London’s attractions: Save a Fortune

It is possible to see the best that London has to offer without spending tons of money. From the best free attractions, ideas of things off the beaten track and — best of all — how to get in nearly everything HALF PRICE this is the guide for you.

There are three big tips to seeing London on the cheap: Think discounts, think free, and think quirky.

1. Discount London can save you hundreds.

Eh - What does that mean?

You get to see the exact same attractions as normal, but with a discount voucher.

What's it all about?

Well, there’s a magical, wonderful secret scheme run by the local rail companies in London. It’s not advertised to tourists – and barely to locals – but it may well be the single most important tip you will take from this website: 2 for 1 offers. Freely downloadable vouchers that will give you 2 tickets for the price of 1 in scores of brilliant attractions.

How do I get them?

Well to qualify for vouchers for two for one entry you need two things:

(a) The vouchers themselves – they’re free and available on their own website. Print them before you go! If you forget you may be able to pick some up in a rail station once in the UK, but it's easier to take a wadge of blank ones.
(b) You also need to be able to show the people at the attraction a valid rail ticket. But don’t fear! This is really really easy. If you have a PAPER travelcard then that’s all you need! A return Gatwick, Stansted or Luton airport train ticket will also be accepted (not Heathrow, sorry). Sadly Oystercards of any variety aren’t accepted.

What if I don’t have a valid rail ticket?

If you don’t have a valid rail ticket, once you get to London you should swing by a mainline station (i.e. one for intercity trains) – Euston, King’s Cross, St Pancras, Farringdon, London Bridge, Paddington, Liverpool Street, Marylebone or Waterloo are some of the main ones. Go to a manned ticket desk and ask the person behind the glass for the cheapest return tickets available (if you explain you need it for the 2 for 1 offers they’ll probably be less confused) It will probably cost around £3 or so. Each person who needs a 2 for 1 ticket must have a valid rail ticket too. Oystercards of any kind are no good. With rail tickets and completed vouchers in hand proceed to your attraction!

That sounds like a lot of bother..

Well, yes there is a degree of effort involved, but as adult entry to the Tower of London is £15 each and you may do two or three attractions in a day, all of which could use the vouchers, you can see how it may well be worth the effort. If you're mulling whether it would be worth it then perhaps check out the pros and cons of the LondonPass, which for many is a more expensive way of seeing London but you can buy it advance and you get to skip the lines.

How do I use them?

Once you get to the attraction give them your voucher – they’ll keep it – and show them the rail tickets. You hold on to these, so if you’ve got more vouchers (and they’re free remember, so you might as well print off a few) you can use the same rail ticket later in the day to go to another attraction. Voila! Half price tickets!

Are the attractions included really any good?

Yes. The BRILLIANT thing is the quality of your attractions- you can save BIG money doing this – many hundreds of pounds in a group in just a few days. Obviously the minor downside is you can’t prebook in advance.

There are hundreds of attractions included – including these famous ones:

You can also use some vouchers for certain musicals/theatre productions. If you’re interested in cheap theatre it might be cheaper to go to the TKTS booth in Leicester Square as the 2 for 1 tickets still tend to be quite expensive. (planning to go to the theater? I've plenty of top tips on how to save money on London shows)

2. Think free

It’s not just about vouchers, though. The simple fact is that many of the best London attractions are stark raving free. None of these will cost you a penny for entry (though if you’ve enjoyed visiting please donate to them – it’s only the generosity of visitors which keeps them free for everyone). Here's a list of the main ones:

3. Think offbeat

Now with the vouchers and the free attractions, you’ll have quite a lot to be getting on with. But there are actually far more things to in London than just the ‘attractions’ – many of which don’t cost very much at all. These are the sort of things that real Londoners would do. If you can, try and squeeze one of these in to make your trip not only special but different from the experience any other visitor to the capital would have.

The South Bank walk – One of my favorite walks through London, along the glorious River Thames. First, walk to Borough Market and see the fabulous tasty goodies there. Then head on past the Clink prison museum, Shakespeare’s Globe (the original site of Shakespeare’s theater), then on to Tate Modern – the largest modern art museum in the world, and free before heading to the South Bank with its street performers and then to the London Eye at County Hall before finally seeing the Houses of Parliament. The whole thing takes about 90 minutes at most even with stopping (though longer if you want to go into the buildings). Lovely. There’s a great route map here for a slightly longer walk that encompasses this route too. It’s got all sorts of lovely trivia in it too.

London bike tours – Fat Tire Bike Tours . Not strictly one for the locals but it’s a fabulous way to see the city. £20 for a four hour jaunt round London, and they promise you’ll never break a sweat. It’s mostly off-road, though the Royal Parks etc with a guide who tells you all about what you’re seeing. It’s all jolly good fun and a nice one for kids too. Not as cheap as it was, but far better value than one of the awful hop-on, hop-off buses.

Evensong at St Pauls/Westminster Abbey. Even if you’re not particularly religious or Christian then listening to some English choral music in one of our ancient cathedrals is absolutely spectacular. Evensong is usually around 5pm each night. It’s free and the service is sort of equivalent to Vespers in Catholic churches. You get to see the inside of the cathedral for free too, instead of usual fee of around £10! It lasts about an hour and is a reflective experience with wonderful music.

£10 tickets at the national theatre. If you want to see a ‘serious’ play rather than a musical or a show then check out what’s showing at the National Theatre, and if their £10 season is on. The National is one of the most important theaters in England, indeed the world, and their ten pound season releases hundreds of thousands of tickets a year to anyone and everyone – a total bargain by London theatre standards. They have some brilliant theatrical productions on starring some of England’s finest actors.

The pub. Don’t be a tourist – just for a while. Live like a local and go to the pub. I’ve got a whole guide on how to find one and what to do while you’re there.

Go to some of London’s markets. A whole special guide to finding the good ones, and what the differences between them are.

See some of London’s best gardens. Try the fabulous little Garden Museum at Lambeth Palace. It's only small but has some lovely planting, is very central and has a great little cafe. If you really love your gardens or just like em bigger then you'll have to see the world-famous Kew Gardens which are stunning at every time of year. Kew's not cheap though, and sadly isn't included in the 2 for 1 offers at the moment.

Hampstead Heath – an enormous Heath in North London which will make you feel like you're in the countryside. Head up to Hampstead village and marvel at the £5mn houses. Then take a bracing stroll on the Heath or – for the foolhardy - a dip in the outdoor swimming ponds, which costs £2. Bring a picnic or call into a local pub for a warming lunch and a pint.

Go to the café in the middle of St James' Park for cake and a coffee, watching the world go by. Then wander round the park and look at the pelicans!

Watch some English justice being dispensed in a real English court. It’s the oldest justice system in the western world and it’s the basis of almost all American law. The most serious crimes are tried at the Old Bailey by barristers and judges in wigs and gowns. You can watch for free, the trials are listed on a notice pinned by the door and just pick any you like (sadly it doesn't tell you what they're charged with). You can come and go as you wish if you do it quietly. No talking in the public gallery and you can’t bring a cell phone, big bags, or any cameras into the building. From 10am to 5pm.

If you hate the tour guide vibe and being herded around in big groups, you could take an ipod tour of London.

Watch TV. Er.. no. seriously. You’ll probably be in your hotel bedroom at some point. Try and find one or more of the main English TV channels. BBC1 (light entertainment, soaps) and BBC 2 (factual, more serious programming), ITV1 (family entertainment) or Channel 4 (edgier, and self-consciously liberal). BBC TV news bulletins are at 1pm, 6pm and 10pm on BBC 1. They’re really different from American news shows. And I have to say I prefer them. British TV adverts too are also entertaining - often quirky and inventive too, but you won't find those on the BBC, there are none! (it's funded through a universal tax called the licence fee)

Buy two Newspapers – why not buy 'The Sun' and 'The Guardian' and read them over lunch. These are two national newspapers. The Sun is the best selling newspaper in the country - more than two million every morning. It's well-known for its tabloid style and often punning headlines. The Guardian is liberal but still entertaining – and very different to the Sun. It will only cost about £1.80 for the two. See what the Brits are reading this morning! Or you could read the Daily Telegraph, the most right-wing quality paper. The obiturary pages are often stuffed full of recently-deceased war heros who lead fascinating lives and commited acts of extraordinary heroism in wartime.

Go see a soccer match. The most famous names in the whole world in soccer (football) play in the UK, and there are five top teams in London (Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur (spurs) and Fulham). Seeing these guys will cost you a lot of money though – book on the club websites and as far in advance as you can. If you’re not a serious fan you can get cheaper tickets for the lower league clubs – Queens Park Rangers or Leyton Orient.

Watch a TV show get filmed at the BBC. It's free. You'll need to make up a UK address, but just use any hotel address in London. The tickets are free and emailed anyway.

Watch a lunchtime classical music concert for free at St Martins in the Fields church. Designed for office workers in their lunch hours, there’s often first class, quality classical music here. Lasts about an hour. Tube: Charing Cross.

Go and see the Royal Deer at Richmond Park. Take a picnic and walk around this most massive of London Parks. It feels like the countryside and there are wild deer roaming round. Just be sure not to hurt or kill any; they belong to the Queen! While you're there check out the gorgeous Isabella Plantation, a carefully cultivated garden paradise which in summer is like a magical fantasy-land.

Take a horse riding lesson in Hyde Park. It’s not cheap – nearly £80 an hour for private lessons. But you do get to ride in a magnificent setting.

Watch the Sound of Music film – and sing along. Every Friday night at the Princes Charles Cinema near Leicester Square. It's only a few pounds and people often come in costumes! More fun than you would think!

Watch an opera for £9 at the Royal Opera House. That’s a bargain in the opera world, especially for the finest performers on earth. The catch? You have to stand, and the view is restricted. But it can be great fun. About 60 tickets are released each day. Go to the box office in the morning.

For the young and not easily offended, watch some great comedy at the Chuckle Club. It’s a club which has seen some of England’s finest stand-up comedians. Only £12 to get in and drinks are cheap too. There’s a disco afterwards as well, included in the ticket cost. Satruday night only.

Another one for young people only: See live music at the Windmill in Brixton. It’s a music pub that’s edgy and has hip bands from all over the country.

Go to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. Yes traditionally known as the place where you can say almost anything you like without fear of being arrested, no matter how outrageous or offensive. It's a celebration of the right to free speech though actually it enjoys no special protection in law. It’s in the corner of Hyde Park. Busier at Weekends. There'll amost certainly be crackpots talking nonsense there when you visit.. there always are… And if you're offended by what they're saying, remember: "II disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

See the world’s largest collection of antique English silver. And it’s all for sale. Only open during the week, London’s silver vaults are free to wander round and you might just catch something that takes your fancy. Chancery Lane Tube.

Swim in the open air at Brockwell Lido. One for the summer, but yes, you can go swimming in central London, in the open air. Few Londoners ever go to the Lidos, but they’re fabulous. A good one for children in a hot London summer.

So when you visit London, think discount, think free and think quirky!

What to do now? More ways to save money!

Have you got somewhere to stay sorted, the best value flights? Are you going to be able to contact home and exchange money/get the best credit card and not spend a fortune doing so? I'll help you save money on all of it! Or perhaps you just want to check out some great books and DVDs about London and England to get you in the mood?

This guide is updated every quarter and was last updated in Autumn/Fall 2009.

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