Enjoying London on a Budget
There was a time when London was considered an expensive city to visit.
This has always been a little misleading - London has long had a range of cheap things to experience, if you knew where to look - and it is even more misleading now.
Thanks to the financial crisis, the range of cheap - and free - things to do in London has widened further.
The majority of visitors to London come for its cultural attractions, its museums, theatres and galleries.
Many of its great museums are free to enter, as are a lot of its smaller, specialist museums and galleries.
Theatre tickets start from around £10 (the Globe Theatre's cheapest tickets are just £5).
Careful advance planning can also help ensure you arrive in London for one of its many grand ceremonial events which the public can witness for free.
There's the Lord Mayor's Procession in November, for example, when the newly elected Mayor of the City of London makes his way in a spectacular coach to the Royal Courts of Justice; there's the pageantry of the Trooping the Colour in June, to celebrate the Queen's birthday; there's the daily Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
There are also less formal events such as the Notting Hill Carnival over two days at the end of August, and the City of London festival which runs for around a month in mid-summer, with a host of free and paying events.
Public transport is plentiful in London, and much cheaper to use if you buy an Oyster card, a smart card that is valid on London's buses, underground, trams, and overground trains.
They can be bought at any train station, and topped up with money as needed.
A typical journey using an Oyster card costs about half the equivalent cash price.
On the underground, just swipe the card over the reader as you enter and exit the station, and on the bus, swipe it over the reader next to the driver.
Accommodation costs vary from the cheap to the very expensive, so this is one area where it pays to do your homework in advance.
More budget hotels have been opening in recent years so the choice is widening.
The cheaper hotels tend to be a little way out from the centre of the city, but the extent of the underground and bus networks mean that getting into the centre of things never takes long.
As for food, the world is quite literally your oyster in London.
Every cuisine can be found here, at every price.
You can try everything from traditional fish and chips to generous portions of pasta to hot and spice Chinese food from Sichuan, and just about everywhere in between.
This has always been a little misleading - London has long had a range of cheap things to experience, if you knew where to look - and it is even more misleading now.
Thanks to the financial crisis, the range of cheap - and free - things to do in London has widened further.
The majority of visitors to London come for its cultural attractions, its museums, theatres and galleries.
Many of its great museums are free to enter, as are a lot of its smaller, specialist museums and galleries.
Theatre tickets start from around £10 (the Globe Theatre's cheapest tickets are just £5).
Careful advance planning can also help ensure you arrive in London for one of its many grand ceremonial events which the public can witness for free.
There's the Lord Mayor's Procession in November, for example, when the newly elected Mayor of the City of London makes his way in a spectacular coach to the Royal Courts of Justice; there's the pageantry of the Trooping the Colour in June, to celebrate the Queen's birthday; there's the daily Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
There are also less formal events such as the Notting Hill Carnival over two days at the end of August, and the City of London festival which runs for around a month in mid-summer, with a host of free and paying events.
Public transport is plentiful in London, and much cheaper to use if you buy an Oyster card, a smart card that is valid on London's buses, underground, trams, and overground trains.
They can be bought at any train station, and topped up with money as needed.
A typical journey using an Oyster card costs about half the equivalent cash price.
On the underground, just swipe the card over the reader as you enter and exit the station, and on the bus, swipe it over the reader next to the driver.
Accommodation costs vary from the cheap to the very expensive, so this is one area where it pays to do your homework in advance.
More budget hotels have been opening in recent years so the choice is widening.
The cheaper hotels tend to be a little way out from the centre of the city, but the extent of the underground and bus networks mean that getting into the centre of things never takes long.
As for food, the world is quite literally your oyster in London.
Every cuisine can be found here, at every price.
You can try everything from traditional fish and chips to generous portions of pasta to hot and spice Chinese food from Sichuan, and just about everywhere in between.
Source...