social

Travel Tips for London, England - Frugal Travel Guide

Travel Destination: London, England

Country: UK

Free Things to Do:

  • Concerts at St. Martin in the Fields
  • National Portrait Gallery
  • Most Museums
    Advertisement

  • Walking around Big Ben, St. Pauls, Westminster Abbey and the Tower Bridge

Low Cost Things to Do:

If you're a fan, don't miss the Dickens Museum.

Choose your destinations and get a travelcard for just the inner city unless you are definitely going further. Most visitors get an all zone card and never leave the city. A card just for busses is even cheaper, and you see more. Just ask the driver to call out your destination, and ask a neighbor to also tell you, just in case!

Expensive But Worth It:

Have dessert for lunch on the fifth floor at Harrods, in the small restaurant, NOT the Edwardian restaurant. You'll get to hear the live music from the Edwardian, while you eat the world's best crepes and/or profiteroles. After a full English breakfast, just have the dessert... believe me, it's enough!

Advertisement

Nightlife:

Get a newspaper and Time Out magazine and look for special events. I've found amazing things at the last minute for free or nearly. Leicester Square ticket booth has cheap day of show tickets for plays.

Seasonal Information:

It isn't as foggy as it used to be, and spring through fall are all lovely.

Inexpensive Lodging:

Go to the library and pick up the Frommers $ a day guide. You can take it with you and return it to the library when you get back. Ebury Street, 3 blocks from Victoria Station, is a great place for bed and breakfast for about $100 for two people, including full breakfast, shared bath. Private bathroom raises the price. These places are clean and well maintained. Lynton Hotel is a favorite of mine on Ebury. Tophams is a famous one on Ebury, but costs a lot more then the other ones. Eat there once, it's very interesting. On the other side of Victoria, there are even cheaper places, not quite as nice, but fine if you are young and adventurous. Warwick Street has several.

Advertisement

Many times I've gone without reservations, and found a place when I got there. I even did this once during the Chelsea Flower Show, when all rooms were said to be taken. The little B & B's are much more likely to have a room in busy times than the big hotels. If you want to splurge on a fancy hotel, make it in a smaller town. I stay in the best Hotel in Rochester, the Royal Victoria and Bull, for about what a cheap room in London costs.

Interesting Facts or History:

If you're tired of London, you're tired of life. I don't remember who said it, but it's true. You can explore the streets that Shakespeare and Dickens explored, visit the Tower of London, watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Take a look at some guide books before you go, to find your own interests.

Additional Comments:Dickens Festival

The picture is from the Dickens Festival, held the first weekend every June in Rochester, Kent, which is about 30 miles from London.

Advertisement

Day trips from London can take you to Canterbury, Dover, Rochester (more Dickens sites there, one of my favorite places). Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon (Shakespeare), Warwick Castle, Stonehenge. Pick up the brochures in Victoria Station. You can also get multiple-day trips. Don't buy a brit-rail pass unless you plan very carefully. Usually it's like a wheel with London as the hub, you have to come back through London to get anywhere and it takes forever. Just buy the segments you need. Sometimes take a coach (bus) and from Stratford to the Cotswolds we took a cab! Cheapest way, and available whenever we wanted to go.

Travel is my passion, and I do a lot of it. I go to England every year. Some people refuse to be frugal on vacation, but consider this . . . you will meet more locals and feel more a part of things if you leave the big American hotels for the spendthrifts!

Advertisement

Jeneene from Cincinnati, OH

Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!

 
By CLaudia- MD (Guest Post)
May 24, 20060 found this helpful

TimeOut also has a website, too- www.timeout.com/.../; Check it out a few days before you leave to get some ideas. London is so expensive for Americans just now. My sister and I have gone 4-5 times over the last 9 years. We usually have gone in late March, early April- I think May is the rainiest month there. We often stay at the Ambassadors in S. Kensington which is pretty inexpensive but still nice, about a 5 min walk from the Glouchester Road tube station. Room rates include a nice breakfast buffet. (Grab an apple or banana for a late morning snack.) Get a tube pass rather than pay-as-you-go. However, if the weather is good, we walked almost everywhere- that's the way you see the most.

Advertisement

We rarely ate in restaurants- in my opinion, English food is lousy. If you want to splurge, try Indian food. However, we usually ate out of the prepared food section of the Sainsbury (London's equivalent of 7-11 or Circle K)- you'll find some interesting selections you don't get in the states. Don't forget the Victoria and Albert Musuem- no admission fee. London also has great thrift stores and outdoor flea markets. Check out Old Spitelfields, Camden Lock, Petticoat Lane, and Portobellow Road. What a great city. Just talking about it makes me want to go back NOW!

 
By Andrea (Guest Post)
June 2, 20060 found this helpful

Some of the best places to eat while in London, or anywhere in the UK for that matter, are the pubs! Most of the pubs have good food these days and it's also a great way to meet the locals. Now that pubs are allowed to stay open all day it rarely is a problem to find a good meal in one. Being originally from England I get a bit upset when people say that English food is lousy! You just haven't eaten at the good places!

 
By Milos (Guest Post)
June 5, 20060 found this helpful

London is one of the few cities in the world (maybe the only one) where admissions to almost every museum (maybe even all of them) are free. So don't miss out on the museums.

 
By dalia (Guest Post)
June 22, 20060 found this helpful

Having family in Kingston upon Thames, I travel to England a lot. It's wonderful! One of my favorite things to do is to go to Shakespeare's globe Theater and be a groundling! You stand the whole time so people with health problems may want to avoid it, but you can stand really close to the stage and get the most amazing view! The last time i was there, a smoke alarm was pulled and they had to evacuate the theater. But the troop was amazing and finished the play outside in the street! Ticket's are very inexpensive for groundling's as well, so it's a wonderful afternoon trip!

 
By Robin Barnett (Guest Post)
July 29, 20060 found this helpful

I am going with a friend and her grand kids (age 15 and 12) to London in September. I am an avid quilter but find there are NO quilt shops In London but some outside of London, but since we know nothing of getting places and time allowances, where is a quilt shop near enough to london for a day trip that has other interests for the kids and my friend who is footing the bill for this whole thing. I keep looking everywhere and guess I need to find a decent map of London and the outlaying towns and communities. How is the train travel, to out laying towns, day trips sound best, we will only be there three days, but I want to see a smaller town or community. thanks. Robin

 
July 13, 20110 found this helpful

London is one of the beautiful place. There are many tourist spots are in London. London is the place to travel in vacation with your family and friends. The tips in this post are very good and very helpful to travel London.
www.traveladda.com/.../goa.html

 
March 1, 20120 found this helpful

London is best place to visit. There are many places worth staying. But if you are a couple and just going to enjoy the city then stay near by any tube station as there are many hotels spread across the London and available at affordable prices.

 

Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!

 
In This Page
Categories
Travel and Recreation Travel Guides EuropeMay 23, 2006
Pages
More
👒
Mother's Day Ideas!
👔
Father's Day Ideas!
🌻
Gardening
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Categories
Better LivingBudget & FinanceBusiness and LegalComputersConsumer AdviceCoronavirusCraftsEducationEntertainmentFood and RecipesHealth & BeautyHolidays and PartiesHome and GardenMake Your OwnOrganizingParentingPetsPhotosTravel and RecreationWeddings
Published by ThriftyFun.
Desktop Page | View Mobile
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Generated 2024-04-22 18:20:29 in 3 secs. ⛅️️
© 1997-2024 by Cumuli, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.thriftyfun.com/tf44019138.tip.html