Our Top Things to Do in London on a Budget

As we’ve both lived in England our whole lives, between us we know London very well. We’ve also been several times together for weekend trips and have mastered finding the cheapest way to do the activities we want. Here are our 3 very useful tricks to enjoying the ‘classic London things’ on a student’s budget.

1.Use the National Rail 2FOR1 Days Out Guide

This scheme allows you to use a 2 for 1 voucher on lots of London’s top attractions as long as you have a rail ticket valid for that day. This trick does require some planning as you will need to select the attraction you want to do in advance and print off a 2FOR1 voucher from their website. If you can’t decide which to do, just print a bunch off and decide when you get to London which to use. It’s free to download the vouchers, you just have to supply an email address, so you can literally print as many as you want! If you need some inspiration, our favourite 5 are:

• Coca-Cola London Eye

• Shakespeare’s Globe Guided Tours

• London Bicycle Tour

• Tower of London

• Kew Gardens

If you happened to have travelled to London by train and already have a rail ticket to use with your voucher, then you’re in luck! If not, no need to worry, we’ve figured out a system to get a rail ticket without actually going on an over ground train.

• Step 1: you will need to locate and go to your nearest over ground station. If you haven’t travelled to London by train (meaning you already have a rail ticket) then chances are you’ve travelled by coach. Lucky for you Victoria Station (just around the corner from Victoria coach station) is an over ground station. 

• Step 2: buy a ticket for any journey on one of the self-service machines. We recommend buying a ticket for the underground closest to the activity you are planning to do. 

• Step 3: remember to keep the ticket once you’ve completed your journey and take it the ticket desk at the attraction/activity along with your printed voucher.

2. Buy discount theatre tickets on the day

We recently used this trick to get tickets to the show Comedy About A Bank Robbery. It requires a flexible attitude about what you want to see and a little bit of perseverance! The best way to get tickets is to go to the Leicester square area where you will find plenty of ticket booths.

3. Do free things

Another money saving trick is to take advantage of all the free sites and activities available in London. There’s such a diverse range of options that it’s guaranteed for everyone in your group to find something they love. Just Google free things to do in London and the websites offering suggestions are endless! Our personal recommendation for 7 free things to do is:

• Houses of Parliament (requires advanced booking)

• Camden Market

• Natural History Museum

• Sky Garden (requires advanced booking)

• Greenwich Park, home of the international date line (an essential if you love Pirates of the Caribbean)

• Science Museum (there’s fun things to play with!)

• Hyde park (especially during Christmas when winter wonderland is open!)