Family of 5 in london

Threebabes

Hi

Next year we are wanting to take our 3 kids, 14, 10 and 6 to london for 3 days/2 nights in London.

We want to stay in a 4 star hotel and get the train from newcastle.

Through reader travel staying in 4 star hotel its going to cost £870 for the 5 of us in a double & triple rooms for a london weekend trip.

Ive looked at doing it myself and to stay in tower (was thistle) would be £800 for 2 nights :eek: and then the train would be approx. anything up to £300 (guess work timetable doesnt go as far as april 10).

Anyone done a weekend cheaper than this? It seems like an awful lot of money for such a short time. We do want to stay in a decent hotel.

Ive suggested Dh drive down and maybe we stay on outskirts and get the tube in, we could maybe stay an extra night to justify the travel, he isnt keen though, even though he drives all over with work :mad:.

Any help would be gratefully received.

susancs

In my opinion, as you only really sleep in your hotel room when on holiday, especially one in London, it might be better to look at getting basic budget hotel family rooms in either London or Greater London, rather than 4 star ones. Travelodge do £9 family sale rooms (sleeps 4), so if you looked out for the sale prior to the dates you want to go. They have just had one last Thursday and although it was meant to start at 6am, it started before that. London obviously goes very quickly. Premier Inn also currently do £29 a night family rooms and you could also look at the 2 nights for 1 holiday inn link. kids eat free breakfast at Travelodge and premier Inn also so this gives you a cheap breakfast option. For cheap travel you could look at Megabus as just checked for eg. Newcastle to London in Jan and it works out about £70 return for the 5 of you. www.megabus.com The earlier you book Megabus the better so book as soon as they put up the dates you want.

www.travelodge.co.uk, click on saver rooms
www.premierinn.com, click on picture of Henry
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/6c/1/en/c/1/content/dec/teaser/6c/1/en/lp/emea/twofor.html?rateCode=IDEX1 Know it says only up to Feb, put if you put in dates it will prob still come up with April, as seems to be ongoing.
http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/home/index.shtml

Oldernotwiser

I agree with susancs; if you're staying in London you'll be out all the time and the location of your hotel will be more important than its rating. Look for somewhere with good public transport links in a respectable area rather than worrying about the number of stars.

susancs

If you want next April 2010, Southwark Travelodge is £12 for a family room for Monday 5/4/09-very central as beside tube and embankment, so 2 rooms £24. It is a short walk from there to Waterloo for London Eye, County Hall, boats etc. You could then wait until the sale for April (usually about Jan/feb time) and see if you can get the nights before of after reduced or even book another TL in London to stay other nights in London. If booking don't forget to ammend your booking to show 1 adult and 2 children and 1 adult and 1 child for each room, so that the 3 children get breakfast for free. Booked online in advance it is £5.99 per adult, so £11.98 for 5 of you for breakfast. It is usually a buffet breakfast with a choice of cooked items, bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, mushrooms, toast, cereals, fruit, bakery items, tea, coffee and juice.

You can order oyster cards online in advance £3 refundable deposit for adults for travel on buses, tram and tubes in London. You just top up as needed as cheaper for single journeys and caps at less than a daily travel card. You can order a photo oyster in advance for your over 11's to use , £5 payment on card when ordering that can be used for tube fares (currently capped at £1 for all day tube travel) and allows free travel on buses. You would need to pick up at a London Travel centre on arrival, showing proof of the child's age. If coming in via megabus there is one at Victoria Rail station across the road from the coach station. it is cheaper to use adult oyster off peak after 9.30am.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/1020.aspx

Another alternative is the daily travel card which you buy for the zones you wish to travel in. Again cheaper to purchase after 9.30am-you can also purchase a £1 daily travelcard for the over 11 year olds (for off peak travel). The under 11's travel free. The advantage of the travelcard if purchased from a train station (not a tube one) is that it has the BR crows foot logo on it, that will allow you to get 2for1 entry into a number of London attractions if you show train ticket with a voucher from the site below eg, The Tower,zoo, London Dungeons etc. Waterloo which is about 10 minute walk from the SouthwarK Travel Lodge is a train station as is Victoria. Another alternative if using oyster is to buy a train ticket for each person for one stop and not use just to get the offer savings.
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/?gclid=ckmu59kjy50cfqdl4wodh09gsg

You could also use a combination of oyster one day if just doing a return journey eg. say to the Museums in Kensington and buy a one day Travel card another day to get the 2for 1 offers.

Threebabes

Thank you so much everyone for your brilliant ideas.

Ive looked at travelodge southwark with breakfast is £391 for the 2 rooms for 3 nights, and the bus would be £70, which is half of what I was going to pay and thats with an extra night.

I cant find the £12 family room on the 5th for £12.

:-)

susancs

Here is the link, it is still £12 for the 5th April, but you need to book quickly otherwise it will get booked up and the price rises with more bookings (except when they have a sale). Click on family room option under the double room and then amend search button at top and change rooms to 2 and put 1 adult and 2 children in 1 room and 1 adult and 1 in the other, click search then click on Southwark £12 and choose 2 family rooms at £12 and then add breakfast (it will show as charging for kids until you come to payment). You need to book travelodge saver rooms separatly to get the best price or add them individually to your basket, otherwise it charges all rooms at the dearest price for all nights if you block book.
http://www.travelodge.co.uk/search_and_book/saver_search_book.php?hotel_id=342&saver_ts=1270422000&nights=

Threebabes

susancs wrote: »

Here is the link, it is still £12 for the 5th April, but you need to book quickly otherwise it will get booked up and the price rises with more bookings (except when they have a sale). Click on family room option under the double room and then amend search button at top and change rooms to 2 and put 1 adult and 2 children in 1 room and 1 adult and 1 in the other, click search then click on Southwark £12 and choose 2 family rooms at £12 and then add breakfast (it will show as charging for kids until you come to payment). You need to book travelodge saver rooms separatly to get the best price or add them individually to your basket, otherwise it charges all rooms at the dearest price for all nights if you block book.
http://www.travelodge.co.uk/search_and_book/saver_search_book.php?hotel_id=342&saver_ts=1270422000&nights=

Hi, if i book rooms individually, do we get to keep same rooms, some dont have to check out and check back in again etc? thanks :-)

susancs

I have often booked rooms on individual bookings and they have always linked them up before arrival often without me emailing. We just arrive and they confirm it is for 4 days for example and give us a keycard that works for that period. The chambermaid must have been informed as she cleans the room each day. In your case I would email them to ask for rooms next to each other after booking and you could just mention that the bookings need to be linked up. I find them helpful, as I emailed for a seaview when we stayed at Eastbourne and this was done without any problems.

lynnrudd

Hi, we're off to london this weekend and we bought a family rail card for around £26 for a year. We then booked our rail tickets with national express north east 12 weeks in advance, you can check to see if the cheap fares are showing - ours was available on a thursday but i checked each day that week until they appeared. You have to do your outward journey first then return journey a week later. This cost £23.70 each way for 2 adults, and two kids aged 14 and 11 - total train costs £47.40 + £26 = £73.40 - and you can get discount vouchers from the rail card website for food and attractions.

Hope this helps.


Oh and remember to tick the family rail card box when checking dates/fares!!

Threebabes

lynnrudd wrote: »

Hi, we're off to london this weekend and we bought a family rail card for around £26 for a year. We then booked our rail tickets with national express north east 12 weeks in advance, you can check to see if the cheap fares are showing - ours was available on a thursday but i checked each day that week until they appeared. You have to do your outward journey first then return journey a week later. This cost £23.70 each way for 2 adults, and two kids aged 14 and 11 - total train costs £47.40 + £26 = £73.40 - and you can get discount vouchers from the rail card website for food and attractions.

Hope this helps.


Oh and remember to tick the family rail card box when checking dates/fares!!

Thank you, where you staying?

lynnrudd

We're at the Novotel Tower Hill, got it with a group booking as we're going with my daughter's dance school, still cost £110 b&b for 4 per night.