My earliest trips here were as an impoverished student, followed by years as an only slightly less impoverished young professional. So, as the economy chills and times get tight, let's go "back to the future" with Ellen's tips for enjoying London on the cheap.
Plan ahead. This is obvious, but worth stating. The further out you're able to book, the cheaper your hotel and airfare costs will be. This also includes researching what you want to see. Individual guidebooks can cost you a fortune when you add up all those small expenditures. Download basic information from the web on your key sights before you go and bring your home made guidebook along with you, throwing away the pages after your visits.
Go "cheap and cheerful" on the hotels, while staying in the centre of town. In recent years discount hotel chains have spread through the UK. They're clean, basic and a big step up from the low-end B&Bs that used to be the only cheap option. I'd recommend Travelodge (particularly their Drury Lane location) and the Premier Inn at Waterloo. Either of these may still cost you £90 a night, but that's a third of your average London hotel and they're both right in the heart of the tourist district. Resist the temptation to book someplace that's cheap because it's on the outskirts. Public transportation is expensive, especially at rush hour, and you can easily spend an hour or more getting to the centre of town from just 15 or 20 miles out. Unless you specifically want to see things outside of London, or must deal with a car, this is a false economy
If staying long, consider an apartment. This is becoming a more popular option, especially for families. You'll have a kitchen, allowing you to save money on dining out. Again, remember that it's a false economy to go too far from the centre of town. I don't have any particular recommendations, but the internet is full of options.
Have a picnic mentality. Travel with zip lock bags, a couple of food storage containers, a pocket knife with corkscrew, some plastic cutlery and a refillable bottle for water. Find the local grocery store to buy basic supplies for breakfast (if not supplied by your hotel) and other light meals. Fruit vendors on main streets in commuter areas usually offer great deals. Remember that it is unspeakably tacky to steal items from the breakfast buffet for your lunch. You should still do it, of course. Just be subtle and don't let anyone see you. Remember, you're upholding your national reputation.
Visit nice restaurants for lunch. If you want the delight of one of London's fine restaurants, go at lunch. There is usually a set price menu that offers a drastic reduction on the evening (average about £25 for two courses) and there will be less pressure on you to order a bottle of wine. Ask for tap water rather than paying a fortune for bottled. This is becoming a more common request in London, in part thanks to a campaign in the Evening Standard, so you no longer get the withering look waiters used to deliver. Many restaurants also have pre-theatre set menus in the early evening at about the same prices.
Avoid public transportation at rush hour. The price drops after 9:30 on the Tube, and drops even further after 11:30 on some train lines. Never, ever travel during morning rush hour, and try to avoid the Tube between 5 and 7 pm. Unless you enjoy being squeezed body to body with a group of complete strangers who are bad tempered and have briefcases that inevitably jab into tender parts of your body, all experienced with appallingly bad ventilation. Trust me, it's not London's finest attribute. Also note that buses are marginally less expensive than the Tube.
Walk. If covering six or eight miles on foot in the course of a day matches your fitness level, you may not even need public transport. And you get the benefit of a lot of free sightseeing. London is a beautiful city, filled with magnificent parks and a vast variety of great architecture. Look around and enjoy. My favourite sightseeing walks are: the South Bank from County Hall to Tower Bridge; Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's via The Mall, The Strand and Fleet Street; a zig-zagging wander through the streets of Mayfair between Piccadilly and Oxford Street, particularly at dusk when you can look in windows. For just £6 you can go on a structured walk with a qualified guide. London Walks is the best company; see http://www.walks.com/. They have discounts for senior citizens and multiple walks.
Consider a Great British Heritage Pass. This is a better deal if you're travelling around the country, but can still be good for London if you are planning on a lot of sightseeing. The pass covers all National Trust and English Heritage properties, plus some privately operated sites. A 4-day pass is £29. Getting into St. Paul's costs an adult £10, and the Tower of London is £16.50. You see how quickly you could break even. The web site lists all the properties (http://www.britishheritagepass.com/), and most properties have their own sites with prices listed, so it's easy for you to plan a bit and see whether this is a good option for you.
Use the TKTS booth. If you want to experience London theatre, your best bet is to either book ahead (everything is available over the internet) or go to the TKTS booth in Leicester Square. As with the sister operation in New York, TKTS is a clearing house for unsold or returned tickets. You never know what's available, but what's there is at least half price. Do not be fooled by all the small shops around the square saying they're half price vendors; the official booth is a free-standing building in the park at the square's centre. Also note that theatres with subsidies from the government have to offer cheap tickets to the public. These, of course, are the first ones to go. But if you plan ahead by internet, and don't mind seats at the top of the building, you can get into the National Theatre for £8, English National Opera for £10 and the Royal Opera House for £5.
Don't buy souvenirs. Yes, it's what you do on holiday. There are people at home you should gift with something. Don't do it. Between the exchange rate and our taxes, just about everything is cheaper in the States. This includes most classic British brands like Burberry, Wedgwood, Clarks, etc. Bring chocolate back to the folks at home. It's relatively cheap, tasty and unique; there are lots of brands unkown to Americans. Tunnock's biscuits are always a winner on my trips home.
Exploit museums and churches. To my mind, Tony Blair's single greatest contribution while in office was to make all the major museums in the country free. London's museums are amongst the best in the world, and you can wander their magnificent miles of galleries for nothing. (In comparison, it costs you $20 to get into the Met in New York, and 9 euro for the Louvre.) Most of the main museums (Victoria and Albert, British Museum, National Gallery, etc.) have evening openings once a week. This is a great way to extend your day, or to not feel guilty about taking sightseeing time out for a great lunch. London's church architecture, particularly in The City, is both fascinating and a model for much of the rest of the world. While St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey have admission fees, just about everyplace else is free. Check out, for example, St. Bartholomew at Smithfield, London's only Romanesque church outside of The Tower and a hidden gem most natives don't even know about. It's used regularly as a film set, most recently in "The Other Boleyn Girl".
One final thought: while free museums and churches form the backbone of a cheap cultural tour of London, if you have money to spare, please donate some to them. These are remarkable institutions, all in need of massive budgets to keep themselves and their collections in good shape. If anyone deserves your discretionary holiday income, it's them.
Go "cheap and cheerful" on the hotels, while staying in the centre of town. In recent years discount hotel chains have spread through the UK. They're clean, basic and a big step up from the low-end B&Bs that used to be the only cheap option. I'd recommend Travelodge (particularly their Drury Lane location) and the Premier Inn at Waterloo. Either of these may still cost you £90 a night, but that's a third of your average London hotel and they're both right in the heart of the tourist district. Resist the temptation to book someplace that's cheap because it's on the outskirts. Public transportation is expensive, especially at rush hour, and you can easily spend an hour or more getting to the centre of town from just 15 or 20 miles out. Unless you specifically want to see things outside of London, or must deal with a car, this is a false economy
If staying long, consider an apartment. This is becoming a more popular option, especially for families. You'll have a kitchen, allowing you to save money on dining out. Again, remember that it's a false economy to go too far from the centre of town. I don't have any particular recommendations, but the internet is full of options.
Have a picnic mentality. Travel with zip lock bags, a couple of food storage containers, a pocket knife with corkscrew, some plastic cutlery and a refillable bottle for water. Find the local grocery store to buy basic supplies for breakfast (if not supplied by your hotel) and other light meals. Fruit vendors on main streets in commuter areas usually offer great deals. Remember that it is unspeakably tacky to steal items from the breakfast buffet for your lunch. You should still do it, of course. Just be subtle and don't let anyone see you. Remember, you're upholding your national reputation.
Visit nice restaurants for lunch. If you want the delight of one of London's fine restaurants, go at lunch. There is usually a set price menu that offers a drastic reduction on the evening (average about £25 for two courses) and there will be less pressure on you to order a bottle of wine. Ask for tap water rather than paying a fortune for bottled. This is becoming a more common request in London, in part thanks to a campaign in the Evening Standard, so you no longer get the withering look waiters used to deliver. Many restaurants also have pre-theatre set menus in the early evening at about the same prices.
Avoid public transportation at rush hour. The price drops after 9:30 on the Tube, and drops even further after 11:30 on some train lines. Never, ever travel during morning rush hour, and try to avoid the Tube between 5 and 7 pm. Unless you enjoy being squeezed body to body with a group of complete strangers who are bad tempered and have briefcases that inevitably jab into tender parts of your body, all experienced with appallingly bad ventilation. Trust me, it's not London's finest attribute. Also note that buses are marginally less expensive than the Tube.
Walk. If covering six or eight miles on foot in the course of a day matches your fitness level, you may not even need public transport. And you get the benefit of a lot of free sightseeing. London is a beautiful city, filled with magnificent parks and a vast variety of great architecture. Look around and enjoy. My favourite sightseeing walks are: the South Bank from County Hall to Tower Bridge; Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's via The Mall, The Strand and Fleet Street; a zig-zagging wander through the streets of Mayfair between Piccadilly and Oxford Street, particularly at dusk when you can look in windows. For just £6 you can go on a structured walk with a qualified guide. London Walks is the best company; see http://www.walks.com/. They have discounts for senior citizens and multiple walks.
Consider a Great British Heritage Pass. This is a better deal if you're travelling around the country, but can still be good for London if you are planning on a lot of sightseeing. The pass covers all National Trust and English Heritage properties, plus some privately operated sites. A 4-day pass is £29. Getting into St. Paul's costs an adult £10, and the Tower of London is £16.50. You see how quickly you could break even. The web site lists all the properties (http://www.britishheritagepass.com/), and most properties have their own sites with prices listed, so it's easy for you to plan a bit and see whether this is a good option for you.
Use the TKTS booth. If you want to experience London theatre, your best bet is to either book ahead (everything is available over the internet) or go to the TKTS booth in Leicester Square. As with the sister operation in New York, TKTS is a clearing house for unsold or returned tickets. You never know what's available, but what's there is at least half price. Do not be fooled by all the small shops around the square saying they're half price vendors; the official booth is a free-standing building in the park at the square's centre. Also note that theatres with subsidies from the government have to offer cheap tickets to the public. These, of course, are the first ones to go. But if you plan ahead by internet, and don't mind seats at the top of the building, you can get into the National Theatre for £8, English National Opera for £10 and the Royal Opera House for £5.
Don't buy souvenirs. Yes, it's what you do on holiday. There are people at home you should gift with something. Don't do it. Between the exchange rate and our taxes, just about everything is cheaper in the States. This includes most classic British brands like Burberry, Wedgwood, Clarks, etc. Bring chocolate back to the folks at home. It's relatively cheap, tasty and unique; there are lots of brands unkown to Americans. Tunnock's biscuits are always a winner on my trips home.
Exploit museums and churches. To my mind, Tony Blair's single greatest contribution while in office was to make all the major museums in the country free. London's museums are amongst the best in the world, and you can wander their magnificent miles of galleries for nothing. (In comparison, it costs you $20 to get into the Met in New York, and 9 euro for the Louvre.) Most of the main museums (Victoria and Albert, British Museum, National Gallery, etc.) have evening openings once a week. This is a great way to extend your day, or to not feel guilty about taking sightseeing time out for a great lunch. London's church architecture, particularly in The City, is both fascinating and a model for much of the rest of the world. While St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey have admission fees, just about everyplace else is free. Check out, for example, St. Bartholomew at Smithfield, London's only Romanesque church outside of The Tower and a hidden gem most natives don't even know about. It's used regularly as a film set, most recently in "The Other Boleyn Girl".
One final thought: while free museums and churches form the backbone of a cheap cultural tour of London, if you have money to spare, please donate some to them. These are remarkable institutions, all in need of massive budgets to keep themselves and their collections in good shape. If anyone deserves your discretionary holiday income, it's them.
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