Hello,
My wife and I, along with our 2yo daughter, will be in london for a full 5 days from April 22-26. We are staying in Kensington, just behind the Palace. This is our first time to London and we know there is much to see, is it worth buying 6 day london passes so we are not rushed to see all the sights? I have just bought the newest edition of Rick Steves London and so far it has so much invaluable information! Thanks in advance.
Joel
As you will note by reading the RS book the majority of museums are free.
The popular sites such as Westminster Abbey., St Paul’s, Tower of London, Churchill War Rooms and the London Eye are not. Each have pricey admission fees.
Are all or any of these on the London Pass? Do the math.
I’ll surmise that touring with a 2 year old is a bit tricky attention span wise so you’ll need to have loose itineraries in case there needs to be nap time.
Thankfully given where you are staying you will have access to St James, Green and Hyde Parks where a 2 year old can enjoy waterfowl, dogs, Squirrels and horse back riders on a daily basis. Great spots to enjoy a picnic as well on sunny days.
Given u have 5 days and depending upon your interests u might consider training to Oxford or Cambridge. I suggest this not only because each town is interesting but you can then use your train ticket to get the 2 for 1 vouchers that Rick mentions in the book. Might be something to consider and if you were to decide to go get your train tickets well in advance to cut down on their cost.
Get the Oyster Card when u arrive. Pub grub is good and no one will blink an eye at the 2 year old at lunch time.
Checkout Mudchute Farm.
Make daily plans but be flexible.
Fabulous city. Have fun!
Sorry, but only you can work out if the pass would save you money, depending on what you want to visit. It is easy to work out the prices online for entry into the various attractions. Be realistic as to what you can see each day and do the maths. With a 2 year old, this is going to slow you down significantly, which makes a pass less good value.
Many art galleries and museums are free in London. Some of the things covered by the pass are unlikely to be on your hit list, such as the Wimbledon Museum.
I have visited several cities in Europe and have never found that similar passes make financial sense based on my interests. There tends to be a bias to "must visit XX as it's covered by the pass" rather than what you actually want to see.
Not really London, but in response to Jennifer - the Paris Museum Pass can be very good value, especially the longer period ones, and the three-day Berlin Museum Pass (not to be confused with any ticket including transport) is an extremely good deal.
My experience in Berlin (where I wanted to go to a lot of museums covered by the pass I purchased) taught me about the hazards of museum passes in large cities where you are likely to spend a lot of time just traveling from one sight to the next. It's easy to forget about that lost time when you're considering how many places can be visited in one day. It's even worse if you're considering a pass that doesn't cover all the days you'll be in town: Now you're going to want to cover the sights covered by the pass while it is still valid, rather than organizing all your targets (covered, not covered, and free) in the most geographically convenient order. In that situation you may (or may not) save a few dollars, but at expense of actually seeing less.
Jneufy, no matter whether you have the London Pass or not, you will be rushed trying to see all the sights. You should identify the locations on a map, and consider how, and how long it will take to get you from one to the other. If your'e assuming that the Pass puts you at the head of the line at every sight, it doesn't. In most cases it only saves the time waiting in line to buy tickets. Also take a close look at all the sights that are included, and note how many are ones you would have as a priority - there are a lot that you probably wouldn't go to. Many of the major sights that you do want to see are free as noted, or you can pre-purchase tickets ahead of time if you choose to.
