Even though London is a hub of entertainment and a city that many people travel all across the world to visit, it comes along with the reputation of being one of the most expensive cities in the world. As I live in London, I know first hand how expensive certain aspects can be but there is ways to avoid this and this blog post is dedicated to outlining how much money it would cost per day to visit London. The factors included will be: accommodation, transport (including transport to and from the airport), food and drink as well as tours and attractions.
Accommodation There are hundreds upon hundreds of different forms of accommodations in the city of London. There are a range of different hostels, apartments, hotels, B&B's and homes that can be rented out for your stay. In London a rule of thumb would be that the closer you are to Central London the higher the cost of your stay will be, if you stay around areas near London Bridge, Waterloo and even Westminster you will begin to see the star rating of these hotels go up as well as the prices. One of the most famous hotels in London is the Shangri-La At The Shard, with prices starting at just over £400. However, there are a lot of cheaper options in London with brands such as Premier Inn and Travelodge offering a basic hotel room with basic amenities with a low price tag. If you just want a room with a bed to sleep in, a shower and bathroom area to use then this would be your best bet. After a whole day of walking around, shopping and then seeing the attractions London has to offer this would be your best bet as you'll be too tired at the end of the day to make a fuss about the amenities of the hotel. If you're staying in London for an extended period of time then an Airbnb would be perfect - a room or an entire flat/house to yourself would be the way to make yourself at home and save money on going out for meals. The same applies to B&B's in London, you're given a room and breakfast - all you need to get you ready for the day ahead of you! If you're unsure on what form of accommodation you would like to stay in during your visit to London, I made a blog post regarding the advantages and disadvantageous of each accommodation type. More information can be found by clicking here! Prices:
Total: £50 (Average) Transport: Transport is one area that I've gone into extensive detail about: whether it's buying an Oyster card or travelling to and from the airport into Central London as well as the different forms of transport around London. The cost of transport depends on whether you're determined to save money by walking throughout London during the day or whether you're the person that would prefer to get private taxis everywhere. Mostly tourists use a combination of buses and Tubes on the London Underground to get around London as they're the modes of transport that cover nearly every place in London, especially the tourist attractions and landmarks. I would roughly estimate that a tourist visiting London would spend around £15 if you stick to using public transport but can go up to £50-100 if you're using private modes of transport such as taxis. Another use for public transport would be getting to and from the airport, which can cost as little as £3.10 for a single journey, which I made a whole blog post dedicated to as it was highly requested. Links to other blogs regarding transport around London and the use of an Oyster card can be found here:
Total: £15 (+£5 if you need to purchase an Oyster card) Food & Drink London has over 80,000 restaurants within London, all with their different cuisines and price ranges. If you want an expensive and rather fancy meal then this may set you back around £80+ per person for a three course meal and a drink. In my opinion as much as these restaurants pride themselves on their star rating as well as their high quality service, there are much cheaper places to eat in London that would be able to fit everyone's budgets. I would suggest at least trying a full English breakfast while you're there as well as the fish and chips - they're the best! There are a range of different options to buying food and drink while in London, some people prefer to buy food from supermarkets whereas others prefer going out for all three meals during the day. I've listed both of these options to give you guidance in terms of price:
Total: £40-£50 (Average) Tours & Attractions: There are a range of major landmarks and attractions around London that everyone wants to visit such as The London Eye and The Shard. These attractions can become very expensive depending on the time of year you're visiting as well as if you have prebooked your tickets or not. I cannot put an accurate price on how much a tourist would spend per day on tours and attractions since some walking tours are pay as you feel as well as some attractions having no admission fee. For example, the Tate is completely free to visit as well as tours such as Strawberry Tours means you can see the sights of London with added information for a price that you can decide that fits your budget. Regardless, not all sights are free and most require a fee to enter such as The London Eye, The Tower of London and London Zoo. These can create quite a massive dent in your budget but on a previous blog post I went in detail regarding The London Pass and whether it was worth it. You pay a specific price for the amount of time you want the pass for and it allows you free admission into certain attractions. More information can be found here! If you chose to buy souvenirs for friends and family I would not recommend doing this on Bond Street or Oxford Circus since these shops have very high prices as they know tourists will pay them. If you want to get a souvenir then I would recommend either buying some from the attraction you've seen or buying them from smaller souvenir shops around Westminster and surrounding areas. If you also want to do some shopping while you're in London then Oxford Circus and Westfield would be the best chance of finding something you'd like. Within these places there are a range of different places to eat as well as shops, the most popular being Primark at Bond Street and the three floor Lush Store located just next to Oxford Circus. If you want to travel further down onto New Bond Street and Mayfair then be warned that the price tags will make you read it twice - it's very expensive. Total: £50-200 (Average) This price is also dependant on whether you've prebooked attractions and tours as well as if you decide you want to go shopping while on your trip to London. Overview
You could certainly spend a lot less than this when planning to visit London, if you decide to go for a cheaper hotel and to walk to certain attractions rather than using public transport. On the other hand you could spend a lot more if you have the budget and want to have a luxurious stay while in London with a luxury hotel and visit high class restaurants.
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Emily McLaughlinTips and tricks for what to do in London as well as travelling around it. Archives
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