London Pass

Many of the top sights in London are free. The Oyster Card , a transit pass that you refill when it is dwindling, in my opinion, is all you need, along with a good map and guidebook, for three days in London. enjoy, Hank, Novato, Ca

What I did was look at the sites covered, added the cost of those we wanted to do and realistically would get to versus the cost of the pass.... for us, in London, it was a better deal to pay out of pocket.

In other cities though, it has been well worth it... really depends on what you want to see as well as the realistic pace

I did what Sharon did and decided the Pass was a great deal for us. We crammed all the covered sites we could into 3 days and saved the free museums for our other days. As I said, it worked for us. We also carry Oyster Cards which I think are marvelous and I think every city should have such a thing.

I have never been to any European capital city where such a card has worked for me vs buying individual tickets for what I actually wanted to see vs what the pass covers. You need to see what is covered vs what YOU want to see and do the maths.

Oh and I agree with Laurel.. the Oyster card is wonderful!

I agree with Laurel and Sharon. We had made a list of the things we wanted to see before we even knew about the London Pass, and found they matched up well. Like you and Laurel, we were there for several days (5 in our case) so we still had time for the museums and walking around. We grouped nearby things together and didn't feel rushed. We saw Westminster Abbey, the Churchill War Rooms, and did a Thames River Cruise on one day. Once you have tickets for the cruise, they are good for the next 24 hours as much as you want. The next day we went to Kew Gardens, then the following day we went to the Tower of London, London Bridge and St. Paul's. We could have used it for even more, but didn't want to feel rushed. We bought the London Pass on sale for 10% off the 3 day pass, and it is currently on sale. We got the Oyster Card with it, and that comes pre-loaded with 25 pounds worth of travel. (The discount doesn't apply to the Oyster Card since that is a different company.) We made it pay, but it also was convenient not to have to get on a ticket line each time and to have those expenses already paid for. We had it sent to us, which gave us time to look through the book they provide and see some extras we were entitled to, such as free audio tours, etc. You can also use it for theater discounts and some restaurant discounts, if those match your plans.

So the London Pass works at St. Paul's? I have read conflicting information. Thank you!

Here is their page that lists what is covered by the pass, so you can decide for yourself. Make a list of the things you wish to see, add up the entry fees, then decide if the pass will save you money.
https://www.londonpass.com/london-attractions/

Yes AnnSylvester12, St. Paul's is covered.

Here is their page showing the prices of the passes for 1, 2, 3, 6, or 10 days.
https://www.londonpass.com/london-pass-prices.php

In general, the longer passes, bought at a discount, tend to be better value than the shorter ones. The attractions in London are very spread out and the London Pass covers some attractions that are even further away than the standard tourist sites. To make the London Pass work for 3 days , it will require a pretty aggressive sightseeing itinerary and it won't allow much time to relax or enjoy a leisurely lunch. Some of the sights require 2-3 hours and it is almost impossible to see them in less time, just due to the bottlenecks of other tourists, I'm thinking the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey in particular. Almost all of the major London museums are free, which also decreases the appeal of the pass. Most of the museums included in the pass which charge a fee are smaller ones which are likely to be of interest to repeat visitors.

So, I'd suggest reading a couple of guidebooks and decide which sights you want to see and list them in the order of importance to you. If you do decide on the London Pass, then make sure you only buy it during one of their numerous sales, it is usually discounted 20 or 25% at least once a month.

An issue with passes in large cities like London is that, unless the pass covers all the days of your visit, you may find yourself scheduling sights to take advantage of pass-days rather than basing your itinerary on what makes sense geographically. Rather than hitting Paid Sight A and the nearby Free Museum B, you may be tempted to see Paid Sight A and then go all the way across town to Paid Sight B. This can result in seeing fewer sights as you spend more time zipping back and forth on the tube. I ran into that scheduling issue in Berlin a couple of years ago, and Berlin didn't have the complication of a lot of large, free museums.

For the more popular locations, one advantage for the passes is that they often let you bypass a long ticket-buying queue and go straight to the security check queue.

And London Pass did get us the basic admission to St. Paul's in June, but I think there was an extra charge not included if you wanted to climb the tower.

I just returned from London and we purchased a London Pass. You need to calculate the ticket prices of the places you want to go and determine if you can get to all of them in 3 days, or whatever length you choose. It worked for us both price and timing-wise. We also enjoyed using a 7-day travel pass on our Oyster cards - no need to keep buying tickets for individual journeys. We used the tube a lot, so the cost was justified.

I am considering buying a 6 day London pass for next week and I am wondering if it is better to pick it up in London or to use the App. Has anyone used the App? What did you think?
I wonder if you can opt to pick up the pass when checking out but then use the App instead. Or, if I opt to use the App can I later pick up the included Travel Guide in London? Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

I'd just use the app, makes it easier and then you don't have to take time to pick it up during their open hours.

Also, they have a sale right now, as is common, just google for London pass discount, the last deal I saw was 15%.

For me, with pain and mobility issues, the bus routes were Great, especially bus 24, goes to the big sights. When going on the Tube, there were high speed, very steep escallators and way more walking and confusion (so I could be in a dark tunnel and see nothing, instead of seeing the city I traveled to see.... hm... not) . Buses come by every 10 min, if it's crowded I'd just wait for the next one. Loads of free sights all over. The one sight I want to pay for is the Tower of London for the crown jewels, and I would go to Buckingham Palace again some day, but most everything else that's good is free.

The British Library is the BEST if you are feeling tired but want to see great sights, the treasure room has awesome variety of historial everything, and it's all in one darkened room with poofy comfy benches all over the room. And it's also free, there's a cafe' on the same level, gift shop and right next to St Pacras (with shopping) and then King's Cross. (pub across the street from British Library was great, too)

I think London's all about getting specific about what you would personally LOVE to do. Everyone has a different list, but if your list of top priority sights and experiences are not on that London Pass, feel free to do just what you want. Some of the best time there was just sitting on a bench with my daughter on the Thames and watching Big Ben and the city light up at sunset. Do what you love, and plan your bus trips with either Google Maps or the TFL web site, you'll do just fine :)
https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

Good luck!
-Alison

I just purchased and used the 6 day London Pass. It was on sale. Prior to purchase, I compared cost of the things I planned to see that were covered under London Pass and, based on that, it was about break even, even if I didn't do any of the other things available. I am back from my trip. I wasn't able to get to all the things I planned, so technically I lost a money on the pass. However, I did appreciate the convenience of the pass, especially pre purchase of tickets at TOL and Westminster Abbey. It also decreased my decision making stress/choice. Which HOHO? Which Thames cruise? While also keeping my options open as far as including other sites that I might have labored over expense since they were included. For me, it was worth it as a first time visitor. Hope this helps, Jody

Kristina wrote "I am considering buying a 6 day London pass for next week and I am wondering if it is better to pick it up in London or to use the App. Has anyone used the App? What did you think? I wonder if you can opt to pick up the pass when checking out but then use the App instead. Or, if I opt to use the App can I later pick up the included Travel Guide in London? Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome."

I purchased the pass and elected to pick up on site in London. Once that decision was made, I had to stick with picking up the pass at the pick up point near Trafalgar Sq. The office closed at 1630 and picking up the pass had to be my priority upon arrival in order to utilize it the following morning. I wasn't able to pick it up in alternate locations that sold the pass, nor was I able to switch to phone app for showing my ticket.
However, I did still download the london pass app which was pretty useful, but i turned off notifications after a while. We used the app to get attraction info,( it also includes museum info, plus it has transport info,) not for showing ownership of the a London Pass. You can download the App right now, and sync it when you get your pass number.
I was concerned one of my phones might croak, so I went for the physical pass, but in hind sight, the phone version would have been fine. hope this helps