London pass or 2 for 1 travelcard

I've never used a London Pass; but based on what I've read on the pass website, you'd have to be running constantly to get your money's worth out of it. And it covers many sights you aren't likely to visit at all. Many major museums in London are free. Use 2-for-1 vouchers to visit sights that have a fee. My wife and I were in London in March of 2002 and didn't find long lines at places we visited that charged admission. However, we didn't visit the Tower of London which, I expect, might have required standing in line.

I agree, the London Pass is an iffy proposition at best. To get your money's worth you really do have to be constantly on the go, from one place to another. I wouldn't worry about lines - except at the Tower of London and you should get there before opening time anyway if you can manage it at all. The only really long lines I can remember in my London experiences, were at a popular special exhibit at the Tate Gallery (we got there at the most crowded time), and the Tower (but we got there just before opening and most of the line was behind us, hee hee). Don't forget admission to these venues is FREE: National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, British Library (including the Treasures Room, an amazing place), and more that I can't think of right now. (Special temporary exhibits are likely to have admission fees and sometimes may have lines.) I'd choose the 2 for 1 deal instead of the London Pass. If I've overlooked any popular site where the LP will help avoid lines, I hope someone will post.

Thanks for all of your imput everyone! I think we will probably just do the 2 for 1 deal. It doesn't sound like the lines will be long in March, except at tower of London, so we will make sure we get to the tower early.

I used the London Pass on a recent trip. Like all passes you have to do the math and plan your visits to maximize the value of the pass. We lumped all of our London Pass activities into two days. We were busy but not frantically racing through sites. Two days was about right for us and we saved about 1/3 of the cost of the individual admissions by using the pass. The pass is increasingly less expensive per day the more days you buy. If we would have had a free day to visit Hampton Court it might have been cost effective to add a day. We went to Windsor Castle earlier in our trip and the pass wasn't used. The ROI OPW Pass is a good buy unless they've raised the prices in the last few years. The Paris Pass is easy to justify if you tack on Versailles. Otherwise, it's less of a bargain except for the ability to skip the lines.

Here is a spreadsheet drawn up by a Tripadvisor regular. You can use it to see whether the London Pass is worth it when compared to the 2 for 1 deals. Click on the link in the first post, it is updated regularly. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g186338-i17-k4496157-o90-London_Pass_Days_Out_Spreadsheet-London_England.html As said above, do NOT buy the linked travel pass, you will waste your money. If you need to make a journey outside Zones 1 and 2 (eg Hampton Court) you can pay a small add-on supplement on the day.

Thanks for the messages, and the spread sheet information. I will do the spread sheet and see how it turns out. I'm glad you said that about the travel zones. I was hoping I could just purchase a supplement to go to Hampton Court and just get a card for travel zones 1-2.

Sharon, are you planning on going to Kensington Palace or the Banqueting House during your stay? After doing the math on what we want to visit, we decided the best option was the annual pass to the Historic Royal Palaces rather than either the London Pass or the 2 for 1 discounts. We will be going to 4 of the 5 places the pass covers (Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Banqueting House and Kew Palace). For a 2 person joint membership the cost is £65. Most of the other places we want to go are free, and you don't know for sure if there will be a 2 for 1 deal for every place you want to go. The annual pass/membership for the palaces means you get to skip the lines and can go as often as you like if you find you really love a place and want to go back. Just another option. I hope it doesn't confuse the situation even more. If you want more info, you can look here: http://www.hrp.org.uk/supportus/membership/