Top 10 London tips
The most useful hints, tips, and advice for a London trip
- Invest in a London Pass for sightseeing discounts and skip-the-line privileges
- Use an Oyster Card for public transit
- Look RIGHT when crossing a street (actually, always look both ways just in case)
- Make good use of London's plethora of free sights
- Have Indian food. You won't find any better outside of India itself.
- Take at least one guided walking tour
- For stays of several nights or more, a rental flat (apartment) might be cheaper than a hotel
- Do NOT rent a car to drive around London
- Pub grub makes for hearty, relatively cheap, relatively quick, authentic meals
- See at least one play or show—West End, The Globe, National Theatre... whatever. Just go.
London tourism info links
- Visitlondon - Official tourism information site for London.
- Londonpass - Sightseeing and transport discount pass.Partner
- Londontown.com - Excellent independent tourism office and online guide to London.
- Timeout.com - Premier events, theater, and cultural happenings guide (plus food and drink) for major cities. In the U.K, covers London, Edingburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Bristol, and Brighton
- Cityoflondon.gov.uk - The City of London has its own tourism site—and the only sizeable info kiosk in the center of London. they're also the only ones who will answer the phone.
- London Evening Standard - London's top free local paper has good events and restaurant listings
- Where London - This is that events guide and mini-guidebook magazine you get free in mide-range hotels all aroudn the world. Covers the top stuff, and current events, but a distant second to Time Out.
- Visitgreenwich.org.uk - Covering the semi-independent Royal Borough of Greenwich—part of Greater London, but really a (well worthwhile) daytrip in its own right.
Passes & Discounts links
- London Pass - Covers more than 60 major London sights and tours, plus discounts on several others, and an option to buy a transit pass to use on the Tube and buses.Partner
- iVenture Card - Covers several sights not on the London Pass, plus a handful of tours, free meals, 40% off last-minute theatre tickets, and other discounts. Worthwhile if you'll be doing the three popular sights it covers (St. Paul's, Madame Tussauds, London Eye).Partner
- English Heritage Pass - Covers Stonehenge, plus loads of castles, historic homes, ancient sites, and monuments across England.