickets (with the Late Saver option in Sealife and Tussauds already). I was doing research on some discounts we can make on the tickets, and 6-day London pass doesn't give me anything - until we add some attractions to our plan. Same thing with the Travelcard, Oyster should work better for us.

We've been to Paris last year and Paris is just great for young people, because if you are under 26 you don't pay anything in most places. That makes me feel the Queen is trying to rip us off. Is there any way to stop her? Any discounts or special offers I don't know about?

Irishwhistler90

Hi, I have totally been there, and believe me, your day one itinerary is too ambitious! If you want to read about how that exact same line-up went for me, have a look at my trip report here: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...the-report.cfm. If you aren't wanting to go inside Parliament it would perhaps be feasible, but if you are wanting to do the guided tour of parliament, which is well worth doing, this day's itinerary is too much! You need to take into account the amount of time you will have to wait to get in!

In England, if you have student I.D. You can get the commission prices, which are sometimes a good five pounds cheaper, so if you are a student, as I am, you may be in luck!

You may want to find out which areas all of your "must sees" are in, because the way you have them grouped is odd in places, it seems like you would be skipping across London a lot, wasting valuable time in either the metro (shudder), or the bus (better views there....just saying, you can't see anything from the metro, and often the station that you want to stop at is unavailable on the day you want to hop off there).

nytraveler

Day 1 is too busy and Day 2 you are bouncing around London like a ping pong ball. The cityy is spread out and you can spend a lot of time just getting from one place to another (esp Museum of London to Key).

As for students being free - my POV is if you have money to travel - and go out for a drink in the evening - you have enough to pay for other things too. Small kids is one thing - but grown people is another. (And who's a student at 26 - you finish college at 21. And if you opt for some sort of grad school - well, just work a few more hours to pay for your trip.)

ron

When you say you have researched, and rejected Travelcard, does that mean you found nothing of value in the Days Out 2for1 offers?

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

Nikki

Unlike Paris, many of the museums in London are free. No discounts required. From your list, the British Museum, Victoria and Albert, Museum of London, Natural Science and History Museums, Tate Britain, and Tate Modern are all free.

valtor

Do you want to see the House of Parliament inside? I yes, did you check opening days? I do not think that it is open on July 20.

thursdaysd

I could spend an entire day at the Museum of London... But even if you do it faster I don't see how you're going to do that plus Tate Britain plus Kew on the same day. Also, Kew is very expensive and a bit out of the way (nice ride down the river if you take the boat, but not quick).

janisj

"<i>We've been to Paris last year and Paris is just great for young people, because if you are under 26 you don't pay anything in most places. That makes me feel the Queen is trying to rip us off. Is there any way to stop her?</i>"

I really have no idea what you are talking about. If you skip the VERY expensive Madame Tussaud's, the Aquarium and forget the silly London Pass -- you will have saved a lot of money. W/ all the totally free museums and galleries --sightseeing in London is actually cheaper than in Paris. There are many more besides the long list Nikki posted.

Is 'Day 1' your arrival day in London? If so -- that is an impossible plan.

And as Nytraveler says, Day 2 jumps all across London, back and forth twice. Would involve hours of transport.

The good news is -- Day 4 has room for more. Buckingham Palace is a walk-by (unless you are touring inside -but that doesn't start until the last week of July so-- are you in London then?). And St James's Park is a 'walk through'.

alanRow

"Same thing with the Travelcard, Oyster should work better for us. "

No it won't - a 7 day Zone 1-2 Travelcard will be cheaper than using Oystercard PAYG and if you buy the Travelcard at a train station booking office you can use the offers on daysoutguide.com.

If you aren't arriving at Heathrow then the train tickets you'll be using to get to & from London will also entitled you to the offers (but you'll need both outward and return tickets) which means you can get your zone 1-2 Travelcards on an Oystercard and add money for your out of zone trip to Kew.

I'd also recommend buying a copy of Time Out magazine on arrival. This is the weekly "what's on" magazine for London and is indispensable.

As for costs - I could easily do a week in London where the only spending I do is on accommodation, food and travel as there's so much that is FREE in London

Bartosz_Ryt

Hi, thanks for all your replies.

Irishwhistler90, valtor:
We won't be able to visit the Parliment inside, because our week in London is the only week this year with no Open Saturday. Bad luck.

Two of my friends are full time students. If they're the students from UE country, do they need any special ID, like Euro <26? Or will their local student's ID be just enough?

nytraveler:
As I said two of my friends are full time students. In my country you get your degree at the age of 24, and we are all 22. I do have a job and it's well-paid as for person of my age in my country, but still I've had to make some savings for this trip.

ron. alanRow:
That might be a kind of silly question, but aren't these "paper" travelcards for National Rails only? I mean - I can't use it for the Tube, right? But If I actually can, how does this thing work? I buy 7-day "paper" travelcard, I use it to travel around in London and I can book the 2 for 1 tickets on these days? And what is the cost of the "paper" travelcard?

thursdaysd
Thanks for that, I was following my London Guide Book and I hadn't noticed that there is "or" not "and" between the Museum of London and The Kew.

janisj
No, Day 1 is not our arrival day. And, as we arrive on 20th of July, we are going to visit the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace.

Dr_DoGood

Suggest you plot out where all the things you want to see are on a map and group them by day.

For instance - you wish to see The Museum of London, St Pauls and Tate Modern and you've spread them across days 2 and 3. Well they're all within spitting distance of one another. Start at either the Museum or the Gallery and visit St Pauls en route from one to the other; you'll have to walk past it anyway.

That way you can maximise what you can fit it to your time in London.

Have a good trip!

BeeBerry

Yes, you can use the 7 day paper travel card for tubes, buses as well as all the trains within the zones of your card. You just need to buy it at a rail station and not the tube station ticket office. Then when you buy your tickets at each attraction you just need to hand-over the 2for1 discount vouchers and show them your paper travel card. Prices on http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/default.aspx
I live in London and use the 2for1 offers all the time.

As for your itinerary, I would do the same as Dr-Dogood advised and group the Museum of London, St Pauls and the Tate Modern all on the same day – either that order or the reverse. I would totally skip Madame Tussauds, it’s ridiculously expensive and appeals mostly to kids. My step-children want to go there but even with the 2 for 1 discount the cost is madness.

Your days 4, 5 and 6 make sense in terms of locations. Not sure the Film Museum and Sealife centre are must see’s unless you have something in particular you have to see? Plus they are both “pay-for” places. Personally I’d use that day to do a trip to either Greenwich or Hampton Court Palace.

thursdaysd

"I was following my London Guide Book" - ah, light dawns. Just because something (like Madame Tussauds or the Film Museum) shows up in your guide book doesn't mean it's something YOU would like. Suggest you read some of the trip reports here, there are other, more worthwhile sights in London (like the British Library and Sir John Soanes house).

Also, I don't see any time for just wandering around. Consider London Walks (http://www.walks.com/ ), or, if you want something cheaper, pick up a second-hand copy of one of Andrew Duncan's books and do your own walks.

janisj

Just a quick clarification (since others have explained that the paper travel cards are used for the tube/buses) . . .

""<i>I use it to travel around in London and I can book the 2 for 1 tickets on these days?</i>""

One doesn't 'book' the 2for1's. As in pre-book. You will print out the vouchers from the Days Out website. Then present the voucher and travel card at the attraction, pay for one entrance and get two. You won't book a specific day or time - just show up.

BigRuss

<i>We've been to Paris last year and Paris is just great for young people, because if you are under 26 you don't pay anything in most places. That makes me feel the Queen is trying to rip us off. Is there any way to stop her? Any discounts or special offers I don't know about?</i>

Your statement is ridiculous and your research is incomplete. Most major museums in London have no admission charge - Tate, British, V&A, Nat'l Gallery, Nat'l Portrait Gallery, Imperial War Museum, British Library, Tate Modern, etc.

The Days Out Guide discounts are mentioned above. What you do is (1) go to daysoutguide.co.uk and print out every conceivable voucher you may want to use. The Tower is included, Hampton Court Palace, Cabinet (Churchill) War Rooms, and more are covered. (2) Get to London, go to the nearest National Rail station to your hotel/apt (i.e., Euston, Paddington, Victoria, Waterloo, etc.), buy 7-day travelcards from a MANNED TICKET BOOTH in the National Rail station, NOT THE TUBE STATION. You get a flimsy coated paper card. <b>The 7-day paper travelcard is usable on all buses and Tube lines in London.</b> (3) Present travelcard and voucher wherever you go that's covered by voucher.

Madame Tussaud's is a rip-off. Hampton Court Palace and/or Windsor Castle should be on your list but aren't. Trafalgar Sq works better with your day 4 than day 3. When you visit St. Paul's, et al., you should pass by the Monument.

Don't underestimate the size of London -- it is the largest city in Western Europe (twice the size of Paris).

bachslunch

Here's another vote against Madame Tussaud's. It's horribly expensive and just plain lousy. You'll marvel at how many mannequins don't actually look like the people they represent, cringe at how hard they try to gouge money out of you during the course of going through, and be staggered at the long line of people who don't know better waiting outside -- the last especially if you're unfortunate enough to be at the end of that line.

You've gotten some good advice on reordering your itinerary. Another option, if you pick an evening when the Tate Modern is open, is to start at the Tower of London, head to St. Paul's, then see the Tate Modern. Also, if you go to the Tower of London first thing (a good idea, actually, as lines can be long there), head right to the crown jewels first, as a long line can form there the later you wait. Entry lines for Westminster Abbey can also be long, and getting there first thing isn't a bad idea, either.