Cheap Family Break In London: Tips Please

AmberStripes

Hi,

I'd love to take my 5 year on a trip to London in the summer holidays to stay one night and see the sights as a reward for doing so well at school.

I've since looked at this and the cost looks horrendous. The train from Manchester costs a fortune as do London hotels. The tour buses cost a packet and the entrance to atractions is very high (except with vouchers: thanks folks:T)

Thankfully things like the British Museum look like they are still free to enter.

Please, has anyone ever done this before on a budget and have any tips to share with regards to less costly places to stay and tips to get around the city without spending the same money as a week in the sun?

Thank you

dzug1

If you are thinking of going in August the cheap rail fares are not on sale yet except for the very beginning of the month - so could be worth hanging on until they are

Browntoa

don't use the tour buses, use oyster cards

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/buying-tickets


buses like the number 15 do ALL the landmarks from Trafalgar Sq via St Pauls to the Tower, if you are lucky on a refurb old fashioned routemaster

captainbeaker

Obviously I don't know your budget but travelodges such as this average around £50 a night
http://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/269/London-Central-Kings-Cross-Royal-Scot-hotel
, as said earlier check train prices around 6 weeks before you go and avoid rush hour trains oyster cards or off peak underground pass get you around cheaply. Also keep checking around you'll often see discounts for attarctions etc in news papaers cereal boxes etc, we did it a few years ago but were doing a trip around Uk so had the car and stayed on the outskirts and bought daily travel passes.

This has list of free museums etc, National history museum is great.
http://www.visitlondon.com/tag/free-attractions

susancs

You could look at www.megabus.com for fares from Manchester to London, just looking at random dates at the end of July it would be about £20 return for you and your daughter.

Sunday night is usually the cheapest rate for hotel rooms e.g. Sunday 20 July, 27 July, 3 August, 10 August it is £27 for a room at London Cricklewood. It has the train station with direct trains that go into Kings Cross St Pancras, 5 minutes walk away and a bus stop a few minutes walk away that goes to Marble Arch/Hyde Park in about 25 mins or Kilburn tube station 15 minutes walk away or you could get the bus to the station. it has a Tesco store underneath for cheap food and snacks. You could get a sandwich mealdeal to eat for lunch.

You could also look at Fulham Travelodge as it is £35 for 10, 17, 24 August and £32 for Monday 25 August. it would be 15 mins of a tube journey to Fulham Broadway from Victoria tube station (where the megabus coach station is beside) and the Travelodge is a few minutes walk from there. 10 minutes of a direct tube journey from there to South Kensington for the Natural History and Science Museums (both free) and it is a 15 minute walk from there (look on googlemaps) to Kensington Gardens for the Diana memomorial Peter Pan park.

Vauxhall travelodge is beside the tube station and is £50 for a lot of dates in July/August. 5 min tube journey from Victoria to Vauxhall. 5 min journey from Victoria to South Kensington. 10 minute tube journey involving one change at Oxford Circus onto the bakerloo line to Charing Cross (by Trafalgar Square), where you can walk down to Horse Guards at the entrance to St james to see the mounted Queens guards close up. You can also get the old fashioned no 15 red ruotemaster bus from there to The Tower Of London and as a previous poster says it goes past a lot of attractions. You can use a daily travelcard (purchase at the train station) on this route (plus it allows unlimited daily travel on all buses, tubes and trains within the zones) and your 5 year old travels free on all buses tubes and London overground. She just follows you through the pushchair/ lugguage barrier at the tube station. You could get an oyster card instead of a Travelcard but is is £5 refundable deposit and you top up as required, but if you are only staying overnight it is probably easier to get a daily travelcard for unlimited travel each day. On weekdays purchase after 9.30am at the train station for cheaper off peak rates (weekend is off peak). If you purchase the travelcard from the train station (e.g. Victoria is a train and tube station, so use the train part to buy the travelcard) and it will have the Brititish rail logo on it that you can use with the 2for1 train train vouchers. If you buy it from the tube station ticket office it will just have the underground logo on it and not be eligible.

Kensington Olympia Premier Inn has some Sundays at under £60 and that is beside Earls Court tube station. The Museums are about 20 minutes walk from there. The Premier Inn at Victoria also has some good saver rates. Wembley Stadium Premier Inn has some Sunday nights at £39 and although not the best of areas, it is literally by the tube station, so good for a base as you have two tube lines from there (Jubillee and metropolitan).

I would check out reviews on tripadvisor to see which hotels may best suit your needs.

Children eat breakfast free at both Travelodge and Premier Inn hotels and it is an eat as much as you want buffet one with hot cooked items, cereals, toast, fruit, bakery items, yoghurts, drinks, so may be worth booking as would give you a good fillign start to the day.

DigForVictory

A lot of museums are free but charge for the heavily advertised exhibitions. If you can plot a map with public conveniences, reasonably affordable food suppliers & places you should be able to refill a drink bottle for free, you are ahead of the curve. (Do try to mop up any free hearty breakfast - it makes a sandwich lunch less urgent & then you can then keep an eye out for places doing fixed price evening meals.)
Oyster cards are the cheap way of getting around & it's well worth putting in time on the internet seeing what's on where, when. If only so you know to walk the length of Hyde Park so the 5 year old is inclined to snooze before you go onto an evening thing!

http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do-in-london-this-weekend
and
http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/whats-on.php
may be of use.

Hoping you have a splendid time!

p00hsticks

Manchester Piccadilly <-> London Euston Virgin Advance tickets are £12.50 each way.

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/tickets-offers/

As the name implies you need to book in advance, and they are only available in limited numbers (but not that difficult to get provided you are prepared to be reasonably flexible with dates/times). The tickets only go on sale about twelve weeks before travel - a link on the page above lets you see when tickets become available. You could save more if you have a Frinds and family railcard.

Having the train tickets will give you access to a number of 2-4-1 offers to attractions, including river cruise tickets to get you around, but for just an overnight stay there's plenty to see for free.

Travelodges are some of the cheapest central hotels that I've found , with sunday night usually the cheapest night of the week.

gerispringer

A 5 year old would love the natural history and science museum both free. Kensington gardens has a great playground. And a bus or boat trip would be good as you wouldn't have to walk every where. Go to Hamleys for a bit of retail therapy, don't have to buy anything, lunch alfresco in Covent garden which always has some fun street entertainment.