London Pass

You really have to do the math yourself to see if it's a good deal. Many of the major sights in London (museums, etc.) are free, anyway (which I think is why RS considers it not a good value). Look at the admission prices of what you think you want to see and compare it to the cost of the pass. And take into consideration how many things you actually have time for. It doesn't do you any good to have a pass to 10 museums if you only have time to see two of them.

The Pass is really not a good deal. It encourages you to rush through too many sites. And now they have added a 'daily limit' on the amount you can 'use' each day. You'd have to be careful how you combine things not to go over that limit. Skipping lines is not worth it to me. If you plan well (and have a bit of good luck) you can get to the places where lines tend to be long either very early (The Tower of London) or later (some museums have late days and those times are often less crowded). If you are traveling with someone, look into the 2-for-1 deals offered by the National Rail. If you like any of those, print off the vouchers, then buy either daily or 7 day travel cards at a National Rail station (rather then at a tube station). Just be aware that you now have to get a (free) photo id card for the 7 day travel card- either take a few extra passport sized photos with you or have thme made at the photo booth in the station.

Hi Nancy, We just bought London Passes. I added up the cost of the sites we plan on going for sure and it was almost exactly even with the cost of the pass (the pass was on sale for 10% off at the time though). We figured since it was break-even, we could skip some lines, not worry about having cash in hand for all those sites and in the free day we have open, maybe even use the pass to visit other places covered. I won't personally feel any pressure to go, go, go just to "use" the max on my pass, so for us, it seems like a good deal. I'll see after we actually use the passes if I still feel the same when we get back. Also, we did not get the travel with our passes. After much research and reading (thanks helpline!), we are just going with the 7 day travelcards for zone 1 and 2. Good luck and happy travels!

London Pass only offers queue skipping at 7 attractions: http://londonpass.com/how-it-works/skip-the-lines.html The list of attractions that are free with the London Pass includes a number of places that are free without the London Pass; Imperial War Museum, National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Air Force Museum, Southwark Cathedral, and the Tate Modern. Do you want to support a Pass with such misleading claims? http://londonpass.com/london-attractions/index.html Other great free attractions include the British Library, British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, Temple Church, Victoria & Albert Museum, Wallace Collection and much more. You can have a great couple of weeks in London without spending a penny on admissions. There is not really a daily limit, there is a total purse value that you can not exceed. That seems to guarantee that London Pass will not lose money on you. http://londonpass.com/how-it-works/index.html

Whether you will save money is a math problem. If my husband and I were traveling by ourselves we wouldn't get the pass because most of what we want to see is either free or not covered by the pass. I've seen the Tower of London, and Windsor Castle, and probably wouldn't do both, or perhaps either again. But we will have two young teens with us and they might die of an art museum overdose, so will also take them to: St. Paul's, The Tower, and the Tower Bridge experience. That's enough right there to make it worth it for us. In addition the pass gives you free audio tours in a number of free museums that charge for audio. We find that children with audio are entertained and happy in many places they would be bored without. Remember that there is a limit to how much you can do (or do and enjoy) in a day. So add up the cost of what you want to see in a day or two and decide.

Well, I did do the math. I listed every conceivable site we were interested in, added up the admission fees for those that charged admission and compared with the Pass. The Pass, at that point, was a clear winner. THEN I factored in the sites we were interested in that were free and considered our energy level and realized that we would have to be real sightseeing demons to make the Pass work for us! So, for this trip - no Pass. I looked in to the 2for1 deals with National Rail but if I understood correctly the rail travel that qualified us for those deals had to be travel TO London and the only train we are taking is FROM London to Penzance and it is at the end of our London visit. The 2for1 rules seemed to imply that we had to use the vouchers in between the time we arrived by train and departed by train. Yes? No?

If you buy either one-day or seven-day paper travelcards at a National Rail station (not a Tube station), you can get the 2for1 offers during the time the cards are valid. They cost the same as those bought at a Tube station.

Just wondering where I can see a list of the attractions and sites offered in the 2=1 sale?

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london gives the information on the 2 for 1 scheme. Also please note that although there are many museums that do not charge for admission, most do also rely on donations that visitors make to help fund their operations. If everyone stiff them, maybe the entry won't be free next time.

We did the travel passes a few summers ago. We did break down our itinerary and made sure that the cost was going to be worth it. The line skipping was also nice. We also purchased the travel with it. It was very easy to use and was nice not having to recharge it. Because my mother was traveling with us and wasn't able to do lots of walking, we ended up using the Tube a lot. Out flight was also late getting into Heathrow and we ended up taking a Night Bus into the city, which was covered by the card. It also covered the cost of travel on our day trip out to Hampton Court. Overall, it helps if you know what you plan to do and where you plan to travel before you buy it.