To save a few shillings without having to scrimp on the sights, here are our EuroCheapo top tips for first time visitors to London.

1. Walk it.

The center of London is deceptively small. Rather than be the tourist who wastes £4.50 getting from Charing Cross to Embankment on the Tube (when they’re right next to each other on the street), it usually pays to use your feet. You get much better views too.

Marvel at London at its most imposing by walking from Trafalgar Square and National Gallery, down Whitehall and on to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster. Or experience the city’s fun side by exploring the streets of Theater Land around Covent Garden, before wandering over one of the Thames’s bridges to the always-bustling South Bank.

From street performers to hidden parks, there’s a lot more to happen-upon when you’re traveling above ground.

2. Use an Oyster card.

It’s an unrealistic hope to completely avoid public transport in London so make sure that when you use it, you’re using it in the smartest possible way. Get an Oyster card: it slashes your journey costs. (For example, it would reduce the cost of that unnecessary Tube trip from Charing Cross to Embankment to £2.10.)

Additionally, opt to take the most picturesque bus routes rather than paying for sightseeing tours (we recommend the RV1).

And if aquatic is your favorite style of transport, I would recommend the Thames Clipper, which goes from Waterloo to the Dome in North Greenwich, as a great cheapo alternative to a river cruise, costing only £3.90 with your Oyster.

3. Visit free sights and museums.

National Museums are all free and definitely worth factoring into any itinerary. The British Museum, Tate Modern and the National Gallery are the more obvious choices for first time visitors, but it’s also worth saying hello to the dinosaur skeleton hung in the imposing Gothic building of the Natural History Museum, spending an afternoon in Greenwich – a world heritage site – at the National Maritime Museum or learning more about your host city at the Museum of London.

Cheapo tip: If you arrived by Eurostar, it’s worth keeping hold of your ticket: they allow two for one entry into many of the major temporary charging exhibitions.

4. Find special offers in advance.

While the paying attractions will undoubtedly make a dent on your wallet, it’s always worth checking out deals before you turn up. It’s cheaper to go on the London Eye if you book in advance, for example. The same applies to bus and train fares.

And while you’re on the National Rail website, make sure to stop off to look at their two-for-one entry deals to places like Tower of London, the Zoo and Madame Tussauds.

5. Grab a free Time Out.

If the last two tips have both failed you, make sure you pick up a copy of Time Out Magazine for their money saving tips and vouchers. The city’s best listing guide is now given away each week for free. Get the new edition each Tuesday for the latest of what’s going on and their authoritative reviews, as well as cost-cutting advice.

6. Vouchers can make meals much cheaper.

Vouchers are your secret weapon when it comes to eating in London without breaking the bank. UK website Money Saving Expert keeps an up-to-date listing of which restaurant chains are currently running 2 for 1 or money off promotions.

We recommend Pizza Express as a safe bet: it’s got branches throughout the capital, reliable service and food and is part of London’s history: it opened its first branch in Soho’s Wardour Street in 1965. Celebrate your savings with an extra helping of their dough balls.

7. Join a free walking tour.

Take a walking tour to familiarize yourself with the city. While there’s plenty of paying options available, there are some fantastic free walks on offer too. Sandeman’s has a free Central London Royal London tour that will guide you through the city from Anglo-Saxon times.

For contrast, Alternative London runs a pay-what-you-like tour of East London, with an emphasis on its street art and creative scene. Both are great ways to get a flavor of the city and to work out what bits you’d like to spend more time exploring yourself.

8. Avoid peak travel times.

If you have some flexibility with your timings, avoiding peak times for travel in the UK will help with both costs and crowds. These times are mainly Easter, Christmas and the school summer vacation, when you’ll be competing with British families to make the most of London. An enjoyable time to visit would be September and early October, once the schools have gone back and there’s usually some late summer sunshine hanging around.

Between Christmas and New Year can also be a good period for exploring the city: the streets are still looking pretty in their festive decorations but are free of stressed commuters. Just be prepared for bad weather and be willing to spend some of your day hauled up in a cozy pub.

9. Use bathrooms when they’re free.

Public conveniences in London tend to be rather inconvenient. There’s not many bathrooms left for public use and those that remain are often paying. With entrance fee of up to 50 pence per visit, you can spend a lot more than pennies during a day’s sightseeing. Instead, make the most of the bathrooms inside tourist attractions, and in restaurants, bars and pubs.

For when you’re out and about, it’s worth taking note of this excellent toilet map, a mobile-friendly guide to all of London’s public facilities. You’ll never need to be caught short – or short of cash – again.

The view from Alexandra Palace is stunning—and Cheapo! Photo: lo_ise.

10. Enjoy free views of the city.

With a trip on the London Eye costing from £17 upwards (even after your early booking discount), going up the Shard priced at £24.95, and an ascent of the London Orbit in the Olympic Park billed at £15, getting a good view of London can be a costly business. But some of the best views in London are free and a great way for a first time visitor to get their heads around the city.

Head up northwards to Alexandra Palace to see a majestic sweep across all of London, or to Parliament Hill where residents gather with picnics in the summer and celebrate each new year with sparklers. In central London, Monument – 202 feet tall and built to commemorate the Great Fire of London in the seventeenth century – costs only £3 to climb. You’ll even get a souvenir certificate thrown into the price.

Got your own Cheapo tips? Share them in the comment section below.  We’re always looking for ways to save in London! And of course, if you’re looking to save on your accommodation, swing by our guide to budget hotels in London.

The post 10 money saving tips for first-time visitors to London appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

For most tourists, being charged over £4 for a single journey in central London is (understandably) a most baffling concept. While unfortunately I can’t tell you how to make travel on public transport in London cheap, here’s how to make it as cost-effective as possible:

1. Don’t rely on your walking shoes

If you’re planning to really explore all London has to offer, don’t make that common mistake of thinking it is a walkable city. It’s not and it never will be. With the exception of a few tube stops clustered around the area between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn, most stations are there because it would take a very long time to walk between them.

Just tap your Oyster card on the sensor and go through. Photo: Tom Pagenet

2. Make sure you have an Oyster card

The Oyster card is a small plastic card that can be topped up like a “pay as you go” phone (perfect for shorter visits), or used for weekly, monthly and annual Travelcards. Valid for travel on London Underground (The Tube), bus, tram, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), National Rail Service and London Overground, the Oyster card offers savings of over 50% compared to buying individual tickets.

You can get your Oyster card at Tube stops and Travel Information Centres by paying a £5 deposit. If you return your Oyster card when you are leaving London, you get this money back. However, if you are planning on returning regularly then it is worth keeping hold of your Oyster.

With “pay as you go,” a Zone 1 Tube, DLR or London Overground journey will cost you £2. Depending on how much you travel in one day, Oyster will cap your daily spend at £7 for off-peak travel and £8.40 for peak-time travel. Bus rides alone cost £1.35 each with Oyster. If you are staying in London for a week, save some pennies with a 7-day Travelcard to Zones 1 & 2 for £29.20.

Cheapo tip: Just remember to touch in and touch out on the yellow oyster card readers when you enter and leave stations – if you forget your Oyster card will be charged a penalty.

3. Ditch the tourist bus and take the RV1

When you’re out and about in London you may be tempted to give one of those open top sightseeing buses a go. Well, they’ll set you back a whopping £23.

So here’s an idea for Cheapos: One of central London’s public transport bus routes, the RV1, takes in an incredible number of sights and is a whole lot cheaper. Pay with your Oyster card (max £1.35 and less with a Travelcard) and bag a seat next to the window. This is a great option in the winter, as shivering in the rain on an open top bus is certainly not my idea of fun!

Starting in Covent Garden, the RV1 makes its way past Somerset House and across Waterloo Bridge onto London’s South Bank. It then stops at the Royal Festival Hall, the London Eye and the Oxo Tower before heading towards City Hall and the Tower of London. Spend the whole day hopping on and off and feel incredibly smug every time you see an expensive tourist bus pass by!

4. Cruise down the Thames with your Oyster

Another perk to using your Oyster card is that it includes discounts on Thames riverboat routes, meaning that you can opt for public transport and forgo the overpriced tourist boats along the Thames.

Oyster Travelcards will get you a 1/3 off any of the public boat services on the Thames, while Oyster “pay as you go” will get you a 10% discount just on KPMG Thames Clippers riverboats.

KPMG Thames Clippers are perfect for visiting some of London’s biggest attractions, from the London Eye and the Tate Modern, to cruising passed the Millennium Dome and enjoying a leisurely day out in Greenwich. Fares cost between £2.30-£5.40 depending on how far you wish to travel.

Also in our guide: Heading to London and looking for more ways to keep it cheap? Our editors have visited, reviewed and inspected great inexpensive hotels all over town. Read reviews and see photographs in our London guide.

The post London: 4 ways to save on public transportation appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

Cheapos on-the-go can save quite a bit of cash on public transportation—and without walking everywhere, too. You just need to know how to get the best value out of the underground “Tube” system. Here’s a quick Tube primer:

London: The “Big… Onion”?

Transport for London, the main transportation authority, divides London into nine zones. “Zone One” is the city’s center, the “middle of the onion,” if you will. Think Trafalgar Square and Big Ben.  Zones two through nine work out in rings from there, and are the outer “layers of the onion.”

The price of a Tube ticket depends on how many zones you pass through on any given journey. (Tip: Remember, buses work differently. You can travel on them all over London, in all zones, for one price.)

Three ways to pay for the Tube

1. Single Tickets: You could always turn up at any London Tube station, buy a single ticket, and be on your way. But, as locals will tell you, this is the most expensive and least practical payment option, especially if you plan to make many trips on the Tube during your stay in London. (Read more about single ticket prices.)

2. Travelcard: A second option is to buy a printed “Travelcard” for 1, 3, or 7 days. The price of the card depends in which zones you expect to travel. Also, 1-day cards are more expensive if you travel before 9:30 AM.  Remember, most sights are within zones 1 and 2, so stick to those zones and you should be fine. (Read more about 1 and 3-day passes, and 7-day passes.)

* * However, travel agents (watch out!) will often try to sell tourists 7-day passes good for all nine zones, the cost of which is a hefty £68.  For only zones 1 and 2, the same 7-day pass will cost only £25.80.

Tip: If you do need to go further afield, you can buy an add-on ticket (or just go by bus, if you can spare the time – the Travelcard will be valid.)

3. Oyster card: Finally, I recommend that you buy an “Oyster card,” a pre-paid “smart card” that always charges the lowest fare. You pay a one-time refundable deposit for the card (£2 if you buy it from a special tourist outlet; £3 otherwise) and then load it up with money. You can put 1, 3, and 7-day “Travelcards” on your Oyster card, or use your Oyster for single trips (at reduced rates).

* * Pay-as-you-go fares using an Oyster card are half what they are if you pay cash. Also, there’s a price cap per day, so you’ll never pay more than the price of a one-day travel card. (For more info on the price cap and how it works, go here.)

The Oyster card also gives you some security, because if you register your card and it gets lost or stolen, you can claim back any money you had on it. You can’t do that with a Travelcard.

When you’re finished with your Oyster, you simply return it to a Tube station, where an agent will refund your deposit and any money you haven’t spent. (Note: If you’re owed more than £5, it will be given to you in check form, in British pounds, which might be a pain to cash.)

Bottom line

Oyster cards are probably better than Travelcards for most tourists visiting London, as they’re convenient and charge the lowest single-trip fare. Plus, if you plan to travel quite a bit (and for more than one day), simply put a 3 or 7-day Travelcard on your Oyster card.

For more information on using the Oyster card, check out the Tube’s website. A list of Tube fares for zones 1 through 6 can be found here.

One final note

Check with your hotel and in tourist information centers for special offers available to Travelcard and Oyster card users. Benefits typically include reduced entry fees, special deals in restaurants, and more. These offers change frequently, so look for leaflets at Tube stations, or ask a station agent.

The post London Transportation Tip: Get the most out of the Tube! appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

To simplify things for short-term visitors, there are also two Oyster cards specifically intended for tourists—a one-day card and a three-day card. The Oyster card for Visitors gives cardholders nearly 50% off all cash fares around London on tube, tram, bus, and Docklands Light Railway. Although you have to register your details to get an Oyster card—this part is too Big Brother for us; we suggest you register as “John Doe” if you don’t want Transport for London knowing your every move—it’s worth it for the savings.

With an Oyster card, you’ll pay £1 for bus fares and between £2 and £2.20 for Tube rides, a fraction of what you’d otherwise spend. The beauty of it is you can now snag an Oyster card for Visitors before you even get into London. A new partnership with Gatwick Express allows visitors to buy cards on the train from Gatwick on your way into town. For more information, poke around the Transport for London site.

The post London: Oyster Card for Visitors appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

“Everyone in London gets around with an ‘Oyster card.’ The cards don’t cost anything to use and they get you major discounts on all public transportation in London.” Sounds good, right? Dan continues: “They’re good on the Tube, the bus, trams, and local trains, too. You fill up your Oyster card with cash and refill it when the card has run low, so there are no lines. Best of all, the pass cuts fare prices in half.”

Indeed, Dan! Check it out: A single Tube ticket in Zone A costs a whopping £4, while the same ride with your Oyster card costs £1.50. The Oyster card is free to use, so it would be foolish to travel Oyster-less. We’re also quite taken with its snazzy turquoise logo.

How can you land an Oyster card? They’re available in most Tube stations, through the Oyster Web site, and in 2,200 Oyster Ticket Shops around London.

The post London Transit Tip: Travel with Your “Oyster” appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.