Help r.e London days out..

gabyjane

We are going to London in Dec as my uncle has very kindly given us his house while we are there so no outlay on hotels but wanted to try and organise some days out now so it doesn't end up costing an arm and a leg when we get there..so far we have for 3 of us in total:

• London eye coming in at £42
• Tower of london £40
• History museum £free!
• London aquarium £36.50
• Ripleys plus maze £61
• Total: £179

There is a deal for London Eye Standard Flight & Ripley's Believe It or Not! Combo for £70
We are going fri but would prob only have fri night, sat, sun, mon and come back tue not sure on return time at mo. So when is the better times to do things? any good/bad days for some rather than others? price wise are thee any good sites oris ebay a good bet? any londoners out there wil prob know better.!.thanks

anna42hmr

ripleys beleive it or not is open to midnight, so unless you plan to do something else, would suggest that you do that early evening, on the basis most the others are opening hours vary between around 9am to 6pm so at least doing that wont clash with opening hours of the others

i love the early morning flights of the london eye or the evening dusk ones as it can be quite pretty, you are not up that long, so would suggest that first thing one of the mornings, and then say the london aqurium as they are near each other

i would also recommend you get a pay as you go oyster card as well, details on the transport for london site

you may want to see page 2 of this link http://static.visitlondon.com/assets/maps/travel_maps/visitors_guide_to_travelling_around_london.pdf

as it shows a map with the tube but also landmarks such as the tower of london, millenium eye etc, as it may make it easier for you to work out a schedual

splatt30

If you go by train there are normally buy one get one free offers. You print off a voucher before you go and present it with a train ticket at the venue.

In March my husband and I visit the Tower of London for just £16 for both of us and the London Zoo for £18 for both of us.

The offers will vary so may have changed by December but well worth a look. Also I agree get an Oyster card.

flutterbyuk25

Also if you have some Tesco Clubcard vouchers you can exchange them for some things in London or for restaurant vouchers to cut the cost.

I know London Eye used to be included.

x

mirrorimage0

if you have tesco clubcard vouchers, exchange them for merlin passes im pretty sure you can get on the london eye, madam tussauds, the dungeons in london, pretty sure they had 20 percent off this week if you buy online if oyu dont have tesco vouchers think it was £264 fr a family of three

just editing to say that although the merlin passes aremore than original spend you wanted, you then get the theme parks and sea worlds etc for the rest of the year too, pls other benefits like free eye test and other things

poorandindenial

Museums and galleries (except some short term exhibitions) are completely free. Do you mean the natural history museum that you already have on your list?? If so then it is right next to the science museum and opposite the victoria and albert museum. While you are in the NH museum then check out the architecture as well as the exhimits, all the way round it there are carvings of different animals.

Would support the suggestion to get a PAYG oyster, makes individual journeys much cheaper and recalculates to cost of a travel card if you make more journeys than a travel card would cost (if you see what I mean). If it wasn't december I would say to do the Thames boat trip which comes in pretty cheap if I remember, although it will be blooming freezing in December.

Covent Garden will have its winter market on (and probably some amazing decs for xmas)

Are you all adults or are there any kids?

poorandindenial

Oh and if you fancy the theatre then you should check out the tkts booths (there is one on leicester square, but it isn't the only one) you can often get good late deals especially on matinees.

gabyjane

Hi thanks very much for the replies..ok where to start!! there is me dh and dd (10) we will be staying by big ben as my uncles place is there so i have been told near the london eye? no travel there as far as im aware! the history musuem is yes the free one i was talking about and we have been a few times before so will be a quickish trip!..the travel card sounds a good idea and i will look into that. The travel up there we are going on the mega bus and they don't yet have prices for dec but all the days i have tried have been around the £12 mark in total for us and we have been before for that price so will hope it isn't a huge amount more! It was times really and how long things took so we can plan slightly ahead or else we will get there and end up wandering wasting what time we have! oh and wanted to take dd to Harrods and Hamleys as she will no doubt want a toy and she has never been to Harrods so fancied that too!
Thanks again for all your advice.

SuperMum2008

Recommend Tower of London - thats a great day out with Tesco vouchers swapped for Days Out vouchers. Big Ben is across the river from London Eye so you will be able to walk over the bridge easily. We went to London for a weekend last month and had a ball, used vouchers left right and centre, 2 for ones in pizza express, All Bar One, clubcard vouchers, so worked out a reasonable price for the weekend - we were exhausted though! Have a great time. Oh, and if you are going at the weekend and need to use tubes, check online with london underground as loads were closed when we went and we had to make alternative arrangements (which worked out just fine as it happened)

salt_and_pepper

How did you get London eye so cheap? I priced a flight up for in October and it was around the £100 for 2 adults and 2 kids.

gingerdad

London Eye/Aquarium both part of Merlin, usually plenty of discounts about.
We did the London Eye/River Cruise with our Airmiles 1000 got for tickets on both.

Tower of London use Tesco Clubcard Points

Ripleys - seemed to be a lot of discounts 2for1 or 15% off etc in the free maps around london when we went.

Get an oyster card for the travel again dead easy and keeps the costs down.

GD