If you’re looking to meet up with old friends or make a big family event of it, visiting London can quickly become a costly trip. Buying cocktails, souvenirs and expensive meals can make the trip feel like a huge drain on your finances. However, that shouldn’t stop you from that all-important get-together and having a weekend full of memories and Instagram photos.
By planning carefully, you can put your hard-earned pound towards the big events and scrimp on some eye-catching wonders …
01. FREE LONDON ATTRACTIONS
London has a surprising wealth of free attractions, which will be fundamental to your budget-friendly weekend. Before you make the trip get everyone on side with some free-to-see attractions that will be gentle on everyone’s wallets.
You might be surprised to find out that one of the biggest museums, The British Museum, is a completely free attraction. With museums like this, The Tate Modern and the Natural History Museum being so vast and entirely free (aside from a suggested donation), you could easily lose a day in each. Spending your entire afternoon or morning in one free museum cuts down on not only the fees of multiple attractions, but also multiple tube journeys.
If you’re also crazy about all things fashion and art, the Victoria and Albert Museum showcases garments from some of the more infamous names in fashion. Everything from antique dresses to leotards worn by Mick Jagger can be found at this expansive arts museum.
Among all the free museums and attractions are also some unusual places to visit. If you have someone in your life who has an interest in medicine and zoology, The Grant Museum of Zoology is a curious and striking natural history collection covering the entire animal kingdom, including many rare and extinct creatures, preserved for the rest of time. Founded in 1828 by Professor Robert Grant, it could certainly make for an intriguing visit.
02. PICK YOUR SHOW-STOPPER
Just like an actual show, it’s always wise to pick a good headliner. Picking something that everyone loves, or a show you’ve all been talking about for months ensures that you’ll spend the rest of the day fizzing with excitement.
Heading to the West End, for instance, can make for a magical night. Pick from a large selection of West End musicals, such as Les Miserables, Wicked or Disney’s The Lion King; while tickets may sound expensive, there are many ticket sites that provide you tickets for cheap.
It is a great idea to select one main event that may cost you money and then balance out the rest of your London trip with free attractions. Doing so means you can harmonise your trip better.
03. WALK WHEN YOU CAN
Although this may seem impossible with the size of London, it’s actually pretty impossible to see all of London in the first place. Keeping a walkable radius around the attractions your visiting means that you’ll keep the cost of tube and cab fares down, and it will make the day, in general, less tiring. While London is a gigantic city, do remember that it is possible to walk between attractions, just be sure to account for the walking time so that you stick to your timetable.
Do you have any other tips for visiting London on a budget?
If so, let me know in the comments below.
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Really informative post. My kids are 6 and 9 now and we have still not taken them up to the Big Smoke. Thinking about a summer trip there this year. The museums sound a great place to start being free and all that! Awesome thanks…
So many free things to do in London! We are still yet to visit properly with the boys though, which is surprising with all the places they’ve been in the world.
You saved my life with this article of yours because objectively London for the undersigned is untouchable talking about prices! Excellent advice!
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We live in the US and we would love to make a trip to London. It would be longer than a weekend trip. My step grandmother lives there so she would be able to let us stay with her. These are great tips for making sure a trip to London is easy on your wallet. We will keep these in mind for when we do travel there.
This is pretty useful information, London is in my bucket list to travel this year. I’m going to bookmark this blog. Hope it will help me to make my trip more memorable.
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London is so expensive. We all need these tips!
Great pics!!! I visited London a few years ago and loved it 🙂
My Hubby and I go to London without the kids every September now and as you say lots of discounts to be had and if shop around can find some good price hotels .x
London is one of my fave cities in the world. I live there for 4 monhts it was such a great experience!
These are actually convenient and practical tips. I can also apply these suggestions to other country that I’ll visit.
Brilliant, I do all these things. I far prefer walking in London to using the underground. It’s part of the fun, seeing it all and chatting as you walk. Mich X
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There are so many free attractions in London which is such a good way to spend a day. I do much prefer walking around as well as most things are so close together x
We love walking around London, when you hop on the tube you miss out on so much above ground
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Visiting museums in London is one of my favourite things to do. I love heading to The British Museum and the V&A.
We are lucky to live very close to London, we love walking along the Southbank and the Tate is a great place to get yourself lost in by going from room to room. It can be costly visitng London but can also be very cheap x
This is seriously so much helpful. Sometimes going on a holiday on a budget could be difficult. I so love London.
These are really smart tips. I always enjoy walking around my favorite cities. You see more and also get to discover treasured finds you might not see from a taxi or Uber.
London looks like a great place to visit and is one of my travel destination goals in the future! Thank you so much for sharing! I will save this and put it to use
I have always wanted to visit London. It would be great to avoid a costly trip and go a budget travel. Thank you for sharing.
I was amazed at the amount of free places there are to visit when I looked into it x
Loving and living for these tips! The amount free things you can do in London is incredible right???
Thanks for sharing,
Leigh at Fashion Du Jour LDN x