London on a Budget

Can You Stay in London on a Budget?

Is staying in London on a budget achievable?  In this blog, we will cover some of the tips and tricks that helped us to achieve an enjoyable stay in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

We are starting on a year-long trip around the UK and Europe and we certainly didn’t want to ‘blow the budget’ so early on in the adventure.

Could we really do London on a Budget?

Enjoyable Without FOMO

Are you familiar with the term FOMO?  It stands for ‘Fear of Missing Out’.  You don’t want to stay in this magnificent city and leave feeling like you have missed out on an opportunity to enjoy what’s on offer.

This is where careful planning comes in.  Scotty and I had a Committee Meeting and worked out what we could enjoy for free, what interested us and what we were prepared to pay for to go and visit.

Accommodation

When planning on where you stay, there are a couple of things to consider.

Location, Location, Location

London is divided into 1–9 zones, but most of it fits into zones 1–6. Central London is Zone 1, Zone 2 is the ring around Zone 1 and so on. The further out you stay, the cheaper your accommodation will be.  But the flip side is that you will be spending more on transportation and wasting more of your precious time on travel.  

While we were staying in London, there were ongoing strikes which had an impact on the public transport system.  So, it is imperitave that you don’t rely on transport entirely.  Staying closer to the action means that you aren’t quite so dependent on transport in order to get where you wanted to go.

We have previously made the mistake of opting for cheaper accommodation but we weren’t in the most favourable location to enjoy all there was to offer.

The Hub by Premier Inn, Westminster Abbey

We chose to stay at The Hub for its central location and value for money.

This is what I’m talking about when it comes to its central location:

• St James’s Park tube station 2 mins walk
• Westminster Abbey 4 mins walk
• Central Hall Westminster Conference Centre 2 mins walk
• Imperial War Museums, Churchill War Rooms 5 mins walk
• Palace of Westminster 5 mins walk
• Big Ben 5 mins walk
• Buckingham Palace 10 mins walk

Because we were staying for 4 nights, we chose the larger room.  Whilst it still wasn’t what we’d call roomy, it was spacious enough to be able to walk around the bed at least.  There is clever storage, such as a large drawer under the bed and spaces for our backpacks to be out of the way.

The bathroom was clean and modern and the shower was hot.  What more could you want?

Their restaurant/bar is open from 6 am on weekdays and 7 am on weekends.  Guests can help themselves to the coffee machine during their opening hours free of charge.

We opted for their daily breakfast as this set us up for the day and saved us from buying lunch.

Cost: Room for 4 nights £545.00 ($NZ 1,129.43), Breakfast for two for 4 days £56 ($NZ 116.05)

Meals

As I mentioned earlier, we opted to have our breakfast at The Hub.  For £7 ($NZ 14.62) each per morning, we got a full buffet of continental and cooked breakfast which included unlimited tea, coffee and juices.

We made sure that this would set us up for the day which meant we didn’t need to buy lunch.

Grabbing a ‘banana to go’ just gave us a little bit of oomph when we were out and about walking.

As I also previously mentioned, London is one of the most expensive cities in the world and we certainly noticed it reflected in the cost of food and alcohol.

Down at the Local

The Hub is located in Westminister so it is the heart of the business and tourist district.  There are many, many small historic pubs dotted around so we were spoilt for choices when it came to partaking in the local tradition of a pint.  This was something we were looking forward to in the afternoons, especially after clocking up an average of 14,000 – 15,000 steps a day.

There is a BUT to this though.  A pint of beer cost us £6.95 ($NZ 14.50)…..ouch.  That was the same price as our buffet breakfast.   It was clearly not going to be a session at the pub, but more of a treat.

We knew that the drinking culture in the UK is to ‘pop down to the local’ after work.  We saw that culture in action.  Every afternoon (or even during the day) the quaint local pubs around us turned into ‘suit city’.  They spilled out onto the footpath and stay there in groups, drinking and smoking.

It is also quite common for the kitchen to be closed as most of the locals are only there to drink, not eat. 

Eat Where the Locals Eat

We found a family-owned small Turkish Restaurant and Takeaway tucked down a small side road, not far from The Hub.  We ventured in and loved the food so much, that we went back the next night.  The Food Works Turkish Kitchen is well worth a visit for a reasonably priced meal, washed down with a glass of wine and a beer.

Our favourite dishes were the lamb ribs and the char-grilled halloumi salad.  The family behind the counter we so welcoming and friendly.  Both our meals (including drinks) cost us £35.00 ($NZ 73.00).

Transport

Now this is where you can get the most savings but does require research, concentration and dedication.  This is also where Scotty (AKA Transport Co-Ordinator) comes into his own.  I’m the Chief Planner and Scotty is the Logistics Manager in Team Kiwisflythecoop.

Tourist Trap

Many transport options are available and to the unsuspecting tourist, they seem to be the best or only way to go.

Below are a couple of examples of options and our alternative which worked out cheaper:

Oyster Card

There are two types of Oyster Cards –

• A normal card (costs £7.00, available from tube stations) that you keep topping up and you can apply for a credit when you hand it back in
• Visitor Oyster Card – you order before arrival in London (£5.00 + postage) and pre-load how much you want

The downside is that you have to create an account and download the app.  The cost of travel is no cheaper so there is little point in having an Oyster Card. The Oyster card costs £7. You then pre-load money on the card to pay for your travel. 

They boast that once you have made around three journeys (peak or off peak) in a day on any Tube, DLR, London Overground, the Elizabeth line or National Rail train within Zones 1-6 using Oyster/contactless you will pay no more and will be able to travel for free for the rest of the day.  However, this is no different to normal contactless payment.

NB: you can use the Oyster Card on the ferries on the Thames but is not part of the daily cap.

Here is an example of the daily caps per zone:

Zone 1-2	£8.10
Zone 1–3	£9.60
Zone 1–4	£11.70
Zone 1–5	£13.90

Daily Travelcard

A daily Travelcard gives you unlimited travel in the zones for which it is valid on National Rail and Transport for London rail services, London Underground and DLR. You can use it on all London Buses and, is valid in zones 3, 4, 5 or 6, on all London Trams. Travelcards can start on any day.

Here are the examples of prices per zone:

Transport Zones	Off Peak	Anytime
Zones 1–4	n/a	£15.20
Zones 1–6	£15.20	£21.50
Zones 1–9	£16.20	£27.20

So as you can see, the daily cap for the Oyster Card or Contactless is way less than the Travelcard.  To sum it up – DO NOT BUY A TRAVELCARD

London Hop on Hop Off Buses

Pretty much as soon as you arrive in London, you will see numerous open-air Hop on Hop Off buses.  They all cruise around ‘the circuit’ and you can get on and off as many times as you like in the space of a day or 24 hours.

This will cost you approximately £38.00 ($NZ 79.38) per adult for the day.

Now, I know that there are advantages in going on a Hop on Hop Off bus tour, especially if you only have one day in London.  It would also be a good idea if you aren’t confident in finding your way around the public transport system.  It’s a way of getting your bearings so that you can go back and spend more time at certain places.

The thing is, you can get to all of the attractions by catching a bus, train or ferry on normal public transport.

A good example of how you can save money is that our total transport expenses for 4 days of using all three modes of transport in London (including our train from Heathrow Airport to our hotel) cost us a grand total of £26.40 ($NZ 54.86) each.

If you want to do London on a Budget then this is the best way to acheive that.

How Did We Travel?

Well, it’s not complicated.  It’s just as cheap but way easier and that is using contactless payment.

For our travels, we use Wise Debit Card.  It is accepted in over 160 countries and you can load money on to it in 40 different currencies.  This is the card we use each time we travelled on public transport.  We just tapped on and tapped off each time we boarded and disembarked.

Click here if you want to find out more about Wise Debit Card.  Click on the link here to receive a fee-free transfer up to NZ$900 when you sign up.

One thing to note though, if you use your normal credit card, then you will be charged exchange fees each time.  With Wise, we have British Pounds loaded so there are no hidden costs.

If you  use your contactless card to pay for travel for the whole day, there’s a ‘daily cap’. This is the maximum you pay for unlimited travel in one day. For central London, it’s £8.10 and the rest of the caps per zones are the same as the Oyster Card listed above.

Every method of tranport we used accepted contactless payment.  That is tube, overground rail, buses, and ferries.

A Hint When Using Uber

Because of the train drivers strike and line maintenance, we had to use Uber to get to our next destination out of London.  When Scotty was using the App to get prices and availablility, the price kept going up.  It got as high as £47.00 at one point.

He put his Express VPN on (Virtual Private Network) and chose England as his location.  The price went down by half.  It cost us a total of £23.00.  

As a side note, we never travel without a VPN and have found that Express VPN has been excellent and easy to use.  If you are interested in finding out more, we have a discount code you can use to get 30 days free.  Click here for the link to Express VPN and be protected.  You can also continue to watch your Netflix from your home country (1st world problems!).

What are the Best Apps for Transport

We could not travel the way we do, without some trusty Apps.  Scotty is also known as ‘The App’ man and he thrives on pulling up Apps for nearly every occassion.

For him to negotiate our way from Heathrow Airport (in rush hour!) and all around London, he used City Mapper (covers all modes of transport and the easiest one to use).  

He would also recheck the best route and mode of transport on good old Google Maps.  It is always a good back-up.

The third app he used a lot was TFL Go. 

Our Pick of Attractions

The list of things to do and see in London is as long as your arm and you can spend a lot of money visiting them.

If you pay for attractions to visit then it must come down to the things that interest you the most.  Avid royalists would want to pay for a guided tour through Buckingham Palace.  Cathedral lovers would want to pay for a tour through Westminster Abbey (or any of the many cathedrals).

Walk on By

We walked past many of the iconic sites and buildings in London.  I won’t bore you with all them as this blog is long enough.

Another good App to have is Rick Steves Audio Europe.  We used this App a lot when we were in Italy and France.  There are a number of Walking Tours that you can download when on wifi.  You can have your ear buds in, walk and listen to his running commentary at many locations around UK and Europe.  And it’s all free.

What Attractions Did We Pay To See

London on a Budget doesn’t mean you should miss out on seeing something that really interests you.  Something iconic to London that you can’t see anywhere else in the world.

We settled on 3 attractions that we thought would be worth the entry fee.

London Tower Bridge

Not to be confused with London Bridge, the Tower Bridge stands loud and proud spanning across the River Thames.  We opted for the self-guided tour which included both towers, upper walkways with glass floors and the engine rooms.  This cost us £12.30 ($NZ 25.69) each.

Before you visit, check out when the next ‘lift times’ are. The Tower Bridge lifts around 800 times a year. Find out when the next Bridge Lift will be, and which vessel the Bridge will be lifting for.  We were fortunate enough to be there at the right time and watched as the large sections of the bridge were silently raised and lowered, just as they have done for over 137 years.

Churchill War Rooms

With Scotty’s love of military/war history, it was a no-brainer for us to make the most of this unique opportunity to visit the top-secret corridors of Churchill War Rooms and a glimpse of what life would have been like during the tense days and nights of the Second World War.

It was fascinating to walk the tunnels which housed the underground nerve centre where the British government directed the Second World War.  There is also an award-winning Churchill Museum which depicts the 90 years of the life of Winston Churchill.

The entry into the Churchill War Rooms cost us £27.25 ($NZ56.92) each.

The Churchill War Rooms is part of a group of 5 war history museums.  We also visited the Imperial War Museum which was free to enter.

Battersea Power Station (Lift 109)

We were keen to get a view of the London skyline.  But what we weren’t keen on was riding the London Eye.  We did not like the idea of joining the queue that stretched way down the street and being jammed in a plastic pod with 25 other people.  Not to mention having to pay £30.50 ($NZ 63.71) each or £53.00 ($NZ 110.72) each for a ‘fast track’ ticket.

Instead we decided on a visit to the restored and renovated old Battersea Power Station to ride Lift 109.

Lift 109 takes you 109 metres up to the top of the north-west chimney where we were able to take in stunning 360 degree views of London’s skyline. 

The group numbers are limited to 14 so bookings are essential which can be done online here.  We had the first booking of the day at 10am and there were only 7 of us which was perfect to take in the panoramic views across the city.

There were only 39 steps to climb and two elevators to catch.  We were fully encased in the glass elevator once we were at the top of the chimney.  This means that even the most ‘height phobic’ person will feel totally at ease.

There was lots of opportuinty to learn about the history of the power station and its different stages of the massive restoration it went through to get it to where it is today.

Our Lift 109 entry cost us £15.90 ($NZ 33.21) each.

Summary

So the big question is……can you visit London on a Budget?

Here is a summary of our total costs for our 4 night stay in one of the world’s most expensive cities.  Things to keep in mind is that we were there during the peak tourist/visitor time of July.  There were no discounts available anywhere as the city is heaving with visitors.  We therefore paid a premium for our accommodation.  We didn’t get to all of the attractions and we will probably keep some on the list for next time.  London is always a popular transiting city so we have no doubt that we will be back at some stage in the future.

Cost	£	$NZ
Accommodation	£545.00	$1,129.43
Transport	£26.40	$54.86
Food/Drinks	£221.89	$463.75
Attractions	£110.90	$231.67
Total	£904.19	$1,879.71

Could we have done better doing London on a budget?  Yup, we probably could have:

• stayed in accommodation outside of Zone 1 or 2 but spent more time on public transport getting to places
• gone without alcohol but then we would have missed out on the whole experience of ‘down at the local’, some which are so historic
• ate instant noodles in our hotel room every night……yeah nah, that was never going to happen, we didnt spend years getting to the size we are by doing that

If we had done all of the above, we would certainly be suffering from a case of FOMO.

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