Is the London Pass worth it?
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- Charlotte Stivenson
- Blog
- 1899
There are so many of you that ask me if the London Pass is worth getting for your trip to London, so I'm going to break it all down for you! But before we get into it make sure you subscribe to my channel for more London tips. In a nutshell the London pass isn't a ripoff but for some people is going to be really worth it and for others it's not worth it to get. You should consider getting the London pass if you fall into one of these categories: you love seeing some of the most popular attractions and sights in a city, you don't mind having packed days of sightseeing, to make the pass worth it you need to see about two or three attractions a day for the one two or three day pass or if you get the six or ten day pass you can get away with seeing one or two of the attractions a day. Otherwise you won't really have saved yourself any money unless you account for some of the other little extras you get with the pass.
The London pass is great for people who don't want to have to worry about money and buying tickets when you're sightseeing. Some people just don't want to worry about the money factor of choosing where to go, having to deal with buying tickets and this is great for that. And finally if you're travelling as a family not only is there the money saving factor for that but everyone having their own London pass just makes a bunch of other things easier. Okay, the London pass is not for you if: you like to see everything at a slow leisurely pace, don't have time for that on the London pass, it's not for you if you're not into the big popular sights and attractions and it's not for you if you want to do what the locals do.
The locals don't really go to all these attractions stuff it doesn't mean that they're not good, it's just not what we do.
So here are the pros of using a london pass: a lot of London's big attractions come with ticket fees, so you actually can save yourself a lot of money if you use the pass in the right way, for example: if in one day you do Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Shakespeare's Globe and a Thames River Cruise if you bought all those tickets separately it would be £64.50 a person but all of that is obviously free with the pass, which even if you only bought a one day pass you would save £5.50 and the savings increase with the longer length passes. With your pass you get a one day hop on hop off tour which I've done one of these before when my parents came to visit. Actually pretty good for being able to see everything without having to actually go inside, you can just kind of drive past it; and these tickets are usually £22 a day so... and you can use it for your transportation mode to a lot of different sights and attractions instead of having to take the underground. You get Fast Track entry to 7 attractions with the London Pass which can be really helpful during peak season, because the lines can get pretty crazy.
The pass is also good because it might encourage you to see some attractions that you normally wouldn't want to pay for but if they're already free with the pass then you might actually just hop in and have a look. There's also a lot of little extras that you get with a pass that aren't widely advertised like: free entry to some of the paid exhibitions in some of the museums, free hot drinks, discounts at souvenir shops, things like that... These are the cons of the London pass, not all attractions in London are on the pass obviously.
So if you want to visit the view from The Shard or the London Eye, you're going to have to pay for those separately. Some of the attractions that you get free entry for actually quite far out of london, for example: you get into Windsor Castle for free which is great except Windsor Castle is not London, it's in Windsor. So you'll have to take a train ride there which you get free train tickets for that but it just means that you won't really be able to see that much else that day.
If you plan on visiting attractions back to back that aren't within walking distance of each other you do have to factor in the cost of taking the underground or the bus to get there as well. So here's how to make sure that you get the most of your London pass: before you buy the pass make sure you look on the attractions list and see what from your london must see wish list is on that list, if you buy the pass but nothing that you actually want to see comes free with the pass, then it's kind of a waste. The London pass website has a three or six days suggested itinerary which pretty much everything in each day is within walking distance.
So it helps you group everything together so you don't have to traipse around London going everywhere every single day. You can also use the guidebook that you get with your london pass or use the app to see what attractions are in what area. Make sure you use the app or the guide to double check opening and closing times for each attraction.
If you find yourself running a bit late one day make sure that you don't show up and actually the attractions been closed for the day. Also use that out to check out all of the smaller little discounts and deals that I talked about before and make sure you use those so even if you visit a free museum and you think you can't really use your pass there you might actually get free entry into one of the paid exhibitions. Finally try waiting to use your hop on hop off tour pass until one of the last days because you'll probably be a little bit worn out from sightseeing and walking around for the last few days, and it'll be nice to just get on the bus and kind of put your feet up and relax a bit.
One question that I always get about this is: should I add the oyster card? It's completely up to you, you can, I mean it's the exact same thing as getting a regular oyster card, so for ease I would probably just add it and it also comes with credit but you cannot top it up if you use that credit. So how do you get a London Pass? Click the link down below in the description box of this video to find out what the costs are. I'll link to the page It always shows that there's a special deal going on which happens quite often.
I've also linked to some other important pages on the London pass website that I think you should have a look at before you either decide to purchase your pass or when you have it and it just gives you some more really good information. Even if you're trying to get a london pass last minute that's totally fine you can just buy it online and sync it to the London pass app and use it electronically. Okay, if there's any other questions you have about the london pass make sure you write them down in the comments box below and I will answer them for you, and make sure you subscribe to my channel for more London tips and tricks. [Today we're talking about money in London! Where to get it and how to spend it once you have it! and make sure you watch the...]