mktopks

We will be in London, Edinburgh, and then touring by car through Scotland in July. We will have 2 20 year old US college students with us. They will have international student identity cards as they are studying in Spain for 8 weeks prior to our UK trip. My question is: Do their student id cards qualify them for "concession" entry tickets into attractions in the UK? All the passes for transportation and attractions are very hard to figure out which way is the most economical, too (LondonPass, travelcards, oyster cards, Great British Heritage pass, Scottish Tourist pass). If anyone has any tricks or input for figuring out which are the best ones to purchase, I would be very grateful.
Thanks.

CAPH52

I don't know how much this will help, but... My 19 year old son and I will be in the UK in June. I prebooked a day tour in Scotland and was able to book him at the student rate. My understanding is that he just needs to show his school ID when we show up that day.

I'm in the process of trying to book tickets for the Chelsea Stadium tour (I've been having trouble with their web site and am waiting for a call from them as I type this). I e-mailed them and was told that he does qualify for the student rate.

We've already purchased GB Heritage Passes and plan to use the 2-for-1 offers in London.

Here's a link to a thread I started a while back about the Heritage Pass in case it's of any help to you:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...age-pass-6.cfm

I tried to find one of the threads here on the 2 for 1 offers but am not having any luck. But here's a link for the offers:

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/attrac...or1london.aspx

flanneruk

Generally speaking, student identification gets reduced prices at attractions.

It doesn't get reduced rates on public transport: over-18 yo's have to be full-time students at an approved London-area establishment to get discounts on TfL. If you're travelling to Scotland by train, it might be worth looking at www.railcard.co.uk to see if there's a rail discount card that works for you. Family & Friends and Young Persons' cards give you the 35% (or whatever) discount on practically any off-peak railway fare you can find.

mktopks

Our only rail travel will be from London to Edinburgh, after that, we are using a rental car.

CAPH52

If you haven't already booked your train tickets, you might find some of this useful:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...h-by-train.cfm

mktopks

CAPH52 - Thanks for the link, I have reviewed that thread. I am planning to book the National East Coast Express, as soon as the low advance fares come out, which should be sometime this week.
I find it very hard to figure out which is the best "pass" to use for our travels. I was thinking of booking a 3 day LondonPass (which are 10% off through today), and using Oyster card or Paper Travelcards for the tube/bus. We will have 3 1/2 days in London and plan to do the following, which have an entrance fee:
doubledecker bus tour on our arrival afternoon (jet lag)
a bike tour of some sort
Shakespeare's Globe
London Eye
Westminster Abbey
St Paul's
Kensington Palace/Orangery Tea
We Will Rock You (or another show)
Complicating the decision about which "pass" to purchase, is that we will spend 3 days in Edinburgh, then driving to Inverness area, Skye, Mull/Iona/Oban, Loch Lomond/Stirling (2 nights stay in each area), then flying back to the US from Glasgow. The Great British Heritage pass covers a lot of the castles and gardens we would want to visit, but not much in London. Since 2 of our group are students, and may get lower entrance rates, that is another factor to consider. There are no "student rate" passes that I can find. My head is spinning with trying to sort through websites and threads to decide which is the best deal for us.

Palenque

The Great British Heritage pass covers a lot of the castles and gardens we would want to visit, but not much in London.>

but it does cover the Globe and St Pauls - both about $15 or so without it so it goes quite a ways to paying for the pass which will be useful more outside of London and in Edinburgh

Too bad the Queen took her royal palaces like Kensington out of the GBH scheme recently - not sure that Kensington is not covered but Windsor Palace and the Tower 50% were removed.

flanneruk

"Our only rail travel will be from London to Edinburgh"

So? It's still highly likely a 35% reduction on the price of four adult returns will be worth paying £24 for. You don't need to have bought the card before booking. If the total gross cost for the four of you is over £68, just tell the booking site you've got a Family & Friends card. Then, when you get to the station in London, buy an F&F card. You have to have it with you on the train.

yk

The Globe, Kensington Palace & Fat Tire bike tours can be have with 2-for-1 discounts.

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/fat-bike-tours-london
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/shakes...ition-and-tour
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/kensington-palace

You can get 10% off St Paul's Cathedral if you purchase your ticket in advance via lastminute.co.uk

mktopks

Thanks to everyone for your help with this.
I think the best option for us is to book 15 day Greater British Heritage Passes, since this costs 60GBP (virtually the same as a 3 day LondonPass). We can at least use it for the Globe and St Pauls, as well as many other sites in Scotland. We could then use Travelcards for our London transport, and use the 2 for 1 offers for bike tours, Kensington Palace, and the Tower and Bridge (I forgot that one earlier!).
flanneruk - I appreciate the tip about using the F&F card, was not aware of that pass and how it works. I'll see how much the advance train fares are to see whether or not to get one of those.

mktopks

This may be a silly question, but the 2for1 offers state that you must purchase the Travelcards at a railway station, and not a tube station. We will be arriving at Heathrow and taking the tube to Victoria station, and walking to our nearby hotel. Would it then be best to purchase our travelcards at Victoria station? Just want to make sure. Thanks!

yk

hi mktops - since your hotel is near Victoria station, that will work out great. Just buy your travelcard from Victoria - make sure it has the Rail logo on it - which will qualify for the 2for1. If you aren't visitng the 2for1 sites every day, on days you aren't you can just use the Oyster PAYG (which you should buy when you arrive at Heathrow and use it for the Heathrow->London trip).

This website describes the differences and pics of the Travelcard with rail logo:
http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefin...ard_oyster.htm