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By Becky Mahan, Editor
Hotels, B&Bs, and Guest Houses
London’s hotels are notoriously expensive — if you’re traveling with at least one other person, look for a boutique hotel or B&B outside the city (rates go down the further from the city center you go) so you can split the cost of a room. For groups and families traveling together, a vacation rental may be the best way to go – not only does it make more sense economically, but you can also save on food costs by purchasing groceries and preparing meals in your vacation rental’s kitchen.
Britannia Hampstead Hotel
by: Flora Baker – Courtesy: Gogobot
Average Price: $100-120/night ($50-60 per person for two people traveling together)
Near Hampstead Village and Primrose Hill, this cozy, no-frills hotel is near “tube” stations to allow you easy access to London’s more popular attractions.
Palmer’s Lodge – Swiss Cottage
by: Celeny Da Silva – Courtesy: Gogobot
Average Price: $30 (shared room) to $45 (single room)
This renovated Victorian mansion houses en-suite twin and dorm rooms; a communal living room with leather couches; free coffee, tea, and continental breakfast; and a library, snooker table, and on-site restaurant in case you want to hang out around the lodge all day.
Hostels
Students, backpackers, couples, and single travelers should choose from the plethora of well-maintained, modern hostels London has to offer. Here are some of our favorites:
Clink78 Hostel
by: Celeny Da Silva – Courtesy: Gogobot
Average Price: $25-40 per person, depending on the size of the room
This clean, refurbished 200-year-old prison house is not only affordable – it’s super cool with a chic/grunge vibe, lots of art, and free breakfast.
Generator Hostel London
by: edenpictures flickr – Courtesy: Gogobot
Average Price: $30-45 per person, depending on the size of the room
Generator Hostel’s free WiFi, cinema room, cafe, and bar give you even more bang for your buck.
You can save lots of money on food AND still eat well if you can think outside the box and be creative. Take advantage of permanent street markets, pop-up farmer’s markets, and cafeteria-style eateries for cheap meals. If you want to enjoy the London restaurant scene, go for a prix-fixe meal at places like Brasserie Zedel (2-course meal for $14) or Cafe Murano (2-course meal for $24), where you can fill up on a big meal for lunch and snack on store-bought groceries the rest of the day. (Bonus if your hotel/hostel offered free breakfast!)
Other places to snag a cheap meal:
Pret A Manger
by: Mr. T in DC flickr – Courtesy: Gogobot
This ubiquitous grab-and-go eatery offers wrapped sandwiches, snacks, and desserts that you can either take away or eat there.
Carnaby
by: Celeny Da Silva – Courtesy: Gogobot
Surprisingly cheap eateries line this hip London street, like Bombay Cafe Dishoom (Indian food), Pizza Pilgrim’s (Italian food) or even the restaurants at Kingly Court. Leon serves salads, wraps, and hot lunches, while the Antidote wine bar offers charcuterie, artisan cheese, and other light bites.
Camden Lock Market
by: bali – Courtesy: Gogobot
The street stalls and merchants of this daily market offer a great opportunity to fill up on cheap, fresh, authentic food from all over the world. Think a food truck festival — except most of the stalls aren’t trucks, and it’s here every day.
While eating and sleeping are unavoidable expenses, the good news is that playing in London is the easiest area of your trip to slash back on expenses. Between the city’s free museum policy, plentiful parks and green spaces, street art, and gorgeous architecture, culture vultures won’t go “hungry” on limited funds. In fact, you could spend an entire day in London without spending a penny on entertainment – saving your precious pounds for food, the bus, and a bed. Here’s how:
Free Museums
by: Greg Knapp flickr – Courtesy: Gogobot
London’s free museums makes it easy to find something to do for the entire family – or couple, or single traveler. The British Museum could keep a history lover or anthropology geek busy for a week, but at the very least go see the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies — for free. The Imperial War Museum offers 400 exhibits, including a real Harrier Jet, and Crystal Palace Park lets you get up close and personal with full-size dinosaurs.
For Outdoor Enthusiasts
by: Celeny Da Silva – Courtesy: Gogobot
Relax and picnic near a pond at Wimbledon Common, Kensington Gardens (and visit the Peter Pan statue), Hyde Park, and Greenwich Park (where you can also see the observatory and the prime meridian line!) Spot deer at Richmond Park and Bushy Park, and watch the live pelican feeding at 2:30pm daily at St. James’ Park. Watch street entertainers in Covent Garden (bring change to tip them!) and skateboarders at Southbank Centre, indulge your inner photographer along picturesque South Bank, or take a step back in time in the fairy tale-like ancient woodlands of Highgate Wood. The riverside village of Richmond is perfect for an afternoon stroll, as is Little Venice with its waterfront cafes and pubs. At sunset, climb beautiful Primrose Hill for a stunning view of the city.
For Local Culture & History Lovers
by: Nicholas D – Courtesy: Gogobot
Watch the daily (reduced times in winter) Changing of the Guard ceremony outside Buckingham Palace (go early!) Channel the Beatles at the iconic Abbey Road and take the obligatory duplicate photo crossing the street. Explore Trafalgar Square and its giant stone lions, the bright lights at Piccadilly Circus (sorry, it’s not really a circus), and the gorgeous green space and waterways at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Don’t forget to stop near Big Ben on the hour to listen to its clanging bells, or at the Tower of London at the end of the day for the gate-closing ritual. And you can link three major attractions – St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Modern, and Shakespeare’s Globe – with a walk across the Millennium Bridge.
For Arts & Design Lovers & Trendsters
by: T-Hino flickr – Courtesy: Gogobot
Check out the art galleries and sculpture garden at the National Gallery. Walk along the Sherling High-Level Walkway (free) at the National Theatre to see prop-makers and theater designers working behind the scenes. Explore the neon collection at God’s Own Junkyard (much like the neon graveyard in Las Vegas) and original Beatles lyrics (and the Magna Carta) at the British Library (both of which are also free.) And free music can be found all over London – from the ska, reggae, and folk gigs at Hootananny Brixton, jazz concerts at Camden Town’s The Forge (every Monday), or periodic performances at Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall. If you want to catch an opera or theater performance but don’t have a month’s rent-and-a-half to splurge on West End productions, be sure to check out discount websites like Time Out Tickets and LastMinute, or the nonprofit Leicester Square ticket booth in the Clocktower Building, even for bestselling productions like Les Misérables. If you can be spontaneous, next-day and even same-day tickets are often the cheapest deals because theaters want to fill their seats. You can also catch preview shows before the official opening night at most theaters, as long as you’re cool with the production essentially being a dress rehearsal.
Transportation
by: Eric Bennett flickr – Courtesy: Gogobot
The Oyster card is London’s “universal” transportation card, covering nearly all forms of transportation except longer-haul train rides (including the ones to Gatwick Airport.) Visitors should get the Visitor Oyster card – it’s $7.50 to purchase the card (which is refundable when you leave London, by the way!) and then you can top it up with funds as you go. And because the London Travel Authority seems to love its tourists, there is a price cap for Visitor Oyster cards – once you have reached this limit, you won’t pay any more even if you make 20 more journeys. Bonus: the Oyster card works on those iconic red double-decker busses, so you can cleverly build in a tourist “must” with a tour of the city.
Sample Itinerary
To put all this into perspective, here’s an easy sample itinerary for a day in London with $80 to spend:
Breakfast: Free at your hostel/hotel
Morning: See the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies at the British Museum, visit Westminster Abbey, watch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (all free)
Lunch: Dutch pankoeken (crepe-like pancakes) with fruit at Camden Lock ($10)
Afternoon: Tour the art showcases and sculpture garden at the National Gallery (free), take a river tour of the Thames ($13 for one full-length trip from Westminster to Greenwich; including a 33% discount if you book in-person at the ticket office with a valid Oyster card), watch the gate-closing ritual at the Tower of London (free)
Dinner: Pizza at Pilgrim’s Pizza on Carnaby Street ($10)
Evening: Explore Carnaby Street and SoHo, walk through Leicester Square and marvel at the bright lights of Piccadilly Circus
Sleep: Generator Hostel ($35 for a bed)
Most of this itinerary is walkable, meaning you can save your Oyster card funds — but even if you hopped onto the Tube for every journey, you’d pay no more than $10 because all of these attractions are in Zones 1-2. Which means this itinerary would cost you roughly $78 – voila! And you thought it couldn’t be done.
Gogobot’s mission is to find people places to stay, eat, and play that are perfect for them. Find out more free, cheap, and fun things to do in London in the Budget Travelers Tribe – then plan your adventures on our mobile app!
Source: gogobot.com