Too much for one day?
 

We'll be staying near Lambeth, I think we'll get the London Pass with Travel

Because of the pass we will have an all day Hop on Hop Off pass for the Thames River Cruise so I thought we would use it the first full day ~ Is the following too much for one day? London Eye, London Bridge Experience, Tour of Shakespeares Theatre, Tower Of London.

Thanks!

I suggest you reconsider the London Pass with travel. It's not as good a bargain as you might think. There are many free museums in London, and you can get 2for 1 vouchers using a Travelcard. Plus, with the London Pass you pretty much have to run from place-to-place in order to make it pay for itself. Not worth the mney, IMO. Take a look at this instead: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/attrac...or1london.aspx

I recommend you buy a Travelcard from a National Rail Station (not a tube station), and use the 2-for-1 vouchers instead.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_...ds_oyster.html

I also say nix to the London Pass. Follow walkabout's advice.

That might be a doable day, but it's not the best things to see, IMO.

Whatever you decide to do, get to the Tower of London first thing, before opening.

You do realize that the LONDON Bridge is NOT the iconic, Victorian, lovely TOWER Bridge in all those pictures. You can go up in the TOWER Bridge (it used to be one of the 2for1 voucher-acceptors--not sure about currently) for a cool view of the Thames and a peek at its engineering (overpriced unless using 2for1, again, IMHO).

Been to London 4 times, never did HOHO thing and never wanted to; used my own maps and wants to map out walking tours that kept us going instead of giving in to jet lag and had us getting to know the city from experience more than just from looking. Again, IMHO.

BUT the consensus on this forum is that the London Pass, with or without Travel, is a rip off. Run away.

We did the HOHO bus on our first visit to London, on the first day we were there. It was sunny outside, April and not too cold, and we were on the top deck...and we fell asleep for at least half an hour. Kind of got the lay of the land, and decided where we wanted to go the next day. Also we got off near St Martins in the Field so we could pick up tickets for a concert later in the week, and then got on again to travel closer to our hotel so we could get cleaned up and take a nap before heading out to dinner.

You did not ask about this, but you can skip the London Bridge Experience. Walk across the bridge and enjoy that. The Bridge Experience is a couple of videos on how it was built, which are okay, but the vendor there pushes, REALLY pushes the over-priced photos they take of you as you enter. Nearly had to fight them off when we exited without purchasing.
Only place like that I have ever experienced in London, or the entire UK for that matter.

definitely - 100% - don't buy the London Pass. And even if you decide to, 10000% DON'T get the transport option.

The Days Out 2for1 offers are a much better deal than the LP, and the transport option is crazy expensive.

And using the 2for1's you don't have to try cramming everything into the same day.

I was going to get a 6 day pass so we won't be cramming everything into one day. The above is just one day's thoughts.

I thought the travel option sounded good as we can hop on a bus or the tube whenever we want, and the train one day down to Hampton Court should be covered (they're in zone 6) The hoho bus is not covered, what is covered is getting on and off the Thames Boat Cruises, the dock is just off the apartment, we can head towards the Tower, Eye, Globe, London Bridge, hop back on to get back to the apartment.

I'm really confused about the 2for 1. Every time I go there to look for something I need to have a rail pass in order to claim a voucher. We won't be using the rail, so how am I supposed to use the vouchers? Especially for as many vouchers as we would want, 6 of us for 6 days. How can anyone have that many rail vouchers? And we won't be taking a train, except maybe once, so how do I use the 2for1 vouchers?

A 6 day LP is VERY expensive and you need one for each of you. The transport option is for zones 1 to 6 which is HUGE overkill. You only need zone 6 for the day you are going to HCP, so there is no reason to pay for it for the whole week. 95%of the major sites are in zone 1and a few are in zone 2.

"<i>We won't be using the rail, so how am I supposed to use the vouchers?</i>"

Simple. You go into any train station in London (not a tube station - a <u>train</u> station) and buy a one week travelcard. It will get you the same 2for1 benefits as a "train" ticket. This paper travelcard works the same as a Oyster card in London. Good for the tube and buses - but it works like a train ticket for the Days Out discounts.

Meant to add: a 6 day London Pass w/ transport costs <B>£149</B>. That is almost <B>£300</B> for a couple! W/ so many free London attractions and using 2for1's for the others --- will save you a fortune

Most people find the whole Travelcard/2-for-1 coupon issue confusing at first. There are many, many threads on this, which you can find by using the search box at the top of the page. This website may help also, in addition to the ones I already posted: http://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/travelcard.htm

Also this thread: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-388030-2.cfm

For most travelers the London Pass is a ripoff. Keep in mind that a 6-day London Pass for £149 is $230 per person, almost $1400 for 6 people. It is much more economical to buy the travelcards, use them for transportation, and utilize the 2-for-1 coupons.

I think there's a little bit of continuing confusion about London/Tower Bridge. I think cynthia is describing the Tower Bridge exhibition or whatever. The London Bridge Experience wrenwood mentions is a rival/competitor to the London Dungeon in the "ghost train/house of horrors" stakes (not my thing, and a right nuisance their barkers are when you come out of London Bridge tube station).

That said, wrenwood's list for one day is doable. Start with the Tower (allow the whole morning); if you meant Tower Bridge, it wouldn't take more than an hour or so to see the exhibition and go up along the walkways; allow a couple of hours for the stroll along the South Bank to the Globe, and for the exhibition and tour; I have no idea how long you would spend in the London Bridge Experience if that's what you intended, but I can't see it taking so long as to make it impossible to take in the London Eye.

The point of the London Pass is that it promotes commercial attractions, commercially. A lot of the most sightworthy things in London are actually free, or there are discounts available through the rail company promotion walkabout describes: and for those you don't have to pay for travel facilities you don't need (you won't need zones 1-6 on your travelcard, 1 and 2 will cover almost all the things visitors want to get to; the day return fares to Hampton Court would still not take your total expenditure up to more than a fraction of what you would spend on the London Pass).

The London Pass, BTW, no longer gives users unlimited access to the attractions it covers.

There's a "cash" limit on how much users can "spend" in a day. Once the full, undiscounted, admission cost of a day's visits hits that limit, the card switches off. The poster should check the T&Cs of the Pass very carefully to see whether his proposed itinerary is within the daily limit.

Otherwise he might - oh the horror of it - be forced to fall back on London's FREE attractions.

Imagine. Having to spend hours in the British Museum or the National Portrait Gallery when you could have been in the London Bridge Experience.

Flanner, thanks I emailed them about a limit.

Walkabout ~ I went to the London Toolkit site. They say "If you purchase a Travelcard from a railway station, (not DLR or London Underground) you qualify for a wide range of 2 for 1 offers including many of the main tourist attractions in London. Offers include 2 for 1 admission to the Tower of London and the Hop on, Hop Off buses for example"

So, I can purchase and print out the vouchers before we leave, and then when we go to an attraction, show the Travelcard (which we would purchase when we get there) with the Vouchers?

Not sure when registering on 2for1 site what I was supposed to put for "my local station"? I put London Waterloo, closest to our apartment.

Now I'm really confused

I emailed 2for1 to ask about using the Travelcard, purchased at a rail station, with the vouchers.

Their reply

To use 2FOR1 offers, you must have a National Rail train ticket which shows that you are not just travelling within London.

That's not what London Toolkits says

???????????????????

I'd skip London Bridge Experience in favor of unrushed time at the tower, the theater and London Eye.

London Bridge Experience is if my 14 yr old niece wants to go. She loves Ghost Hunters and that stuff.

Because of the 2 teenagers we will probably limit time in places like British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, unless they want to go. Maybe we'll go in for an hour or two, who knows, I'm leaving a lot of choices up to my brother and his family as this is their first, and probably only, trip to England.

Days Out 2for1 replied to my latest email ~

"TfL tickets (what is this?) are not accepted because the 2FOR1 scheme is aimed at people outside of London to encourage them to take the train to the capital and visit London’s attractions.

However, some do accept National Rail branded Travelcards as they contain the logo and are orange. These can be purchased at train stations, such as Waterloo. Not all attractions accept these tickets but it is not unknown for these to work for 2FOR1 entry."

So.............. if we buy a Travelcard at at Rail Station, we won't know until we get to a attraction if they will accept the Voucher?

Days Out didn't reply to the poster's message.

A real human being did.

And humans have foibles machines don't. It wasn't the intention of the Days Out promotion to add yet more subsidy to the money our businesses already pointlessly squander on subsidising foreign tourists with no interest in using the railways the promotion's meant to promote. But, as long as railway stations sell paper Travelcards, there's no way of stopping this ridiculous misuse of the system.

The official writing to the poster, though, was incorrect. The FAQs on the promotion's site are clear:

"<i> Can I participate in the promotion if I'm visiting London from outside the UK?
Yes. But please remember the offers are only available to anyone who buys a valid National Rail train ticket to either travel to London, or within London e.g. Travelcards issued by a National Rail operated ticket office.</i>

And, BTW, there's not a single reported case of a 2for 1 punter being turned away because they had a Travelcard

Just got a nice response from London Toolkit ~

The 2 for 1 promotion is sponsored by the railways.
To qualify for the 2 for 1 promotion you must have any currently valid rail ticket issued by the railways.

There is a loophole which visitors to London who do not have valid rail ticket can take advantage off and the railways are relaxed about.
The loophole is that the railways sell Travelcards from their Central London mainline station ticket offices.
These Travelcards which have a rail logo on qualify for 2 for 1.
All other Travelcards sold, thus not from a railway ticket office do not have the rail logo on and so do not qualify for the promotion.
Note: The London Underground is not part of the railways, so its important you buy the Travelcard from the railways ticket office at the mainline stations, not the Underground ticket office.

For obvious reasons the railways do not publicise this.

WRENWOOD: STOP OVERTHINKING THIS.

Now that you have the info from London Toolkit, this is all you need to do for the 2for1 deals.

(1) go to daysoutguide.co.uk and print out vouchers for every bloody site you are even considering visiting.

(2) WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN LONDON, go to the nearest national rail station (likely London Bridge or Waterloo considering you'll be staying in Lambeth). Go to a MANNED ticket booth in the main station, NOT THE UNDERGROUND STATION for Tube lines, but the main station that has the EAT, M&S Simply Food, Boots Pharmacy, etc. stores.

(3) Buy a 7-day zone 1-2 travelcard for you and companion(s). You should receive a plastic-coated paper with a magnetic strip on one side that is flimsy to hold and about the size of a parking voucher or credit card. If you receive a blue credit-card type thing, you messed up.

(4) travel around at will on buses and trains throughout central London. The 2for1 costs less than 30 quid each, that's more than 120 GBP savings on the London Pass and now you won't have to go to rubbish exhibitions to justify paying for the expensive travel pass (London Bridge Experience, London Dungeon).

(5) For Hampton Court Palace, take the direct train from Waterloo.

Note that the Tower, Cabinet War Rooms, Hampton Court Palace and St Paul's (last check) are all on the 2for1 offers.

The following museums are free:

British
British Library
Tate
Tate Modern
National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
V&A
Imperial War
National Maritime (Greenwich)

That's a set of 9 (and there are more) that are anywhere from interesting to internationally renowned that are FREE. Why buy a London Pass that only gets you into secondary and tertiary museums?

I AM overthinking, I need a glass of Chardonnay and it's only 1:00 in the afternoon here!

When I arrive in London we will go to Waterloo Rail Station, to a MANNED ticket booth in the main station, and buy a 7-day zone 1-2 travelcard for the 6 of us. If we do not get a plastic-coated paper with a magnetic strip on one side that is flimsy to hold and about the size of a parking voucher or credit card, I will tell the station attendent that BIGRUSS wants a word with him!

I looked at the current 2for1's ( I guess they change at times) Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle are not offered, but Madame Tussauds (my niece again), London Eye all the other stuff I was looking at are offered. Also there are quite a few offers for restaurants that might come in handy.

So back to my day's schedule, I think we'll use the Red Rover Ticket for the Thames River Cruises and go to the Tower of London first, and then (in no particular order) London Eye, London Bridge Experience (sorry, depends on my niece) Tour of Shakespeares Globe Theatre, maybe the Tower Bridge Exhibition.

WHEW!

Been to London at least 50 times and never saw a need for the London pass or the HOHO buses. The regular city buses go the same places. The number 11 will take you just about anywhere you want to go.The Eye and the Globe ar in the same areaand can be combined. I would not pass up Borough Market if you are there on South Bank on a Friday or Saturday.YOu can also pick up a regular Thames River boat there

Really wanted to do Borough Market, but we arrive close to Midnight on a Saturday and leave early Friday morning :(

"<i>So, I can purchase and print out the vouchers</i>"

Just print out vouchers for any sites you might (even remotely) want to visit. They don't cost anything except for your printer ink and paper.

As for your new day plan . . . Don't do the river cruise before the Tower. You want to be at the Tower just before opening time.

And those sites probably do need a particular order, since the Eye is not near the others. Most logical order is Tower > Tower Bridge > London Bridge ( :( ;) ) > Globe > Eye. Then squeeze in the cruise either after the Eye or on a different day.

That glass of Chardonnay really WILL help

Give me an hour and that Chardonnay glass will be in my hand!

Since the Thames River Cruise is hop on hop off, I thought we could take it to The Tower of London, but cruises start from Westminster Pier at 10, and Tower opens at 9 Tuesday - Saturday, 10 on Sun and Mon)

So first day (Sunday) we want to take it a little bit easy. We need to go to Waterloo Rail Station to buy our travel cards. London Eye is right there. we also need to pick up groceries, so what else that day?

<<I will tell the station attendent that BIGRUSS wants a word with him!>>

Gawdang right! That and a shilling will give you 5 pence!

I've not seen the Abbey or Windsor ever on the 2for1 offers. You CAN get a slight discount (if this is still on offer) at Waterloo by getting your train ticket to Windsor and Eton Riverside and a voucher for Windsor Castle at the same time at the manned ticket booth. We received 3.50 off Windsor Castle admission (then 15.50 each) and the voucher meant we were "ticketholders" so we could skip the long ticket-purchase line for admission and go straight to the ticketholder admission slot.

And you'll need a travelcard for each of you (guessing you figured this out but the way you wrote it could be misinterpreted).

The 9 and 15 buses are the heritage routes that did have the iconic Routemaster buses.

<i>Really wanted to do Borough Market, but we arrive close to Midnight on a Saturday and leave early Friday morning</i>

They're open on Thursdays. I don't know if it's the same experience as going on a Saturday, but it was fun all the same.

As far as what else to do Sunday - the Eye is just across the river from Big Ben/Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Depending on what you've planned for the rest of the week, you could walk up to Trafalgar Square, over to Buckingham Palace, visit the National Gallery and/or the National Portrait Gallery, maybe the Cabinet War Rooms... really whatever floats your boat. Let the kids go over to Covent Garden and go shopping. That's all in walking distance from the Eye, unless you have people who really don't like walking. Just check the opening times for the museums and the Abbey.

wrenwood,

I was where you are now a few weeks ago, to the point where I thought I must have a learning disability :(. After much reading and many questions and answers, I think I have it figured out. If you click on my name, you'll see the thread where I asked about the various cards and passes. We leave in a couple of weeks and I'll report.

Ellen, what WOULD we do without Fodors Travel Class 101????????

Here are my thoughts for the first day after we arrive

Sleep late, easy day, eat breakfast out
Go to Waterloo for Travel cards.
London Eye
get groceries or not
Walk to Trafalgar Square, over to Buckingham Palace, visit the National Gallery and/or the National Portrait Gallery
eat dinner near Ghost Walk
7:30 ~ London Walks Ghost Walk ~ Haunted London meet at Monument Tube

"<i>Walk to Trafalgar Square, over to Buckingham Palace, visit the National Gallery and/or the National Portrait Gallery</i>"

Assuming you meant in that order . . . Both galleries are AT Trafalgar Sq. So either do them and then walk down Mall and through St James's Park to the Palace - or - Walk by the Palace first and then up the Mall to Trafalgar Sq.

I've never eaten dinner very near Monument but here is a map of nearby restaurants. Then you can research any that interest you.

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/tube-mo...estaurants.php

Or you could eat in St Katherine's Marina (several possibilities) and be a reasonable walk or one tube stop from Monument.

janisj ~ awesome site, thanks!

Unfortunetely most of the restaurants in Leadenhall Market seemed to be closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Seems odd, maybe that's just for the winter? I emailed them anyway.

wrenwood,
Kudos to you for hanging in there and asking questions about the Travelcards until you understood it. It's a lot to slog through, but once you grasp it, the savings are worth it.

As far as where to eat, if Leadenhall Market doesn't work out, you could try dinner at the Cafe in the Crypt. It's at St. Martin-in-the-Fields church, which is at Trafalgar Square. They are open Saturdays until 9:00 pm, and Sundays until 6:00 pm: http://www.smitf.org/page/cafe2010/cafe.html . In fact, the church is worth a look even if you don't eat at the cafe. http://goo.gl/PD9WR

You could also walk over to Covent Garden and have dinner there. It's only about a 10-minute walk from Trafalgar Square.
http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com/...rinking/page/1

< Unfortunetely most of the restaurants in Leadenhall Market seemed to be closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Seems odd, maybe that's just for the winter? >

It's in the Cty of London. Most of the trade is passing Fat Cats & similar ne'er-do-wells spending their bonuses. At weekends they go to their yachts in Monaco. As such there isn't many people around and hence many restaurants - and shops - are closed

I wouldn't eat at Covent Garden or St Martin's in the field since you want to be fairly close to Monument.

The 'City' pretty much shuts on weekends. I didn't catch that was when you are taking the London Walk. St Katherine's Marina has several places and they are all open on weekends.

I know that Covent Garden and St. Martin's are not near Monument, but they are near Trafalgar Square, which the OP and family are visiting right before the Ghost Walk. Since she didn't say she absolutely had to eat near Monument, she could just as easily eat at St Martin or Covent Garden, and then head for the tube. Just an alternative suggestion.

Walkabout: Sure, but they need to be at Monument tube by 7:30 so they probably don't want to eat very far away.

wrenwood,
Hope you enjoy the Ghost Walk. I've gone on many of the London Walks over the years, and they are a lot of fun. And I hope you and your family have a wonderful time in London.

Yet another question about Travelcards! TfL customer assistance assured me via email that travelcards bought online would have the National Rail logo on them and thus eligible for the 2FOR1 deals. But the page I purchased on did not have a "home station" question. Does anyone know if these are refundable if they send me the wrong travelcard (one without NR logo?) The customer assistance seemed to say that I had to buy in advance online, and that I couldn't buy a paper travelcard at West Brompton (which seems to be the closest NR station to my hotel>)

PS I think I need to buy in advance in order to get the children's fare discount on the travelcard (do not have the 4 week lead time required for child's photo oystercard)

comment to previous poster: I agree that NR perhaps makes this really complicated to prevent overseas tourists from getting the discounts!

mdieri: "<i>TfL customer assistance assured me via email that travelcards bought online would have the National Rail logo on them and thus eligible for the 2FOR1 deals.</i>"

I don't see how that is even possible. The TFL travelcard is not a rail ticket. And AFAIK, TFL has no connection to the Days Out 2for1 offers.

How old is your child?

"<i>I agree that NR perhaps makes this really complicated to prevent overseas tourists from getting the discounts!</i>"

It actually isn't complicated at all. The scheme is not intended for visitors who are just using London Transport (tube/buses). It was developed to entice folks living outside London to come in to the city by train and go sightseeing. Could not be easier. Print out vouchers, buy return ticket, have a great day out in London, go home.

But there is this 'get around' of paper travelcards that 'cheat' the system. It really isn't cheating - but since 2for1 wasn't designed to be used that way . . . That you have to jump through a hoop or two is no big deal IMO.

Wrenwood - you can easily also add a pop into the Tate Modern Art Gallery, right by Tower Bridge and the Shakespeare globe thing - entry is free and you can at least quickly look around this behemoth former Thameside power plant and at least marvel at the building if not traipse thru the many collections - and there is a neat roof-top cafeteria with nice views over the Thames.