London on the Cheap

London with children

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London is a great place to visit with children. It has a huge number of kids' activities, places to go and things to see, a surprising number of them free. London is full of life, full of history, full of culture. A multi-ethnic and multi-cultural city, and astonishingly safe despite having over ten million inhabitants, London has masses to offer to visitors of any age.The 2012 Olympics added a spate of destinations and attractions, unfortunately I have not been to London this year and can't honestly include these.==The Thames==The river is still the focus of London's life, even though the docks are long gone. You can simply walk around (the South Bank i...Read More

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London leisure saving tips

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National Gallery, free to enter Photo - London, England

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Bottom line: Avoid the centre. Take advantage of free entertainment. Prepare for temptation. **As probably most capital cities, London is the centre of culture and entertainment and the prices for everything, from a pint of beer to a cinema ticket can be very high in comparison to other places. There are two main ways to reduce these costs. The first one is to go out rather into town: locate attractive and interesting places on the outskirts of the city, in further out places that are less popular with both the tourists and the overpaid City bankers. This will not necessarily work very well for major theatre or music performances, but as far as eating out, pubs or c...Read More

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London transport saving tips

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Colindale tube station Photo - London, England

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Bottom line: Don't drive. If you do, get a hybrid, LPG or other alternative fuel vehicle. Use Oyster card for single public transport journeys. Get a season ticket travelcard, annual if you can afford it. If seriously strapped for cash, use buses only. **Driving in London is expensive for anybody who need to drive into Central London, covered by the congestion charge (8/10 GBP per day depending on when it's paid), while parking prices, especially in the centre, are extortionate. If you want to save money in London, especially if you need to travel to the centre of the city as most tourists and short term visitors would, don't drive. Or if you do, seriously consider getting an a...Read More

Bottom line: Don't drive. If you do, get a hybrid, LPG or other alternative fuel vehicle. Use Oyster card for single public transport journeys. Get a season ticket travelcard, annual if you can afford it. If seriously strapped for cash, use buses only.

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Driving in London is expensive for anybody who need to drive into Central London, covered by the congestion charge (8/10 GBP per day depending on when it's paid), while parking prices, especially in the centre, are extortionate. If you want to save money in London, especially if you need to travel to the centre of the city as most tourists and short term visitors would, don't drive. Or if you do, seriously consider getting an alternative fuel or dual fuel car which are exempt from the congestion charge (this is depending on emissions, so check if your car would qualify).

London has a good if crowded public transport system which is integrated and divided into 6 (plus additional three on the very outskirts) concentric zones and there are numerous season tickets called Travelcards available whose price depends on the number of zones covered.

Any travelcard (or individual Underground ticket) that includes Zone 1 (the very centre of the city) is significantly more expensive.

The cheapest way to pay for single tickets, regardless of the zones, is by using an electronic Oyster card.

Buses and trams are significantly cheaper. A single fare paid with an Oyster card is only 1 GBP, 2 GBP if paid in cash, regardless of the distance travelled.

But anybody travelling regularly in London will undoubtedly obtain a season ticket, or a pass. There are two types of those: travelcards (which include Underground, other trains, buses and trams) and bus & tram passes.

The bus pass is by far the cheapest way of covering travel costs: the monthly bus & tram pass for the whole of London costs 53 GBP which is cheaper than the cheapest available travelcard which would only cover two zones (not including the most central Zone 1). The cheapest travelcard that includes Zone 1 is almost double the price of the bus pass (and costs, at the time of writing, over 99 GBP). There is, of course, a reason for that: bus travel is subject to the vagaries of traffic and, especially in Central London, slow and terribly inefficient in comparison to the Tube (Underground trains). But if you are seriously strapped for cash, using a bus pass is a straightforward (if very painful) way to save some money on travel.

The annual travelcards offer substantial discounts (over 20% in comparison to the cost of the 12 separate monthly travelcards) and are refundable pro-rata if you move jobs, addresses or decide to stop using the ticket altogether. If you can afford one, it's a good deal. Some employers will subsidise such tickets, other will offer a non-interest loan for the purchase of one.
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Walkabouts

From Victoria & Westminster, South Bank, Tate Modern to Waterloo

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Churchill Mohicanized, London Photo - London, England

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London is expensive, everybody knows it. But as far as a tourist visit goes, the best things in London are free! What follows is my own tour of important London free of charge sights and attractions. Get sturdy shoes, drink and food, a rainproof and sunglasses and let's get going, starting with a walk that would take in a lot of major sights. As you proceed, you might see places, attractions and buildings that you want to return to (some will be free, some paid for), make note of those. I will point out some - especially free ones - as we go along. **Victoria & Westminster** Depending on when you are staying, take a tube or walk to Victoria. Walk up ...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on September 10, 2009

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From Waterloo to Tate Modern, St Paul's and the City

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London is expensive, everybody knows it. But as far as a tourist visit goes, the best things in London are free! Get sturdy shoes, drink and food, a rainproof and sunglasses and let's get going. As you proceed, you might see places, attractions and buildings that you want to return to (some will be free, some paid for), make note of those. I will point out some - especially free ones - as we go along.We are now closer to the oldest part of the city. Take a tube to Waterloo and walk to the river.We are still on the South bank of the Thames, and as you walk the relatively uneventful bit between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges, you can see the panorama on the opposite...Read More

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The West End

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St Martins in the Fields Photo - London, England

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If you read the other two parts of my London Walkabout, you must have been wondering, why I have not mentioned all the famous London locations from the very centre: Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street, the theatre land and so on.The main reason is because the West End is rather pointless when you don't intend to spend money, unless of course you are one of those strange people who enjoy looking at merchandise for the sake of looking. Most of these places are either directly or indirectly about shopping or eating out or paid entertainment and thus not very rewarding for somebody counting pennies.Still, I suppose there is no avoiding that. Take the tube to Green Par...Read More

If you read the other two parts of my London Walkabout, you must have been wondering, why I have not mentioned all the famous London locations from the very centre: Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street, the theatre land and so on.

The main reason is because the West End is rather pointless when you don't intend to spend money, unless of course you are one of those strange people who enjoy looking at merchandise for the sake of looking. Most of these places are either directly or indirectly about shopping or eating out or paid entertainment and thus not very rewarding for somebody counting pennies.

Still, I suppose there is no avoiding that. Take the tube to Green Park and walk down Picadilly towards Picadilly Circus. You will pass The Ritz, Burlington Arcade and Fortnum and Mason amongst other locations of conspicuous consumption, and after about 700 yards you'll get to Picadilly Circus which is one of the most overrated spots in London: noisy, trafficky, boring and with no attraction I can think of whatsoever apart from the sheer idea of visiting an iconic location, of course

Walk away from Picadilly Circus via Shaftesbury Avenue, leaving Soho on your left, turn right into the big Chinese arch and walk down to Leicester Square via the Chinatown. Leicester Sq is also boring, but you can at least claim you've been this way.

Walk down via Irving Street and St Martin's Place, passing the rather lovely St Martin-in-the-Fields church (free tour normally on Thursdays at 11.30am, book on 02078398362) and the entrance to National Portrait Gallery (free and interesting, but not perhaps on the must-see list) to enter the most famous of London's public spaces, the grand imperial Trafalgar Square, with its Nelson's Column, pigeons, fountains, bronze lions, and the changing display of modern sculpture on its fourth plinth on the Northwest corner.

The square is a popular site for political demonstrations and is the main hub for London's night buses, but its main attraction for free sightseeing hunter is the National Gallery located at the north side of the square, and a wonderful collection of European paintings, from Piero della Francesca and Leonardo da Vinci to Renoir and Van Ghogh.

If painting is not your thing, potter about the Trafalgar Square for a while and then make your way along the Strand, past Charing Cross station and monument (all distances to London are measured from here). Turn left by the Savoy Hotel and take Southampton Street to Covent Garden. It's very difficult to avoid spending money at the countless speciality shops and restaurants there, but it's possible, and it's the main venue for street entertainment in London, with acts competing for spaces (and payment strictly voluntary).

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Parks and Gardens

London Parks: Introduction

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Green Park in theautumn Photo - London, England

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Most areas of London, apart from the oldest part - The City - are dotted with green spaces, be it smaller squares where the residents or workers can sit for a while, or larger parks. They provide a welcome respite from traffic and crowds (although some can get quite busy on sunny days) and often have additional attractions within. All of the parks are rather user friendly - there is no restrictions to sitting on the grass, and there is usually a lot of it.Some London parks are "Royal Parks" and go back to the times when the royalty had private hunting and riding grounds protected from development. Others are results of the Victorian charitable impulses towards public improvement of the cit...Read More

Most areas of London, apart from the oldest part - The City - are dotted with green spaces, be it smaller squares where the residents or workers can sit for a while, or larger parks. They provide a welcome respite from traffic and crowds (although some can get quite busy on sunny days) and often have additional attractions within. All of the parks are rather user friendly - there is no restrictions to sitting on the grass, and there is usually a lot of it.

Some London parks are "Royal Parks" and go back to the times when the royalty had private hunting and riding grounds protected from development. Others are results of the Victorian charitable impulses towards public improvement of the cities. Many of London's green spaces are not officially called parks, but bear names like Common or Heath - these are significantly less cultivated, less managed and not enclosed by fences or walls, but are still very much parks as the rest of the world will understand it and I am including some notable ones in this guide.

This section covers just the most iconic and most interesting of the London parks and green spaces, divided somhow arbitrarily into "central" and "outlying". Wherever you are, apart perhaps from the areas of the City and neighbouring Islington, there is likely to a be decently sized park nearby, and it doesn't take long to get to truly glorious, often ancient green spaces.

How many you visit depends entirely on the amount of time you have and the interest in park-related matters, as well as the season that your visit to London falls in. It's hard to avoid the parks in Central London, as visiting the other sights will invariably bring you near the Hyde Park, Kensigton Gardens and St James's Park. A trip to Greenwich is one of big London days out, and will naturally incorporate the park there.

Of the rest, Kew Gardens are the most unmissable attraction, but charge a hefty entrance fee. Richmond Park and Hampstead Heath are both free and both worth a special trip just for the park itself, and both not only provide grand green spaces for the visitor tired of the city, but help to understand something about London itself. Read Less

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London Parks: Outlying Areas

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The southern reaches of London have perhaps the best green spaces in the Greater London. The most magnificent of the Royal Parks, the Kew Gardens, the famous post-war Battersea Park and the Wimbledon Common with Wombles galore.North London has quite a few green spaces, but there is one area of parkland in North London that has a truly iconic status, and it's worth a visit as much for the views over the whole city and the area it's located in as for the parkland itself: Hampstead Heath. *Battersea Park*Located just beyond the river, south of Chelsea, it's a typical Victorian urban park, with a serpentine carriage drive, a formal avenue, an irregular lake...Read More

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London Parks: Central Area

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Majority of the most famous London parks are in Central London. *Hyde Park*One of the larger Central London parks, at 350 acres, old and perhaps the most famous of London parks, mostly due to the "Speakers Corner" where on Sundays a variety of preachers, fanatics and mentally disturbed shout out their stuff.But apart form that, it's an OK park to visit, with a lot of open grassy space, used for picnicking oat weekends, a lake called Serpentine with boating (and a swimming lido and paddling pool), cafes and numerous refreshment stalls; a bandstand and a Holocaust Memorial garden. Dead princess' fans will find a rather strange Diana memorial fountain here...Read More

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Museums

British Museum

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Attraction | "Imperial Loot"

In front of the British Museum Photo - British Museum, London, England

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The British Museum is an absolute must for all people interested in archaeology and antiques, be it British, European or Middle Eastern. It's a veritable treasure house of artefacts and a centre of learning (with a library accessible to scholars). The collections include all that has been brought back home to Blighty by the explorers and scientists and looters of the imperial era, from the famous and controversial Elgin Marbles to many Egyptian mummies to absolutely fantastic Assyrian/Babylonian exhibits.The British section is also very impressive with exhibits like Sutton Hoo hoard and similar. There is also lots of specialist-interest exhibits including a lot of s...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on September 10, 2009

British Museum
Great Russell Street
London, England WC1B 3DG
+44 (207) 7323 8299

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Natural History Museum

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Attraction | "Welcome to the Age of Science"

Petrified Tree Photo - Natural History Museum, London, England

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Natural History Museum is one of the largest museums of this type in the world, with over 70 million specimens collected in several areas: Botany, Entomology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology and Zoology. It's not just a collection but a place of research, especially on taxonomy and identification of species. The building itself is also an attraction, and the Great Hall with its diplodocus skeleton forms one of the iconic images of London attractions.*As soon as my daughter was big enough to say "dinosaur" I took here to the National History Museum during one of our day London trips and we spent about 2.5 hours wandering about the collections. It needs much more - I remembered it from...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on September 10, 2009

Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London, England SW7 5BD
+44 20 7942 5000

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