Is the London Pass worth it?
For many, the London Pass
What is the London Pass?
The London pass is, unsurprisingly a London sightseeing pass. It gives you entry into around 50 London tourist attractions. You pay a set sum per person in advance and then you just show the pass at the door of each attraction.
How much does the London Pass cost?
As of Autumn/Fall 2009, the prices are:
|
Adults |
|
|
Children (age 5-15) |
|||
|
Days |
with transport |
without transport |
|
Days |
with transport |
without transport |
|
1 |
£46.00 |
£39.00 |
|
1 |
£27.00 |
£25.00 |
|
2 |
£66.00 |
£52.00 |
|
2 |
£42.00 |
£38.00 |
|
3 |
£83.00 |
£63.00 |
|
3 |
£50.00 |
£44.00 |
|
6 |
£129.00 |
£87.00 |
|
6 |
£82.00 |
£60.00 |
(Exact details of exactly what's included are on the London Pass website)
STOP PRESS: I've got hold of a discount code that will take 5% off your total spend on the LondonPass website!! Try the code 'londpas05' at the checkout stage.. not sure how long this will last, but it's worth a try if you're buying a pass anyway!
Disadvantages of the Londonpass:
- Price. There’s no hiding from the fact that at £39 per adult for a day or £87 for six days that it’s not cheap. The longer you have it, the better value it is, because you’re pretty unlikely to go to £39 worth of attractions in one single day. Some of the attractions (Hampton Court, for example) will take at least four hours to do justice to (including travel) which would limit what else you could do that day.
- It doesn’t include everything: Several top London sights that require you to pay aren’t included in the scheme. The main ones are: the London Eye, Madame Tussards, the summer opening of Buckingham Palace (though, to be honest that is so disappointing it should be skipped anyway. You don't get to see anything and those rooms and items on display are awful) and Westminster Abbey.
- A lot of world-class London attractions are free (e.g. the British Museum, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Maritime Museum, Imperial War Museum, British Library)
On the other hand, there are obvious benefits to the London sightseeing pass..
Advantages of the London Pass:
- The card also offers entry to really excellent attractions. Of its ‘free entry’ attractions my entirely subjective opinion is that 8 (Hampton Court; Kensington Palace; London Zoo; Kew Gardens; the Tower of London; St Paul’s Cathedral, the Cabinet War Rooms/Churchill Museum and Windsor Castle) are ‘top notch’ attractions. One level below that – a further 4 more are good if you’re interested in that sort of thing: the World War Two battleship HMS Belfast, the Thames River Cruise, the exhibitions at, and tour of, Shakespeare’s Globe theater and the Tower Bridge exhibition. The remaining attractions are pretty 'special interest' - ones you may not want to go to on a short first trip to London. I’m sure the Fan Museum is great for those who like fans but for the rest of us… well… enough said. Anyway there are enough good attractions to cancel this out.
- Further advantages include the ability to skip the line. This can be a big deal particularly if you're coming to London in summer. Believe it or not, it does get hot in the UK and lines build fast at the popular attractions. Waiting in a slow-moving line with children is never much fun, and the London Pass eliminates that.
- Finally, many of your entries are paid for in advance. This can help you with trip planning and, of course, budgeting. If you want to, you can buy a pass that also includes all your London travel – obviously very convenient but not necessarily the best value way of traveling around London. Paying for it all in advance can mean that you don't have to worry about money during your actual trip so you may be able to enjoy yourself a bit better. It can feel better value this way, which is important when you're on vacation.
- A large number of the attractions included are good fun for kids, so it's a good family option.
Conclusion:
I’m afraid there is no easy answer on this one: it’s not the absolute cheapest way to see London’s attractions but how good value for money it is to you depends how much you want the convenience and piece of mind of having booked things in advance, and how highly you rate the ability to skip the line.
Make sure that you work out for yourself if you're actually going to see many of the attractions listed in the time you have available. If you do want to buy one then definitely go through their site direct - there are many agencies out there offering the same product but adding a hefty commission on top of it. Don't bother with one for less than at least 2 days: I don’t see the one day pass as being good value for anyone.
What do you want to do now?
* Find out how to get the best deal on London theater?
* Look at 2 for 1 tickets for attractions?
* Discover the best-value ways to phone home during your trip?
* Shop around for travel insurance to protect your family while abroad?
* Learn how to use the London Underground?
The information in this guide was last updated in Autumn/Fall 2009 and is reviewed every three months to make sure it's spick and span and up to date!
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