Few days out in London

sam1974_2

carlislelass wrote: »

London Eye does 2 for 1 as does St Pauls.

I cant find the 2 for 1 on London Eye anywhere

RuthnJasper

As a London lass by birth - I'd suggest that you forget Madame Tussaud's. Queues are ludicrous and it's nowhere NEAR as good as it used to be in the late 70's/early 80's - it's been marketed VERY well, but generally leaves visitors with a feeling of anti-climax and a bit of a let-down.

The London Dungeon (also operated by The Tussaud's Group) is the same price for entry as Mme Tussaud's but FAR better value. Mme Tussaud's basically amounts to four rooms (modern celebs, royalty and politicians, rock'n'roll "hall of fame", plus the Chamber of Horrors - interesting from an historical standpoint (some original pieces from revolutionary France, etc.).

The London Dungeon also has a biggish queue but is MUCH better value for money. There are separate bits with live actors (as far as I recall, a 17th Century courtroom, complete with a trip to the gallows; a detective searching the East End of London for Jack the Ripper; a surgeon examining Jack the Ripper's victims and motivations, etc.).

I recently looked after a friend's 8yr-old son for a weekend while she and her OH went away for a romantic weekend. Bill (the 8 yr-old)'s verdict was: Mme Tussaud's - "Boring!"; "A con...". The London Dungeon: "Brilliant!" It took us @ 20 minutes to go around Mme Tussaud's but, for the same price, at least 1hr 30mins to do the London Dungeon at a slow pace.

Word of warning though - Bill (me too, but don't tell anyone;)) was bl**dy terrified during the earlier (mostly parts relating to the Tudors) exhibits - not for the faint-hearted but undoubtedly money well-spent.

Also - places like the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery (in Trafalgar Square) are FREE to enter. And make sure you get a Travelcard - will save you a fortune in Tube/Bus fares and, if you get tired, just ride around on a double-decker bus for a bit (top-deck, of course!) and enjoy the sights. Additionally, there are often also good-quality street performers/musicians in Covent Garden (don't miss the penny-arcade downstairs) - you can watch or listen to them for free too (put a quid in their hat though, just to be fair)...

As the great Samuel Johnson (original creator of the English Dictionary) said - "When you are tired of London, you are tired of life."

Have fun!
R x

RuthnJasper

Oh - and most mainline London railway stations have a luggage check-in facility. I only know where the one at Waterloo is though - go to the end of the station, passing all the platforms on your right, past Costa Coffee and Burger King and then past the cash machines to your left, and the luggage check-in is on your left at the end.

Or, at least, it always was. I haven't been able to afford to go back to my lovely, lively, London for a few years (IVA)...

Ah well. Maybe next year...

Rachel021967

If your coming in by train you might be able to get money off vouchers for these attractions. My daughter and I have got a BOGOF voucher for Kew Gardens.

sam1974_2

Thanks Ruth

Unfortunately I had read the website for London Dungeons and it says "not for people with a nervous disposition" which clearly rules me out

We went to Warwick Castle a few years back and they have some tower thing there and live actors .... needless to say I was terrified within the first few minutes and completely hated it! I felt sick and just wanted to get out of the place, honestly! ..... embarassing though when little kids where in there having a great time :rotfl:

Ive read up about the storing of luggage and yes some of the stations still do it. Euston does but its all scanned on entry (i guess they have to now with terrorists etc) and its £6.50 i think for the day so good value IMO.

Deffo getting the travelcards, we always do when we go to london. Its far easier IMO even if you havent used it much one day!


Yes we are going by train - I tried to look on London Midland's website last night, the train operator, but it kept not responding so ill give it another go today. See if i can find anymore offers and print them off. Even if we cant fit them all in, at least ill have them just incase!

Maybe i'll stick Madame Tussards on the list for the last day and then see if we bother or not. Must say though, its the most expensive ticket out of all of them so far!

sandraroffey

there is a booklet you can get at train stations that give you very good offers if you travel by train. covers loads of places.

also remember that things like musuems, natural history, science etc. are mostly free.

madame tussauds?? dont waste your money. london dungeon though is brilliant. hms belfast is very good as well.

and you have to take a boat along the thames.its amazing. i took my young grandsons and they were tickled pink that the police station was in the middle of the river and the policemen had boats with the nee-naw thing on the top. priceless.

p00hsticks

sandraroffey wrote: »

there is a booklet you can get at train stations that give you very good offers if you travel by train. covers loads of places.

This is another way of getting the coupons for the 2-4-1 offer that you can also download on the link mentioned previosuly

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

p00hsticks

sam1974 wrote: »

I cant find the 2 for 1 on London Eye anywhere

It has featured in the 2-4-1 offers in the past, but not at present (the attractions offered change on a regular basis, each time the expiry deadline is extended - the current ones seem to go until 31st October 2011)

dzug1

p00hsticks wrote: »

It has featured in the 2-4-1 offers in the past, but not at present (the attractions offered change on a regular basis, each time the expiry deadline is extended - the current ones seem to go until 31st October 2011)

It might be a winter only offer

joolsybools

sam1974 wrote: »

any idea what the best time to go to Madam Tussauds is ? other half happened to be working in London today and he drove past and said the queue's were huge and that was at 10.45 this morning

I have never been past when there wasn't a huge queue!